Paul's second letter to the Corinthians.

As we read Luke's story of Paul's missionary journeys in 'The Acts' we may well marvel at the number and severity of the hardships which the apostle endured for the gospel's sake.  Yet Luke records only a few of the earlier troubles Paul faced and overcame.  Similarly, the more specific list of hardships found in this second letter, represents only those which the Apostle had experienced up to the time of writing covering a period of about ten years (2 Corinthians 11.23-28).  More were to follow his arrest in Jerusalem and its aftermath (Acts chapters 21 to 28).

Already, as the list shows, he had suffered five whippings, three beatings with rods and three shipwrecks (2 Corinthians 11.24,25).  At least one more shipwreck lay ahead of him (Acts chapter 27).  Two items in his list have special relevance to the letter now to be reviewed: danger from his own people, the Jews and his anxiety for all the churches (2 Corinthians 11.26-28).  There is unhappily, a special connection between these last two.

In this letter we can discern an underlying theme.  Paul repeatedly affirms that he was a genuine apostle, directly appointed by Christ for this task (2 Corinthians 5.18-20; 10.8).  What provoked this unusual emphasis?  It would seem that the partisan spirit rebuked in the earlier letter (see the note on 1 Corinthians 1.10-13 in the previous chapter) had worsened and that certain church leaders were now openly undermining the apostle's authority.  They were accusing him of vacillation (2 Corinthians 1.17 ff.), of self-commendation (2 Corinthians 3.1; 5.12; 6.4), of underhand ways (2 Corinthians 4.2) and of designs on funds collected for the poor (2 Corinthians 8.20).

He was also accused of penning strongly worded letters but unwilling to challenge his opponents when present among them (2 Corinthians 10.1,10) or to accept material support for his preaching efforts (2 Corinthians 11.7-12).  Who then were the adversaries, whom Paul brands as 'false apostles, deceitful workers'?  They are not expressly named, although they were clearly within the Christian community.  From this letter and others (see for example, Galatians 4.8-11; 5.1-12; 6.12-15; Ephesians 4.14; Philippians 3.2,3; Colossians 2.8, 16-23) it appears that they were prominent converted Jews, leaders of very strong factions within the various churches.

They were attempting to make the Law of Moses binding on all believers, Gentiles as well as Jews.  In a word, they were 'Judaisers' or, as Paul calls them elsewhere 'the circumcision part' (Galatians 2.2 RSV).  They were insisting on justification by works (of the Mosaic Law), instead of justification by faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 2.16) and the Apostle would have none of it.  If, as we read the letter, we bear in mind this background situation, we shall appreciate a great deal more of Paul's emphasis and tone throughout these 13 chapters.

The letter opens with the apostle's reference to some unspecified deadly peril (a serious illness perhaps) he had suffered while preaching the gospel in the Roman province of Asia (now South West Turkey).  He had been weighed down almost to breaking point but had recovered through God's mercy; it had seemed like a resurrection from the dead.  This experience enabled him to sympathise with the Corinthian believers in their troubles and to share with them the God-given comfort he himself had received (2 Corinthians 1.3 ff).

Paul proceeds to defend himself against some of the church members who were accusing him of vacillation in his plans to visit them (2 Corinthians 1.15 ff.).  To this charge he replies that his attitude toward them had always been positive, consistent with their welfare.  His response to them was not 'yes and no' but always 'yes', just as God's firm promises were centred in Christ.  He Jesus, was both the affirmation (the 'yes') and the confirmation (the 'Amen' - see Revelation 3.14) of the divine purpose.  Paul was concerned lest his next visit to them might be another painful one, and he urged them now to forgive and restore a wrongdoer who had repented.

He writes about his fellow-labourer Titus, who had returned from Corinth with good news of their obedience (see below on 2 Corinthians 7.5ff.).  This brings a strong note of thanksgiving - the gospel's progress, Paul wrote, is rather like a Roman victory parade.  There are priests burning incense at the head of the procession, followed by the victorious soldiers.  In the rear are the disconsolate captives doomed to death or slavery.  The same all-pervading aroma of the incense spells triumph to the troops and onlookers - but death to the prisoners.  Likewise the gospel message promises life - eternal life - to those in the way of salvation, but is the harbinger of death to unbelievers.

Another criticism apparently, was that Paul had brought no letter of introduction, unlike other envoys from Jerusalem (see Acts 18.27 for an example of this).  Paul replies that the Corinthian believers themselves had become a 'living letter' of his, more than adequate credentials.  It was a letter written not with ink on paper but by the Spirit of God on their hearts (2 Corinthians 3.1ff.).  This reminds him of the essential difference between the Old Covenant (Moses' Law), carved on stone tablets, and the New Covenant in Christ, which would be written on the hearts of the believers (Jeremiah 31.31-34).

There was indeed a certain glory associated with the giving of God's Law to Moses.  It was manifested in the supernatural shining of Moses' face when he returned to the Israelites after being shown God's glory on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34.29-35).  At that time Moses covered his face with a veil, so that the fading of that glory went unseen.  By contrast, the glory of the gospel of Christ is unfading, and it shines in the heart of all true disciples.

Figuratively speaking, the veil remains on the minds of unconverted Jewry.  It is only removed once they turn to the Lord in faith (2 Corinthians 3.12-16).  Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles, have seen 'the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ' (2 Corinthians 4.6).

However, in their present mortal state they also share in Christ's suffering and humiliation.  Yet this affliction is comparatively light and temporary and holds promise of an 'eternal weight of glory' when, at the resurrection, they exchange this earthly 'tent' of mortality for a permanent 'house' or home.  This is in God's temple - the Father's house of many abiding places promised to them by Jesus at the 'Last Supper' (2 Corinthians 4.16 - 5.4; see also note on chapter 14 of John's gospel, under 'The Place of Reward').

Mention of the resurrection leads to the closely associated subject of judgment - the judgment seat of Christ, where every private thought and motive of a believer's heart will be made manifest (2 Corinthians 5.10).  So Paul appeals to his readers to be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5.20).  He insists that he and his fellow-workers are Christ's ambassadors, entrusted with this task of reconciliation.  In their lives they show their genuineness by purity of behaviour and motive (2 Corinthians 6.3-10).

The Apostle then proceeds to warn the Corinthians against being 'unequally yoked' with ungodly, worldly people (2 Corinthians 6.14-16).  This is an allusion to Moses' Law which forbade a farmer from ploughing with an ox and an ass together (Deuteronomy 22.10).  Under the Law the ox was declared a 'clean' beast, fit for sacrificing to God, but not so the ass.  Similarly Christians must not associate themselves with pagan habits and in particular, not marry unbelievers or be partners with idolators or immoral persons (cp.  1 Corinthians 5.9; 6.18; 10.20).

Titus, Paul's trusted fellow-worker in Crete some years later (see notes on Paul's letter to Titus), was very active and concerned about the spiritual growth of God's truth in Corinth.  He is mentioned several times in this Epistle.  By him Paul had sent a somewhat severe letter of censure (which has not been preserved) to the Corinthians, and was now anxiously waiting to hear whether his reproof had been heeded.  He was overjoyed that Titus, on his return to the apostle, was able to report most favourably on their reaction (2 Corinthians 7.5-16).  This faithful go-between was to be administrator of funds collected by members of the church at Corinth to relieve the needy in other Christian assemblies.

Paul was understandably concerned that generous promises of financial help made earlier should now be implemented.  This was in order that a great prayer of thanksgiving might rise up to God on high for Christian thought and prayers ripening into practical help (2 Corinthians 8.9; cp.1 Corinthians 16.1-3).

In this connection Paul makes further reference to Israel's early history.  He quotes from Exodus 16.18, where it is recorded that in their wilderness journeys the daily ration of heaven-sent manna met the needs of all the people exactly.  So the apostle exhorts those in Corinth to look after their needy brothers and sisters in Christ now, and God would see to it that they would be equally cared for if the occasion arose.  Generous giving is a major aspect of true love for one's neighbour and will be reckoned by God as true righteousness (2 Corinthians 9.6ff.  with quotations from Psalm 112.9 and Isaiah 55.10).

There is a notable change of tone when we reach chapter 10 of this letter.  A much sterner note creeps in.  It is as if in the interim, Paul had received further disquieting news that his detractors were succeeding in their insidious attempts to discredit his status and achievements among the Corinthian disciples.  Paul refuses to boast of these achievements, remarkable though they were.  Instead, he says, he will boast in his 'folly' (as his opponents had sneeringly described it) in not imposing on the assembly in Corinth various high-handed demands of 'payment for services rendered'.  In ironic vein he chides the Corinthians that:

'you put up with anyone who enslaves you,
anyone who eats you out of house and home,
anyone who robs you,
anyone who treats you arrogantly,
anyone who slaps your face ...' (2 Corinthians 11.20)

'To my shame', he adds, 'I must say we were too weak for that!' (2 Corinthians 11.21 RSV).  For his part he would boast only in his weaknesses, and he goes on to list some of the amazingly desperate situations he had experienced while serving his heavenly Master (2 Corinthians 11.23-29).  To all these had been added a 'thorn in the flesh' to endure (probably some severe body ailment).  This was to prevent him from becoming too proud about a special revelatory vision he had been shown 14 years earlier.  On that occasion he had been 'caught up to the third heaven' - 'into paradise' (2 Corinthians 12.1-10).  What are we to understand by these words?

It is all too easy to construe this passage as meaning that Paul had a foretaste of a future reward in heaven.  But look at the words again, bearing in mind that in the Greek text there is no hint of any upward movement.  The relevant verb simply means caught or snatched away, or transported.  But to what?  To 'the third heaven' which clearly implies two others.  Peter's second letter, chapter 3, accounts for all three.

The first of these was the original heavens and earth (the world of men, not the physical globe) which were swept away by the Flood.  Then come 'the heavens and the earth, which are now', which will be destroyed by fire at Christ's return on the Day of Judgment (Verse 7).  Finally, according to God's promise through Isaiah (Isaiah 65.17), a 'new heavens and a new earth' will be established by Christ's wise rule: this is the kingdom of God on earth in which righteousness will dwell (Verse 13).  It is the paradise restored about which Isaiah also prophesied (Isaiah 51.  3; see note on 'The Dying Thief' in the chapter on Luke's gospel).

Paul concludes (2 Corinthians 13) by insisting further that his apostleship is genuine.  He warns that his imminent third visit to Corinth would prove a very painful one for any members of the congregation there who still had not mended their ways.  He would not spare them this time.  Such a visit would demonstrate beyond doubt that his authority came directly from Christ.  Nevertheless he hoped and prayed that offenders would repent and that he would not need to use his disciplinary powers, which were intended to be constructive, not destructive (2 Corinthians 10.  8; 13.10).  With a final exhortation to all to be of one mind in the Lord he bids them farewell.