2 Corinthians

Tyndale New Testament Commentary

Colin G Kruse

• Publisher: IVP
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781783593231
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christianity

These commentaries are designed to help the reader of the Bible understand what the text says and what it means. The Introduction to each book gives a concise but thorough treatment of its authorship, date, original setting and purpose. Following a structural Analysis, the Commentary takes the book section by section, drawing out its main themes, and also comments on individual verses and problems of interpretation. Additional Notes provide fuller discussion of particular difficulties. In the new New Testament volumes, the commentary on each section of the text is structured under three headings: Context, Comment and Theology. The goal is to explain the true meaning of the Bible and make its message plain.Paul's long, complicated history with the Corinthian church culminates in this ardent defence of Christian ministry in general and of his own ministry in particular. Colin G. Kruse provides an insightful analysis that illuminates Paul's contrast of the old and new covenants and his eloquent exposition of the ministry of reconciliation. He also charts a clear, plausible course through the maze of the literary history of Paul's correspondence with the Corinthian Christians.

COMMENTARY

1. PAUL’S RESPONSE TO A CRISIS RESOLVED (1:1 – 9:15)

A. Preface (1:1–11)

Context

Ancient Greek letters generally opened with an introductory greeting, followed by a short expression of praise and prayerful concern or thanksgiving for the recipients. Paul’s letters usually begin in the same way. However, this letter is unusual in that what follows the greeting is a benediction in which he blesses God, not for grace evident in the lives of his audience, as is the case in most of his other letters, but rather for the comfort he and his colleagues experienced in the midst of great affliction. Paul tells his audience that his afflictions are for their comfort and salvation, and that he hopes that as they share in the suffering, they will share in the comfort he has experienced as well. It has been suggested that Paul’s failure to bless God for the progress of his audience’s faith reflects the strained relationship between them, though this is by no means certain. In fact, while Paul sees himself as a ‘broker’ of God’s comfort to the Corinthians, he also looks to them to be ‘brokers’ of God’s grace to him through their prayers.52

Despite the unusual nature of this section, it performs the usual function, that is, to establish rapport with the audience and foreshadow major themes which are taken up later in the letter, including those of affliction and comfort, life and death, and the purpose of apostolic sufferings (4:7–18; 6:3–10; 7:4–7; 11:23 – 12:10; 13:3–4).

Comment

i. Greeting (1:1–2)

Paul’s opening words follow the formula found at the beginning of many ancient Greek letters: ‘A to B, greeting’. But Paul has expanded the formula with words that emphasize his apostolic authority (which had been called into question at Corinth), and by the inclusion of specifically Christian sentiments dominated by references to God: ‘by the will of God’, ‘the church of God’ and ‘God our Father’.

1. Paul describes himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. For Paul‚ an apostle was one who had seen the risen Lord (1 Cor. 15:3–10; Gal. 1:15–16), had been entrusted with the gospel by him (Gal. 1:11–12; 2:7), and in whose ministry the grace of God was evident (Rom. 1:5; 15:17–19; Gal. 2:8–9). It was on the Damascus road that Jesus Christ apprehended Paul, entrusted him with the gospel, and commissioned him ‘to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake’ (Rom. 1:5). While Paul describes himself as an apostle of Christ, he insists that he was so by the will of God. There is a distinct parallel between the authority that Paul claimed and that exercised by the Twelve whom Jesus sent on the Galilean mission. To them Jesus said, ‘Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me’ (Matt. 10:40). Paul’s commission to be Christ’s emissary was backed by the will of God the Father. Paul needed to emphasize his authority at the beginning of the letter because it had been called into question at Corinth.

Included with Paul in the opening greeting is Timothy our brother. According to Acts 16:1–3, it was at Lystra, while on his second missionary journey, that Paul met Timothy. He was the son of a Jewish mother and a Greek father. Paul saw Timothy’s potential and recruited him as a member of the small missionary band. During Paul’s extended ministry in Ephesus on his third missionary journey, he sent Timothy to Corinth (1 Cor. 4:17 mg.; 16:10), possibly as the bearer of 1 Corinthians. If Timothy was the bearer, we may assume he did in fact reach Corinth, though there is no explicit evidence that he did so, or of what transpired there if he did. What we do know is that Titus subsequently replaced Timothy as Paul’s emissary to that city. In any case, by the time Paul dictated the opening greeting of 2 Corinthians, Timothy had rejoined him in Ephesus. That his name is included with Paul’s in the address does not neces­sarily imply that Timothy was party to ‘the vigorous and passionate interchange with the Corinthian believers that is the chief subject of the letter’ (Barnett, p. 58), though it would seem Paul did not think Timothy was averse to being associated with the contents of the letter.

The letter is addressed to the church of God in Corinth. Paul frequently describes the churches as God’s possession (cf. 1 Cor. 1:2; 10:32; 11:16, 22; 15:9; 1 Thess. 2:14; 2 Thess. 1:4). This reminds us that, properly understood, Christian churches are more than just civil assemblies as commonly regarded in the ancient world, or merely groupings of like-minded individuals with a religious bent, but communities which belong to God and enjoy a special relationship with him. Because the church at Corinth was God’s possession, any threat to its purity or its devotion to Christ was a matter of deep concern to the apostle (cf. 1 Cor. 3:16–17; 5:6–8; 2 Cor. 11:2). Some scholars argue that the church of God in Corinth implies that the worldwide yet heavenly church finds expression in local congre­gations of believers (cf. e.g. Harris, p. 133).

Included with the Corinthian church in the address are all his holy people throughout Achaia. The word translated holy people (hagiois) carries none of our twenty-first-century ideas, but reflects the fact that all believers are chosen and called by God to be his special possession.

The Roman province of Achaia covered the southern half of present-day Greece, and included, as well as Corinth, the port-city of Cenchreae and also Athens. However, what Paul means by the whole of Achaia may not be coextensive with this Roman province. In 1 Corinthians 16:15–18 he referred to the household of Stephanas (of Corinth) as the first converts in Achaia. We know Paul made converts in Athens (Acts 17:34) before coming to Corinth, so it would seem that the region he speaks of as Achaia may not include Athens,53 and was therefore not coextensive with the Roman province so named. We know there were believers in Cenchreae (Rom. 16:1), and these are probably included among Paul’s addressees.

2. In ancient Greek letters the word ‘greeting’ (chairein) was used in the introductory formula, ‘A to B, greeting’. In New Testament epistolary contexts chairein is found only in Acts 15:23; 23:26 and James 1:1. In Paul’s letters chairein is replaced by the uniquely Christian word charis (grace), and in most cases this is expanded, as here: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The word charis itself is used extensively in the LXX to translate the Hebrew word hen, which is often found in expressions such as ‘to find favour in someone’s eyes’. When people found favour, it usually meant that the one showing favour acted to meet their needs or deliver them from their troubles (cf. e.g. Gen. 6:8; 39:4; Exod. 12:36; Num. 11:15; 32:5; 1 Sam. 20:29; Jer. 31:2). When Paul speaks of God’s grace, it often refers to God’s love shown in the sending of his Son into the world to effect salvation for humankind (cf. Rom. 5:8; 2 Cor. 8:9), but that having been done, it is now shown by repeated gracious acts of love, help and provision (cf. Rom. 8:32). In the context of opening greetings, as here, Paul is invoking God’s favour and loving care for his audience.

Peace translates eirēnē, which in classical Greek had a predomin­antly negative meaning (absence of hostility). But in the LXX eirēnē was used as an equivalent for the Hebrew word shalōm which carried positive notions of well-being, wholeness and prosperity enjoyed by those who were the recipients of God’s grace (cf. Num. 6:22–27). It is this positive idea that eirēnē bore for New Testament writers and especially for Paul. The peace which Paul invoked for his audience is primarily that objective peace with God won through Christ’s death (cf. Eph. 2:13–18), the realization of which produces in believers the subjective awareness of peace and well-being.

The source of the grace and peace which Paul invokes is God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This reflects Paul’s understanding of God as Father – predominantly Father of Jesus Christ (cf. v. 3). Referring to Jesus as Christ, Paul uses the Greek word Christos, which translates the Hebrew word māšîaḥ (‘messiah’) and means ‘anointed one’. In the Old Testament it refers most often to Israel’s kings. In the New Testament Jesus is the Messiah, God’s anointed one to bring salvation to his people (cf. Luke 4:16–21). When describing Jesus as the Lord, Paul employs the word kyrios, the term used for God (Yahweh) in the LXX, and by so doing he ascribes to Jesus a rank equal to that of God the Father, something that is evident when the following texts are compared:

Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.

By myself I have sworn,
my mouth has uttered in all integrity
a word that will not be revoked:

before me every knee will bow;
by me every tongue will swear.

(Isa. 45:22–23, italics added)

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

(Phil. 2:9–11, italics added)

While Paul uses the title ‘Lord’ (kyrios) for Jesus, indicating his true deity, he rarely uses the word ‘God’ (theos) for him, thus maintaining the distinction of persons in the Godhead, something that found expression later in the doctrine of the Trinity.

ii. Benediction (1:3–11)

3. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Old Testament ascriptions of praise to God (e.g. Exod. 18:10; Ruth 4:14; 1 Kgs 1:48; Pss 28:6; 41:13) as well as first-century Jewish liturgies (e.g. the eighteen benedictions of the synagogue service) often began with the words ‘Blessed be God’, which closely parallel the words that open Paul’s benediction here. Paul identifies himself with his audience when he describes God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and indicates that God, who in Old Testament times was known as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is now more perfectly revealed as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Gal. 4:4). As it stands, this description of God could be taken to mean that he whom Paul praises is not only the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also his God. In his incarnate state, Christ spoke of God the Father as ‘my God’ (cf. Matt. 27:46; John 20:17). All this suggests, as Harris (p. 142) notes, ‘a duality of relation’ between the Father and the Son.

When Paul describes God as the Father of compassion, he is again drawing upon his Jewish literary heritage in which the compassion/mercies of God are frequently celebrated and invoked (e.g. Neh. 9:19; Ps. 51:1; Isa. 63:7; Dan. 9:9; Wis. 9:1). However, Paul’s appreciation of the compassion of God had been deepened by an understanding of God’s saving action in Christ (Rom. 12:1 uses the expression ‘God’s mercy’ to denote the great saving acts of God in Christ as described in Rom. 1 – 11). It is noteworthy that the apostle uses both the noun, ‘mercy’, and the verb, ‘to have mercy’, more than any other writer in the New Testament, and this reflects how important the mercy/compassion of God was to him.

The God of all comfort. With this added description of God, Paul introduces the main theme of the benediction and foreshadows much of what is to follow later in the letter. The word translated comfort (paraklēsis) belongs to an important word group which also includes parakaleō (to ask, exhort or to encourage, comfort) and paraklētos (advocate or comforter). Significantly, the use of parakaleō meaning ‘to exhort’, which was common in both the Greek and Hellenistic Jewish worlds, is almost completely absent from the LXX. On the other hand, the use of parakaleō meaning ‘to comfort’, which is rare in writings from the Greek and Hellenistic Jewish worlds, is common in the LXX. Outstanding examples of the use of this word in the LXX are found in Isaiah 40:1; 51:3; 61:2; 66:13, where the comfort spoken of is God’s deliverance of his people.54 The word paraklēsis is used by Luke in his Gospel when describing those who, like the aged Simeon, were ‘waiting for the consolation/comfort [paraklēsin] of Israel’ (Luke 2:25). The consolation expected was the deliverance which God would provide through the coming of the Messiah. For Paul, the messianic age had already begun, albeit while the present age was still running its course, and it is the overlapping of the ages which accounts for the surprising coincidence of affliction and comfort of which he speaks in the present passage. The final consolation of the children of God awaits the day of the revelation of Jesus Christ in glory. But because the messianic age has been inaugurated by Jesus, Israel’s Messiah, at his first coming, believers experience comfort in the present time as a foretaste of that final consolation.

4. In this verse Paul moves from the general description of the ‘God of all comfort’, to speak of him as the one who comforts us in all our troubles. There are two things we need to know. What were the troubles, and what was the nature of the comfort? It is fairly easy to identify what Paul meant by troubles. In 2 Corinthians itself there are a number of references to the troubles he experienced (1:8–10; 4:7–12; 11:23–29). These included the physical hardships, dangers, persecutions and anxieties he experienced as he carried out his apostolic commission.

The answer to the second question is not so easily determined. On the one hand, it is true that sometimes the comfort which Paul received was deliverance out of troubles. In verses 8–11 he speaks of deliverance from deadly peril, and in 7:5–7, where he describes the events immediately preceding the writing of this letter, he speaks of the release from anxiety experienced when Titus rejoined him in Macedonia. However, it is clear that Paul was not delivered from all persecution and affliction as a result of receiving comfort from God. The references to troubles in 2 Corinthians mentioned above are enough to show that. Nevertheless, it is obvious that up to the time of writing, God had delivered Paul out of all his troubles in the sense that none of them had proved fatal (vv. 8–11; cf. Acts 9:23–25; 14:19–20; 16:19–40).

On the other hand, it is equally true that Paul understood comfort in the sense of encouragement and strengthening in the midst of troubles. This is evident when in this verse he explains to his audience one of the positive aspects of Christian suffering. It is allowed so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. One human being cannot effect divine deliver­ance from troubles for another, but it is possible to share with another sufferer the encouragement received in the midst of one’s own troubles. The testimony of God’s grace in one’s life is a forceful reminder to others of God’s ability and willingness to provide the grace and strength they need. It is this that Paul has in mind when he says to his audience in verse 6 that the comfort he received was ‘for your comfort’. (For unambiguous references to Paul’s being assured that God’s grace is sufficient to enable him to cope with weakness, suffering and persecution, and being encouraged by God to stand firm in the face of opposition, see 12:8–10 and Acts 18:9–11 respectively.)

5. Because the old age still persists, Paul says we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ. The idea of Christ’s sufferings being abundantly shared by Paul or believers has been variously interpreted: (a) Paul experienced suffering in his apostolic work just as Christ did in his work as Messiah.55 (b) The sufferings experienced by Christ are extended so as to reach and be shared by others (Barrett, p. 61). (c) To share the sufferings of Christ is an allusion to Christian baptism (Thrall, pp. 107–110). (d) The sufferings of Christ experienced by believers are not special sufferings, but those experienced by humankind in general, but Christians experience and understand them in a new way (Bultmann, p. 24). (e) Paul’s Jewish contem­poraries expected the messianic age to be preceded and ushered in by a period of suffering. These were known as the messianic woes or birth pangs of the Messiah/Christ.56 (f) ‘Christ, who suffered personally on the cross, continues to suffer in his people’ while the old age lasts (Bruce, p. 178; Harris, p. 146; cf. Acts 9:4–5).

Evaluating the various suggestions, we can say the view that to share the sufferings of Christ is related to Christian baptism has found few supporters. Bultmann’s suggestion that it refers to humankind’s experience in general lacks cogency in the light of the lists of affliction in 2 Corinthians, all of which are related to Paul’s ministry as an apostle. On the other hand, some of the remaining suggestions could be combined. We could say that the sufferings of Christ refer to sufferings endured on behalf of Christ and experienced as a part of what the Jews called the birth pangs of the Messiah, while at the same time seeing some closer identification between Christ and the Christian sufferer. We could, for instance, say that while Christians endure the messianic woes for the sake of Chris...