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Humble Boasting (2 Corinthians 11:16–21)
Apostolic Credentials (2 Corinthians 11:22–12:4)
How God Uses Suffering (2 Corinthians 12:5–10)
Apostolic Uniqueness (2 Corinthians 12:11–12)
Concerns of a True Pastor (2 Corinthians 12:12–19)
The Pattern of Sanctification
The Pattern of Sanctification
The Pattern of Sanctification
The Pattern of Sanctification
Preface
Introduction to 2 Corinthians
No preacher in the history of the church has faced such intense persecution as Paul, and in this letter he provides an example of how to deal with suffering in ministry (2 Cor.). They provide the most concise yet profound summary of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. found everywhere in Scripture.
It also had the prestigious status of a Roman colony and was the capital of the Roman province of Achaea (this is why the city's unbelieving Jews were able to bring Paul before the Roman governor, Gallio; Acts 18:12–17). A large percentage of its population consisted of slaves, and it was a center of the slave trade.
Titus' news that most of the Corinthians had repented and confirmed their loyalty to Paul (7:7) brought great joy and relief to the apostle. The false apostles were still there, and a minority of the Corinthians remained confused or loyal to them.
Some believe that chapters 10-13 are the strict letter mentioned in 2:4 and were therefore written before chapters 1-9. First, the absence of any reference to false apostles in chapters 1-9 is puzzling if the Corinthians were already given chapters 10-13.
D ATE AND P LACE OF W RITING
O UTLINE
1 Comfort in Trouble
2 Corinthians 1:1–11)
After Peter has passed his own trial and experienced God's comfort, he will be able to help others. As in the words of welcome in all his letters, Paul wished the Corinthians God's grace and divine peace, which is one of its blessings.
Later in this epistle he declared that “the Gentiles will glorify God because of his mercy (Rom 15:9). For the Lord has comforted his people, and will have mercy on his afflicted.” “Truly,” he asserts confidently, “the Lord will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her desolate places.
Having paid the ultimate price to redeem the faithful, the death of his Son, God will be with them to love, strengthen, protect and comfort them in all extremes. For we who live are continually being given over to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.
But in God's providence, even the apostle's suffering brought comfort and salvation to the Corinthians. Thus God's promised comfort extends as far as believers' suffering for Christ's sake.
Thus, only the power of God comforted Paul and delivered him from the great danger of death. The constancy of God's comfort led Paul to describe Him as the One in whom we have placed our hope (cf.
2 The Soul’s Warning System
2 Corinthians 1:12–14)
A necessary qualification for deacons is that they hold "to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience" (1 Tim. 3:9). The author of Hebrews wrote that "the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, [will]. He reminded his young protégé that "the aim of our teaching is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith" (1 Tim. 1:5) and exhorted him to hold on.
P AUL’S C ONSCIENCE
Paul's life was beyond reproach. allegations were nothing more than slanderous lies, and his conscience testified to that. In Paul's day, unscrupulous potters filled the cracks in their pots with wax before selling them. There was nothing in Paul's life or actions that would have confirmed any such accusation against him.
Anaginōskete refers to what they read in his letters and epiginōskete to what they know through personal contact with him. Until the end translates telos, which in this context means "complete" or "complete." Paul wanted the Corinthians to understand him completely, just as they also understood him in part. What Paul wrote in his letters was completely consistent with who he personally was.
Are you not also, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming. The day of our Lord Jesus is not the day of the Lord, the time of God's fierce and final judgment on the sinful world (cf. Paul was able to look forward with joy to the day of our Lord Jesus.
3 Portrait of a Godly Pastor
2 Corinthians 1:15–2:4)
For example, pastors are all too often judged by the outward signs of success: the size of their congregation, their success as a fundraiser, the size of their radio or TV ministry, how well their books sell, or their influence on the public. arena. Yet he knew that the true measure of a man of God is not his external success or reputation, but God's evaluation of his heart. Second Corinthians is Paul's defense of his authenticity and spiritual integrity against the slanderous attacks of the false apostles.
L OYALTY
Paul's enemies attacked this minor change in travel plans, accusing him of unreliability and fickleness. Ridiculously, but apparently with some success, they argued that if Paul's statements about his travel plans were unreliable, why should the Corinthians believe his theological statements. He always did all he could for their spiritual benefit, of which the Corinthians had ample evidence.
H ONESTY
In support of his claim of honesty, Paul emphatically stated: But since God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no. Paul's point is that God is truthful, and that he, as God's representative, is also truthful.
R ELIABILITY
It was the realization of "the excellent value of knowing Christ Jesus [as his] Lord" that made Paul willing to suffer. As important as they were, Paul's ultimate claim to integrity and authenticity as God's messenger and Christ's apostle was not his loyalty, honesty, trustworthiness, or any other personal characteristic; it was what God did in his life. Since Paul was their spiritual father (1 Cor. 4:15), to deny his authenticity was figuratively to cut off the branch on which they sat.
S ENSITIVITY
Paul was convinced that the Corinthians stood firm in their faith (their salvation) (cf. Paul was determined not only for their sake, but also for his own sake, that he would no longer come to the Corinthians in sorrow. By giving the Corinthians Paul hoped to avoid another painful encounter with them.
P URITY
That his confidence was not misplaced became evident when Titus returned from Corinth with the news that the majority had repented (7:6-16). Sensitivity and the desire to avoid unnecessary confrontation must always be balanced with a commitment to the purity of the church.
L OVE
4 The Blessings of Forgiveness
2 Corinthians 2:5–11)
Those who refuse to forgive others, but are bitter, hateful, and full of enmity, are guilty of breaking the sixth commandment. Those who refuse to forgive can cause divisions in the church community and destroy its unity. Believers who fail to forgive others do not cease to be God's children, but they will face their heavenly Father's chastisement.
Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him because they were terrified of his presence. He kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and then his brothers talked with him. Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, "Behold, we are your servants." But Joseph said to them: “Do not be afraid, for I am in the place of God.
In the Name of our Lord Jesus, when you are gathered, and I with you in the spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a person to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that he spirit can be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Now we command you, brothers, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you stay away from every brother who leads a turbulent life and not according to the tradition that you received from us. If anyone does not obey our command in this letter, pay special attention to that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame.
The Corinthians were to "restore such a one in a spirit of meekness" (Gal. 6:1); to come beside him, lift him up and help him to walk in obedience. Paul was afraid that such a person would otherwise be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow, not only the sorrow of his punishment, but also the sorrow caused by the Corinthians' constant rejection of him. overwhelmed) is variously translated in the New Testament as "swallow" (2 Cor. Later in this epistle Paul wrote: "The sorrow that is according to the will of God brings repentance without repentance, which leads to salvation" (2 Cor. 7) :10).
The greatest display of love, both by individual believers and by the church collectively, is forgiving others.
In the desert He fed you manna that your fathers did not know, to humble you and put you to the test, to do you good in the end. In Deuteronomy 13:3 he added: "You must not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul." Although therefore I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender or for the sake of the one offended, but that your seriousness might be made known to you on our behalf in the sight of God.
5 Restoring the Disheartened Pastor’s Joy
2 Corinthians 2:12–17)
In triumph, the procession of the victorious general marched through the streets of Rome to the Capitol in the following order. He uses human preachers to spread the sweet fragrance of the gospel to influence people with the saving knowledge of Christ. His faithful evangelistic service causes the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of Christ to be revealed to people, but the fragrance of this evangelistic service ascends to the very throne of God.
6 The Competent Minister
2 Corinthians 3:1–6)
In Acts 26:16 he related how God had said to him, “For this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a servant.” To the Ephesians he wrote, “I have been appointed a minister according to the gift of the grace of God which was given to me according to the working of His power” (Ephesians 3:7). The false apostles sought to discredit him so that they could usurp his place as an authoritative teacher and then teach their destructive, demonic lies to the Corinthians. If they succeeded in discrediting him, the false apostles would block the pipeline through which divine truth flowed to the church.
But Paul's letter was far superior to that of the false apostles; it was the Corinthians themselves. Unlike the letters of the false apostles, Paul's was not written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. Paul's letter (the transformed lives of the Corinthians) was written by the supernatural power of the divine Spirit.
In order to understand the glory and grace of the new covenant, a brief review of the biblical covenants is necessary. As a servant of the new covenant, Paul was not a servant of the letter, but of the spirit. The writer to the Hebrews emphasizes the contrast between the outer letter of the Old Testament and the inner reality of the New Testament:
7 The Glory of the New
Covenant— Part 1: It Gives Life, Produces Righteousness, and Is
2 Corinthians 3:6–11)
In contrast to these false teachers who were servants of the old covenant (who claimed that the Mosaic covenant had saving efficacy), Paul was a servant of the new covenant. In defending his prominence and ministry, Paul provided a rich, if brief, overview of the new covenant. Like Paul in this passage, the writer of Hebrews explains the multi-value of the new covenant.
But unlike his legalistic opponents, Paul saw the old covenant of the Law in its proper light—as a ministry of death. Is the law, then, contrary to the promises of God?" he wrote to the Galatians. And through the new covenant, the Spirit gives life and righteousness: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus [liberates believers] from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2).
But the new covenant is so greater that it is as if the old covenant had no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. Christ's death is so extensive and final that it paid the price for the sins of the Old Testament saints: "Because death took place for the redemption of the transgressions committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of an eternal inheritance." Any attempt to return to the outward ritual and ceremony of the Old Testament brings not a blessing but a curse (Gal 3:10; James 2:10).
8 The Glory of the New
Covenant— Part 2: It Brings Hope, and Is Clear, Christ
Centered, Energized by the Spirit, and Transforming
2 Corinthians 3:12–18)
But to cling to the shadow of the old covenant, when the reality of the new covenant had come, was folly (cf. Claiming to be apostles, they proclaimed that the rituals and ceremonies of the old covenant were prerequisites for salvation. As part of the response of In his response to the attacks of the false teachers, Paul showed the superiority of the new covenant over the old.
