Commentary on Second Corinthians (Commentary on the New Testament Book #8)

Gundry, Robert H.

• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781441237651
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

Delve Deeper into God's Word In this verse-by-verse commentary, Robert Gundry offers a fresh, literal translation and a reliable exposition of Scripture for today's readers. Second Corinthians is largely a response to a previous letter that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. This epistle not only praises the church for its response but also defends Paul's apostolic authority. Pastors, Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, and laypeople will welcome Gundry's nontechnical explanations and clarifications. And Bible students at all levels will appreciate his sparkling interpretations. This selection is from Gundry's Commentary on the New Testament.

Second Corinthians

A good understanding of 2 Corinthians requires the collating of some background information. After writing 1 Corinthians from Ephesus, Paul found it necessary to make a sorrowful visit to Corinth and back, sorrowful because of the strained relations between him and the Corinthian church at the time. Though Luke doesn’t record this visit in Acts, it’s to be inferred from 2 Corinthians 12:14; 13:1–2, where Paul describes his coming visit as the “third.” Moreover, Paul’s statement in 2:1, “For I decided . . . not to come to you again in sorrow,” implies a past sorrowful visit that can hardly be identified with his first and very successful visit to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation through Jesus Christ; and apart from the inferred sorrowful visit in the past, Paul’s coming visit would be only his second, not his third. The past sorrowful visit failed to ease relations with the church. So on his return to Ephesus he wrote a tearful letter to the Corinthians, which at first he regretted having sent (2:4; 7:8). This letter can hardly be identified with 1 Corinthians, for 1 Corinthians exudes censure but not tears. The tearful letter, coming between 1 and 2 Corinthians, hasn’t survived, just as Paul’s letter referred to in 1 Corinthians 5:9–11 and therefore written and sent earlier than 1 Corinthians hasn’t survived. Apparently the now-lost tearful letter commanded the Corinthian church to discipline an obstreperous individual who was leading opposition to Paul (2:5–11). According to 2:12–13; 7:4–16 Titus was returning from Corinth, probably after carrying that letter to Corinth. Meanwhile, knowing Titus would return via Macedonia and Troas (on the northwest corner of Asia Minor) and being anxious to hear from Titus the Corinthians’ reaction, Paul left Ephesus and waited in Troas. When Titus failed to arrive quickly, Paul proceeded to Macedonia, where Titus finally met him and reported the good news that most in the Corinthian church had repented of their rebellion against Paul and had followed his instruction to discipline the leader of opposition to him. So apart from introductory and concluding matter, Paul wrote 2 Corinthians from Macedonia on his third missionary journey (1) to express relief and joy at the favorable response of the majority of Corinthian Christians (chapters 1–7); (2) to stress the collection he wants to gather from them for the Christians in Jerusalem (chapters 8–9 [compare 1 Corinthians 16:1–4]); and (3) to defend his apostolic authority to a still-rebellious minority (chapters 10–13).

ADDRESS AND GREETING
2 Corinthians 1:1–2

1:1–2: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through God’s will, and Timothy, the brother [= the fellow Christian], to God’s church that’s in Corinth along with all the saints that are in the whole of Achaia: 2Grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and the Lord, Jesus Christ. For Paul’s self-designation see the comments on 1 Corinthians 1:1. Here he adds his helper Timothy, whom he’d sent to Corinth at the writing of 1 Corinthians (see 4:17; 16:10–11 of that letter) but who has since returned to Paul. The inclusion of Timothy lends support to what Paul will write, and Paul’s calling him “the brother” appeals to the Corinthians’ having recently had Timothy in their midst. But “God’s church” makes plain that the Corinthians belong to God, not to Paul or Timothy, and that therefore God cares for them. Compared to being God’s, the location of the church “in Corinth” is incidental. “Along with all the saints that are in the whole of Achaia” indicates that this letter is to be made available to all the Christians living throughout southern Greece. Though Paul will address topics specific to the church in Corinth, others too need to learn from what he has to say. For “grace and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord, Jesus Christ,” see the comments on 1 Peter 1:2; 2 John 3; and 1 Corinthians 1:3.

A THANKSGIVING FOR GOD’S ENCOURAGEMENT AND PROTECTION
2 Corinthians 1:3–11

1:3–5: Praised [be] the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Father characterized by mercies [= acts of mercy], even the God characterized by all encouragement, 4who is encouraging us on the occasion of our every affliction so that we can be encouraging those in every affliction [of their own] through the encouragement with which we ourselves are being encouraged by God, 5because just as the Christ’s sufferings are flourishing in us, in this way also the encouragement of us is flourishing. God as the Father of believers (1:2) now shifts to God as the God and Father of Jesus Christ, and “our” shifts from “Father” (1:2) to Jesus Christ as “our Lord.” Since Jesus Christ is Lord, God as the Father of him differs from God as the Father of believers. For Jesus Christ’s lordship puts him on the level of deity alongside his Father, whereas God as the Father of believers does nothing of the kind. “Our Lord” designates Jesus Christ the owner and master of believers and therefore the one to whom they owe obedience and worship. God is his God in that he represents God. So the accent falls here on praise to God for his acts of mercy, which bring encouragement. The “we/us/our” who are getting encouragement from him include Timothy (1:1) and perhaps others of Paul’s company along with Paul, but not the Corinthians, as the contrast with “you/your” in following verses makes clear.

“All encouragement” is defined by “encouraging us on the occasion of our every affliction,” and “affliction” goes back to a Greek word that means—when not used figuratively, as it is here—“pressure” (compare the English word “oppression”). The pressure of persecution is particularly in view (compare 1 Corinthians 16:9). No occasion of affliction for the gospel goes unaccompanied by God’s encouragement. So Paul can’t help but praise him. But God’s encouragement of Paul has a larger purpose than Paul’s benefit. It’s that he may be able to encourage similarly afflicted Christians by citing to them God’s ongoing encouragement of him. And the reason Paul can do so is that the flourishing of Christ’s sufferings in him is matched by the flourishing of God’s encouragement of him (“just as . . . in this way also”). Despite the flourishing of those sufferings (they come in extraordinary profusion), there’s no shortfall of encouragement. Paul names his own afflictions “the Christ’s sufferings,” because when Paul is being afflicted as a Christian, so close is the union between him and Christ that the Christ, who by the Spirit indwells him and whom by the Spirit he indwells, is suffering (compare Acts 9:4–5; 22:7–8; 26:14–15). That is to say, just as Christ suffered individually for Paul (and others, of course) to make salvation possible, so he now suffers unitedly in Paul (and other evangelists) to make salvation available. For without its proclamation and consequent affliction by way of persecution, salvation doesn’t eventuate through hearing with faith (compare Romans 10:13–15; Philippians 3:8–10; Colossians 1:24–29). “The Christ” connotes the corporate Christ: him and those united to him by faith.

1:6–7: And whether we’re being afflicted, [it’s] for your encouragement and salvation. And whether we’re being encouraged, [it’s] for your encouragement, which is effective in the endurance of the same sufferings that we too are suffering. 7And our hope for you [is] firm, knowing [as we do] that as you’re sharers [with us] of the sufferings, so too [you’re sharers with us] of the encouragement. Here the Corinthians’ sufferings come to the fore, and the afflictions of Paul as well as the encouragement of him are said to have the purpose and effect of encouraging the Corinthians in their own sufferings for Christ. But how are Paul’s afflictions supposed to encourage them? It would be easy to understand that the apostolic ministry for which he is suffering afflictions brings encouragement to the Corinthians. But the afflictions themselves as a source of encouragement? In what sense? In the sense that they show the Christ to be suffering in Paul’s afflictions (1:5); and if Christ is suffering in Paul’s afflictions, the Corinthians can be sure that the Christ is suffering also in their sufferings. The knowledge of his presence brings encouragement. To the encouragement of the Corinthians Paul adds their salvation, because their sufferings could lead them to apostatize, to lose faith. So this encouragement has the purpose of ensuring endurance—that is, perseverance as opposed to apostasy—for the attainment of final salvation. Paul describes the encouragement as “effective” in this respect. “The same sufferings that we too are suffering” identifies the Corinthians’ sufferings as afflictions for the gospel’s sake, not as the troubles into which all human beings are born (“as sparks fly upward” [Job 5:7]). The firmness of Paul’s hope for the Corinthians’ endurance right on to ultimate salvation rests on his knowing that they share his encouragement as well as his sufferings.

1:8–11: For we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, regarding our affliction that took place in Asia [a Roman province in western Asia Minor], in that we were burdened excessively, [that is,] above [our] ability [to bear the affliction], so that we despaired even of living. 9Instead [of expecting to live] we ourselves had within ourselves the death sentence, so that we didn’t trust in ourselves—rather, [we trusted] in God, who raises the dead, 10who out of extremely perilous deaths has rescued us and will rescue [us likewise in the future], in whom we’ve set our hope that he’ll rescue us even yet, 11as you also join in helping by means of praying in our behalf, so that the gracious gift to us [of our rescue] through many [who pray] in our behalf may be the object of thanksgiving by many faces [= many persons in the sense of players in a drama, since such players wore face-masks]. In 1:7 Paul spoke of knowing about the Corinthians’ sufferings and encouragement. Now he says he doesn’t want them not to know about his own affliction and encouragement. The address “brothers” softens with affection his not wanting them “to be ignorant.” So this paragraph explains what they need to know to make fully reciprocal their and his sharing of sufferings and encouragement. Apart from locating Paul’s affliction “in Asia,” the explanation deals with its intensity rather than its composition—hence, “burdened excessively, [that is,] above [our] ability [to bear the affliction], so that we despaired even of living [and so forth].” This stress on the intensity of affliction will undergird Paul’s defending himself later in chapter 1 against the charge that he didn’t mean what he said in regard to his travel plans.

“We ourselves had within ourselves the death sentence” means that Paul was resigned to, and expectant of, martyrdom. This resignation and expectation resulted rightly in lack of self-trust and in trusting God instead. Against the background of Paul’s discussion of resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, he describes God as the one “who raises the dead” in that God has already raised Christ and will yet raise those who’ve “fallen asleep” in Christ. This description supplies the platform for saying that God “rescued us out of extremely perilous deaths [such as the one we were facing in Asia] and will rescue [us likewise in the future],” so that these preliminary rescues from death by martyrdom anticipate the final rescue from death at the resurrection of believers, including those who like Paul died by martyrdom after close scrapes with it. “In whom we’ve set our hope that he’ll rescue us even yet” re-expresses confidence of further rescues from martyrdom so as to introduce the picture of the Corinthians’ helping bring about through prayer the occurrence of such rescuing. “Through many [who pray]” suggests that Christians other than the Corinthians will join them in praying for the further rescuing of Paul. He describes this rescuing as “the gracious gift” for which many people will thank God. (Note: a Greek wordplay exists between “gracious gift” [charisma] and the “thanksgiving” for it [eucharistēthē].) So thanksgiving to the God who answers prayer takes precedence over Paul’s rescue in answer to prayer. To God be the glory!

PAUL’S RELIEF AND JOY AT THE FAVORABLE RESPONSE OF THE MAJORITY OF CHRISTIANS IN CORINTH
2 Corinthians 1:12–7:16

AN EXPLANATION OF PAUL’S FAILURE TO VISIT CORINTH AGAIN
2 Corinthians 1:12–2:4

1:12–14: For our boasting is this, the testimony of our consciousness that with God’s candor and sincerity—and not with fleshly wisdom; rather, with God’s grace—we’ve behaved in the world, but extraordinarily [so] toward you. 13For we’re not writing to you things other than the things you either read or also understand. And I’m hoping that you’ll understand completely—14just as you’ve partly understood us—that we are your basis for boasting just as indeed you too [will be] ours on the Day of the Lord, Jesus. The first “For” introduces Paul’s behavior as a reason he expects that many will help him by praying for him (1:11). The second “For” introduces a particular explanation of his behavior in regard to his letters. See the footnote to 1 Corinthians 9:15–16 for good as well as bad boasting, and the comments on 1 Corinthians 8:7 for the translation “consciousness” rather than “conscience.” Paul is legitimately proud of having behaved with “candor and sincerity” in society at large (“in the world”), but “extraordinarily” so toward the Corinthians. Several additions keep this “boasting” from degenerating into self-puffery: (1) Paul’s tracing his boasting to the testimony of his consciousness, as though his consciousness were a third party testifying to him and now through him to the Corinthians; (2) his attributing the candor and sincerity to God (“God’s candor and sincerity” being no more godly or godlike, despite many English translations to the contrary, than “God’s grace” is only godly or godlike); (3) the ruling out of “fleshly wisdom,” which in this context means the humanly rhetorical trick of feigning candor and sincerity; and (4) the equation of “God’s candor and sincerity” with “God’s grace,” so that the candor and sincerity came to Paul as a free gift from God, not something Paul ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Second Corinthians
• Notes
• Back Cover