Useful Bible Studies > 2 Corinthians Commentary > chapter 1
2 Corinthians is the second of two letters in the Bible that Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. He probably wrote it less than a year after he wrote the earlier letter.
At the time when Paul wrote his first letter to Corinth, there were very serious troubles among the Christians there. The church members had formed themselves into opposing groups; many of them were acting in a foolish or selfish manner. A group of church leaders travelled to Ephesus so they could ask Paul how to deal with these matters.
Paul was not ready to return to Corinth yet. So, he wrote 1 Corinthians, and he sent Timothy, and afterwards Titus, to teach the Christians there. Paul was confident that God was working powerfully among those Christians. He told them that he hoped to return to them at the end of the year*. In the meantime, Paul hoped to remain in Ephesus until late Spring, and then to go into Macedonia.
During the months between Paul’s letters, there were great changes in the church at Corinth. Paul’s first letter had a powerful effect on the church members*. They chose to obey God; they stopped their wrong behaviour.
At the same time, Paul was suffering very severely. His enemies attacked him both in Ephesus* and Macedonia*. Paul thought that he would die; but that caused him to trust God even more*.
When Paul wrote this second letter, he was preparing to return to Corinth (in Greece) for the Winter months*. He wrote because the Christians there had promised to send a large gift for the poor Christians in Judea. Paul wrote to ask the Christians at Corinth to get their gift ready. After he had been there, Paul intended to travel with a large group of Christians to Judea. Together, they would take the gift.
Next part: Paul’s blessing for the Christians in Corinth (1:2)
* See complete article for these Bible references.
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© 2016, Keith Simons.