2 Corinthians
I.
Apologetic: Paul's
Explanation of His Conduct and Apostolic Ministry (chs. 1-7)
A.
Greetings (1:1-2)
- Thanksgiving for Divine Comfort in Affliction (1:3-11)
- The Integrity of Paul's Motives and Conduct (1:12;2:4)
- Forgiving the Offending Party at Corinth (2:5-11)
- God's Direction in Ministry (2:12-17)
- The Corinthian Believers -- a Letter from Christ (3:1-11)
- Seeing the Glory of God with Unveiled Faces (3:12;4:6)
- Treasure in Clay Jars (4:7-16a)
- The Prospect of Death and What It Means for the
Christian (4:16b;5:10)
- The Ministry of Reconciliation (5:11;6:10)
- A Spiritual Father's Appeal to His Children (6:11;7:4)
- The Meeting with Titus (7:5-16)
II.
Hortatory: The
Collection for the Christians at Jerusalem (chs. 8-9)
III.
Polemical: Paul's
Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (chs. 10-13)
From the NIV Study
Bible, Introductions to the Books of the Bible, 2 Corinthians
Copyright 2002 © Zondervan. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
2 Corinthians 1 NIV
1 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 his holy people throughout Achaia:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise to the God
of All Comfort
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so
that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive
from God.
5 For just as we share abundantly in the
sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
6 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.
7And our hope for you is firm, because we know
that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our
comfort.
8 We do not want you to be uninformed,
brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of
Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that
we despaired of life itself.
9 Indeed, we felt we had received the
sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on
God, who raises the dead.
10 He has delivered us from such a deadly
peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will
continue to deliver us,
11 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.
12 Now this is our boast: Our conscience
testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our
relations with you, with integrityand godly sincerity. We have done so, relying
not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.
13 For we do not write you anything you
cannot read or understand. And I hope that,
14 as you have understood us in part, you
will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of
you in the day of the Lord Jesus.
15 Because I was confident of this, I
wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice.
16 I wanted to visit you on my way to
Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me
on my way to Judea.
17 Was I fickle when I intended to do this?
Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both
“Yes, yes” and “No, no”?
18 But as surely as God is faithful, our
message to you is not “Yes” and “No.”
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who
was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and
“No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.”
20 For no matter how many promises God has
made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to
the glory of God.
21 Now it is God who makes both us and you
stand firm in Christ. He anointed us,
22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put
his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
23 I call God as my witness—and I stake my
life on it—that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to
Corinth.
24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but
we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.
2 Corinthians 2 NIV
1 So I made up my mind that I would not
make another painful visit to you.
2For if I grieve you, who is left to make me
glad but you whom I have grieved?
3 I wrote as I did, so that when I came I
would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had
confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy.
4 For I wrote you out of great distress
and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know
the depth of my love for you.
5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not
so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it
too severely.
6 The punishment inflicted on him by the
majority is sufficient.
7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and
comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your
love for him.
9Another reason I wrote you was to see if you
would stand the test and be obedient in everything.
10 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And
what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the
sight of Christ for your sake,
11 in order that Satan might not outwit us.
For we are not unaware of his schemes.
12 Now when I went to Troas to preach the
gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me,
13 I still had no peace of mind, because I
did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to
Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God, who always leads
us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma
of the knowledge of him everywhere.
15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of
Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
16 To the one we are an aroma that brings
death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a
task?
17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for
profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those
sent from God.
2 Corinthians 3 NIV
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves
again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or
from you?
2 You yourselves are our letter, written
on our hearts, known and read by everyone.
3 You show that you are a letter from
Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of
the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4 Such confidence we have through Christ
before God.
5 Not that we are competent in ourselves
to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
6 He has made us competent as ministers of
a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but
the Spirit gives life.
The Greater Glory of the New Covenant
7 Now if the ministry that brought death,
which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites
could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory
though it was,
8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be
even more glorious?
9 If the ministry that brought condemnation
was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings
righteousness!
10 For what was glorious has no glory now
in comparison with the surpassing glory.
11 And if what was transitory came with
glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we
are very bold.
13 We are not like Moses, who would put a
veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was
passing away.
14 But their minds were made dull, for to
this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been
removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.
15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a
veil covers their hearts.
16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord,
the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the
Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 4 NIV
Present Weakness and Resurrection Life
1 Therefore, since through God’s mercy we
have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
2 Rather, we have renounced secret and
shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On
the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to
everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is
veiled to those who are perishing.
4 The god of this age has blinded the
minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that
displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but
Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out
of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of
the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of
clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but
not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck
down, but not destroyed.
10 We always carry around in our body the
death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our
body.
11For we who are alive are always being given
over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our
mortal body.
12 So then, death is at work in us, but
life is at work in you.
13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I
have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also
believe and therefore speak,
14 because we know that the one who raised
the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with
you to himself.
15 All this is for your benefit, so that
the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to
overflow to the glory of God.
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though
outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by
day.
17 For our light and momentary troubles are
achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,
since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 5 NIV
1 For we know that if the earthly tent we
live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven,
not built by human hands.
2Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed
instead with our heavenly dwelling,
3 because when we are clothed, we will not
be found naked.
4 For while we are in this tent, we groan
and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed
instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up
by life.
5 Now the one who has fashioned us for
this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit,
guaranteeing what is to come.
6 Therefore we are always confident and
know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the
Lord.
7 For we live by faith, not by
sight.
8 We are confident, I say, and would
prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
9 So we make it our goal to please him,
whether we are at home in the body or away from it.
10 For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the
things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
The Ministry of Reconciliation
11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try
to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to
your conscience.
12We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are
giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who
take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart.
13 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God;
if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced
that one died for all, and therefore all died.
15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer
live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.
Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has
come: The old has gone, the new is here!
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through
Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message
of reconciliation.
20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were
making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled
to God.
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that
in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 6 NIV
1 As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace
in vain.
2 For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in
the day of salvation I helped you.”I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor,
now is the day of salvation.
3 We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our
ministry will not be discredited.
4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every
way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses;
5 in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work,
sleepless nights and hunger;
6 in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the
Holy Spirit and in sincere love;
7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons
of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;
8 through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report;
genuine, yet regarded as impostors;
9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on;
beaten, and yet not killed;
10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many
rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide
our hearts to you.
12 We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are
withholding yours from us.
13 As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide
your hearts also.
14 Do not be yoked together with
unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship
can light have with darkness?
15 What harmony is there between Christ and
Belial ? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement is there between the
temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has
said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and
they will be my people.”
17 Therefore, “Come out from them and be
separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
18 And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons
and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
2 Corinthians 7 NIV
1 Therefore, since we have these promises,
dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body
and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Paul’s Joy Over the Church’s Repentance
2 Make room for us in your hearts. We have
wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one.
3 I do not say this to condemn you; I have
said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die
with you.
4 I have spoken to you with great
frankness; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our
troubles my joy knows no bounds.
5 For when we came into Macedonia, we had
no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears
within.
6 But God, who comforts the downcast,
comforted us by the coming of Titus,
7 and not only by his coming but also by
the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep
sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever.
8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my
letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt
you, but only for a little while—
9 yet now I am happy, not because you were
made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became
sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.
10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that
leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
11 See what this godly sorrow has produced
in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation,
what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At
every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
12 So even though I wrote to you, it was
neither on account of the one who did the wrong nor on account of the injured
party, but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how devoted to
us you are.
13 By all this we are encouraged. In
addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how
happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you.
14 I had boasted to him about you, and you
have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our
boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well.
15 And his affection for you is all the
greater when he remembers that you were all obedient, receiving him with fear
and trembling.
16 I am glad I can have complete confidence in you.
