From Peter Kreeft’s You Can Understand the Bible:
This is the most intensely personal, passionate, and intimate of all Paul’s letters.
Between the time Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians and the time of this second letter, false teachers had turned the Corinthian Church against him.
Paul’s response is passionate not because his authority has been challenged but because the authority of Christ has.
The content theme of 2 Corinthians is the distinctiveness of the Christian, the Christian’s faith, and the Christian’s life in an unbelieving world.
This letter contains the only account in the NT of a mystical experience: Paul’s own (12:1-10). It is striking that he recounts this only to relegate it to a second, lower place compared to his weakness and suffering, which is a much more effective means to sanctity.
Chapters 8 and 9 are the most complete and lengthy passages in the Bible about generosity or Christian giving.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul is on top of the problems of his beloved “problem children” in Corinth. In 2 Corinthians, he is wrung out and even exasperated.
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