Bible

Here in the Bible room today, we are continuing to read in our Getting Started Bible, as we begin reading the Second Book of Corinthians. Here is Session 1, the summaries of chapters 1 and 2.

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II Corinthians

Session 1

Introduction:

Writer: Paul, the Apostle.

Scope: This is one of Paul’s letters to the church at Corinth in which he addresses some controversies that have arisen among the believers, along with certain accusations made against him by men who infiltrated the church in an attempt to distance them from Paul.

Written from Macedonia, probably in AD 54 or 55, it was sent just before the onset of winter, a few months after the previous letter.

Chapter 1. Consistent

Paul, by the will of God, an apostle, called of Jesus Christ,

• Along with Timothy, our fellow believer, to the church at
• Corinth, and to all believers in southern Greece, may you know
• The grace of God the Father, and the peace that comes from
• Our Lord Jesus Christ;
• I am thankful to God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ for
• His mercy and comfort He brings to us in all our troubles; For
• In our troubles, we are able to empathize with all the believers
• Who face various troubles; And, as we deal with our troubles,
• We know the comforting presence of Christ with us; This gives
• Us the assurance that Christ will bring the same peace and
• Strength to you in your time of trouble; We have confidence
• That you will be able to prevail over your trials, and finally see
• Your salvation;
• Now, my fellow believers, I will tell you about our experience
• In Asia: We were treated very badly, so bad in fact, we thought
• We were going to be killed, and, at one point, we almost gave
• Up hope for our survival; Our only remaining hope was our
• Trust in God, who raises from the dead, that He would
• Intervene and spare us from death; And God did save us from
• Certain death, just as He continues to save us today, and will
• Continue into the future; And all of us here express our thanks
• To you for helping us with your prayers;
• I assure you that we have conducted ourselves everywhere in
• Sincerity, not according to the ways of the world, but with
• Wisdom and the grace of God; And this is also true in our work
• With you in Corinth; We are giving you the same, consistent
• Message we have given to all the churches, and I hope you will
• Believe and accept everything we have taught you so far: And
• I want you to hold fast to it as we are pleased in our role of
• Bringing you to faith in Christ, and we hope you are pleased
• With us as well;
• I had every intention of visiting with you twice on this trip–
• The first time as we were on our way to Macedonia, and then
• Again, on our return, as I was hoping for your help in getting
• Us back to Judea; Please do not think I was being frivolous in
• Telling you this plan, or that I was not sincere in saying that we
• Would visit with you on two different occasions; I do not make
• Plans like people often do where they say ‘yes’, I will do this,
• And then say ‘no,’ I will do something else; But when I make
• Plans, I intend to keep them, as God allows;
• For that was the way Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was
• Preached to you by the three of us—me, Timothy, and
• Silvanus—always the same, not ‘yes’ then ‘no’ but just ‘yes;’
• That’s the way God’s promises are—they never change, and He
• Has ordained us to bring His message to you by giving us His
• Spirit to live within us;
• With God as my witness, He directed me to change my plan,
• And not make another visit to you, and I have done this in
• Order to spare you from what I would have said to you; But I
• Have no control over your faith, as we are all working together
• To grow our faith, and I believe your faith is getting stronger.

Chapter 2. Forgiveness

But, getting back to the subject of a second visit with you:

• I canceled my plans to make this visit as I just could not come
• To you with such a heavy burden in my heart; For if I had
• Come and shared with you the great concerns I have for you, it
• Could have had an adverse effect on you; And that would not
• Have done any good for you, or for me either;
• As I had already written of my concerns for you, I decided you
• Did not need me to come there with any more harsh words
• Directed at you; Now I think what you need from me are words
• Of joy and encouragement, for that is what you are to me;
• I wrote those earlier words to you with sorrow and tears, out of
• A heart of love, not intended to bring sadness upon you;
• But those who have spoken against me do not hurt me, but
• They hurt all of you; I just hope they have not hurt you too
• Deeply, and that you will forgive and restore them so they will
• Not be lost; This may be a difficult thing to do, but I urge you
• To extend your love to them; This is also part of what I wrote
• To you before, that when you are tested, you will be obedient
• In love; And this includes extending forgiveness to them, as I
• Also forgive them, for we know how Satan can use any device
• He can to try to take advantage of us;
• In Troas, the Lord opened an opportunity for me to preach the
• Gospel of Christ there, but I was not sure of that, so, when I
• Could not find Titus, my fellow laborer, I left there and went to
• Macedonia; I thank God that wherever we are, we can know
• His presence, for He is always with us; And He enables us to
• Spread the knowledge of Him to everyone around us, both to
• Those who will be saved, and to those who will be lost; It is like
• Either the aroma of life to life, or death to death;
• And what makes us different from those who are selling the
• Word of God for money? We are sincerely from God, being
• Watched by Him, and in the sight of Christ.

End of Session 1 of the book of II Corinthians.