phrase which means ‘empty’. Naturally this prompts the question: ‘Empty of what?’ Did he mean that his time there was not empty of success, that it was not a failure? After all, there was ample evidence that the power of God was at work (1:5). If this was Paul’s intended meaning, it was no more than the truth. It seems likely, however, that he had something else in mind. Verse 2 opens with the word ‘but’, which suggests that Paul wanted to make a contrast. In spite of all that had taken place in