2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Ancient Lens

What can we learn from the historical context?

Context of 2 Corinthians

At times you read the soaring rhetoric of Paul and assume he is coming from a place of inner-tranquility, but the reality about his relationship with the Corinthian church was anything but. We won’t get into all the challenges Paul faced as he strove to guide the Corinthians, but we do get a bit of a taste of it in this text, though it needs some unveiling.

One of the main reasons Paul wrote what is now known as 2nd Corinthians was to encourage the Corinthians to follow through on their promise of financial support of the church in Jerusalem that has been heavily persecuted recently.

It may have been under the guise…