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CORINTHIANS, SECOND LETTER TO THE

Part of Paul’s correspondence with Christians in the capital city of Roman Achaia.

2 Corinthians is the most personal of Paul’s letters, yet also the most difficult to interpret. In terms of ancient epistolary theory, it is a mixed letter; it contains not just one literary and rhetorical style but a number of different styles and elements, including irony, self-defense, self-praise, rebukes, threats, attacks, counterattacks, prayers, appeals, and exhortations. The document also appears rather disjointed. For example, 6:14–7:1 seems to be a digression that interrupts the appeal that begins in 6:11-13 and resumes in 7:2-4. Yet 6:11–7:4 itself appears to belong to a much longer digression that begins in 2:14. The document also contains two lengthy discussions of the collection for the Jerusalem church (chs. 8–9), with the second commencing in a way that seems to ignore the preceding discussion (9:1). The tone of the document also varies considerably. In ch. 7, e.g., Paul is joyful and conciliatory, expressing confidence in the Corinthians and praising their penitence and obedience. By contrast, in chs. 10–13 Paul is ironic and argumentative, fearful about the Corinthians’ devotion to Christ and castigating them for their impenitence and disobedience. Such digressions, repetitions, and differences in tone and style have led many scholars to conclude that 2 Corinthians is a composite document containing fragments of at least two and perhaps as many as five letters.

Disparate conclusions about the number of letters contained in 2 Corinthians have led to different reconstructions of the history of Paul’s contact and correspondence with the Corinthian church. The church in Corinth was founded by Paul, with the assistance of Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy, on his so-called second missionary journey in ca. 50 c.e. (1:19; Acts 18:1-17). According to Acts 18:11, this initial visit to Corinth lasted about 18 months, during which time he wrote 1 Thessalonians and, if genuine, 2 Thessalonians. Following his departure from Corinth, Paul traveled eastward to Ephesus in Asia Minor (Acts 18:18-21), which was to become the focus of his evangelistic efforts on his third missionary journey (19:1). All of Paul’s subsequent contact with the Corinthian church derives from this later period, which lasted some three years (Acts 20:31). This contact includes at least four letters to Corinth by Paul, at least one letter to Paul by the Corinthians (1 Cor. 7:1), two subsequent trips by Paul to the city (2 Cor. 2:1; 12:14; 13:1-2; Acts 20:2-3) as well as other trips made to Corinth by his envoys Timothy (1 Cor. 4:17; 16:10-11) and Titus (2 Cor. 7:6-7; 8:6; 12:18), and at least two trips to Paul made by people who either lived in Corinth or had visited the city (1 Cor. 1:11; 16:17).

Paul’s first letter to Corinth dealt, at least in part, with the issue of associating with the sexually immoral (1 Cor. 5:9). This letter, usually referred to as Letter A or the “Previous Letter,” is almost certainly lost, although some scholars believe that a fragment is preserved in 6:14–7:1. In this letter Paul enjoined the Corinthians not to associate with sexually immoral members of the Christian community (cf. Eph. 5:3-7), but the Corinthians understood him to be commanding their social separation from immoral pagans. Paul clarifies his intended meaning and addresses a number of other issues in his second letter to Corinth, the canonical 1 Corinthians (Letter B). This letter, occasioned by an oral report about the Corinthian church from Chloe’s people (1 Cor. 1:11) as well as a letter from the Corinthians themselves (7:1), was written from Ephesus ca. 54 (1 Cor. 16:8). About the same time as Letter B, Paul sent Timothy to Corinth, anticipating that his co-worker would return in time to accompany him on a trip through Macedonia to Corinth (1 Cor. 4:17; 16:5-11). Precisely what happens following the dispatch of Timothy and Letter B is unclear, and all reconstructions of this later period of Paul’s contact with Corinth involve inference and conjecture.

Most interpreters assume that Timothy returned to Paul in Ephesus with a disturbing report about the situation in Corinth. The troubles presumably involved the continuation of some problems addressed in Letter B (12:20-21) as well as the inception of new problems. The situation was sufficiently serious to prompt Paul to postpone or change the travel plans he had announced in 1 Cor. 16:5, when he had anticipated traveling to Corinth by way of Macedonia. He now traveled directly to Corinth in order to deal with the problems in person. Unfortunately, this second visit was a disaster; the problems were compounded rather than solved. What made this visit so painful for Paul is unknown (2:1-5). The prevailing view is that someone at Corinth, either a member of the congregation or an outsider, confronted Paul and inflicted some gross insult on him that raised serious questions about his apostolic authority. Some scholars, however, suggest that the offender was identical with the incestuous man of 1 Cor. 5; ; others contend that the painful episode involved money, namely, that someone either accused Paul of embezzlement or stole money from him that had been deposited with the apostle for the Jerusalem collection.

In any case, Paul left Corinth with the problems unresolved. Instead of returning to Corinth soon thereafter, as he had once intended (1:15-16), he wrote an emotionally charged letter in which he dealt decisively with the rapidly deteriorating situation. This letter (Letter C), usually called either the “Severe Letter” or the “Letter of Tears” (2:3-4; 7:8-12), was written either in Macedonia (1:16) or Ephesus (to which he eventually returned), and carried to Corinth by Titus. After sending the letter, Paul began to worry about how it would be received. He eventually left Ephesus and traveled to Troas, where he expected to meet Titus and receive his co-worker’s report. Filled with so much anxiety that he could not even take advantage of the opportunity to evangelize the city, he left Troas and went to Macedonia in search of Titus (2:12-13). When they eventually met, Titus gave Paul good news about the salutary effects of the Severe Letter (7:15-16). Consoled by Titus’ report, Paul now wrote a fourth letter (Letter D) in which he expressed his joy and clarified the motives that had prompted his decision to write Letter C. This letter was presumably carried back to Corinth by Titus.

The relationship of Letters C and D to 2 Corinthians is a matter of substantial scholarly dispute. According to one theory which has recently been adopted by a number of scholars, Letter C is lost and Letter D is the canonical 2 Corinthians. The great advantage of this theory is its simplicity; all others are more conjectural. The key issue is whether this hypothesis can adequately explain the textual data or whether the text itself demands a more complex explanation. The most serious problem connected with this view is the sharp break between chs. 1–9 and 10–13. Some scholars have attempted to explain the break by arguing that the final four chapters are a rhetorical peroration in which Paul makes a powerful emotional appeal to the Corinthians. Most, however, continue to doubt whether all the differences between chs. 1–9 and 10–13 can be sufficiently explained by such rhetorical analysis.

A second theory posits a change of situation for the composition of chs. 10-13. According to this theory, Letter C is lost and Paul wrote chs. 1–9 after receiving Titus’ positive report. Before writing the final four chapters, however, he received another report indicating either that the situation was not as happy as Titus had indicated or that things had changed dramatically since Titus’ departure. This new report led the apostle to change the tone of his letter. 2 Corinthians is, therefore, one letter (Letter D), but it was written with two different situations in view.

A third theory holds that chs. 1–9 once formed a separate letter (Letter D) that was sent after Titus gave his positive report. Chs. 10–13 are a fragment of a fifth letter (Letter E), written after Paul received a new and negative report. A variant of this theory holds that chs. 1–8 are Letter D, and ch. 9 is the fragment of a separate letter about the collection (Letter E); on this view, the envoy who carried this letter returned to Paul with the news about the dire developments in Corinth. Chs. 10–13 are thus Letter F, written in response to this troubling report.

Whereas all of the previously mentioned theories regard Paul’s Severe Letter as lost, a fourth theory considers chs. 10–13 to be a fragment of that letter. Chs. 10–13 are thus Letter C, written chronologically prior to chs. 1–9 (Letter D). In this case, the Corinthian correspondence ends on a happy note.

The same is true for a fifth theory, which, however, is considerably more complex. According to this theory, Paul’s third letter to Corinth was not the Severe Letter but a letter in which the apostle defended himself against charges leveled against him by opponents. This letter, preserved (except for its epistolary pre- and postscripts) in 2:14–6:13; 7:2-4, is Letter C. The failure of this first apology prompted Paul’s painful visit to Corinth, after which he wrote the Severe Letter (Letter D), a second apology which is almost entirely preserved in chs. 10–13. This led to the Corinthians’ repentance and Paul’s fifth letter (Letter E) to them, a letter of reconciliation contained in 1:1–2:13; 7:15-16 (and 13:11-13). Following this reconciliation, Paul wrote two administrative letters, both about the collection. One of these (Letter F, to Corinth) is preserved in ch. 8, and the other (Letter G, to Achaia) in ch. 9.

According to all five theories, Paul came to Corinth not long after writing the last of his letters to the church there. This was his third visit, during which he wrote his letter to the Romans and finalized plans to journey to Jerusalem with the collection. That he was willing to leave the Aegean area indicates that he was successful in defending himself against the charges against him by his opponents, a group of Jewish Christian missionaries (11:22-23) whom he repudiates as false apostles (ch. 13). Whether these opponents were Judaizers, Gnostics, or Hellenistic-Jewish propagandists is debated, as is the time of their arrival in Corinth. Whatever their theology or time of arrival, they aggravated the problems that Paul encountered in dealing with the Corinthians. Although this was an extremely traumatic time in the apostle’s life, Paul’s interactions with the Corinthians and his opponents gave both form and substance to his whole theology.

One final issue is the relationship of 6:14–7:1 to Paul’s theology. This section interrupts Paul’s appeal in 6:11-13 and 7:2-4, contains a large number of words not found elsewhere in Paul’s letters, and has affinities to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Those who defend Paul’s authorship of this section offer diverse explanations, with some suggesting that it is a fragment of the “Previous Letter” mentioned in 1 Cor. 5:9, and others arguing that it is a digression in which Paul deliberately uses unusual and highly emotional language to address a problem in Corinth. Others hold that the section is non-Pauline in origin, but differ as to whether Paul himself or a later editor inserted it. Still others regard the passage as originally anti-Pauline, reflecting the theology of Paul’s opponents. The continuing debates about this and other parts of 2 Corinthians suggest that this document will continue to receive attention as one of the most fascinating pieces of early Christian literature.

Bibliography. P. Barnett, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. NICNT (Grand Rapids, 1997); H. D. Betz, 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. Herm (Philadelphia, 1985); V. P. Furnish, II Corinthians. AB 32A (Garden City, 1984); R. P. Martin, 2 Corinthians. WBC 40 (Waco, 1986); M. E. Thrall, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, 1. ICC (Edinburgh, 1994); B. Witherington, III, Conflict and Community in Corinth (Grand Rapids, 1995).

John T. Fitzgerald

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

CORINTHIANS, SECOND LETTER TO THE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)