"I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses..." (2 Corinthians 12:9).
"...he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power" (2 Corinthians 13:4).
In his commentary, John MacArthur says, "A church should not ordain anyone who has not read (2 Corinthians) and commentaries on (it)."
The Theme: Power Through Weakness. The magnificent message of 2 Corinthians is that God’s power comes to people in their utter helplessness and weakness, not in their human strength. So...
Do we defensively show our strength, our smartness, our significance, our success?
Or are we free, even happy, to be regarded as useless, foolish, worthless, weak?
(Related posts: Why Do We Have Divisions?; A Church with Major Problems)
The Problem: Shadowy Opponents Regard Paul as a Fool, as Scum and Garbage. Today, Christians highly honor Paul as the greatest Christian who ever lived. But Paul’s own real life situation and reality was quite the opposite: he was regarded as a fool--a horribly depraved and undesirable human being. To many Christian leaders, he was scum and garbage (1 Cor 4:13)! He had multiple opponents and opposition, who attacked him, criticized him, and slandered him mostly behind his back. In this letter Paul confronts his shadowy opponents who "ganged up" against him with the local church leaders and members of the church at Corinth. 2 Corinthians is a fascinating record of that painful conflict, which is often a sad reality today behind many church conflicts, church divisions, and church splits. No preacher in the history of the church has faced more intense persecution as did Paul, and in this letter he models how to handle suffering in the ministry (2 Cor 1:4-10; 4:7-12; 6:4-10; 11:23-33).
Paul's Godly Character shines through as he interacts with his most troubled church. Paul's humility is evident through out. He describes himself as a lowly clay pot (2 Cor 4:7). He stressed his human weakness and inadequacy (2 Cor 3:5, 11:30, 12:5,9-10). He was reluctant to defend himself when attacked (2 Cor 11:1,16-17,21; 12:11). He reveals his passionate concern for God's flock, both for their spiritual growth (2 Cor 3:18, 7:1), and for their spiritual safety (2 Cor 11:2-4,29). His selfless concern for them is seen in his declaration, "For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake" (2 Cor 4:5).
An Important Principle in Studying 2 Corinthians. Paul's 13 letters were expected to be read straight through, not broken up into chapters or paragraphs and studied section by section or verse by verse. Thus, when preaching or teaching through any portion, the whole big picture should not be lost or ignored. This is true for all 66 books of the Bible.
Time Line. Paul’s relationships with the Corinthians span 7 years. (Dates below are approximate.)
AD 50-52: Paul spent 1 ½ years in Corinthian planting/establishing the church.
AD 54: 1 Corinthians written.
AD 55: Paul made a 2nd visit to Corinth (2 Cor 13:2), the painful visit (2 Cor 2:1) to deal with an emergency disciplinary problem in the church.
AD 56: 2 Corinthians was written from Macedonia after this 2nd visit.
AD 57: Paul came to Corinth for the 3rd and final time (2 Cor 13:1) and stayed for 3 months.
Differences Between 1 and 2 Corinthians. Of all the churches planted/founded by Paul, the Corinthian church was the most demanding. As a result, Paul wrote 4 letters to them, 2 lengthy ones remain, while 2 were lost, 1 written before, and the other after 1 Corinthians (1 Cor 5:9; 2 Cor 2:3-4, 7:8-12).
1 Corinthians deals with major problems of behavior (divisions, immorality, lawsuits, favoritism) and doctrine (doubts about the resurrection). They also questioned Paul’s abilities and authority (1 Cor 2:1-5, 4:8-13). Paul addressed all of these issues objectively and unemotionally.
2 Corinthians, however, reveals a range of unashamed emotional extremes in Paul. He is overjoyed and confident (2 Cor 7:4), yet deeply hurt by their coldness toward him (2 Cor 6:12), by them “putting up” with him (2 Cor 11:1), and believing all the criticisms leveled against him, that he is weak, ineffective and not a true apostle/leader. They believe that Paul is all of the following:
- He is worldly; he can’t keep his decision (2 Cor 1:17).
- He is deceptive; he distorts God’s word (2 Cor 4:2).
- He is weak; he will just fade away (2 Cor 4:16).
- He is corrupt; he exploits people (2 Cor 7:2).
- He is not a true servant of God (2 Cor 10:7).
- He is unimpressive in person, while he boldly talks big in his letters (2 Cor 10:1,10; 11:6,21).
- He is a fool; he is out of his mind (2 Cor 11:1,16,23).
- He is untraditional, unconventional, crafty; he refused financial support (2 Cor 11:7; 12:13-16).
- He is not a leader; he lacks credentials as a leader (2 Cor 12:1,11-12).
Why Christians Criticized Paul. There may be 2 major factors:
1. Cultural differences. Since Apollos and Peter had visited the church at Corinth, the educated Greek Christians were drawn to the gifted orator Appollos, an Alexandrian Jew (Acts 18:24-28), while the Jewish members were attracted to Peter. These southern Greeks, who were fascinated by oratory, rhetoric, intellectualism and sophisticated discourse, were unimpressed by manual worker Paul because of his amateurish speaking abilities. They also felt insulted by his refusal to accept money from them, while he accepted money from the rustic northern Greeks (2 Cor 11:7-9). They also likely didn’t like Paul continually admonishing them about their idolatry and immorality (2 Cor 6:14-7:1; 12:20-13:1). The Jews, on the other hand, were upset with Paul for not championing their conservative Jewish Mosaic tradition. (See below.)
2. Senior Jewish ministers criticism of Paul. Paul does not name or identify these elite, special, superior, “super-apostles” (2 Cor 11:13,23). They were persuading the Christians in Corinth that Paul’s Bible study and theology was bad/wrong, because he seems to dismiss the Law of Moses and promote cheap grace. They also claimed their own legitimacy on the basis of their works, their achievements, and their miraculous/mystical experiences, which they claimed Paul lacked. They also slandered Paul for being personally and morally deficient in many ways (2 Cor 7:2).
Thus, Paul was preparing to make his 3rd and final visit to them (2 Cor 13:1) by writing 2 Corinthians, which is Paul's own defense for why he did what he did. Paul explained why he deferred the 3rd visit and wrote to them instead (chap 1-2). He nevertheless expressed joy that the moral problem which necessitated the 2nd, painful visit and the (now lost) "sorrowful" letter has been resolved (chap 7). He urged that the collection of money for the Jerusalem church (which had lapsed) be revived and completed (chap 8-9). The major part of 2 Corinthians is devoted to answering the criticisms against him by the "super-apostles" (chap 3-6) and their assault on his character (chap 10-13).
Can we overcome our endless need to defend ourselves and prove our worth to others? Or are we happy to be regarded as scum and garbage as Paul was, and be content to let God reveal His power through our utter weakness and helplessness?
Reference:
- The Message of 2 Corinthians, Paul Barnett, 1988, The Bible Speaks Today.
- 2 Corinthians, John MacArthur, 2003, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary.
- Christ's Power is Made Perfect in Weakness (Piper, 1991): Man wants to escape weakness in ease, while God wants us to endure weakness in love. We want to experience power through our strength and smartness, rather than power through our weakness and helplessness.
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