2 Corinthians 1 Introduction

Some time after Paul first left Corinth, he wrote a letter to the Corinthian church, a letter which apparently perished (1 Cor 5:9). (Some believe it is preserved as 2 Cor 6:14 - 7:1.) This letter had been

misunderstood (1 Cor 5:9-10) and Paul mentions it to clear up a misconception.

[Remember: The chapters were not divided up until the 13th century; the verses not until the 16th.]

When the church in Corinth received Paul's first epistle, those who were against Paul became more vocal, even expressing doubts about Paul's authority and apostleship. This second epistle is mainly Paul's defense and testimony of his ministry.

Occasion of 1 Corinthians

The household of Chloe brought him news of cliques in the church (1Cor 1:11) and the church wrote him a letter (re: 1 Cor 7:1), presumably brought to Ephesus by Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus (1 Cor

16:17), who probably added their own comments.  The situation was serious. Then, Paul responded with the letter we know as 1 Corinthians.

The “Painful Visit”

The situation worsened. Paul felt it necessary to leave his work in Ephesus and pay a hurried visit in the attempt to set things right. (This visit is implied in passages in 2 Corinthians, which speak of Paul as

being ready to pay a third visit to Corinth (2 Cor 12:14; 13:1; his second visit is past, 13:2.)

Paul then wrote a fourth letter (2 Corinthians), recounting his former anxiety and expressing his joy over the reform in Corinth. Almost certainly he visited the church soon afterwards.

So; Four letters (1-4); and Three Visits (A, B, C):

(Visit #1 - A) When the church was founded

1) The “Previous Letter”

(Household of Chloe visit Paul with a letter from Corinth)

2) “First Corinthians”

(Visit #2 - B) The “Painful” visit

3) The “Severe Letter” (Titus’ report)

4) “Second Corinthians”

(C) 3rd visit

Style & Content (Summary)

First Corinthians is unique among Paul’s letters because of the variety of its practical concerns. Second Corinthians is one of Paul’s most personal letters, containing a wealth of insights into the heart of Paul

the pastor.

First Corinthians focuses on a church which is being corrected and instructed; Second Corinthians includes the account of man being disciplined and matured. Nowhere else does Paul open his heart to his

readers so completely as he does in this second letter, relating God’s dealings with him in his inner life. By revealing the price he has paid, his ministry is vindicated and his authority recognized.

News has reached Paul from Titus (2 Cor 7:7) of the mixed reception of his first letter. A majority had genuinely repented of sin, a minority challenged his authority, suspected his motives, and questioned the

validity of his ministry.

Paul gave thanks that the Corinthians were now reconciled to him, Chapter 1; but he recalled his torment over their stubbornness, Chapter 2. Chapters 3 and 4 are theological reflections on ministry,

and Chapters 5 and 6 are on reconciliation.

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus (the mashiyach) by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

There were those who were challenging his apostleship, saying that he just took that title on himself. But here, he lays claim to the fact that he is an apostle by the will of God.

To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia:

² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

“...in all Achaia”: Achaia was the name of the district; Corinth was its chief city.

Life Application Bible footnote:  The Romans had made Corinth the capital of Achaia (the southern half of present-day Greece).  The city was a flourishing trade center because of it’s seaport.  With thousands of merchants and sailors who disembarked there each year, it had developed a reputation as one of the most immoral cities in the ancient world; it’s many pagan temples encouraged the practice of sexual immorality along with idol worship.  In fact, the Greek word “to Corinthianize” came to mean “to practice sexual immorality.”

"Grace to you," which is, of course, the typical Greek greeting of one another “Caras”. "And peace," which was the typical Jewish greeting, “shalom”.  (This “grace”, is not a saving grace, but a ‘sustaining’ grace.)

Praise to the God of All Comfort

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.  

⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

The “sufferings of Christ” are those afflictions we experience as we do Christ’s ministry.  At the same time, Christ suffers with his people, since they are united with him.   Remember...never by accident! God is in control. (Do we trust Him?)

2 Corinthians 4:10  ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

⁶ If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

2 Corinthians 4:15  ¹⁵ All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

So, Paul here is speaking of the afflictions that he had experienced, the sufferings that he had experienced, and the tribulation that he had experienced. We have difficulty in our minds wondering why God would allow us to experience suffering. Why God would allow us to go through tribulation. Why God would allow us to be afflicted. Because we believe that He is a God of love, and we know that He controls the circumstances that surround our lives and that come into our lives. And it is difficult for us to understand why God would allow me to suffer if He loves me so much, why God would allow me to be afflicted.

As I’ve shared before, my mother died suddenly when I was only 13 and for the longest time I couldn’t understand why God would let that happen.  It is a terrible thing to lose a parent when you’re young.  It takes a long time to get over.  However, over the years I’ve found great satisfaction in youth ministry, especially (who would have guessed) boys, around the same age as I was when my mother died.

Now, Paul declares that he experienced these things in order that in them he might also experience the comfort of God, so that he would be able to comfort others with the same comfort that he had received. So, it was for their sakes, as much as his own, that God allowed these things to happen to him, for he needed to be ministered by God in these areas so that he could minister to others in these very same areas.

Your life is a ministry. You don’t have to look far to find broken hearts, broken lives, and broken homes. Is your life a sacrifice? a fulfillment? or both! (Mt 20:25-28). Ministry = “the supernatural life of God at work in my/your life in such a way as to bring growth and spiritual fruit in the lives of others.”

⁸ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,^[a] about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, ¹¹ as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

1 Corinthians 15:32  ³² If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

“Let us eat and drink,
    for tomorrow we die.”

Romans 15:30  ³⁰ I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.

Here Paul is referring to his recent troubles in Ephesus, written about in Acts 19 that we talked about last week.  “a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.” Great adventure in the name of the Lord!  I just visualize a Disney cartoon of Goofy with a pair of ski’s on and suddenly somehow finding himself on a Mount Everest type precipice screaming “yahahoooooo!” and somehow having the ride of his life and coming out unscathed.  (But wiser?!)  I guess that’s where “Godly wisdom” comes in.

I believe that many times, in many different areas, God brings us to the end of our own resources, emotional, physical, perhaps financial, that we get right to the end. There's no place else to go. Where we actually give up, and we just say, "I've had it; I can't do anything else. I've had it." I know that is my testimony.  Finally; where we give up. And men don't give up easily. That's, I believe, one of most men’s problem in their spiritual walk is that we keep trying, until we think we’ve tried everything before we really turn it over to God.  That is the point where we can experience the power of God and the work of God in our life. Amen?!

Paul’s Change of Plans

¹² Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity^[b] and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace. ¹³ For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, ¹⁴ as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁵ Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. ¹⁶ I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. ¹⁷ Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?

What Paul had said, he had written earlier and said he was coming to them, and then he didn't show up. And so, those detractors of Paul were saying, "Oh, the guy's fickle. You can't take him for his word. He just said that, but he really didn't mean it." And so Paul here is bearing witness to the fact that he was sincere when he wrote the things and acknowledged the things, that's what he was intending to do. He was sincere in it.

¹⁸ But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” ¹⁹ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas^[c] and Timothy (So Timothy was there, and Silas was with Paul when he first preached in Corinth) —was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” The gospel that we preached was a positive gospel. It was straightforward. It wasn't a two-faced thing.

Hebrews 13:8  ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

²⁰ For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.  In other words, "All of the promises of God to us have been fulfilled in Jesus."  Jesus is the assurance to us that God's promises are all true. And all of God's promises to you are wrapped up in Christ. God has promised to give you life, that life that is in Jesus. This is the record God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in the Son. God has promised to give you peace, but that peace is in Jesus. God has promised mercies to you, but those mercies are coming to you in Jesus. All of the promises in Him are yes!

So, Paul is declaring here, Jesus, the assurance. He is the yes of God to us.

Romans 15:8  ⁸ For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews^[a] on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed

²¹ Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, ²² set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit (or down payment), guaranteeing what is to come.

1 John 2:20  ²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.

1 John 2:27  ²⁷ As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

²³ I call God as my witness —and I stake my life on it—that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. ²⁴ Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.

TABLE TALK

1.       What has been your greatest trial and your ministry to others?

2.      Does that ability to provide comfort to others provide satisfaction or joy in you?

3.      You’ve been ‘sealed’ and anointed by Christ, do you believe it?  Live it?