2 Corinthians is a deeply personal letter.  Paul is less the doctrine-teacher, more the man pouring out his heart to a church rejecting him and “his” gospel.  To understand the situation let’s reconstruct events . . .

Paul planted the Corinthian church on his second missionary journey (50 or 51 A.D.)  After 1 ½ years in Corinth, he went to Ephesus for 2 ½ years.  While there, Paul received reports of divisions in the Corinthian church.  Additionally, three men from Corinth brought him a letter from Corinth asking questions about Christian belief and behavior.  Late 54 A.D., Paul wrote 1 Corinthians in response.

Paul sent the letter with Timothy, who found the situation in Corinth worse than expected.  Consequently, Paul made an urgent visit in spring 55 A.D..  It became a “painful” one (2 Corinthians 2:1).  The Corinthians had ignored Paul’s letter (1 Corinthians) and embraced new leaders who belittled Paul and mocked his apostleship.

Paul remained only briefly in Corinth and returned to Ephesus.  From there, probably in the summer of 55 A.D., Paul wrote another letter (2 Corinthians 2:4,9) rebuking the Corinthians (the so-called “lost letter”).  Titus delivered it.

Meanwhile, Paul remained in Ephesus where he faced intense opposition (2 Corinthians 1:8-10).  In late 55 A.D. he left and went to Troas, hoping to meet Titus to hear how the church had responded to his rebuke-letter.  Titus wasn’t there.  Paul went on to Macedonia.  Finally, Titus arrived with some good news (2 Corinthians 7:5ff) and some bad.  The Corinthians had responded well, but a  group of “false apostles” had taken over the church and undermined Paul’s apostleship and authority.

So, in late 55 or early 56 A.D. Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, hoping to prepare the church for his final visit to them.

After greeting them (“What’s in a Salutation?” https://theoldpreacher.com/whats-in-a-salutation/) Paul expresses praise to God . . .

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God (2 Corinthians 1:3,4).

Paul is writing personally, not doctrinally.  Only secondarily is he teaching (praising) God’s nature.  Primarily he’s relating his experience.  In all his “troubles” (Greek, thlipsis—“pressure, affliction, oppression”) he’s been comforted (Greek, parakaleo—a coming alongside to relieve sorrow and distress) by “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.”

This is a bold beginning for Paul’s letter.  To the Corinthians, being “spiritual” means living above or apart from “troubles.”  Paul not only admits troubles, but affirms in them God is particularly at work.

God’s got a purpose:  “so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”  The successful “spiritual” life is not affliction-free.  Believers face affliction, and God uses troubles to equip his people to minister comfort to one another.

For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort (2 Corinthians 1:5-7).

Why must believers endure “troubles”?  “ . . . the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives . . . “  The treatment Jesus endured is the same treatment those who are his must.  It’s the nature of the Christian life.

But, I suffer illness, not persecution.  Is this still “the sufferings of Christ”?  Do they test my faith in him?  Then, yes, they are “the sufferings of Christ.”

Paul claims that this personal suffering helps equip him for ministry.  And, by the comfort he’s able to pass along, they are enabled to patiently endure “the same sufferings we suffer.”

Hear now how the apostle opens his heart to the church . . .

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.  He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many (2 Corinthians 1:8-11).

Paul couldn’t state his affliction “in the province of Asia” (probably the Ephesus city-wide riot against him–Acts 19:21-41 )  more honestly and humbly—“under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of lie . . . in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.”  It’s a glimpse into the apostle’s heart the Acts narrative doesn’t give.

Why did God allow Paul such suffering, suffering he couldn’t endure and thought would take his life?  “But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.”

Whether or not Paul is implying that the Corinthians, too, have to learn this God-reliance lesson isn’t certain.  What is certain is that Paul, from personal experience, is saying that such hopeless affliction is part of God’s intention for his people.

Here, by the way, we see that God’s “comfort” to Paul wasn’t merely internal, but external:  God “delivered us from such a deadly peril”.  And, since he expects similar suffering in the future, Paul requests the Corinthians’ prayers so that many might “give thanks . . . for the gracious favor granted us . . . “

We mustn’t miss this:  Paul is using himself as an example to argue that suffering is not a sign of inferior spirituality.  Rather, it is part and parcel of the Christian life—both an occasion for God to reveal his delivering power and an occasion for the Christian to learn better to rely on God.

Which brings us to a serious point of application.

Dr. Sam Storms (a charismatic-Calvinist [!] who pastors Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City) observes . . .

“It is natural . . . for us to trust in ourselves. It is so natural, and so confirmed by the habits of a lifetime, that no ordinary difficulties or perplexities avail to break us of it. It takes all God can do to root up our self-confidence. He must reduce us to despair; He must bring us to such an extremity that the one voice we have in our hearts, the one voice that cries to us wherever we look round for help, is death, death, death. It is out of this despair that the superhuman hope is born. It is out of this abject helplessness that the soul learns to look up with new trust to God.”

And James Denney (19^th century Scottish theologian and preacher) wrote . . .

“How do most of us attain to any faith in Providence? Is it not by proving, through numberless experiments, that it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps? Is it not by coming, again and again, to the limit of our resources, and being compelled to feel that unless there is a wisdom and a love at work on our behalf, immeasurably wiser and more benign than our own, life is a moral chaos? . . . Only desperation opens our eyes to God’s love“.

I ponder both.  Storms says God, “to root up our self-confidence . . . must reduce us to despair”.  And Denney writes, “Only desperation opens our eyes to God’s love.”  I like neither.  Must God really “reduce us to despair”?  Are we such self-confident sinners that “Only desperation opens our eyes to God’s love?”

Based on Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1:3-11, I think he’d answer YES.

For decades I relied on God and “saw” his love.  Apparently not not nearly as much as I thought.  God knew all along that my faith was immature at worse and inferior at best.  So now, here I am, often despairing of  my life as it is–always desperate for the power of God’s love to be revealed in me.  I want to walk.  I long for everything else broken in me to be fixed.  Until then, I crave sufficient grace, the power of Christ to rest on me.

Why this condition, God? This happened so that I might rely not on myself, but on God who raises the dead.

Do I dare risk desperation and  pray, “Teach me, Father”?

Do we dare risk desperation and  pray, “Teach us, Father”?

Salutation.  Not an exotic salad I’m going to reveal the ingredients of.  It’s  “the word or phrase of greeting (as Gentlemen or Dear Sir or Madam) that conventionally comes immediately before the body of a letter” (Merriam-Webster).  (If you’re a texting-person, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about.)  New Testament salutations we typically skim.  Just the same-old greetings.   Let’s get on to the important stuff! But in 2 Corinthians 1:1,2 there’s gold to be mined.  First, though, a glimpse of . . .

CORINTH, THE CITY

First-century Corinth has a population estimated as high as 200,000.  Every race and religion is represented.  Two harbors and a strategic location make it a major commercial center in southern Greece.

CORINTH, THE CITY’S CHARACTER

The city is notorious for morally-depraved living–a Wild West kind of place. Every pagan cult has a following here.  Temple prostitutes number close to 1,000.  “Corinthianize” is a word coined to signify the city’s sexual pleasures.

D.A. Carson (Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) comments . . .

“As noted, Corinth’s reputation is notorious. Among other things, archaeologists have discovered there clay representations of human genitals that were offered to Asclepius, the god of healing. Evidently, the hope was that that part of the body, suffering from venereal disease, would be healed. However, it is important to point out that Corinth’s reputation comes from what we know it to have been like prior to its devastation in 146 b.c. Thus we should be careful “not to read the old city’s character into the new city. . . . [Nevertheless], traditions like that die hard, and as a great port city it is unlikely that new Corinth established a reputation for moral probity . . . “

CORINTH, THE CHURCH

Dr. Gordon Fee (Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia) notes, “ . . . although they were the Christian church in Corinth, an inordinate amount of Corinth was yet in them . . . “

In the spring of 55 A.D. Paul makes an urgent visit to the church to try to restore strained relationships.  It becomes “a painful visit” (2 Corinthians 2:1).  The church largely ignored Paul’s 1 Corinthians’ instructions and are now listening to so-called apostles who oppose and belittle Paul.  Consequently, the church is mocking the apostle:  “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is of no account” (10:10).

THE SALUTATION TO THE CORINTHIANS

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:1,2).

Paul identifies himself as an apostle of Messiah Jesus by the will of God.  His claim to be officially sent by the Messiah according to God’s will contradicts the Corinthians’ mockery.  He’s not to be trifled with.  Not because of who he is but because of the authority of Jesus who sent him.

“Grace . . . to you” is more than a standard greeting starting ancient letters.  For Paul it is a prayer from the heart for God’s favor and power to be released into the lives of the Corinthians.  And he believes God’s grace will be released to the church in the words of his letter.

John Piper explains: ” . . . at the beginning of his letters Paul has in mind that the letter itself is a channel of God’s grace to the readers. Grace is about to flow ‘from God’ through Paul’s writing to the Christians. So he says, ‘Grace to you.’ That is, grace is now active and is about to flow from God through my inspired writing to you as you read — ‘grace [be] to you'” (Future Grace, p. 66-67).

This is remarkable–and brings us to . . .

THE SALUTATION TO US

I watch a contemporary jeans-clad preacher pace the platform,  holding the Bible folded over as if it were an ordinary soft-cover book.  0 I cringe.  I hear him read the text as casually as if it were the “The New York Times”.  And I wonder how anyone can read God’s words like that.

Some preachers attract such attention to themselves that they would accomplish more if they just reverently read the Bible to their listeners.  I’m certainly not putting down preaching.  But what’s important is God’s words, not the preacher’s. 

To say it another way, God’s grace comes to us through God’s words.

So it is when we read his words.  “Grace . . . to you”, wrote Paul–expecting that God’s favor and power would be released when the believers read what he’d written “breathed out” by God.

When we open our Bible, we can potentially encounter God the Holy Spirit.  His favor–his kindness we don’t deserve, his preferential treat we don’t merit–can be released to us.  In the same way, his power can be freed to flow.

The form that grace takes is up to the Giver.  It may be increased faith, insight that heightens our wonder of him, healing for our spirit or body,  deepened love for him and others, conviction of sin that calls for repentance, a comforting sense of his presence, peace in the midst of chaos, assurance of forgiveness, a brighter hope because he holds tomorrow.

But we can’t approach the Bible as if it were just another–even religious–book.  Come with reverence.  Come with prayer.  Come with a mind recognizing the book contains God’s words.  Come with a heart hungry for grace.

And come assured that the Holy Spirit through the Scripture is saying, “Grace to you.”

 Listen again . . .

Someday our children will ask, “What’s a letter?”  Texts and emails have taken over.  When we used to write letters, we would often end them with a few “loose ends” and personal greetings.  That’s what Paul did at the end of 1 Corinthians.

FIVE IMPERATIVES

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love” (16:13,14).

“Be on your guard” (or, “Be watchful”) against what?  Preaching that favors eloquence over substance, that elevates human “wisdom” over the cross’ power . . .

“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, less the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart’” (1:17-19).

To be watchful and stand firm in “the faith” (that is, the gospel) requires courage and strength.  This is because new ideas are attractive and appear “progressive”.  To “ask for the ancient paths” and to “walk in them” (Jeremiah 6:16) is to be out of touch with the “new thing” whose newness makes it better.  The faith “once for all delivered to the saints” must be contended for (Jude 1:3).

But, urges Paul, stand guard with courage, stand strong in the faith “in love.”  If the church contends for gospel truth with rancor and enmity, we have defeated ourselves and shamed our Lord.  We can be good at obeying Paul’s first four imperatives and lousy at love.  That’s especially ironic, because the gospel is “the word of the cross” which, in itself, calls us to humble, sacrificial love.

While the faith must be held firmly, it also must be lived out—which brings us to . . .

A MODEL CHURCH FAMILY

 “You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers, to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it. I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition” (16:15-18).

Stephanas’ family put into practice the doctrinal centrality of the cross by devoting themselves “to the service (Greek, diakonos) of the saints” (believers sanctified in Christ). In other words, they didn’t pride themselves on doctrinal purity, but put it in action. Paul urges the church to follow their example (“submit to”) and wants them to be honored.

“ . . . what was lacking from you” probably means these three men provided representative personal contact with the church.  Paul has had no personal contact with the Corinthians for some time.

Churches need families like Stephanas’.  Vital “service of the saints” by ordinary saints is lost when we professionalize ministry by hiring large paid staffs.  I get how busy everyone is these days (despite all our modern conveniences!); but it seems to me smaller churches with more “lay” ministry is much to be preferred to professionalism.

Let’s not romanticize ministry, though.  Whatever form it takes (preaching, teaching, worship leading, feeding the poor, cleaning the building, etc., etc.), ministry (service) in the church is work.  But that’s how the healthy Body functions—with each part doing its work.

Paul concludes with greetings, a kiss, a confirmation, a curse, a word of grace and an expression of love.

THE END

“The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house.  All the brothers here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.  I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand.  If anyone does not love the Lord– a curse be on him. Come, O Lord! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen” (16:18-24).

Greetings from churches outside Corinth remind the Corinthians they’re part of something bigger than themselves. Paul is always concerned for unity among the churches, not just in.

The admonition, “Greet one another with a holy kiss” is interesting, since there are divisions among them. The kiss is a common greeting-form—“holy” because it’s among those sanctified in Christ Jesus.

Paul has made use of a “secretary.”  Now he authenticates his letter by writing “this greeting in my own hand.”  Do false letters circulate purporting to be from Paul?

Paul’s warning catches us off guard, a reminder of the seriousness of disobeying the gospel he preaches: “If anyone does not love the Lord—a curse be on him.”

“Come, O Lord!” (Greek, marana tha) is an early church prayer reflecting the believer’s hope (see 1 Corinthians 15:50-55).  “The grace of the Lord Jesus” is Paul’s familiar prayer-blessing.

With the increase of “non-denominational” churches isolationism has come.  But, like the Corinthians, we’re part of something far bigger than ourselves.  We’d be healthier if we practiced that more.

* * *

Standing firm in the faith is critical.  Holding to the gospel is vital.  Contending for the faith once-delivered to the saints is as important today (maybe more) than ever.  Decades ago “the liberal movement” led  many mainline churches into preaching a virtually cross-less gospel.  Today heresies come less in big movements and more on social media–and less in pronouncements but more in opinions.  So we’ve got to be on guard.  Doctrine (both another word for “teaching” and for “truth”) matters.  We’ve got to be equipped to say (based on Bible), “I believe in . . . “

But doctrine without practice equals legalism.  In today’s text the connection between “the faith” and being “devoted to the service of the saints” seems hidden.  But it’s there–a strong chain that can’t be broken.  In other words, to hold to the gospel of Christ crucified means humbly, sacrificially serving our brothers and sisters as Christ did us.  A classroom where the pastor teaches sound doctrine and students take copious notes must lead to a “foot-washing” room where we serve one another in love.

In today’s world where we carry around voices with all sorts of worldviews, we must guard against error and stand first in gospel truth.  But, if we don’t live out the gospel of Christ crucified, we become just another voice on a so-called smart phone.