2 Corinthians 2: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Paul explains why he chose not to make another painful visit to Corinth, and why he wrote a tearful letter instead. He asks the church to forgive and comfort the man they punished, so that he is not crushed by sorrow and so that Satan does not outwit them. Paul then describes his restless search for Titus at Troas and his move on to Macedonia, and thanks God for spreading the knowledge of Christ through him everywhere. He says that to God they are the smell of Christ, death to those who are perishing and life to those being saved, and he insists he speaks sincerely, unlike those who sell God's word for gain.

Claim by Claim

1. 2:1
   • Paul decided within himself not to come to them again in sorrow.
   • A previous visit had been marked by sorrow.
2. 2:2
   • Paul asks: if he causes them grief, who then is left to make him glad.
   • The only one who makes Paul glad is the very person he has grieved.
3. 2:3
   • Paul wrote this very thing to them.
   • He wrote it so that when he came he would not have sorrow from those who ought to make him rejoice.
   • Paul had confidence about all of them.
   • Paul was confident that his own joy is the joy of them all.
4. 2:4
   • Paul wrote to them out of much affliction and anguish of heart.
   • Paul wrote to them with many tears.
   • Paul did not write in order to grieve them.
   • Paul wrote so that they would know the love he has toward them in greater abundance.
5. 2:5
   • If anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved Paul.
   • The grief was caused only in part, not entirely.
   • The grief was caused to all of them.
   • Paul limits his statement so as not to press the charge too heavily; whether the restraint attaches to the grieving or to burdening them is left unresolved.
6. 2:6
   • The punishment already given to such a man is sufficient.
   • The punishment was inflicted by the majority of them.
7. 2:7
   • They ought instead to forgive him.
   • They ought to comfort him.
   • The reason is the risk that such a one be swallowed up by excessive sorrow.
8. 2:8
   • Paul urges them to confirm their love toward him.
9. 2:9
   • Paul wrote for this purpose as well.
   • He wrote to learn the proof of them.
   • He wrote to learn whether they are obedient in all things.
10. 2:10
    • Whomever they forgive anything, Paul forgives also.
    • If Paul has forgiven anything, he forgave it for their sakes.
    • Paul forgave it in the person of Christ.
11. 2:11
    • The purpose is that Satan not take advantage of them.
    • They are not ignorant of Satan's designs.
12. 2:12
    • Paul came to Troas.
    • He came to Troas for the gospel of Christ.
    • A door was opened to him in the Lord.
13. 2:13
    • Paul had no relief in his spirit.
    • The reason was that he did not find Titus his brother.
    • Paul calls Titus his brother.
    • Paul took his leave of them.
    • Paul went out from there into Macedonia.
14. 2:14
    • Thanks be to God.
    • God always leads them in triumph in Christ; whether God leads them as captives in his triumphal procession or causes them to triumph is not resolved.
    • God makes manifest through them the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
    • God does this in every place.
15. 2:15
    • They are to God a sweet fragrance of Christ.
    • They are this among those who are being saved.
    • They are this among those who are perishing.
16. 2:16
    • To the perishing they are a fragrance from death leading to death.
    • To those being saved they are a fragrance from life leading to life.
    • Paul asks who is sufficient for these things.
17. 2:17
    • They are not like the many.
    • The many peddle the word of God for gain, adulterating it.
    • Paul and his companions speak as out of sincerity.
    • They speak as from God.
    • They speak in the sight of God.
    • They speak in Christ.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

2:1

"Heaviness" in 1611 English meant grief or low spirits, not weight or dullness. The word "again" points back to a visit Paul had already made to Corinth that went badly; it is a second painful visit that he is ruling out.

2:3

"I wrote this same unto you" refers to a letter Paul had already sent, the tearful one he describes in verse 4. Whether that letter was 1 Corinthians, a letter now lost, or a portion preserved elsewhere in 2 Corinthians is disputed.

2:5

"Overcharge" meant to load someone too heavily, and here to press a point too hard. Paul is measuring his words so as not to overstate the damage the offender has done.

2:6

"Inflicted of many" means inflicted by the majority: "of" here marks the doer, as in "a door was opened unto me of the Lord" in verse 12. The Greek word behind "punishment" is used for an official censure decided on by a group, so this was a formal act of the congregation rather than private retaliation.

2:7

Swallow him up is a word picture. It means the sadness could take over everything inside him.

2:8

"Confirm your love" translates a word drawn from public and legal life, meaning to ratify something or make it officially valid, the way a decision or a contract is confirmed. Paul is asking for a visible, public act of reinstatement, not only a private change of feeling.

2:9

"Proof" keeps its older sense of a trial or test, as metal is proved by fire. It does not mean evidence here.

2:10

"In the person of Christ" renders a phrase that reads literally "in the face of Christ." It can mean in Christ's presence, with Christ looking on, or acting as Christ's representative; the Greek will carry either, and the ambiguity is in the original.

2:11

"Get an advantage of us" means to outwit or defraud us, to come off better in a deal. "Devices" in 1611 meant schemes or plots, not machines or gadgets.

2:12

Troas was a port city on the northwest coast of Asia Minor, in modern Turkey, near the site of ancient Troy. It was the usual crossing point for travelers going by sea from Asia into Macedonia. "A door was opened" was a common idiom for an opportunity, here a chance to preach and a receptive audience.

2:13

Titus was one of Paul's fellow workers, and Paul had sent him to Corinth carrying the painful letter. Paul waited at Troas for Titus to return with news of how the Corinthians had taken it, which is why Titus's failure to appear left him unable to settle. "My brother" means a fellow believer and colleague, not a blood relative. Macedonia was the Roman province covering northern Greece, with cities such as Philippi and Thessalonica.

2:14

The image is a Roman triumph, the victory parade granted to a general who had won a major war. He rode through the city with his soldiers, his spoils and his prisoners, while incense burned along the route. The Greek verb means to lead someone in such a parade, and the people led in it are the captives, so Paul may be picturing himself as a prisoner displayed in God's procession rather than as a victor; the King James "causeth us to triumph" takes the other reading. "Savour" means smell or fragrance, picking up the incense of the parade.

2:15

"A sweet savour" is the standard phrase in the Old Testament law for the smell of an offering burned on the altar, described there as pleasing to God. Both groups here are described with ongoing verbs in the Greek: people in the process of being saved and people in the process of perishing.

2:16

"The savour of death unto death" and "the savour of life unto life" use a Hebrew pattern of doubling for intensity, meaning a smell that is death through and through and ends in death, and one that is life through and through. In a triumph parade the same incense hung over prisoners marked for execution and over those who would be spared. "Sufficient" here means adequate or qualified for the task, not sufficient in quantity.

2:17

"Corrupt the word of God" translates a verb built on the word for a peddler or small retailer, a trade with a reputation for sharp practice: watering the wine, shorting the measure. The charge is both selling the message for money and adulterating it in the selling. "Sincerity" in 1611 still carried its root sense of purity, something unmixed and with nothing added.