When And Why The Epistle Was Written - 2 Corinthians

When Paul travelled west from Athens to Corinth in A.D. 59, by land or sea, he reached the capital of Achaia, the province which lay southof Macedonia. ever since he had landed at Athens he had been in Achaia, but his stay at Athens had been no more than an interlude; as usual he pushed forward to the leading city, an indsitrual centre and trade depot to commanding importance. there he, who happens never to mention the word ‘frien,’ made one of his closest friendships. his trade brought him into touch with a couple of Jewis Christians who had been recently ejected from Rome by an imperial edict of Claudius. 

Aquila and Priscilla had a house or lodgings of their own, where Paul lived with them. they all worked together, Luke reports. but it was not simply at the leather trade. they where drawn into work of propaganda in connexion with the local synagogoue. Whether Paul had originally gone to Corinth with some idea of returning to the churches of Macedonia, about which he was deeply concerned, or whther he had intended to do mission-work, an opening presented itself of which he took advantage. according to the western text of Acts 18, the apostle entering the synagogue every sabbath held argument, introducing the name of Jesus and persuading not only Jews but greeks. this may or may not be original text, but it represents what he actually did. he introduced the name and message of Jesus as Lord or Messiah to the local Jews; to their exasperation, he drew off some of the circumcised as well as a number of proselytes and others on the fringe of the synagogue. he was not merely a renegade Pharisee who believed in messiah, but a successful one, aided now by silas and Timotheus as well as by his and hostess. 

Luke marks tow stages in the mission; a break with then synagogue was followed by a renewed appeal which effective among the proletariate (1 Cor i 26f). apparently the majority of the converts were pagan by birthe (12.2), whether they were proselytes or not. the result was that when he left, in the spring of AD 52, after a residence of less than two years, a storng chucrh had been formed at Corinth and in the neighbourhood. 

Aquilea and Priscila accompanied him to Ephesus. but his work at Corinth was soon carried forward by a distingueshed successor. this was a cultured recruit from alexandria, a jewish Christian called Apollos, who had come across Aquila and Priscila at Ephesus. strong in the knowledge of the scriptures already, he was instructed by them on the lines of Paul Teaching’s. hurrying across to Corinth, he reinforced the local Christians by his fresh and formidable messianic preaching; in opposition to the syangogue he publicly refuted the Jews with might and main, showing from the scriptures that the messiah was Jesus. 

Thus Luke describes his mission, which  developed inside the church the teaching and traditions of Paul Himself, probably making a mora extensive use of the allegorical interpretation then the apostle had time or occasion to do. for what followed, we have only the apostle’s correspondence with the church to fall back upomn. Luke was not interested in the internal affairs  on any church within the Pauline mission.

The situation which emerged after apollos left is outlined in the introduction to secon Corinthians in our commnetary. it had become so serious that Paul had to intervene by sending a peremptory letter-which has not been preserved (though one fragment from it is imbedded in 2 Cor vi 14-7.1- warning the local Christians against compromise with the world. neither then nor afterwards had he occasion to fear any serious challenge from mystery-cults at corinth. unlike the church at thessalonica, the CR were also free from interference at the hands of pagans; their relations with the authorities were smooth, and the storng control of a proconsul like Gallio prevented the Jews from distrubing the peace of Christians in Achaia as they had done in Macedonia. Indeed it was this very privilege of undisturbed life which had fostered the real trouble. as yet there was no internal controversy over the law, such as had vexed the Galatian church; if any group at Corinth shared the stricter views of Jewish Christian at Jerusalem, it was not they who caused friction when Paul wrote his ‘first’ letter or even the First Epistle. but from apollos and others he had learned that there was what he considered a dangerous friendliness between the church and the world, a tendency on the part of some members to make the break with pagan society as indefinite as possible and to ignore the distinctiveness of christianity in practice if not in principle. the chruch was in the world, as it had to be, but the world was in the church, as it ought not to be.

Instead of arresting this movement, the ‘first’ letter was misinterpreted as too severe; it proved ineffective (1 cor v.9). the next stage in the relations between the apostle and his church was marked by the despatch of a fresh, more elaborate, letter, which is our canonical First Corinthians, written, like the first, out of the busy mission which engaged him around Ephesus, not earlier than 55 and not later than 57.

He had been handed a communication from the church itself, brought over by Stephanas, Forrtunatus, and Achaicus, who were visiting Ephesus on a business tour. Paul wrote many letters and may have received a number, but this happens to be the only recorded case of one being actually conveyed to him. The Corinthians had written, protesting effusively that they were always bearing him in mind and maintaining the traditions which he had passed on to them for faith and order. but were not his rules about unworldliness really too stringent? they hinted that it was surely impracticable to avoid contact with immoral people in business and pleasure; they had to associate with such persons, unless they were to leave the world altogether. furthermore, they consulted him on two problems of social conduct-marriage and the use of sacrificial food ;  opinion varied on these issues, and he was asked to give his ruling. a third difficulty had emerged since he left, viz. the ordering of public worship, especially with regard to the place claimed by or for women in the service, and also the handling of those who took part in prophesying. would he give them some directions on these matters as well as on the find which they were expected to raise for the starving Christians in Judea ? On the discreditable party-cries and quarrelling, as well as on a recent case of incest, they said not a word, but assured him that the building up of the church was going to disappoint them by not coming back himself, brother Apollos might pay them a return visit to carry on his delightful mission. meantime  he would be glad to know how happy they all were ; they had come into their kingdom, they had their heart’s desire, a wealth of blessing and religious experience; heaven’s rich bliss was theirs, thanks to the wonderful variety of spiritual endowments which God had bestowed upon them! in fact they were having a good time.

But their apostle had private information about the real state of affairs from the three local deputies as well as from some Achaian Christians, called Chloe’s People, who reported that his own apostolic credentials had been questioned by some self-constitued inquisitors, till it was openly held in certain quarters that he was  no regular apostle. his work was belittled, owing to the influence of a group from Jerusalem or Antioch, who had arrived at Corinth, either in the ordinary course of propaganda oa as a counter-mission, unsettling the local church. it is to reports of this that he alludes in 4.18, 5.1, 9.3, 10.18, 15.12, as well as in i.11. from what he learned about the inside situation, he was able not only to handle the four questions put to him by the church, but to drive some other matters home to their conscience with apostolic authority and affectionate remonstrances. in fact the opening section is entirely devoted to very serious subjects on which the Corinthians had not asked his opinion; so is the final counsel on resurrection. the bulk of his reply to their actual letter lies between these.

The situation was by this time so critical that, unable to leave his mission in Asia at the moment, he sat down to dictate this letter, which would reach them before his deputy, timotheus, arrived. it is the longest that he ever wrote-in some respects the most varied and versatile. none other reflects such a medley of the topics and problems apt to be raised within a church of the primitive period which was facing the social environment of paganism, and also such a ferment of the new faith among converts drawn from Roman and Greek civilization, whose minds were affected by inherited tendencies of superstition fervour.