2 Corinthians - Introduction

In our Bible this is the second letter to the Corinthians. However, it was probably the third letter that Paul had written to them, the second one being the "severe" letter (2 Cor 2:3,4) that "caused sorrow" (2 Cor 7:8), this had followed a painful visit.
The first letter made it clear that there were many problems in Corinth. In this letter we encounter many more. It is also the letter that reveals most of Paul's character. There are several things going on:

• Paul's concern and love for the Corinthians
• The wrong attitudes of many of the Corinthians
• Personal attacks on Paul
• Wrong sorts of apostleship (the super-apostles referred to in the letter)
• Paul's understanding of the gospel
• Paul's personal knowledge and experience of Jesus Christ

Often in life we start to understand something about the Lord, or we experience something of His love and power. Then we experience some difficult situation in life, often the way that one or more individuals towards us, or to some situation, and our joy seems to drain away. Well in this letter we see how all these aspects work together, how Paul relied on his knowledge and understanding of the Lord to deal with a most difficult situation. So we have much to learn from this letter, and we will discover something of the true nature of spiritual power.