Unger's Bible Dictionary: Second Corinthians

CORINTHIANS, SECOND EPISTLE TO THE

CORINTHIANS, SECOND EPISTLE. This great epistle presents the vindication of Paul's apostleship and sets forth in a remarkable way the glory of the Christian ministry. The epistle discloses the heart of Paul and his conduct under physical weakness and persecution from the legalizers.

Authenticity. The internal evidence of 2 Corinthians vividly attests its genuineness. The distinctive elements of Pauline theology and eschatology are clearly seen throughout. However, the letter is not doctrinal or didactic, but intensely personal. Its absorbing interest is a recital of the events with which the apostle and the Corinthians were struggling at the time. A great deal is lacking concerning the circumstances calling forth the epistle, but the references to these events that do exist are so manifestly made in good faith that it is difficult to reject Pauline authorship. External evidence, while not so clear as in the case of 1 Corinthians, yet is unambiguous in establishing the existence and the use of the letter, especially in the second century. Although Clement of Rome is silent, the epistle is quoted by Polycarp. It is referred to in the epistle of Diognetus 2 Cor 5:12. It is sufficiently corroborated by Irenaeus, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria.

Date and Connection with First Corinthians. It was written from Macedonia, likely from Philippi, in the fall of A.D. 54 AD or 55, the same year in which 1 Corinthians was written or in the autumn of the succeeding year. After Paul sent 1 Corinthians, it seems evident that news reached the apostle of growing opposition led by the Judaizing party. Paul was constrained to pay an immediate visit and found the reports only too true. Perhaps he was openly flouted before the congregation at Corinth. Returning to Ephesus he wrote a severe epistle that he sent on through the hand of Titus. Before Titus could return, events took a disastrous turn at Ephesus, and Paul had to flee at the peril of his life. He went to Troas but, unable to await patiently there for tidings of the Corinthian issue, he crossed into Macedonia and met Titus there, possibly in Philippi. The news, happily, was reassuring. He then wrote a second epistle and sent it on by Titus and others.

Value. The letter is chiefly of value in showing us the concern of the apostle for his converts. In the circumstances of the epistle we find the intensity of his emotions and his great love for them. Second Corinthians is also extremely valuable in setting forth the lofty character and the challenge of the Christian ministry. Paul sets forth his high calling as the most glorious work in which a man can engage. The apostle himself received the ministry as divine, and he accepted it with supreme devotion. Through all the sufferings, testings, and buffetings that he suffered, we yet discern his triumphing in Christ.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Plummer, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, International Critical Commentary (1956); P. E. Hughes, Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians (1962); C. Hodge, An Exposition of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (1965); C. K. Barrett, A Commentary on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (1973); A. P. Stanley, Epistles of St. Paul to the Corinthians (1981).

(from The New Unger's Bible Dictionary. Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright (c) 1988.)

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