Did you know that most of the books that comprise the New Testament are actually letters? These letters (also known as “epistles”) contain both general Christian teaching and specific instructions for the congregation to which they were addressed. As part of our Letters to the Church series, we’re taking a brief look at each epistle in the New Testament. A few weeks ago, we looked at Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church. This week, we look at the “sequel”—Paul’s follow-up letter to the same community.

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[See other Blog posts in the Letters to the Church series]

Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians

Start Reading it Here: 2 Corinthians 1

When was it written? Around A.D. 56, probably not long after Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians was penned.

To whom was it written? The Christian community in the important city of Corinth. Corinth was renowned for its commercial power, its artistic and philosophic traditions, and for its culture of vice.

Why was it written? This letter is a continuation of a lengthy, highly personal, and sometimes tense conversation between Paul and the Christian community in Corinth. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church contained stern rebukes concerning immoral practices that had crept into the community. Since then, the Corinthian church had responded positively to some of Paul’s concerns, but new challenges had cropped up. Paul wrote this letter to congratulate the Corinthian church for its reforms and to offer advice for handling difficult situations—but also to defend his own credibility as a Christian minister in the face of criticism from rivals within the congregation.

2 Corinthians can present a challenge for modern readers who can’t know the full context of Paul’s relationship with the Corinthian church. Given the wide range of topics addressed and the changes in tone throughout this letter, some Bible scholars have suggested that this is a compilation of several different letters. Whatever its original form, this letter is a picture of the earnest but somewhat messy process by which a Christian community makes mistakes, deals with internal problems, and works, despite its imperfections, to imitate Christ more closely.

What does it say? Paul has a lot to say in this letter. Some of it is of obvious relevance to all Christian believers through the ages, and some of it very specific to the situation in Corinth.

Paul begins by congratulating the Corinthians: they had correctly disciplined a member of the community for serious sin, and now that the period of discipline had taken its course, Paul urged them to forgive the offender and welcome him back. Paul never minces words when confronting people with sin, but his desire is always restoration, not punishment or guilt for their own sake.

Paul also takes time to focus on an oft-neglected characteristic of a healthy church: generosity. When they heard about the desperate financial needs of another Christian community, the Corinthians responded generously, and Paul both thanks them for their selfless giving and encourages them to keep it up: “Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.” Along with this bit of encouragement, Paul takes time to remind his readers of the core components of the Christian faith.

Of course, 2 Corinthians is not all cheer and congratulations. It’s clear from this letter that Paul’s integrity and authority were being challenged by critics in the Corinthian community—perhaps people who resented Paul’s earlier words of challenge and rebuke. A group of people Paul calls “false apostles” were spreading rumors that Paul was dishonest and insincere. To this, Paul devotes the final section of this letter to a defense of his ministry. Paul wasn’t looking to boast about his “super spirituality,” but to put to rest any thoughts that he was getting rich off of his ministry. From this self-defense, we learn what it meant to be a minister of Christ in the Roman empire: beatings, imprisonment, hunger, and the constant threat of death.

Noteworthy passages:

• 2 Corinthians 4:1-2: The high standard expected of a minister of Christ.
• 2 Corinthians 9:6-8: A timeless call to generosity—and the origin of a famous adage about cheerful giving.
• 2 Corinthians 11:16-33: Paul describes the harrowing trials he’s suffered for the sake of his ministry.

What can we learn from 2 Corinthians? From Paul’s specific advice about important, everyday church functions like discipline and charitable giving, we can extract useful guidelines to apply to our churches today. But just as importantly, 2 Corinthians shows us how a real, live, messy Christian community follows up on its successes… and how it repents and reforms after its failures. 2 Corinthians provides an occasionally unflattering but nonetheless optimistic depiction of a Christian community as it really is—and it reminds us of what we ought to be striving for.

Consider these questions as you read 2 Corinthians today:

• How would you describe the mood of this letter? Is it upbeat? Disappointed? How does it compare to Paul’s first letter to this church?
• Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians contained some unflinching criticism of serious problems in the church. How do the Corinthians seem to have responded to that criticism?
• What kind of person do you think Paul is referring to with the phrase “super-apostles”? What would a “super-apostle” look like in today’s church… and is that a flattering term, or a sarcastic one?
• Imagine that you’ve received this letter from Paul. What might you write back to him in response?