Destination The Church in NT Corinth was young and unstable when Paul wrote this letter. The apostle had established a small community of Christians there about A.D. 51 (Acts 18:1-18). Soon after Paul's departure, however, the Church was bombarded with temptations. Pressures from the surrounding pagan culture, especially the idolatry and immorality so rampant in ancient Corinth, posed a constant threat to their Christian commitment. Internal strife and divided loyalties were also tearing the community apart from within. By the time Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, the community was further threatened by outside intruders claiming to be legitimate apostles. These troublemakers moved in during Paul's absence and turned a number of the Corinthians against him, claiming that Paul was fickle, inarticulate, and plainly unqualified to be a messenger of Christ. These false teachers created tensions between Paul and the Corinthians that eventually reached a point of crisis. Paul therefore made a brief emergency visit to Corinth to set things straight, but he was unexpectedly attacked by an unnamed offender when he arrived (2:5; 7:12). To the apostle's distress, most of the Corinthians failed to defend him against this outspoken opponent. Only later did the majority of them repent of their guilty silence and again give Paul their full allegiance (7:9). Chapters 10-13 indicate, however, that a minority of the Corinthians remained impenitent and continued to question the validity of Paul's apostleship (12:21).

Purpose Paul wrote 2 Corinthians for several reasons. (1) He hoped to strengthen his relationship with loyal supporters in Corinth and prevent them from falling prey to the groundless claims of the "false apostles" (11:13) who were infiltrating the Church and attacking his integrity. (2) He wrote to assert and defend his apostolic authority against those who doubted or denied it (10:10; 12:11-12). (3) He sought to resume his collection efforts for the poor Christians in Jerusalem and so appealed to the generosity of his readers in this regard (chaps. 8-9). (4) The second section of the letter (chaps. 10-13) was written to confront the "false apostles" (11:13) and their Corinthian followers. Paul warns that he will "not spare" (13:2) these detractors if they persist in their opposition to his ministry. (5) Paul also wrote to inform the Corinthians of his plan to visit them for a third time (12:14; 13:1).

Themes and Characteristics Second Corinthians is a deeply personal and emotional letter. This makes it sometimes difficult to follow, but it gives us a rare glimpse of both the tenderness and the tenacity of Paul. He was a spiritual father going through the painful experience of his own children rising up against him and going their own way. The highs and lows of this experience are stamped into the first and second halves of the letter: early on Paul is bursting with joy to hear that some of the Corinthians are turning back to him (chaps. 17), but later his anger and frustration return when he remembers that others are still acting in defiance (chaps. 10-13). Throughout the letter Paul makes use of the rhetorical arts to affirm and encourage the faithful as well as to denounce and expose the malice of his detractors for what it is.

In its content, 2 Corinthians is mainly an apologetic letter. Apart from chapters 8-9, where he urges readers to make a generous donation for the poor, Paul directs most of his energy to a sustained defense of his apostolic authority. He has no desire to do this, but missionary intruders have backed him into a corner and forced him to fight his way out (10:11). First, Paul stresses that God has qualified him for ministry (3:4-6), just as he had qualified Moses to shepherd the people of Israel. This bold comparison actually works to Paul's advantage: through the ministry of Moses, death came to faithless Israel; but through the ministry of the apostle, the Spirit is poured out in a powerful and life-giving way upon the people of the New Covenant (3:7-18). The Corinthians are living proof of this effect, having received the Spirit through the apostolic actions of Paul (3:23). Second, Paul brings up again and again his own experience of suffering as the credentials of which he is most proud (1:5-11; 2:4; 4:7-12; 6:48; 7:5; 11:23-29). This is to emphasize that God alone deserves the credit for his missionary successes (1:21-22; 5:18; 10:17). Unlike the false teachers (11:21), he boasts, not in himself, but in the power of grace made effective through his weaknesses (12:9-10). By reasserting his authority as an ambassador of Christ (5:20), Paul hopes to avoid a further confrontation with the Corinthians, which would force him to use this authority in a disciplinary way (13:10). «

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