Interpretation of the 2nd Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Corinthians

Reason and purpose of writing the message Place and time of writing the message Authenticity and unity of message Aids when reading the message Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 In the Corinthian church, as is known from the first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 1:10 et seq.), various disorders occurred. To stop such disturbances, Ap. Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians from Ephesus. This message, as the Apostle learned from Titus, whom he sent to Corinth, had a beneficial effect on the Corinthians (2 Cor. 7:5 et seq.). Resolution of the Ap. Paul's statement about the incestuous man was carried out and this sinner repented of his offense. But nevertheless, the same ambassador of Paul informed him that his opponents, the Judaizers, were not asleep and were trying to undermine his authority among the Corinthian Christians. They pointed out that Ap. Paul is weak in spirit, changeable in his decisions, so it is difficult to rely on him. With these attacks in mind, the Apostle writes his second letter to the Corinthians. The Apostle himself speaks about the purpose of the letter in Chapter XIII. (v. 10). With his message, he wants to bring the Corinthian church into such a state that later, during a personal meeting with the Corinthians, he would not need to apply the full severity of his apostolic authority to them. For this purpose, he strives first of all to restore this authority of his in the eyes of the Corinthians - this is the main goal that he had when writing the letter. Everything else serves only as a means to achieve this goal. The 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians, in addition to the greeting and introduction, contains three parts. The first part - the first seven chapters - contains a depiction of the nature of Paul's apostolic activity, with special attention to Apostle. devotes to depicting his love for the Corinthians and the greatness of the New Testament ministry. In the second part - chapters VIII and IX - the Apostle talks about the collection of alms for poor Christians. In the third part - from chapters 10 to 13 - the Apostle polemicizes with his opponents, victoriously repelling all the accusations they brought against him. Immediately he expresses his demands in relation to the Corinthians. As can be seen from the letter itself (2 Cor. 2:13, 7:5, 8:1, 9:2; cf. Acts 20:1), the Apostle was in Macedonia while writing the letter, where he was found by Titus returning from Corinth. The message was written, apparently, in the same year 57, in which the first last one was written. to Cor. (cf. Acts 18:1). Are there any serious objections to the attribution of the second epistle of St. None of the biblical critics expressed Paul to the Corinthians specifically to Paul. And in fact, if you read this message with attention, there is no doubt that it was written by the great Apostle of the Gentiles, the founder of the Corinthian Church. But criticism raises a special objection to this message. They say precisely that it does not represent a single, integral work, but consists of two or even three separate messages of the Ap. Paul, which were later merged into one. Moreover, they claim that after the first letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle wrote a second letter to Corinth, consisting of the last four chapters of our second letter, and then a third, consisting of the first nine chapters of the same letter. What is this opinion based on? They say that the last four chapters of the second epistle are not in harmony with the first nine, and stand somehow completely separate from the first. Critics mainly rely on the apparent difference in tone in which the Apostle speaks in both parts. In the first part, his speech is calm, and he himself is in a sublimely joyful mood of spirit, and in the second, he expresses his positions with extraordinary fervor and is very excited. And the state of the Corinthians is depicted differently in both parts: in the first, it satisfies the Apostle, in the second, on the contrary, it excites and worries him (cf. 2 Cor. 7:14 and 2 Cor. 12:20). But these grounds are very insufficient to serve as evidence of the different origins of the two parts of the message. First of all, the first part contains not only praise for the Corinthians - there are also censures. For example, the Apostle in Chapter VI. (11-16 vv.) indicates a lack of love for him on the part of the Corinthians, some shortcomings in their moral life. Moreover, if the Apostle in the first part praises the obedience of the Corinthians, he means here only their attitude towards the incestuous (2 Cor. 7:11, 14). Further, if the tone of the second part is different from the tone of the first, this is explained by the fact that in the first part the Apostle addresses the Corinthian Christians, his spiritual children, and in the second he refers mainly to his enemies, the Judaizers. It is very clear that in the second part he is so worried, he is so ironic about his enemies. It is also impossible not to take into account the fact that the epistle, such an extensive one, was not written by the apostle right away, and during the writing of the epistle, when the first part of it was already ready, the Apostle could receive such new information from Corinth that forced him to change the tone of his speech. This last circumstance can also explain the fact that the Apostle in his second letter persistently urges people to collect alms and then somewhat further defends himself against the suspicion that he is using this alms for his own benefit. Ap. He probably learned about such suspicions precisely after he had already written the first nine chapters, which, by the way, deals with the collection of alms, and he did not want to redo this part, especially since alms were really extremely necessary for poor Christians. He thought like this: “It would be better for me to be suspected than for the poor to be deprived of the alms they were already counting on”! Finally, in the first part there is a hint of the existence of such suspicions against the Apostle (see 2 Cor. 8:16–22). The 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians, after the Epistle to the Philippians, is especially important for understanding the personality of St. Pavel. Here we see the deep humility of the Apostle, his meekness and extraordinary condescension towards his spiritual children, and at the same time the high consciousness of his apostolic dignity, which he defends with all his energy against his enemies - the Judaizers. From the point of view of presentation, it also stands out for its merits - mainly for the power of expression, deadly irony and, in general, the beauty of turns of phrase. In addition to the well-known patristic interpretations - John Chrysostom, bl. Theodoret, Theophylact and others, the most useful for explaining the message are the works of Kling (in Bibelwerk Lange), Geieritsi, Busse and F. Bachmann (1909). Of the Russian interpretations, the interpretation of Bishop is distinguished by the greatest thoroughness. Feofan. You might be interested in: