Two Bits Media of Kansas City: The Book of II Corinthians

Updated: July 28, 2007

The Bible Commentary

A characteristic of ancient and modern cults alike is the use of secret levels of knowledge. Blind, ignorant obedience is demanded as the test of fidelity. Christianity, however, demands knowledge, growth, and understanding.

Written and compiled by Richard L Zorek. [C]2002-07

II Cor 1:1: 1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia: Achaia, before the Roman conquest in 146 B.C., is a strip of land between the gulf of Corinth in the north and Elis and Arcadia in the south, embracing twelve cities leagued together. The Achaean League was prominent in the struggle of the Greeks against Roman domination. It is probably due to this fact that the name was afterwards extended to the whole country south of Macedonia and Illyricum, corresponding approximately to modern Greece. During the Roman period Achaia was usually governed as a senatorial province. The Governor was an ex-Praetor of Rome, and bore the title of Proconsul. Corinth was the capital. When St. Paul came into Achaia (Acts 18), Gallio, a brother of Seneca, was proconsul. His refusal to interfere in the religious affairs of the Jews and the tolerance of his administration favoured the spread of Christianity. In Corinth the Apostle founded a flourishing church.

II Cor 1:3: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, The Greek word for "comfort" is parakaleo, which means "to call alongside of." The Holy Spirt if called the Paraclete. When Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, He said, "I will not leave you comfortless."

II Cor 1:9: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God that raiseth the dead By ourselves we should have been sentenced to death for our sins and transgressions. God changed that.

II Cor 2: 11: in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. Unforgiveness gives satan an edge to outwit us.

II Cor 2:14: "Now thanks be unto God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." These words reverbate constantly in the depth of Paul's being. He knows that his cultural activity will not be in vain in the Lord.

II Cor 3:12: "Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech." A characteristic of ancient and modern cults alike is the use of secret levels of knoweldge. Blind, ignorant obedience is demanded as the test of fidelity. Christianity, however, demands knowledge, growth, and understanding.

II Cor 4: 18: So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. It is the conviction of things not seen which is of more substance than the things we see.

II Cor 5:17: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." All such men, new creations in Christ, now members, not of Adam, but of Christ, are no longer members of the fallen human race of Adam, but members of the new humanity of Jesus Christ. They are the justified, the just, who are called to live by faith.

II Cor 6:14: "Be ye not equally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteouness? And what communion hath light with darkness? A yoke is a tie that binds to creatures together in pulling burdens, or in doing work. They also share as one in the blessings.

II Cor 7:9-10: 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. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. Godly sorrow works repentance or repentance is brought about by Godly sorrow. The repentance is toward God...not man. Though it might produce it sometimes, it is not something which occurs as a result of getting "caught" with your "hand in the cookie jar" or something like that. It is brought about by truly recognizing that what we did wrong was wrong before God. Whereas "godly sorrow" brings about repentance, worldly sorrow brings about death. Godly sorrow leaves no regret

II Cor 7:11: For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what vehemant desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter In this way Paul circumscribes what we called the "practice" of suffering, which moves forward with passionate words and deeds. Worldy grief, on the other hand, can lead to death, that is, it can put people into a deathlike, unconnected condition of paraylsis.

II Cor 9:7: Every man according as he purposeth inhis heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of neccessity. God lives a cheerful giver. Do not give unwillingly of both time and money.

II Cor 9:8: And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work." He wants you to have what you need in order that you can not just do good works, but "abound" in them.

II Cor 10:5: Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" Men cannot find God in their imaginations. Only be seeking for Him apart from their imaginations can they find Him. The imagination is spoken of as a "vain thing" in scripture that can weaken or usurp the effectivenesss of the word of God. The word "imaginations" here could be translated "reasonings of natural men." The worlds reasonings are foolishness to God. So we must cast down false reasoning for truth.

II Cor 10:10: "For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible." Paul's personality and demeanor were not threatening, they said, so his teachings can be ignored. Many ministers today are criticized more for their personalities than their teaching.

II Cor 12:7-9: And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Paul, e.g., recognizes that his "thorn in the flesh" is under God's sovereign control. But the "thorn" is "a messenger of Satan". The same phenomenon may be viewed from two aspects. The peirasmon is a trial of one's faith controlled and, even in some sense, sent by God. But God is not the author of the prompting to sin that such trial seems to bring with it. The believer may rejoice in trial because he detects God's good purpose in it (James 1:2-4, 12). But the subjective use of trying situations, the internal incitement to sin in connection with trials and testings, is not and cannot be the work of God Enticement to sin and to impatient rebellion is the work of Satan the physical weakness was being used for Paul's own benefit. The sins of great spiitaul pride, arrogance, and conceit represented far greater dangers, and this nagging physical weakness kept him relying on God, and not himself, for strength.

II Cor 12:10: Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christs sake: for when I am weak, then I am strong. The weaker we feel, the harder we may lean.