March 1, 2014
Tom Lowe
The Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians
I.A. Salutation. (1:1–2)
2nd Corinthians 1:1-2 (NKJV)
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Introduction
When serious problems arose in the Corinthian church, after his departure, he sent Timothy to deal with them (1 Cor. 4:17), and then Paul wrote the letter we call 1st Corinthians. Unfortunately, matters grew worse and he had to make a “painful visit” to Corinth to confront the trouble makers (2 Cor. 2:1). Still there was no solution. He then wrote a severe letter which was delivered by his associate Titus (2 Cor. 2:4-9; 7:8-12). After a great deal of distress, Paul finally met Titus and got the good report that the problem had been solved. It was then that he wrote the letter we call 2nd Corinthians. He had suffered great persecution in Asia Minor—perhaps in the city of Ephesus—and he was on the way to visit the Corinthians. He was traveling through all of Greece—through both Macedonia in the north and Achaia in the south—to collect a donation for the poor Christians in Jerusalem. Paul sent this letter on ahead of him to tell the Corinthians how they should handle some of the problems that were plaguing them; he especially focused on the problem of false teachers who had infiltrated the church. A significant number of believers had been influenced by these false teachers. Paul wrote Second Corinthians for several reasons:
-
He wanted to encourage the church to forgive and restore the member who had caused all the trouble (2 Cor. 2:6-11).
-
He wanted to reassert his apostolic authority among the Corinthians (2 Cor. 4:1-2; 10-12).
-
He wanted to explain his change of plans (2 Cor. 1:15-22).
-
He wanted to encourage them to share in the special “relief offering” he was taking up for the needy saints in Judea (2 cor. 8-9).