Paul's letters to churches were God's plan for us to read the Apostles' doctrine for ourselves, and let God speak to us today. Although two letters, written by Paul to Corinth, currently exist (1 and 2 Corinthians), each of those mentions another epistle. In 1 Corinthians 5:9-11 he refers to an earlier letter warning against sexual immorality.
As Paul starts this letter to strengthen the church in Corinth, he reflects on the amazing way in which God had sustained him through many troubles. He suffered because of his commitment to announce Jesus and live for Him. The Christians in Corinth also struggled. Caught in a pincer movement between traditional Judaism and immoral paganism, following Jesus did not fit either culture.
This letter is the most autobiographical of all Paul's epistles. Why? He did not want to dispense cold advice to the Christians in Corinth; what he wrote came from agonising personal experience. Also, as false teachers were casting doubt on Paul's character, he needed to show the church how deeply hardship affected him and how he relied on the Lord to bring him through. Paul was not just a teacher but an example.
Some people like to blame others when they misunderstand what has happened. Worse, if they have been holding a grudge against somebody, they see their actions through that lens - believing they have found an example of bad character and wrong motive. That was Paul's experience. The minds of the believers in Corinth had been poisoned against Paul by so-called super apostles with powerfully attractive personalities. They said that Paul came and went, but did not care.
Words are easy; actions are hard. When some people want to impress they will say what others want to hear, even though they never fulfil their promises. The apostle Paul wanted to visit Corinth twice – as he travelled from Ephesus to Corinth to Macedonia to Corinth and then to Judea. But that itinerary did not prove possible.
Some sceptics in the Corinthian church were accusing Paul of not keeping his promise to visit them. They said that changing his plans (2 Corinthians 1:15-17) represented a character defect, and therefore Paul's teaching could not be trusted either. Paul needed to refute this. The decision not to come, was to spare them more severe rebukes for their wrong behaviour; instead, Paul gave them time to listen to the Lord and to repent.
Paul had a pastor's heart. He was the first to preach the gospel in Corinth, and despite considerable opposition (Acts 18:9-11), he stayed there for some time establishing a viable church. During a subsequent visit Paul was distressed to see the believers going astray. It was a difficult time. He loved them deeply, but he could not condone their sinful behaviour. But they resisted his rebuke, and their relationship became severely strained.
Sin is a big problem and causes all kinds of grief. We do not know the nature of the wrongdoing Paul refers to; it might be the same issue as in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 – a man sleeping with his step-mother. Whatever it was, Paul became reassured that the church had repented of tolerating the sins, discipline had been applied (Titus 3:10-11) and the sinner had repented.
Paul almost always chose to share ministry with at least one other person. Initially Barnabas took Paul on his first missionary journey as instructed by the Holy Spirit and affirmed by the church (Acts 13:1-3).
These verses seem to interrupt Paul's narrative about how he left good ministry opportunities in Ephesus and Troas to search for Titus, who was bringing news from Corinth. The story has a happy ending in 2 Corinthians 7:2-16. The digression was sparked by Paul remembering how the Lord sustained him through many troubles, personal assaults and inner struggles, while trying to find Titus in Macedonia.
