reading questions
 2 Corinthians


Introduction

  1. What is the "occasion" of this letter?
  2. What is a "diatribe"?
  3. Describe briefly the two leading explanations for the apparent "lack of continuity" in this letter.
  4. Where was Paul when he wrote this letter?
  5. Assuming that the letter is a unified composition, when was it probably written?

2 Corinthians 1

  1. Who are the senders of this letter?
  2. What does Paul believe is the purpose of the sufferings and afflictions he has undergone?
  3. When in the province of Asia, what did Paul and his traveling companions come to "accept within [them]selves"?
  4. What is Paul's "boast"?
  5. What "double favor" had Paul formerly intended to receive from the Corinthians?
  6. Why had Paul "not yet gone to Corinth"?

2 Cor 2

  1. Paul claims that "out of much affliction and anguish of heart" he wrote to the Corinthians previously "with many..." what?
  2. Why did Paul have "no relief from the spirit" when he visited Troas?
  3. Paul claims that he and his companions are the "aroma of Christ." For whom are they the "odor of death"? For whom are they the "odor of life"?

2 Cor 3

  1. What is Paul's "letter of recommendation"?
  2. Paul claims that the "ministry of death" was so "glorious" that the Israelites could not look intently at what?
  3. What is the "ministry of death" to which Paul refers?
  4. According to Paul, what did Moses do to protect the Israelites from looking at the "cessation of what was fading"?
  5. According to Paul, what do the Isrealites do "to this day" when they read the "old covenant"?
  6. "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is..." what?

2 Cor 4

  1. For whom is Paul's gospel "veiled"?
  2. Why do Paul and his followers hold the "treasure" of God's glory in "earthen vessels"? What does Paul mean by this?
  3. Why do Paul and his followers carry "in the body the dying of Jesus"?
  4. What does Paul's "momentary light affliction" produce for him?
  5. What is the difference between the seen and the unseen?

2 Cor 5

  1. According to Paul, while we are "at home in the body," what are we "away from"?
  2. According to Paul, what must we "all appear before"?
  3. Paul claims that the "love of Christ" impels one to acknowledge that if "one died for all," what has happened?
  4. Whoever is "in Christ" is a "new..." what?
  5. "For our sake," what was Christ "made to be"?

2 Cor 6

  1. According to Paul, what "constrains" the Corinthians?
  2. What does Paul urge the Corinthians to not be "yoked" with?

2 Cor 7

  1. When Paul was in Macedonia, he endured much suffering. What encouraged him, in spite of this?
  2. What does Paul "not regret" about the last letter he sent to the Corinthians?
  3. What does he believe that this letter ultimately "produced" in the Corinthians?

2 Cor 8

  1. What did the churches of Macedonia do that impressed Paul?
  2. Paul mentions two unnamed co-workers in this chapter. Describe each one briefly.

2 Cor 9

  1. A famous passage: "God loves a..." what?
  2. What is the "gift" that Paul wants the Corinthians to give?

2 Cor 10

  1. When is Paul "humble" towards the Corinthians?
  2. When is he "brave" towards them?
  3. Why does Paul not want to "frighten" the Corinthians through his letter?
  4. According to this chapter, what did the Corinthians apparently think of Paul when they saw him in person?
  5. According to Paul, who is "approved"?

2 Cor 11

  1. Paul does not think that he is in any way inferior to whom?
  2. According to Paul, even Satan can masquerade as what?
  3. Apparently, after Paul visited Corinth, a group of rival apostles visited the church and "boasted" of their apostolic credentials. What sorts of things did they say about themselves?
  4. What things does Paul himself boast of?
  5. How did Paul escape from the city of Damascus, when King Aretas sought to seize him?

2 Cor 12

  1. Paul boasts about someone he knows "in Christ." What does he say about this person?
  2. Who is this person?
  3. What was Paul given, so that he "might not become too elated"?
  4. When Paul begged the Lord (3 times, incidentally) to take it away from him,  how did the Lord respond?

2 Cor 13

  1. Paul quotes a passage from the Mosaic law regarding the establishment of facts in court case. What is the passage (write it out)?
  2. Paul warns the Corinthians that if he visits again, he will not be what?

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