Useful Bible Studies > 2 Corinthians Commentary > chapter 13
Corinth’s Christians were especially eager*. It surprises us just how eager Paul expected them to be. He had just told them that some very severe problems remained in their church*. They are the kind of problems that most churches would need several months, or even years, to deal with. However, Paul wanted the Christians there to deal with all these problems before he arrived. That would be very soon*. Perhaps they only had a few days to prepare.
Probably that was possible because Corinth’s Christians had already stopped their wrong behaviour. However, some of them had not changed their attitudes yet. In other words, they still wanted to do those wrong things. For example, some of them had carried out wrong sex acts previously. However, they had not yet repented; in other words, they had not completely turned back to God*.
In the same way, it seems that the opposing groups in 1 Corinthians 1:11-12 had disappeared. That was good; but it seems that people still had wrong attitudes towards each other*. They needed to forgive and to act with love towards the other members of their church*.
There were some people who would probably not change their attitudes before Paul’s arrival. They were the evil people who had tried to become the leaders of the church*. It would be clear to them that their opportunity to take advantage of this church had ended. They would not want to meet Paul, who would deal strictly with them*. Probably, they would leave quickly, to carry on their wrong activities elsewhere. They would not want to go to Macedonia, where the Christians were poor*. However, Paul had recently established a large church, with some wealthy members, at Ephesus*. A few months after Paul wrote this letter, he warned Ephesus’s church leaders about those men in Acts 20:29.
Next part: Paul’s advice to Corinth’s Christians (13:11)
* See complete article for these Bible references.
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© 2016, Keith Simons.