Hi James and Ellen,
2 Corinthians is a follow-up letter. An itinerant apostle/missionary – whose name was Paul, is 2 Corinthians author. Paul – when he penned 2 Corinthians in 55 A.D., was finishing up a three year stint in the city of Ephesus where he was involved in a leadership/Bible education enabling program using the Hall of Tyrannus to meet with the guys who he was teaching. Paul – earlier in 55 A.D., sent a confrontational/instructional letter to the guys and gals who were in the Christ-follower community in the city of Corinth in the region of Achaia. Paul would pen a more personalized/informative missive after receiving news from the city of Corinth in response to the letter that your grandpaa thinks that he sent with the three guys – Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus, who had traveled from the city of Corinth to the city of Ephesus to inform Paul about some concerning issues that involved Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Corinth. Paul had Titus and a couple of other Christ-follower guys take the second letter that he penned to the Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Corinth. Paul begins the thirteen chapters in 2 Corinthians by reflecting on the report that he had received regarding the status of the Christ-follower community that was in the city of Corinth. Paul was particularly desirous that the Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Corinth that they be intentional in forgiving the Christ-follower guy who had repented of living a duplicitous life. Paul also told the guys and gals who were living in the city of Corinth in the 2 Corinthians letter that he sent to them that he wanted to thank them personally for the generous donation that they were giving to help with the needs of the guys and gals who were financially challenged who were devotees in the Christ-follower fellowships that were in the city of Jerusalem. Paul ends his second letter to the Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Corinth defending having apostolic authority – which has Paul believing that he had the right to address boldly/decisively issues that needed someone to resolve and that he had a right to an apostle title which has Paul – to your grandpaa, deliberately/foolishly boasting why because of all the suffering that he had already incurred being a weak/humble ambassador of the Good News message.
2 Corinthians readers were Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in a dynamic/thriving cosmopolitan metropolis. Because of being located at the mouth of the Aegean Sea, the city of Corinth was a stop for ships that sailed 1,950 years ago from place to place in that part of the world. Ships were key in making the city of Corinth a place where massive wealth could be amassed, diverse, immoral lifestyles could be lived and different pagan gods could be worshipped. Because Paul makes reference to false teachers/apostles, your grandpaa believes that there was always among the Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Corinth a tension among themselves because of having to continually determine who was teaching Christ-follower truths that would help mature/grow Christ-follower guys and gals and who was fabricating mistruths to try to trick/fool Christ-follower guys and gals to accept their teachings. There is an overt sense in 2 Corinthians that Paul felt very keenly about the spiritual health of the Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Corinth. Your grandpaa believes that Paul – because of the conditioning environs that the guys and gals who were living in Corinth were always under subjection to live by, understood/internalized the temptations/forces that a Christ-follower guy or gal who lived in the city of Corinth faced daily. Your grandpaa believes that because there had to have been a constant competition in the city of Corinth for position, power and prestige that there also had to have been a slippery sloop towards elitism and individualism among the guys and gals who were living in the city of Corinth which would have filtered into the Christ-follower community that was in the city of Corinth and which would have led to dissension and discouragement among the Christ-follower guys and gals.
Your grandpaa thinks that the Christ-follower guys and gals who were living in the city of Corinth typify the Christ-followers who make up the vast majority of the United States Christ-follower communities. Just as there was a giving spirit at work in the Christ-follower community that was in the city of Corinth to help meet the urgent/dire needs that Christ-follower guys and gals were enduring in the city of Jerusalem, Christ-follower guys and gals today in Christ-follower communities throughout the United States have not hesitated in giving gifts that have given relief in altruistic/holistic arenas. Just as Paul communicated a real concern for the spiritual climate of the Christ-follower guys and gals in the city of Corinth, your grandpaa is troubled with the lackadaisicalness/apathy of the United States Christ-follower fellowships. The pastor of the Christ-follower fellowship where your grandmaa and grandpaa have been regularly going to for a year or so one Sunday morning told the gal who was chatting with your grandmaa and grandpaa that she was not to recruit your grandmaa or grandpaa to do anything in the church because they had not yet joined his church. Your grandpaa thinks that too much focus is being given to tangibles – such as on attendance, music, indoctrinating, church plants, etc., versus a lack of emphasis on bringing glory to and to always joy in God.
2 Corinthians