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Identify the explicit claims before importing later doctrine or assumptions.
2 CORINTHIANS • CHAPTER 2
2 Corinthians 2
Paul's authority, suffering, reconciliation, generosity, weakness, apostleship, conflict, and power.
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2 Corinthians 2
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But I determined this for myself, that I would not come to you again in sorrow.
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For if I make you grieve, then who will make me glad but he who is made to grieve by me?
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And I wrote this very thing to you, so that, when I came, I wouldn’t have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy would be shared by all of you.
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For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made to grieve, but that you might know the love that I have so abundantly for you.
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But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow, not to me, but in part (that I not press too heavily) to you all.
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This punishment which was inflicted by the many is sufficient for such a one;
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so that on the contrary you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow.
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Therefore I beg you to confirm your love toward him.
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For to this end I also wrote, that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things.
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Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,
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that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
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Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord,
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I had no relief for my spirit, because I didn’t find Titus, my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went out into Macedonia.
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Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place.
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For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved and in those who perish:
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to the one a stench from death to death, to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
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For we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.
PAULINE LETTER
Where this chapter fits
2 Corinthians is an early Christian letter written into specific community circumstances; reading it well requires distinguishing the original audience from later universal application.
Chapter numbers were added long after the biblical books were written.
Read this chapter together with what comes immediately before and after it.
ANCIENT TEXT, MODERN QUESTIONS
Historical claims should be compared with historical evidence.
Scientific claims should be compared with science.
Moral claims should be examined morally.
Theological claims require theological and philosophical argument.
QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING
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What kind of literature is this?
Narrative, poetry, prophecy, law, letters, wisdom, and apocalypse communicate differently.
What historical evidence matters?
Ask whether names, places, institutions, events, customs, and chronology can be independently investigated.
What are the strongest competing interpretations?
Compare serious Jewish, Christian, academic, and skeptical readings rather than caricatures.
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