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TOM · The Owner's Manual · New Testament

2 Corinthians 1

Before you read 2 Corinthians: who, when, why

BOOK 47 OF 66 · NEW TESTAMENT · LETTER

Dear Messy Church, Part 2

AUTHOR
Paul, with Timothy, 1:1. This is Paul's most personal letter. He opens his heart about his fears, his tears and his weakness.
WRITTEN FROM
Macedonia in northern Greece, maybe Philippi, after Titus met Paul there with good news, 7:5 to 7.
DATE WRITTEN
About AD 55 to 57, a year or so after 1 Corinthians.
WRITTEN TO
The church in Corinth and all the believers in the province of Achaia, southern Greece, 1:1.
WHY HE WROTE
To say thank you for turning around, to finish an offering for poor believers in Jerusalem, and to warn against fake super apostles, 11:5.
KEY VERSE
2 Corinthians 12:9. My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.
THE OLDEST COPY OF 2 CORINTHIANS

The Oldest Copy of 2 Corinthians

This is a page of Papyrus 46, a book of Paul's letters copied in Egypt about AD 200. This page is at the University of Michigan. It holds 2 Corinthians 11:33 to 12:9. The first line tells how Paul was let down in a basket through the wall. Further down you can read to the third heaven, 12:2, and into paradise, 12:4. Near the bottom it says a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, 12:7. THE BOOK IT COMES FROM. The whole book once had about 104 sheets, each written on both sides, and 86 survive, split between Dublin, Ireland, and Michigan. See the 1 Corinthians title page, for how it was found. WHY IT MATTERS. This copy was made only about 150 years after Paul wrote. Apart from small spelling and word order differences, it says what our Bibles say today.

The Setting

After 1 Corinthians, things got worse before they got better. Paul made a quick painful visit to Corinth, 2:1, and someone there insulted him. He went back to Ephesus and wrote a letter through many tears, 2:4, and sent Titus to deliver it. Then Paul waited and worried. He left Ephesus after a riot, Acts 19 to 20, crossed to Macedonia, and finally Titus arrived with good news. Most of the church had turned around. But a new group of traveling preachers had shown up, calling themselves super apostles and making fun of Paul.

What Was Going Wrong

  • Fake Super Apostles. Smooth talking teachers preached a different Jesus and charged for it, 11:4 to 5 and 11:20.
  • Doubting Paul. Some said his letters were strong but he was weak in person, 10:10.
  • Slow To Forgive. The man they disciplined had repented, but they had not welcomed him back, 2:6 to 8.
  • An Unfinished Offering. They promised to give to the poor in Jerusalem a year ago and never finished, 8:10 to 11.
  • Sin Not Dealt With. Some had still not turned from sexual sin, 12:21.

Where to Find Jesus

  • 2 Corinthians 1:20. All of God's promises are Yes in Christ.
  • 2 Corinthians 4:6. God made His light shine in our hearts to show the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
  • 2 Corinthians 5:21. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. Fulfills Isaiah 53:5.
  • 2 Corinthians 8:9. Though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.

Cool Stuff Most People Miss

  • The Basket Escape. Paul's greatest brag is not a miracle. It is being let down in a basket through a window in the Damascus wall to escape a king's governor, 11:32 to 33.
  • What Did Paul Look Like?. Paul admits people said he was unimpressive in person, 10:10. A story written about AD 170, the Acts of Paul and Thecla, describes him as short and bald with bowed legs, eyebrows that met and a hooked nose, but full of grace. It is a legend, not Scripture, but it fits.
  • A Hilarious Giver. God loves a cheerful giver, 9:7. The Greek word for cheerful is hilaros, where we get the word hilarious.
  • Four Letters, Two Survive. Paul wrote at least four letters to Corinth: a first one that is lost, 1 Corinthians 5:9, then 1 Corinthians, then the tearful letter, 2:4, then this one. Unless the tearful letter is hiding inside chapters 10 to 13, two of them are gone.
  • Ambassadors For Christ. An ambassador lives in a foreign country but speaks for his own king. Paul says that is every believer, 5:20: God making His appeal through us.
  • The Trinity Blessing. The last verse, 13:14, names the Lord Jesus Christ, God and the Holy Spirit together. Churches still close services with it today.

Did Anybody Listen?

Yes. Paul came to Corinth for his third visit and stayed about three months, Acts 20:2 to 3. While he was there he wrote Romans, and in it he says the believers of Achaia were pleased to give to the poor in Jerusalem, Romans 15:26. The offering got finished. The church that fought Paul ended up funding his mission and sending the letter that changed the world.

Chapter 1 in 30 seconds

Paul opens with comfort. The God of all comfort comforts us so we can comfort others. In Asia, Paul was under so much pressure he thought he would die. Some in Corinth called him unreliable for changing his travel plans. Paul says God's promises are always yes in Christ.

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Paul Greets the Corinthians// Acts 18:1–11; 1 Corinthians 1:1–3

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

To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:

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

The God of All Comfort

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

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

8We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.

10He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver us, 11as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the favor shown us in answer to their prayers.

Paul’s Change of Plans

12For this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God. 13For we do not write you anything that is beyond your ability to read and understand. And I hope that you will understand us completely, 14as you have already understood us in part, that you may boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of our Lord Jesus.

15Confident of this, I planned to visit you first, so that you might receive a double blessing. 16I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to return to you from Macedonia, and then to have you help me on my way to Judea.

17When I planned this, did I do it carelessly? Or do I make my plans by human standards, so as to say “Yes, yes” and also “No, no”? 18But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed among you by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No,” but in Him it has always been “Yes.” 20For all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him, our “Amen” is spoken to the glory of God.

21Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us, 22placed His seal on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is to come. 23I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. 24Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are fellow workers with you for your joy, because it is by faith that you stand firm.

  • 2CO 1:21[NOTABLE]God's threefold action on believers: established, anointed, sealed — the Spirit as guarantee

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