Butler's Comments
SECOND CORINTHIANS
BIBLE STUDY TEXTBOOK SERIES
STUDIES IN
SECOND CORINTHIANS
by
Paul T. Butler
College Press Publishing Company, Joplin, Missouri
Copyright © 1988
College Press Publishing Company
Printed And Bound In The
United States of America
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 87-73506
International Standard Book Number: 9-89900-066-5
This volume is dedicated to
Gale Kinnard Butler
fairest among women. whom my soul loves
wife for four decades, and
co-laborer in the ministry of the Gospel
for three decades..
... there would have been no ministry without her!
and
to Sara Ann Butler
our princess-granddaughter
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever read someone else's diary? My sister and I became privy to our mother's daily diary recently, after the Lord called her home to heaven. It was a very emotional, intimate and strengthening experience. After reading Second Corinthians a man said he felt like a person would after rummaging in an old desk and discovering the daily diary of a preacher named Paul. He said he felt almost as if he should not have been reading the pages because they were so intimate and special. But he was captivated with the desire to learn as much as he could from this great servant of the Lord, so he was unable to put the book aside until he had read and reread it.
You will feel something when you study Second Corinthians! You may say to yourself, Yes, Paul, I know how you felt about that because I have had the same experience! The letter may make you feel sympathy, disgust, shame, determination, and even anger. And it will not be only your emotions that are stirred. It will also attack your mind. You will have to think. A number of doctrines and spiritual principles for life will demand understanding and decision. It will build your faith and strengthen your capacity to live the sanctified life.
This epistle should be required monthly reading for every preacher, missionary, and Sunday School teacher. It should be required study for all Bible college students. Elders and deacons would be more sympathetic toward preachers if this epistle was read once each month at board meetings. Don-'t just read itpartake of it! It is God's Word, lived and learned by God's greatest servant, to encourage all his other servants.
BACKGROUND
Authorship:
This epistle is so certainly from the pen of the apostle Paul Thiessen (in Introduction To The New Testament, Eerdmans, pg. 206-207) says, Both the external and the internal evidence for the genuineness of this Epistle are so strong that we really need not dwell on these points.. Polycarp (69-156 A.D., pupil of the apostle John) quotes 2 Corinthians 4:14; 2 Corinthians 8:21 in his Epistle to the Philippians; Irenaeus (130-200A.D.) frequently quotes from II Corinthians (e.g. 2 Corinthians 2:15-16); Tertullian (160-220 A.D.) cites 2 Corinthians 11:14 in his Treatise on the Soul; The Epistle is mentioned in the Muratorian Canon (170 A.D.) and is found in both the Old Syriac (ca. 150 A.D.) and the Old Latin (ca. 150 A.D.). The writer of the epistle twice calls himself, Paul 2 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 10:1); the subject matter parallels all we know of Paul the apostle historically and theologically. That the apostle Paul was its author is certainly established beyond any reasonable doubt.
Historical and Cultural Background:
The student is referred to introductory notes in First Corinthians, by Paul T. Butler, College Press, for background material on the city of Corinth and the establishment of the church there.
Occasion and Date:
Paul established the church in Corinth on his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1-28) about 50-51 A.D. After a year or more there he returned to Palestine (Acts 18:18-22); thence, eventually, to Ephesus (A.D. 54) on his third missionary journey (Acts 18:24 to Acts 19:41) where he stayed three years. During this time he wrote a first letter to Corinth (1 Corinthians 5:9) not preserved. Receiving word from the household of Chloe of the many problems in the Corinthian congregation, he then wrote First Corinthians. In spite of Paul's strong condemnation and warning about division the party-spirit continued, agitated by Judaizing factions insisting on observance of the law of Moses and Jewish traditions (see 2 Corinthians 3:1-18; 2 Corinthians 10:7; 2 Corinthians 11:13). When this news reached
Paul at Ephesus, he made a short visit to Corinth to deal with it, but failed in the attempt (2 Corinthians 2:1; 2 Corinthians 12:14; 2 Corinthians 12:21; 2 Corinthians 13:1-2), and he returned to Ephesus.
Plummer, Barclay, Thiessen, etal. think Paul, soon after returning to Ephesus from his short, second visit, wrote a severe third letter sending it to Corinth by Titus (2 Corinthians 2:3-4; 2 Corinthians 7:8-12). Plummer thinks that the major portion of this severe, third letter is preserved in Chapter s 10 through 13 of what is now our extant Second Corinthians. That theory has been successfully disproved by Bernard.
While waiting for Titus to return with a report of the effect of his severe, third letter, trouble arose in Ephesus, and he left that city before he had planned to do so (Acts 20:1). Paul started to Macedonia, via Troas, to meet Titus returning from Corinth. The two met in Macedonia in the fall of A.D. 57 as Paul was visiting churches in the region of Philippi and Thessalonica. Titus-' word was that the long letter we now call First Corinthians had accomplished much good (2 Corinthians 7:6), but at the same time, his short second visit and his severe, third letter had not solved the problem of party-spirit and division; he was told, in fact, that some false authorities at Corinth were attacking his motives, his integrity and his authority as an apostle of Christ. Against the background of this news and Paul's deep concern, he determined to visit Corinth a third time and he wrote (from Macedonia) Second Corinthians, which appears to have been his fourth letter to the congregation there. He sent Second Corinthians on ahead to the church by the hand of Titus (2 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 8:17). A little later Paul reached Corinth, and spent the winter of A.D. 57 there (Acts 20:2-3), as he had planned (1 Corinthians 16:5-6). While in Corinth, he wrote his great Epistle to the Romans.
Purpose:
Second Corinthians is probably the least known of all Paul's letters. It has even been called by some Paul's unknown letter. That is a tragedy. Christians are much poorer because so few have had the motivation or self-discipline required to study a type of writing which demands personal involvement of mind and emotions. In Second Corinthians we are called upon to evaluate a person, not just a doctrine. Second Corinthians is the Jeremiah of the New Testament. It is a very personal letter from the heart of this mighty apostle, Here we see him dealing with the trials and joys of his ministry from a subjective and intimate perspective. Here we are exposed to the ministry of the gospel as it stabs the human heart, defeats and depresses. Here we are involved in the experience of the ministry as it is actually lived out in life, up close, and personal. Accepting the mission of Christ as a life-time calling will bring one a life fraught with personal adversaries and psychological turmoil. But its victories and rewards are beyond all comparison to its trials (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). In this letter the Holy Spirit bears witness with the spirit of Paul that a life devoted to the proclamation of the gospel is the most challenging, useful and fulfilled life ever! That is what Second Corinthians is all about!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Novum Testamentum Graece (New Testament in Greek), Nestle text, pub. American Bible Society, New York.
The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament (with an English translation) pub. Zondervan Publishing House.
The Interlinear Hebrew, Greek, English, Four volumes, by Jay Green, pub. Associated Publishers and Authors, Inc.
The Greek-English New Testament, Zondervan Bible Publishers
A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Arndt & Gingrich, pub. University of Chicago Press
Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, by W.E. Vine, pub. Revell
Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Brown, Driver, Briggs, pub. Oxford.
Analytical Greek Lexicon, pub. Harper/Bagster
Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, pub. Bagster
A Textual Commentary on The Greek New Testament, by Bruce M. Metzger, pub. United Bible Societies.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, pub. Eerdmans
Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, by Merrill C. Tenney, pub. Zondervan
Dictionary of Theology, pub. Baker
Halley's Bible Handbook, H. H. Halley, pub. Zondervan
The New American Standard Version of the Bible, pub. Gospel Light
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible, pub. Oxford
The King James Version of the Bible, Thompson Chain Reference, pub. Kirkbride
The Berkely Version of the Bible, pub. Zondervan
The New Testament in Modern English, by J. B. Phillips, pub. Geoffrey Bles
The International Critical Commentary, I Corinthians, by Robertson & Plummer, pub. T. & T. Clark
The International Critical Commentary, II Corinthians, by Plummer, pub. T. & T. Clark
The Pulpit Commentary, I Corinthians, pub. Funk & Wagnalls
The Pulpit Commentary, II Corinthians, pub. Funk & Wagnalls
Studies in Corinthians, by T.R. Applebury, pub. College Press
Commentary on 1 & 2 Corinthians, by Fred Fisher, pub. Word Books
The Letters to the Corinthians, by William Barclay, pub. The Westminster Press
Expository Studies in 1 Corinthians, by Ray C. Stedman, pub. Word Books
Expository Studies in 2 Corinthians, by Ray C. Stedman, pub. Word Books
New Testament Times, by Merrill C. Tenney, pub. Eerdmans
Greece and Rome, Builders of Our World, pub. National Geographic Society
The Story of Civilization, Caesar and Christ, by Will Durant, pub. Simon and Schuster
Rome of the Caesars, by Leonardo B. Dal Maso, pub. Bonechi-Edizioni
The Twelve Caesars, by Suetonius, pub. Penguin Classics
The Life and Works of Flavius Josephus, William Whiston.
New Testament History, The Inter-Testament Period, by Fields and Wartick, pub. College Press.
Streams of Civilization, by Albert Hyma and Mary Stanton, pub. Creation-Life and Mott Media.
New Testament Survey, by Merrill C. Tenney, pub. Eerdmans
The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues, by John P. Kildahl, pub. Harper & Row
The Eternal Spirit, two volumes, by C.C. Crawford, pub. College Press
The Holy Spirit and The Christian, by James Bales, pub. G. Lambert Publications
Spiritual Gifts for Christians Today, by Knofel Staton, pub. College Press
New Testament History, Acts, by Gareth L. Reese, pub. College Press
Various college classroom notes by Paul T. Butler, unpublished.
Applebury's Comments
STUDIES IN
SECOND CORINTHIANS
BIBLE STUDY TEXTBOOK
STUDIES IN
SECOND CORINTHIANS
T. R. Applebury
Professor of New Testament
Pacific Christian College
Long Beach, California
College Press, Joplin, Missouri
Copyright © College Press 1966, A88341
Reprinted 1971
Reprinted 1977
All rights reserved, including rights of reproduction and use in any form or by any means, including the making of copies by any photo process, or by electronic or mechanical device, printed or written or oral, or recording for sound or visual reproduction or for use in any knowledge or retrieval system or device, unless permission in writing is obtained from the copyright proprietors.
Manufactured in the United States of America
PREFACE
In these studies in the Corinthian letters and the Gospel of Luke, I have given particular attention to the Scriptural emphasis on the great doctrinal issues of the revealed Word of God. I have endeavored to bring other passages of Scripture to bear on these issues because the Bible is its own best commentary. I have written out the shorter quotations in full. I have cited many other references with the hope that those who use the studies may take the time to examine all the Scriptures that are given and also search for additional ones that may bear on the subject being studied.
A wealth of doctrinal material is to be found in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians as well as in the whole Bible which was written for our admonition. This is true whether it be the carefully investigated truth about Our Lord which Luke has given in his gospel, or the teaching about the church which Paul presents in First Corinthians, or doctrinal issues such as the covenants, the atonement, heaven and other issues presented in Second Corinthians.
The charts are given to enable the student to see the whole epistle or some particular section of it at a glance. They are the road maps to guide anyone following the path of Paul's thoughts that range from sorrow to triumph, from expressions of great love to warnings of great danger.
The outlines constitute a paraphrase of the text in outline form. The comments are intended to explain the meaning of words, phrases, and other problems of interpretation. They have been prepared from a careful consideration of the Greek text for light that may be given to the meaning of the message of the inspired Word. They have been presented without needless use of Greek forms that might serve only to confuse the English reader. Since I am a preacher of the gospel, I have not hesitated to preach in the comments wherever I have believed that it might do some good.
The summaries and the questions at the close of each chapter are presented to help the student recall the content of the chapter and think through the meaning of the many concepts presented in it.
The BIBLE STUDY TEXTBOOK series is the result of a dream of Don DeWelt who has sought to extend the teaching program of the church through the printed page. He had been editor, counselor, and friend to me in preparing three books in the series. I pray that the Lord may bless us as we seek to teach His Word through this medium.
Department of New Testament
Pacific Christian College
February, 1966
CHART OUTLINES OF SECOND CORINTHIANS