McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries

2 Corinthians 1:2

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. [Since Paul's apostleship was in dispute, and since it seems to have been insinuated that he ought to have had a letter from the apostles or some others, commending him as such (2 Corinthians 3:1), he begins by asserting that he is such through the will of God, and hence needs no human commendation. He joins Timothy with him in the letter, since this young man had assisted in founding the church at Corinth. Anciently Achaia was the northern strip of the Peloponnese, and in this restricted sense Paul appears to have used it at 1 Corinthians 16:15; for he there calls Stephanas the "firstfruits of Achaia." But in the times in which Paul wrote, Achaia was a Roman province embracing all the countries south of Macedonia, and having Corinth as its capital. Since Paul uses the word "whole," it is likely that Paul means this larger Achaia which included Athens, and of which Dionysius the Areopagite, or some other Athenian, was the "firstfruits" (Acts 17:34). As Corinth was the political capital of the region, Paul treated it as the religious headquarters, and addressed all the Achaians through it that any who came to the capital might feel a personal interest in his letter, and read or make copies of it.]

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McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries

2 Corinthians 1:2

Old Testament

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