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The Story Behind 2 Corinthians
The Apostle Paul hardly needs introduction to anyone who is remotely familiar with the Bible or the Christian faith. But
perhaps we do not know him quite so well as we think we do. We know Paul was a persecutor of the early church—
standing watch over the first martyrdom and rounding up Christians for imprisonment. Then he had a dramatic, life-
changing encounter with God. Afterward, he made three missionary journeys, risking life and limb to plant churches
throughout the Roman Empire. We know he is the author of 13 New Testament letters, which serve as the foundation
for the basic doctrines of the Christian faith and comprise half the New Testament cannon of 26 books.
But do you know of Paul’s heartbreak? Most of Paul’s writing is triumphant. Even his letter to the Philippians, written
from a Roman prison cell, is upbeat—filled with exhortations to rejoice. But in this, Paul’s most personal, passionate
letter, we see a completely different side of him. We see his frailty, his vulnerability. He’s up (paradise), he’s down
(despairing of life), he’s all around. If someone sent me a similar letter in this morning’s mail, I’d deem him an
emotional wreck. The beatings didn’t phase him. It was the attacks of fellow believers that finally got to him. He feels
betrayed, rejected. He is deeply hurt by their attitude toward him and he isn’t afraid to let it show.
Paul’s courageous vulnerability is precisely why this book touches my heart so deeply. He was not some robotic
super-saint, but a human being with a breaking point, just like the rest of us.
Paul had founded the church at Corinth on his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1-18). He stayed there for eighteen
months, preaching the gospel, leading people to the Lord, and discipling them. After he left, he wrote the church a
letter (1 Corinthians 5:9), sometimes called the lost letter since we don’t have it. The believers, in turn, wrote to him,
asking a number of questions; plus he heard news about their misbehavior.
In response to this news and their questions, Paul wrote the letter we know as 1 Corinthians. He dealt with a number
of problems and sins in that church, including divisions, immorality, marriage and divorce, offering food to idols, taking
the Lord’s Supper with unconfessed sin in their lives, and the use of spiritual gifts.
When his instruction didn’t produce the desired changes in their lives, Paul visited the church again—his painful visit
mentioned in 2 Corinthians 2:1. Then he wrote another letter that is not part of the New Testament, called the painful
or sorrowful letter (2 Corinthians 2:4), which Titus delivered to the church. When Paul learned the believers had
repented of the sins he wrote to them about, he wrote a fourth letter, 2 Corinthians, telling them he would visit them
again (2 Corinthians 12:14; 13:1-2). Acts 20:1-3 records that final visit.
We tend to read Paul’s letters as doctrinal dissertations. But that’s not what they were. He wasn’t writing impersonal
commentary to strangers; he was writing to friends he cared deeply about, urging them to live differently. In the case
of the Corinthian believers, Paul wanted to remind them that serving God is no guarantee that everything will always
go your way. And on the flip side, just because you seem to have it “all together’ doesn’t mean your life is pleasing to
God. That’s why Paul hammered home the importance of having a sincere faith. The Corinithians already had one of
the largest, most dynamic, prosperous Christian churches on the planet. Paul was unimpressed. Are you for real?
That’s all he wanted to know.
Are you for real? Do you have a sincere faith? That was Paul’s desire for his friends…and it is my desire for you. I
pray this study through the book of 2 Corinthians will help you take a few steps closer toward that goal.
The Apostle Paul hardly needs introduction to anyone who is remotely familiar with the Bible or the Christian faith. But
perhaps we do not know him quite so well as we think we do. We know Paul was a persecutor of the early church—
standing watch over the first martyrdom and rounding up Christians for imprisonment. Then he had a dramatic, life-
changing encounter with God. Afterward, he made three missionary journeys, risking life and limb to plant churches
throughout the Roman Empire. We know he is the author of 13 New Testament letters, which serve as the foundation
for the basic doctrines of the Christian faith and comprise half the New Testament cannon of 26 books.
But do you know of Paul’s heartbreak? Most of Paul’s writing is triumphant. Even his letter to the Philippians, written
from a Roman prison cell, is upbeat—filled with exhortations to rejoice. But in this, Paul’s most personal, passionate
letter, we see a completely different side of him. We see his frailty, his vulnerability. He’s up (paradise), he’s down
(despairing of life), he’s all around. If someone sent me a similar letter in this morning’s mail, I’d deem him an
emotional wreck. The beatings didn’t phase him. It was the attacks of fellow believers that finally got to him. He feels
betrayed, rejected. He is deeply hurt by their attitude toward him and he isn’t afraid to let it show.
Paul’s courageous vulnerability is precisely why this book touches my heart so deeply. He was not some robotic
super-saint, but a human being with a breaking point, just like the rest of us.
Paul had founded the church at Corinth on his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1-18). He stayed there for eighteen
months, preaching the gospel, leading people to the Lord, and discipling them. After he left, he wrote the church a
letter (1 Corinthians 5:9), sometimes called the lost letter since we don’t have it. The believers, in turn, wrote to him,
asking a number of questions; plus he heard news about their misbehavior.
In response to this news and their questions, Paul wrote the letter we know as 1 Corinthians. He dealt with a number
of problems and sins in that church, including divisions, immorality, marriage and divorce, offering food to idols, taking
the Lord’s Supper with unconfessed sin in their lives, and the use of spiritual gifts.
When his instruction didn’t produce the desired changes in their lives, Paul visited the church again—his painful visit
mentioned in 2 Corinthians 2:1. Then he wrote another letter that is not part of the New Testament, called the painful
or sorrowful letter (2 Corinthians 2:4), which Titus delivered to the church. When Paul learned the believers had
repented of the sins he wrote to them about, he wrote a fourth letter, 2 Corinthians, telling them he would visit them
again (2 Corinthians 12:14; 13:1-2). Acts 20:1-3 records that final visit.
We tend to read Paul’s letters as doctrinal dissertations. But that’s not what they were. He wasn’t writing impersonal
commentary to strangers; he was writing to friends he cared deeply about, urging them to live differently. In the case
of the Corinthian believers, Paul wanted to remind them that serving God is no guarantee that everything will always
go your way. And on the flip side, just because you seem to have it “all together’ doesn’t mean your life is pleasing to
God. That’s why Paul hammered home the importance of having a sincere faith. The Corinithians already had one of
the largest, most dynamic, prosperous Christian churches on the planet. Paul was unimpressed. Are you for real?
That’s all he wanted to know.
Are you for real? Do you have a sincere faith? That was Paul’s desire for his friends…and it is my desire for you. I
pray this study through the book of 2 Corinthians will help you take a few steps closer toward that goal.
