How a book begins tells us a lot about how that book will play out. It lays a foundation for important themes and motifs that will arise throughout our reading journey. 2 Corinthians is no different. After greeting the Corinthians Paul jumps into the comfort that he and all Christians receive from Christ when we undergo suffering. We receive comfort through suffering. While the themes of suffering and comfort do occur again through the letter, why does Paul begin his letter this way? According to Dane Ortlund—senior pastor of Naperville Presbyterian Church— Paul, “in this opening section to the epistle… sets the tone for a reading in which paradox is the hermeneutical key to unlocking the letter” (125). Ortlund includes as well a table fully outlining 2 Corinthians through the lens of paradox (such as comfort through affliction in 1:3–7 and highlighted in 1:5–6).
In fact, everything now is paradoxical. God’s kingdom is not at all what we would naturally expect it to be. David’s kingdom grew (partly) through winning wars. But for believers today, “the basic pattern for joy and growth in this new realm is paradoxical, as life comes through death” (1).
2 Corinthians was written to a people enamored with what the world had to offer, and they were trying to fit Jesus into that mold. But Jesus couldn’t be fit into that mold. He came to break us out of it. Paul both explains the gospel and lives it out before the Corinthians. Unlike Paul’s other letters, we get plenty of autobiography in 2 Corinthians. He writes about where he went, why he did it, what happened to him, and to whose benefit it was (Paul suffered for the Corinthians’ comfort).
We meet a raw apostle full of emotions for people (friends, even) he cared deeply about. And he did not want that they should fall away from Christ. He not only considered his ministry partners like Titus and Timothy to be his friends, but even the Corinthians. He goes so far as to write, “You are in our hearts, to die together and to live together” (2 Cor 7:3). Writing about “dying together” and “living together” is language Paul usually used in connection with believers’ union with Christ (88). Paul did not view this church as a pain in the backside (or a thorn in his side), but as the body of Christ with whom he lived in union with in Christ.
He is also very defensive of himself and in particular his Christ-appointed ministry, but that was because to denigrate his ministry was to the Corinthians’ detriment. As Ortlund observes, Paul places
“his ministry among the Corinthians in the context of the full sweep of redemptive history. In describing the Corinthians as letters [in 2 Cor 3:2–3] Paul is not only saying, ‘Don’t you know what you are?’ but also saying, ‘Don’t you know when you are? Do you not recognize what era of world history you find yourselves in?’ With his cascade of metaphors for describing the Corinthians as living letters, Paul is drawing on a constellation of key Old Testament texts and signifying their fulfillment in this messy, cantankerous church in Corinth (and other churches), all rooted and made most demonstrable in the descent of the Holy Spirit.” (65)
Ortlund takes us through seven important themes in 2 Corinthians: inaugurated eschatology, Jesus Christ, the Spirit, Satan, friendship, heaven, and strength through weakness. I didn’t not expect to see Satan, friendship, and heaven on the list as I haven’t thought of them as some of the main “themes” running through the letter, but each theme has a connection to this “new realm ministry” believers are in. To give some examples, inaugurated eschatology is the framework for the new realm ministry (see my post about this). Satan is the enemy of the new realm ministry. Friendship is the method of the new realm ministry, and heaven is the hope of the new realm ministry. Each theme makes sense when placed in connection with the new realm ministry that Paul is explaining in his letter.
This “new realm” is the new age that has begun in the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ and of the outpouring of the Spirit into believers. We are living in the end times now, and we as believers get to share in the benefits of the end now. And we know this is true because we have the Holy Spirit, “the key agent of life in the new realm,” poured out into our lives (64).
Recommended?
This is a fine work that shows its strength in its chapters on inaugurated eschatology (1), Jesus (2), friendship (5), and power through weakness (7). All the chapters were good, but I think that these topics in particular covered a wider range of 2 Corinthians. This is another faithful and helpful contribution on the New Testament Theology series that I am happy to have. Pick up Ortlund’s commentary on 2 Corinthians in the ESV Expository Commentary series (my review here) if you get the chance too. You won’t be disappointed.
Lagniappe
- Series: New Testament Theology
- Author: Dane C. Ortlund
- Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Crossway (October 17, 2023)
- Read the introduction + chapter 1
- Previous Reviews in this Series:
- Mark — Peter Orr
- Ephesians — Ben Merkle
- Colossians and Philemon — Kevin McFadden
- Revelation — Tom Schreiner
Buy it from Amazon or Crossway
Review Disclosure: I received this book free from Crossway. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html.
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