Introduction to 2 Corinthians

Part of the reason is, is that Paul doesn't tell us what the conflict is about.

And so you kind of have to piece it together and get bits and pieces.

And on one side, there's a side of us that says, man, I would just love it if he would just say what this is about.

On the other hand, isn't it beautiful that he doesn't? Well, I mean, listen, there is a...

Let me just, just before we even get into it, when you're talking about a conflict you have with someone else...

You are so tempted to tell them your side of the story.

And at the end of the day, what God sees is all that matters.

And in an effort to be very careful about not skewing someone else's opinion, Paul gives us a good example of telling us about a very deep conflict, and he doesn't give us his side of the story.

And I'm convinced that he wouldn't have written this at all if he were not concerned about the gospel.

It's not his own reputation or his own name or his own authority.

He talks about his apostolic authority here because he wants them to believe the truth.

He wants them not to be swayed from the truth.

And there were obviously some false teachers who were influencing them, who were telling them that Paul wasn't a real apostle.

And whether Paul was known as a real apostle or not was not a concern for him personally, but because he had proclaimed the truth by the authority of Jesus Christ, He needed them to know his apostolic authority.

So when we look at this, let me just give you a broad outline, three sections.

It's 13 chapters, this book.

Chapters one through seven is reconciliation over a conflict.

This is where we get a lot about the story, though we pick it up from other pieces and from the book of Acts and from also 1 Corinthians.

But also, so we look at the second section, chapters eight and nine, a collection for the poor.

What's amazing is that a group that he has a conflict with, you might think to yourself, well, if I'm writing a letter about reconciliation, maybe I'll just not talk about giving.

But he immediately jumps on this subject of giving, which he had already discussed with them in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, and they also were eager to give.

And so that's also a real positive sign and encouragement.

And it's amazing the way he talks about giving in this letter, considering the stress and the circumstances and the emotionality of the letter.

And we'll see that.

as we go through this this morning.