Paul second letter to the Corinthians. Even though it's called "second
or two Corinthians" in our Bibles, there are multiple
clues within this letter that it's not the second thing he ever
wrote to the church of ancient Corinth. Paul started this Jesus
community in Corinth sometime ago on one
of his missionary journeys (you can read the story in
the book of Acts chapter 18). And after moving on Paul got a report that things were not going well there. So he wrote the letter
that we call "first Corinthians" to correct these problems. And it appears
that many in the church rejected Paul's
teaching in that letter and rebelled against his authority. And so we learned in this letter that Paul had followed up in person with what he calls "the painful visit" and after that he sent a letter which he says was
written with anguish and tears. And so after all these measures most, but not all, of the
Corinthians realize their arrogance and they apologized to Paul, they wanted to reconcile. And so Paul wrote this letter to assure them of his
love and commitment. The letter's been designed
with three main sections each addressing a distinct topic. So Paul first finalizes his
reconciliation with the Corinthians. then in chapters 8 and 9 he addresses
the topic of forgotten generosity, and in the final chapters Paul
challenges the remaining Corinthians who still reject him. Let's dive in and
you'll see how it all works. So Paul opens up by thanking the
"God of all mercy and comfort" who brought peace
and encouragement to him and the Corinthians during
this time of division and dispute. He acknowledges that things
have been tense since his painful visit, and he makes clear he's forgiven them, he wants an open
and honest relationship. But why had they
rejected Paul in the first place? Will be discovered later in this letter that the Corinthians had
disregarded Paul as a leader: he was poor he earned a meager
living through manual labor; he was under constant
persecution and suffering, he was often homeless and the top it off, he wasn't
a very impressive public speaker. And so once the corinthians were exposed to other, more wealthy
impressive Christian leaders, they started to think less of Paul, they were actually ashamed of him. So Paul response first by showing that their elevation
of these leaders simply because of their wealth and
eloquence is a betrayal of Jesus it shows a totally distorted value system. "True Christian Leadership," Paul says, "is not about status or self-promotion:" Paul depicts himself
and the other apostles as captives slaves to King Jesus who's leading them on a
procession of triumph. Paul's job isn't to be impressive, but rather to point people
to the one who is: Jesus. He then alludes to a recent
demand of the Corinthians that he provides some
letters of recommendation to prove his authority and credentials. And this is ridiculous to Paul: their church wouldn't even
exist if he hadn't started it, and so he says they are his
proof of genuine leadership, they are his letter of recommendation. He cleverly quotes from the
prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel saying, that God's Spirit has written
His letter of recommendation on their hearts as his
new covenant people. The Corinthians shouldn't
need any more proof than that. Now the mention of the new covenant
it leads Paul into a long comparison between the old covenant
between God and Israel that was mediated by Moses, and the new covenant
between God and Corinthians mediated by Jesus in the Spirit. The Old Covenant, made a mount Sinai, it was truly glorious it made Moses himself
shine with God's glory, but that glory eventually faded, not to mention the
fact that the laws of that covenant were ineffective
at truly transforming Israel. But the new covenant, by
comparison, is even more glorious, because the resurrected
Jesus is the very glory of God and He lives on forever, and it's His spirit that's
now transforming people to become more faithful
just, like Jesus himself. Now this all sounds amazing, I mean who doesn't want
to share in God's own glory. But Paul goes on to show how the paradox of the cross turns upside down the
Corinthians ideas of glory and succes: after all, Jesus'
glorious exaltation as King took place through His
suffering, execution, and death. On the cross Jesus
revealed God's salvation, He died for the sins of the
world to reconcile people to God. But the Cross does even more: it reveals God's character: He's a being of utter
self-giving suffering love that seeks the well-being of others; Across also reveals
a new cruciform way of life. And Paul's goal is that his life
and ministry imitates the cross: so although his apostolic career it's been marked by
humility, suffering by poverty, it was all to serve the Corinthians. And so when they disapprove
of Paul's poverty and suffering they disapprove of Jesus too. Paul's way of life and
leadership is actually the proof that he authentically represents
the crucified and risen Jesus. Paul really wants to
reconcile with the Corinthians but he won't let things lie until they've been transformed and embrace this upside-
-down paradox of the Cross. After this passionate appeal Paul moves on to address the topic
of forgotten generosity. So, the Jewish
Christians back in Jerusalem they had fallen into
poverty due to a famine, and Paul is raising money among
the new churches that he started, following mostly non-jews. They would all send a relief gift. as a symbol of their
unity in the Messiah Jesus. And so many of his
churches they werethrilled to give, but the Corinthians, in the
midst of all this conflict with Paul, hadn't saved up for the gift. And for Paul, this
isn't just about money. it's another sign that the
Corinthians have not been transformed by the gospel about Jesus, which, at its heart, is
a story of generosity. Paul says: "You know the generous
grace of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, that even though He was rich
for your sake he became poor, so that through His
poverty you might become rich." He's telling the story of the
gospel through financial metaphors: Jesus gave up His
glorious honor or "wealth" and He lowered himself
to die like a poor slave, so that other people who are
impoverished through sin and death can be exalted and become wealthy through the riches of God's grace. To be a Christian, is to let this story
sink deep into your mind and heart letting it transform you into someone who's more generous, more willing to share your life and
resources to help others. In the final section of the letter
Paul focuses on the main source of his conflict with the Corinthians: that group of impressive leaders that he sarcastically
calls "super apostles". So they came to Corinth
promoting themselves and bad-mouthing Paul as
apoor unsuccessful leader. And at the risk of sounding
self-promoting Paul says: "do these guys really
want to compare credentials?" He can totally take them on. Are they Jewish Bible experts? well so is Paul; he was
a Pharisee for goodness sakes, he has the whole Bible memorized! They want to brag about
their superior knowledge Jesus? Paul is actually seen and
hung out with the risen Jesus, he's actually had visions of
Jesus' heavenly throneroom! But more importantly, Paul has given
his entire life to the mission of Jesus, he sacrifice comfort and stability and he never asked
the Corinthians for money. Unlike the super
apostles who charged alot, Paul earned his own living. But, Paul says, he refuses to
brag about these accomplishments, because these aren't the things
that really matter as a Christian. Instead what he'll brag about is how flawed and how weak he is, because it's in those inadequacies that he discovers
the love and mercy of Jesus. Or as Jesus once told Paul: "My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made
perfect through weakness." Paul concludes the letter with
a sober warning to the Corinthians, they need to check themselves. Their contempt for Paul his way of life, their love for the super apostles, it all shows that they don't grasp
who Jesus is on a fundamental level. They're not living like
transformed followers of Jesus, and so he invites them, once again, to humble themselves
before the love of Jesus. Second Corinthians gives us a really
unique window into the life of Paul and the paradox set
before us by the cross of Jesus. The cross challenges our values, our ways of seeing the world: We value success, education, wealth. But God values humility and weakness, because His love
and power were made known through the suffering death
and the resurrection of Jesus. The cross also unleashes the trans-
orming power and presence of the Spirit, to empower Jesus' followers to
take up His "cruciform" way of life and make it their own. And that's what second
Corinthians is all about.
