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    2 Corinthians: A 12-Week Study
    2 Corinthians: A 12-Week Study
    2 Corinthians: A 12-Week Study
    Ebook123 pages1 hour

    2 Corinthians: A 12-Week Study

    By Dane Ortlund

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    About this ebook

    The Knowing the Bible series is a resource designed to help Bible readers better understand and apply God's Word. These 12-week studies lead participants through books of the Bible and are made up of four basic components: (1) reflection questions help readers engage the text at a deeper level; (2) "Gospel Glimpses" highlight the gospel of grace throughout the book; (3) "Whole-Bible Connections" show how any given passage connects to the Bible's overarching story of redemption, culminating in Christ; and (4) "Theological Soundings" identify how historic orthodox doctrines are taught or reinforced throughout Scripture. With contributions from an array of influential pastors and church leaders, these gospel-centered studies will help Christians see and cherish the message of God's grace on every page of the Bible.
    In his second letter to the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul defends the authenticity of his authority and teaching, helping his readers see that the gospel is full of seemingly paradoxical truths—strength from weakness, life through death, and comfort in affliction. Highlighting how the gospel confronts our own culture's expectations and drawing implications for all of life, Dane C. Ortlund helps us discover the truth that the gospel humbles the powerful while strengthening the weak
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCrossway Books
    Release dateJul 18, 2016
    ISBN9781433547959
    2 Corinthians: A 12-Week Study
    Author

    Dane Ortlund

    Dane C. Ortlund (PhD, Wheaton College) serves as senior pastor of Naperville Presbyterian Church in Naperville, Illinois. He is the author of Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers and Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners. Dane and his wife, Stacey, have five children.

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      Book preview

      2 Corinthians - Dane Ortlund

      SERIES PREFACE

      KNOWING THE BIBLE, as the series title indicates, was created to help readers know and understand the meaning, the message, and the God of the Bible. Each volume in the series consists of 12 units that progressively take the reader through a clear, concise study of that book of the Bible. In this way, any given volume can fruitfully be used in a 12-week format either in group study, such as in a church-based context, or in individual study. Of course, these 12 studies could be completed in fewer or more than 12 weeks, as convenient, depending on the context in which they are used.

      Each study unit gives an overview of the text at hand before digging into it with a series of questions for reflection or discussion. The unit then concludes by highlighting the gospel of grace in each passage (Gospel Glimpses), identifying whole-Bible themes that occur in the passage (Whole-Bible Connections), and pinpointing Christian doctrines that are affirmed in the passage (Theological Soundings).

      The final component to each unit is a section for reflecting on personal and practical implications from the passage at hand. The layout provides space for recording responses to the questions proposed, and we think readers need to do this to get the full benefit of the exercise. The series also includes definitions of key words. These definitions are indicated by a note number in the text and are found at the end of each chapter.

      Lastly, for help in understanding the Bible in this deeper way, we would urge the reader to use the ESV Bible and the ESV Study Bible, which are available online at www.esvbible.org. The Knowing the Bible series is also available online. Additional 12-week studies covering each book of the Bible will be added as they become available.

      May the Lord greatly bless your study as you seek to know him through knowing his Word.

      J. I. Packer

      Lane T. Dennis

      WEEK 1: OVERVIEW

      Getting Acquainted

      When I am weak, then I am strong, says Paul the apostle¹ (2 Cor. 12:10). This is the high point of 2 Corinthians, Paul’s final letter to the church at Corinth. It is also the pervasive theme of the letter. God turns upside down our intuitive expectations of how the world works.

      Throughout this letter Paul upends the natural Corinthian outlook on life, which is simply the natural universal outlook on life—that the way to joy and comfort and satisfaction is to put oneself forward, be impressive, throw one’s weight around, exercise power and authority, have one’s needs met. Paul confronts this deeply embedded natural outlook with a theology of the cross, in which serving the needs of others, even at great pain to ourselves, is the path to joy. Just as Jesus taught that a grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die before it bears fruit (John 12:24–25), so this paradoxical truth is the pervasive and unifying theme of 2 Corinthians—a theme rooted in Jesus’ own experience of life through death and strength through weakness (2 Cor. 13:4).

      This letter confronts each of us with the logic of the gospel, a logic that defies our natural inbred intuitions about the way to be happy. In our weakness, we discover the surprising power of God. (For further background, see the ESV Study Bible, pages 2219–2222; available online at www.esvbible.org.)

      Placing It in the Larger Story

      Jesus Christ has come in the flesh at the climax of human history. Paul the apostle has been chosen by the Lord to be a key player in proclaiming Christ and his gospel to the world. After planting churches around the Mediterranean world, Paul writes letters back to these churches to strengthen them in their discipleship. The church at Corinth was particularly troubled, being tempted by false apostles to believe that Paul’s weakness and sufferings proved he was a fake. Paul reminds the Corinthians of what has been true throughout redemptive history:² it is regularly the weak, the outsider, the crucified, through whom God powerfully works in the world.

      Key Verse

      He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Cor. 12:9)

      Date and Historical Background

      As he wrote 2 Corinthians in AD 55/56, Paul had visited Corinth in recent months in what he describes in this letter as a painful visit (2 Cor. 2:1). Apparently, the Corinthian church had been largely hostile and demeaning toward Paul due to his general unimpressiveness in appearance and speech. Paul decided to give the church some space, so instead of an immediate visit he wrote them an anguished and tearful letter (2:3–4), which was then brought to them by Titus. This letter, written after 1 Corinthians but before 2 Corinthians, is now lost.

      Titus reported back to Paul that much of the Corinthian church did indeed repent and again embrace Paul’s authority (2 Cor. 7:5–16), though the sharp words throughout 2 Corinthians indicate there was a vocal minority still rejecting Paul. Perhaps Paul also feared that this minority would influence others in the church to join them against

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