Second Letter to the Corinthians – II Part

LET’S KNOW THE BIBLE

The apologetic letter that Paul sent to the Corinthian community was not accepted. The apostle’s defense was rejected by the community or, rather, by someone within the community who was stirring up the group whom Paul calls ‘super-apostles,’ people who have gone up in smoke and think they are who-knows-who and despise Paul. He failed in reconciliation, and so he planned a journey; he thought of intervening personally in the Corinthian community to clarify the situation.

The apostle was still in Ephesus, and from this city to Corinth the passage by sea was quite easy since the connections were continuous. Paul suddenly arrived in Corinth and took part in a meeting of the congregation, a kind of pastoral council organized on the spur of the moment. A tragic meeting where they must have said all sorts of things; they raised their voices and someone who is called the ‘offender’ must have also slapped Paul. He slapped him in public, saying something like this: ‘Go away from here; go back where you came from, don’t bother us, we don’t want you here.’

Paul left and returned to Ephesus, but you can imagine his state of mind. With his strong character, he lost his patience. He says it of himself, ‘I have gone mad.’ And he wrote another letter which is also contained in the second letter to the Corinthians, from chapters 10 to 13.

It’s a controversial, harsh letter, a letter written by an angry man telling the Corinthians everything he thinks about them. He comes back to defend himself, but he also brings out the bad behavior of the Corinthians. He speaks of his own behavior: “Did I make a mistake when I humbled myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge?”

‘I have accepted help from others, but as far as you are concerned, I have always been available for free. Others have given me help; I have not been a burden to you. Why is that? “And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! And what I do I will continue to do, in order to end this pretext of those who seek a pretext for being regarded as we are in the mission of which they boast. For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, who masquerade as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. So it is not strange that his ministers also masquerade as ministers of righteousness. I repeat, no one should consider me foolish but if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.”

‘I have never done that; I have always been humble and modest with you, but as you understand nothing and let yourselves be deceived by these braggarts who presented themselves to you as godfathers, so, I will also do it; I will also boast. I will tell you what my merits and my qualities are. “Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. For you gladly put up with fools, since you are wise yourselves. For you put up with it if someone enslaves you, or devours you, or gets the better of you, or puts on airs, or slaps you in the face.”

‘How well it suits you! You find a strong one who subdues you, and you respect him; and what I do is to put myself at your service and to love you well.’ “To my shame I say that we were too weak! (That was my mistake… treating you well). But what anyone dares to boast of (I am speaking in foolishness) I also dare. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I am talking like an insane person.) I am still more.” In what sense more than they are? ‘I shall describe to you’…

And here Paul enumerates his own glories, his merits: I beat them “with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death.” ‘How is it made known that I am more of a minister of Christ than they? Because I have received more beatings than they have; my strength is in all the sufferings I have endured for Christ. I shall describe them to you.’ “Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, passed a night and a day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure. And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches.”

‘These are my credentials. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus knows, he who is blessed forever, that I do not lie.” And then, he narrates the flight from Damascus at the beginning of his Christian life when he was taken down in a basket. “I must boast; not that it is profitable, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know someone in Christ (this is an elegant way of speaking of himself in the third person) who, fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows), was caught up to the third heaven. And I know that this person (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows) was caught up into Paradise and heard ineffable things, which no one can utter.”

Here, with extreme delicacy, Paul refers to a mystical experience that took place 14 years before the year 57, when he wrote this letter. Therefore, in the early ’40s, at the beginning of his ministry, he was still retired in Tarsus. At the time of crisis and estrangement, he had a mystical experience; he was raptured to the third heaven. It is a way of indicating the glory of God; he had the opportunity to meet the Lord, to hear extraordinary messages that marked his life and allowed him to understand his situation in depth. “About this person I will boast, but about myself I will not boast, except about my weaknesses.” Weaknesses in the sense of fatigue, toil, cold, and nakedness, of being a weak man, that is, not powerful, not strong, not rich.

“Therefore, that I might not become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.” This passage is interpreted in a sense I have mentioned above. For Paul, this envoy of Satan is the one who slapped him in Corinth; he is a member of the Christian community; he is a leader of the community and one who opposes Paul; and Paul dares to call him an ‘angel of Satan’ and yet he is part of the divine plan. “A thorn in the flesh was given to me.” God has put this thorn of the flesh in me so that I would not be proud, because given the greatness of the revelations I had had, I would believe that I had arrived, and so he made me encounter difficulties.’ And this is one of the difficulties that made Paul suffer the most, precisely the opposition in Corinth.

He goes on to say: “Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you,’ for power is made perfect in weakness.” This is another revelation, a confidence that Christ made to Paul. In this moment of pain, anguish, of rejection, the apostle asks the Lord to free him from the presence of that person. Three times, probably in three difficult moments of crisis, Paul asked the Lord to get him out of the way, ‘you solve the problem.’ And the Lord made him understand that this was the way; “My grace is sufficient for you!”

The power of God is manifested in the apostle’s weakness. The moment Paul is slapped, he is rejected, he is humiliated, he is expelled from the community, and in him, the crucified Christ is realized. It is there where the power of the apostle is realized. The power of God is manifested in the apostle’s condition of weakness. Then Paul says he has understood. “Therefore, I am content with weaknesses,” that the power of Christ may dwell in me. “Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

From the tone of polemic, we have come to a very important mystical confidence. Paul recognizes his strength in weaknesses. It is involuntary teaching, not conceived as a theory, but expressed in this explosive movement of his heart, it is an authentic testimony of Paul’s holiness; it is his conformation to Christ.

And thus concludes this splendid polemical letter, attacking the Corinthians, confronting them in their condition and asking them to take a position, to choose. Timothy carried the apologetic letter, and he found himself amid such a complex situation that he was frightened and did not want to return. And, therefore, this polemical letter Paul entrusted to another of his disciples, to Titus, perhaps more courageous and enterprising than Timothy. And Titus took this letter to Corinth. It must have caused a sensation.

The people were impressed. The Christian community began to realize that they had made a mistake. As often happens, someone raises their voice and many timidly follow. There must have been few who opposed Paul, but they were the most active, they were the ones who had raised their voices, and all the rest had been drawn into this controversy. Now, pained by that scene where Paul had been slapped, saddened by this splendid outpouring of Paul’s wrath; many realized that they had made a mistake and no longer allowed themselves to be mastered by those few bullies, accepted Paul’s position and gave Titus a letter of apology to Paul and invited him to Corinth. They promised to put into practice what he had indicated in the first letter and waited for him, that he might resume friendship with them.

In the meantime, however, Paul had been forced to leave Ephesus. It was a tragic year. The dispute with the Corinthians had marked him in a particular way, but it was also the year of his arrest and condemned to death; it was also the year of the controversy with the Galatians. It was a tragic year in which it seemed that everything was going to fall. Everyone was angry with Paul and the apostle, resisting all pressures, managed to show strength in his weakness. He left Ephesus and went to Troas to await the arrival of Titus.

Evidently, they had made an appointment in that city, but Titus was late in arriving, and Paul could not remain quietly waiting, so, he continued his journey and came to Macedonia, probably to the city of Philippi, where there were many of his friends, a community that welcomed him and comforted him. Paul was still in anguish, waiting for the arrival of Titus to find out if the problem had been solved or not.

Finally, Titus arrived and was the bearer of good news. He brought a letter in which the Christian community of Corinth asked Paul for forgiveness, asked for a reconciliation, and Paul finally breathed and wrote the last letter, which we can call the ‘letter of reconciliation.’ This is what the editor has put at the beginning and used as the framework for this series of writings. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.”

Notice the insistence on the concept of consolation. The apostle rejoices in this prayer after receiving the good news: “Blessed be God.” Finally, he feels consoled and can in turn console; he promises a visit to Corinth in a short time and recounts, what happened, presenting his own attitude in a splendid sentence: “Not that we lord it over your faith; rather, we work together for your joy, for you stand firm in the faith.” As a true apostle, Paul is not a dictator of faith, an oppressor of the community; he is a collaborator of joy. It is a splendid definition of an apostle; a co-worker, one who works together with God and with the brethren that they may have joy and that their joy may be full. One who works so that the people who listen to him may be happy; not a teacher but a servant of joy.

Also, in this last phase, Paul implicitly emphasizes the contrast with the other style of the super-apostles who had crushed the community; with their arrogance had led them to a wrong behavior toward Paul. “If anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure (not to exaggerate) to all of you… For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears.” These words refer to the controversial letter.

Paul wrote in tears, in a time of great affliction, with an anguished heart, “that you might know the abundant love I have for you.” Now, at last, the matter is settled. “This punishment by the majority is enough for such a person.” The community has punished ‘such a person,’ i.e., the offender, the one who led the revolt against Paul, and now the apostle’s generosity has led him to speak in favor of him. “So that on the contrary you should forgive and encourage him instead, or else the person may be overwhelmed by excessive pain. Therefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love for him … Whomever you forgive anything, so do I.”

Let’s start again, and let’s start again with the style of forgiveness. In Troas, Paul had no relief because he did not find his brother Titus. So he took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. … “For even when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way —external conflicts, internal fears. But God, who encourages the downcast, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus, and not only by his arrival but also by the encouragement with which he was encouraged in regard to you, as he told us of your yearning, your lament, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more. For even if I saddened you by my letter, I do not regret it.”

That letter written in tears, the controversial letter has made them suffer… and Paul says, I’m happy to have made them suffer because that suffering led them to a change. “I rejoice now, not because you were saddened, but because you were saddened into repentance; for you were saddened in a godly way, so that you did not suffer loss in anything because of us. For godly sorrow produces a salutary repentance without regret.” ‘I am happy with you and hope to see you soon.’

The last verses of the letter are the seal of this reconciliation. A formula very dear to us and very well known because we use it as the initial greeting of our liturgical assemblies: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Spirit be with all of you.”

Thus, Paul greets the Corinthians, and in a short time, he will go down to the isthmus city and spend the winter with the Corinthians between the years 57 and 58, and during those months, he will write the Letter to the Romans.