2 Corinthians - Lesson 1A

• This morning, we begin our journey through yet another book of the Bible, and, if you have been here very long, you know the beginning of any new book, letter, or epistle is my favorite part. Mainly because I love history but also because without the introduction or background of the letter or book, you have no context.

  • And without context - you can’t properly apply the scriptures.

• Context is key, and without it you run an extremely high risk of losing the meaning and substance of what God is conveying. Another way to say it is, without context you lose the maximization of the life-changing and mind-transforming power that lay within the pages of God's Holy Manuscript.

  • Remember, Context - Context – Context. Without it, you may end up wandering down a path that leads you to an unhealthy view of who God is, and how He operates. And certainly, this is the case for many of the modern-day 21st century churches and pastors.

• Now having said that, there may be no other book of the New Testament that more clearly articulates what I am trying to say about context than 2 Corinthians.

  • And why? Well because 2 Corinthians is difficult to read and study, especially if you don’t have the contextual background to the letter.

  • The famed British Biblical Scholar C.K. Barnett said that 2 Corinthians “was surely the most difficult book in the New Testament” – he meant it was the most difficult to interpret.

    • Which means if you simply picked it up and read it, without studying its background and history, you would most likely end up frustrated and confused, which would then lead you to put it down and possibly never look at it again. And obviously, that’s not what we want.

    • And so, for that reason, it’s important we understand the background to any Book or letter we read in scripture. So, that is where we will begin this morning – with a background introduction.

• By now you should know, Paul wrote both 1st and 2nd Corinthians. But he didn’t write them consecutively. He wrote 1 Corinthians first - but then wrote 2 Corinthians somewhere between his writings of 1 Corinthians and Romans, which is significant for reasons we will discuss later.

  • Unlike 1 Corinthians and Romans though, 2 Corinthians is very different. Whereas 1 Corinthians and Romans are in their own way systematic and orderly, 2 Corinthians (at least on the surface) is not.

  • Matter a fact, it will prove to be uneven and digressive, which has led some scholars to suggest that 2 Corinthians was really a just a collection of letters put together later as a single letter.

  • This morning, as we journey through the introduction of this letter, we are going to discover the why, as in “Why was Paul’s 2 letter to the Corinthians a more difficult read than any of his other letters?”

• But before we delve too deep into that topic, let me start by saying the pages of this letter contain a story about people, church people or Christians to be exact. And what we are going to discover about these people is that they are no different than the Church People or Christians of today, at least as it relates to their behavior.

  • Christians today honestly act no differently than they did in Paul’s day, and we will see that all too clear in our studies. This fact clues us in on something. It clues in on a simple, but guaranteed truth about people.

  • And that is, people are people, and it makes no difference what year, century, or decade they lived in. At our core all humans, (even those we consider the best of humans) are selfish, self-centered, self -loving, and self-serving.

  • And Paul, as well as many other writers of the scriptures, highlight this very fact over and over again, it’s just a truth of humanity. And it’s the one thing you can count on with people.

  • Paul explains it this way in Romans 3:9-10, when he says:

Romans 3:9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; 
Romans 3:10 as it is written: “THERE IS NO RIGHTEOUS PERSON, NOT EVEN ONE;

• Isaiah describes us another way in Isaiah 64:6:

Isaiah 64:6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf.

• Now, you may be sitting here this morning and saying to yourself yea, yea, yea – I get it – we all know this. Get on with it preacher. And if that is the case you need to hold up a minute, because understanding who we truly are (our standing if you will) “In the sight of a Holy and Righteous God” is extremely important.

  • Because if you don’t truly understand your position before God, you can never move forward in your Spiritual Growth and Maturity. You see, if you strip sin down to its lowest common denominator, you will discover that whatever problem or struggle you may have, whatever burden you have been called to bear; All sins find at their root - at their core - an issue the Bible calls pride - which by the way is the opposite of humility.

  • The only way a Christian can overcome sin is by increasing humility. That is the panacea for sin – humility. And so, if that’s the case then the question is, ‘How do I obtain or gain more humility?’

    • You obtain it when you understand who you are in the sight of a Holy and Righteous God. That you are a slave of God - a bond servant. You obtain it when you realize that you are as sorry as the next person - (no matter who they may be).

    • But here’s the deal. You cannot intellectually arrive at this conclusion on your own. It is simply not humanly possible. It requires divine revelation which can only be obtained by God, through His Holy Word.

• When God’s word begins to take hold of your life it’s then, and only then, that your Christian life begins to take shape – and it’s then, and only then, you become a powerful tool or instrument that God uses for His Glory.

  • God’s process of bringing you into a place of humility can only take place when you understand your position before God, and that only happens when you hear directly from Him. That’s when you begin to grow Spiritually.

  • After Salvation comes Spiritual Growth. That’s what we want, because without it, it’s impossible for believers to become pleasing vessels before God. And, if we don’t please God, we will never feel content or at peace, which is an obvious precursor to your happiness. Yes, you may be saved, but if you never mature you will never truly be fulfilled in your Christian Life. That’s what’s at stake here:

    • Humility - Brokenness - Submissiveness - Obedience

    • These are the key essential ingredients to your Spiritual Growth.

  • But once again, how does that process work? It’s all in God’s word. You pray, you study God’s words daily, you sit under a pastor who teaches God’s word, and it begins to transform your life. And then, once that happens, God puts you in the game, uses you in His work inside His creation.

• Now, what does all this have to do with today’s teaching? Well, Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians is going give us a picture of what happens when Christian people inside God's church aren’t humble, and they don’t mature. And, as you will soon see, it’s somewhat disturbing.

  • Now, before we get into the letter itself, I want to do a little deep dive into the history behind this church, its founder and its location.

• First let’s talk about the church itself. This church was established by Paul, in or around AD 50, towards the end of his second missionary journey. Once he established it, Paul then moved on to Ephesus - which was a city on the west coast of Turkey, some 180 miles away by sea.

• Remember, Paul was an Apostle, appointed by Jesus Christ, and He was by all accounts the greatest writer of the New Testament. He was also one of the, if not the, greatest evangelist to ever live, which tells us why he wrote much of the NT.

  • If you think about it, it only makes sense that the man who directly or indirectly established many of the churches in that area and during that time, that he would also be the greatest writer of the NT.

  • And so, as the founder, or inspirer of those churches, Paul felt responsible for them. And, the leaders of those churches, guys like Timothy, looked to him for leadership, guidance and direction, which, once again, tells us why Paul ended up writing much of the NT. Because he was always dealing with church people, primarily their behavior and the issues their behavior caused.

    • Don’t forget, Paul lived in the very beginning of the establishment of the church. This was a time when the church was new, and fresh, which led people to begin developing opinions. Opinions on how the church should operate, as well as opinions on what was right for the church and what was wrong for the church. They also developed theories on what should and should not be allowed inside the body of Christ.

    • Their mistakes are what helped established the NT writings, because they had no NT to guide them. Most of Paul’s letters were letters written to encourage, exhort, admonish, and correct the churches’ behavior. From those letters, we too get our instructions, so keep that in mind the next time you read your NT Bible.

• That’s just a little background on the letter 2 Corinthians. But what about the location? Paul established this church in Corinth, hence the name Corinthians. It has been said that the church at Corinth – of all the churches Paul established – might best resemble the church of today. Its population is believed to be roughly 100-600 thousand people, although the exact population isn’t known.

  • That area has been compared to many of our modern-day cities. One writer described it as a cross between New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. So, that kind of gives you an idea of what type of area we are dealing with here.

  • This church sat on what is known as the Isthmus of Corinth. which was just a narrow strip of land that connected Northern Greece and the Southern Peloponnesus. Corinth was considered a crossroad of the ancient world. It was a land bridge with two coastal ports. The city port connected the Mediterranean Sea in the west with the Aegean Sea in the east.

    • It was known for its commerce, specifically its sailors, and with the sailors came lots of Pagan worship, which, of course led to it becoming a very sinful place. Matter of fact, it became a center for Pagan worship and established The Pagan Temple of “Aphrodite”. The temple itself was guarded by prostitutes. Not sure how that worked, but that’s the way it was. Now this obviously meant that men loved to visit this temple.

  • Paul showed up in Corinth around AD 50, which was approximately 20 years after Christ’s death. Upon his arrival he went to the Jews first. He went to the Jewish synagogues to start a church.

    • But, as usual he was rejected, so he went next door to the synagogue and started his own church.

• After establishing the church, he leaves and heads to Ephesus, where he continues with the work of the ministry. Later in 54 AD he hears some disturbing news about this church. He hears there are divisions and strife breaking out. Shocker I know, which takes us back to the beginning of today’s message:

  • People - People - People

    • The problems always begin with the people. Now, having said all this, we could give these people a little break, because after all, the Corinthian church had no NT to guide it. Only the Old Testament.

    • So, with no guidance, they do what most people do. They invent their own guidance. Right, isn’t that how it works?

• It reminds me of a recent discussion I had with a good friend – it was a discussion about Baptism. He told me that his church teaches that you must be Baptized in Jesus name. That if you were Baptized in Titles – the Father, Son and Holy Ghost – then your baptism was of no effect.

  • Our discussion went on for quite some time, and at the end of it we ended up right back where we started, which was essentially nowhere. You see, his misunderstanding of Jesus’ Name Baptism came from a misunderstanding of Salvation. Specifically, how Salvation works.

  • If you understand how Salvation works (Soteriology), then you will never be confused on the topic of being baptized in the name of Jesus versus the Name of the Father, Son & Holy Ghost. This is why understanding the “Whole Council of God” Is Foundational and Key.

  • If you lack the foundation, then you are totally susceptible to false doctrines and false teachings. Which happens to be one of the biggest problems Paul faces in the Church in Corinth. And for that matter, it ends up being one of the key issues he deals with in just about every church he established or had influence in establishing. It also continues to plague the church today, which is why our government has over 4000 registered denominations on the books.

• As I said, Paul is an Apostle, a true Apostle. And as with any true Apostle, they are always appointed directly by God. They were also given supernatural powers by God, which means if someone tells you they are an apostle today (as some claim to be), then tell them you want to see their Apostolic powers.

  • Paul writes 1 Corinthians as a letter of correction to this church, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to completely solve the issue, which then leads to him making a trip back to the Church. He does so to straighten out the mess. This trip takes place somewhere around 58 AD.

    • It’s worthy to note that Paul wrote Romans during his second visit to Corinth. Romans, unlike Paul’s other letters, was a letter built around theology and doctrine, and it was probably inspired by seeing the mess going on in Corinth.

    • It certainly was a mess, and the first step in correcting it was writing a letter, and that letter is where we get 1 Corinthians. This letter was well thought out and had at its core a purpose. It was designed to teach these church members how to live a Godly Church life.

  • 1 Corinthians has been called the NT principal letter for Pastoral application of theology in everyday life. It demonstrates how important theology is to the proper conduct of Christian life, particularly in the life of the gathering. Whereas Romans was written to preeminently define Christian theology. So, there is a little background on the place where the church in Corinth resided, and a little background on 1 Corinthians.

• But what about 2 Corinthians? Well, that’s a different story. 2 Corinthians is different than 1 Corinthians in many ways. First, as I stated earlier, there is very little organization in this letter. Very little system if you will, which has caused some scholars to believe that it is actually a collection (or blend) of some things of several of Paul’s letters to Corinth. This will become clear as we delve into a review of some history there.

  • Second Corinthians is not the second letter written by Paul to the Corinthians. First Corinthians is not the first letter written by Paul to the Corinthians. They just happen to be the two letters that made it into the cannon of scripture – as intended by God.

  • Some time after Paul left Corinth, he wrote a letter to the Corinthian church, a letter which apparently perished but is mentioned in 1 Cor. 5:9. There are some scholars who believe portions of that letter appear in 2 Corinthians, and we will take this up when we get to 2 Cor. 6. Namely the last of 2 Cor. 6 through the first part of 2 Cor. 7. It’s viewed as some part of that initial letter Paul wrote.

  • That letter had been misunderstood, which gave rise to some remarks in 1 Cor. 5, you may recall, Paul mentions it there, to clear up some misconceptions. Now bear in mind, don’t let me confuse you with chapter references. Chapter references were not added to the Bible until the 13th Century, and the verses were not added until the 16th Century.

• Now, the occasions of 1 Corinthians, you may recall, the household of [Chloe], brought Paul news of all kinds of cliques and problems in the church, which gave rise to the 1 Corinthians letter. It was a response to that visit that Paul writes what we know as 1 Corinthians, which is clearly the 2nd letter.

  • But then Paul receives word again that things had gone from bad to worse.     

  • Paul felt it was necessary to leave his work at Ephesus and pay a hurried visit to Corinth, to set things right. Scholars call this visit the painful visit. When Paul writes about this visit he references coming again in sorrow, indicating that his first visit had been unpleasant, and it failed to clear up the situation and Paul left very disturbed.

    • How do we know this? We look elsewhere in the Bible. This second visit is implied in some of the passages in 2 Corinthians, because we will find there, he is making illusions to a 3rd visit he is planning to undertake, because his 2nd visit is past (It doesn’t come up in Chapters 12 & 13 of 2 Cor.)

  • Multiple visits just goes to show how hard it is for people to “get it”. It was hard for Paul. It was hard for Jesus. After Jesus fed people and healed people, they were always after just one more thing. And that tells us we have to lean on His understanding, and trust in God.

• So Paul makes his initial visit, writes a letter but that first one is lost. After receiving word a second letter is written – what we call 1 Corinthians.  That letter doesn’t establish what Paul is trying to accomplish so prompts the second visit. That second visit (the painful visit) prompts Paul to write a third letter which scholars called the severe letter. It was very severe in tone, and it cost him a lot to write it - (because it’s alluded to in 2 Cor. 2) Had it not been successful, it is conceivable there might have been a final rupture between Paul and the church he founded.

  • This letter seems to be lost but many scholars believe it is Chapters 10-13 of 2 Corinthians. That’s why I am mentioning it because these fragments are viewed as being assembled in what we have come to know as 2 Corinthians.

    • Now this severe letter that I referred to is taken by Titus, who is to return by a Macedonian Troas. Paul is so anxious about its possible effect because it’s such a drastic letter, and he was impatient to talk to Titus, so he traveled north from Ephesus to Macedonian. Titus met him, and to Paul’s relief and joy the Corinthians punished the ringleader of the opposition that’s involved and repented of their sins.

• So, Paul was joyed over Titus’s report, and he wrote a 4th letter, and that’s the letter we know as 2 Corinthians. If you tell your friends we are studying 4 Corinthians this morning, they might think you have gone bonkers.

  • All this is to show why it’s important to capture the background and context before diving into a book. With that introduction, let’s read the opening.

2 Cor. 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia:

• Paul opens with his typical salutation, in Pauline style. He lets his audience know he is “an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God”. Here Paul is establishing his credibility. He is an apostle directly appointed by God. All done by the will of God. Paul’s appointment, our appointment, is by the will of God. Just like we are all saved by God’s sovereign decree.

  • When we understand this, we understand that God chose us. We may have answered the call, but we didn’t make the phone ring. The modern church, subconsciously has this backwards. And when we think we did something to obtain salvation, then it becomes about you. It’s never about you.

    • John 3:16 says God so loved the world (Greek = cosmos), His creation. We are just a part of it. Our position before God is to serve Him, in the capacity He has called us. He saved us with a purpose – so what are we doing with that purpose?

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

• Going back to the second half of the first verse, Achaia was the name of the district of which Corinth was the Chief Church. But it’s interesting, as you notice the style, it also highlights something we all tend to forget. These letters, while very directed, were also generally used as encyclicals. That is they were hand copied and passed around to the churches - a very treasured thing.

  • As this takes place over and over again, those letters end with up “errors” or “variants”. You may find atheists like to take this idea and run with it. But the majority of those errors are simply grammatical – commas, colons etc. The overall variance do not change God’s word – Jesus and His crucifixion does not change, salvation and how we’re saved never changes, the death, burial and resurrection never changes.

• So let’s close with Paul’s words in verse 2:

2 Cor. 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.