Books of the Bible

The Book of 2 Corinthians

New Testament · Pauline Epistles · Genre: Epistle · Author: The apostle Paul · Chapters: 13

Second Corinthians is Paul's most personal and vulnerable letter, written to defend his ministry and mend a strained relationship. In it he reveals his own weakness and suffering, and discovers that God's power is made perfect in weakness, and his grace is sufficient.

Start reading: 2 Corinthians chapter 1

A key verse

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)

The setting and background of 2 Corinthians

Second Corinthians is the most personal and emotionally open of Paul's letters, written to the same church after a painful season in which his authority had been challenged and his integrity questioned by rival teachers. It was written to defend his ministry, to encourage the church's completion of a collection for the poor, and above all to seek reconciliation.

The letter lays bare the heart of a suffering apostle, moving through his afflictions and God's comfort, the glory of gospel ministry carried in jars of clay, the ministry of reconciliation, an appeal for generous giving, and a defense of his apostleship in which he boasts not in his strengths but in his weaknesses. Its climax is God's word that his grace is sufficient and his strength is made perfect in weakness.

Second Corinthians was written to mend a wounded relationship and to reveal the paradox at the center of Christian ministry, that God's power shines through human weakness. In the sweep of Scripture, its teaching on comfort in affliction, on reconciliation, and on the sufficiency of grace has strengthened weary and wounded believers in every age.

The story and structure of 2 Corinthians

Second Corinthians was written after a painful season in Paul's relationship with the Corinthian church, when his authority had been challenged and his integrity questioned by rival teachers. It is his most personal letter, opening his heart more fully than any other, as he seeks reconciliation and defends the ministry God had given him.

Paul begins by speaking candidly of his afflictions and of the comfort of God, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we may comfort others with the comfort we ourselves have received. Out of his own suffering he draws a theology of consolation, showing how God brings life out of death and hope out of despair.

He describes the glory of the new covenant ministry, a treasure carried in jars of clay, so that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. Though hard pressed on every side, he is not crushed, for he looks not at what is seen but at what is unseen and eternal, sustained by the hope of resurrection.

Paul urges the Corinthians to complete their generous gift for the poor believers in Jerusalem, holding up the supreme example of Jesus, who though he was rich became poor for our sakes, so that through his poverty we might become rich. Generosity, he teaches, flows from grace and is not grudging but cheerful.

Forced to defend himself against boastful rivals, Paul boasts instead in his weaknesses, listing his hardships, his beatings, his shipwrecks, and a thorn in the flesh he pleaded to have removed. God's answer became the heart of the letter: my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. So Paul gladly glories in his weakness, that the power of Christ may rest on him.

The great themes of 2 Corinthians

Key passages in 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians in the sweep of Scripture

Second Corinthians is the most personal of Paul's letters, laying bare the heart of a suffering apostle and revealing the paradox at the center of Christian ministry, that God's power shines through human weakness. Its teaching on comfort in affliction, on the ministry of reconciliation, on generous giving, and on the sufficiency of grace has strengthened weary and wounded believers in every age, showing that the Christian life is lived not in triumphant strength but in the strength that God supplies in our weakness.

Where Christ is in 2 Corinthians

Second Corinthians points to Jesus, who though he was rich became poor for our sake, so that through his poverty we might become rich, and in whom God was reconciling the world to himself. His grace is sufficient, and his power is made perfect in weakness, so that the marks of suffering become the very place where the life and strength of Christ are revealed.

How to read 2 Corinthians well

Read Second Corinthians when you feel weak, worn, or wounded, and let Paul's honesty teach you that God's strength shows up most where you are least self-sufficient. Receive its comfort, knowing that God consoles you so that you can console others, and let its picture of treasure in jars of clay free you from the pressure to appear strong. Above all, take God's word to Paul as a word to you: my grace is sufficient for you.

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