"OVERVIEW OF 2 CORINTHIANS"
Notes
Transcript
Background info on 2 Corinthians –
Author – Paul
Date – 55 – 56 AD
Audience – Believers (church at Corinth)
Theme – “Paul’s Defense of Apostleship”
Since Paul’s first letter, the Corinthian church had been swayed by false teachers who stirred the people against Paul. They claimed he was fickle, proud, unimpressive in appearance and speech, dishonest, and unqualified as an apostle of Jesus Christ.
Paul sent Titus to Corinth to deal with these difficulties, and upon his return, rejoiced to hear of the Corinthians’ change of heart. Paul wrote this letter to express his thanksgiving for the repentant majority, and to appeal to the rebellious minority to accept his authority. Throughout the book he defends his conduct, character, and calling as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Wilkinson, B., & Boa, K. (1983). Talk thru the Bible (p. 387). T. Nelson.
Illustration – is anybody on the student council at school? Picture it you plan this amazing event and or get together and as you do it someone brings false accusations against you. That is exactly what is going on with the apostle Paul.
Keep in mind that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians just about a year after addressing the sin that was evident in the church. Now he gets another report about what the false prophets are saying about him.
As we look at the book of 2 Corinthians we are going to see how Paul responds to those who have stirred up difficulty within the church: 1) Explains the ministry, 2) Challenges the church, and 3) he directly addresses his accusers.
How do you respond when you are challenged or criticized?
The question is – “Why are the people beginning to question his apostleship?”
What might have the false teachers been saying about Paul?
b/c he hasn’t gone to see visit the church yet
maybe they are saying that he is not a man of his word
But notice how Paul starts letter off –
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember people are questioning his apostleship and he says “grace to you and peace” what’s up with that?
2 Corinthians 1:3–7 (NASB95)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;
7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.
Now he is reminding the Corinthians that as believers we find our comfort in God alone. It is so amazing that Paul does not become defensive about it, rather, he is patient, kind, loving, and he gives them the benefit of the doubt. How do we respond to false accusations against us?
Now, let’s look specifically at the way Paul responds -
1. Exemplifies His Ministry – 1 – 7:16
1. Exemplifies His Ministry – 1 – 7:16
It is God Working Through Me
2 Corinthians 2:15–17 (NASB95)
15 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?
17 For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.
4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:18–21 (NASB95)
18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,
19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Conduct exemplifies love and joy b/c of God’s sovereignty
4 Great is my confidence in you; great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.
4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.
2 Corinthians 7:10–13 (NASB95)
10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
11 For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.
12 So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God.
13 For this reason we have been comforted. And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even much more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.
2. Challenges the Church – 8-9
2. Challenges the Church – 8-9
2 Corinthians 8:1–7 (NASB95)
1 Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, 2 that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.
3 For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, 4 begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints,
5 and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. 6 So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well.
7 But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also.
2 Corinthians 9:1–3 (NASB95)
1 For it is superfluous for me to write to you about this ministry to the saints; 2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the Macedonians, namely, that Achaia has been prepared since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them.
3 But I have sent the brethren, in order that our boasting about you may not be made empty in this case, so that, as I was saying, you may be prepared;
2 Corinthians 9:6–8 (NASB95)
6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;
15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
3. Addresses the accusers – 11-12:13
3. Addresses the accusers – 11-12:13
In Chapter 10 Paul defends his ministry. Remember that the false prophets have been saying that Paul is a hoaks. In other words he was not an apostle of Jesus Christ.
Defends his ministry
4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 6 and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.
Paul’s point is that everything that he does is based solely on the Word of God.
A True Apostle preaches the Word of God
Problem – preaching a false gospel
2 Corinthians 11:4–8 (NASB95)
4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.
5 For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. 6 But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things.
7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge? 8 I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you;
The people who are preaching another Christ are false prophets.
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.
A True Apostle Suffers for Christ –
2 Corinthians 11:23–29 (NASB95)
23 Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.
26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren;
27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.
29 Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?
A True Apostle accepts all things from the Lord -
2 Corinthians 12:7–10 (NASB95)
7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!
8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
SO WHAT?
How are you responding when you are criticized?
Discussion questions -
How do you respond when criticized?
How should you respond as a believer? (use the Scriptures)
How would an unbeliever respond?