Apparently Paul had already written 3 letters to the Corinthians (two are now lost). In 1 Corinthians which was the second of these letters, Paul used strong words to correct and teach. Most of the church had responded in the right spirit: there were, however, those who were denying Paul's authority and questioning his motives.
Paul opens this letter by explaining his actions....Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to deal with divisions in the church..when his advice was not taken, Paul visited Corinth a second time and it was a really painful visit for both. He then planned a 3rd visit, but delayed it and wrote this letter instead. Things were so bad that in the Greek world, "to Corinthianize" cam to mean "to practice sexual immorality" according to my study Bible. Paul talks about the hardships that he is facing, but attributes this to remind him of dependence on God. He discusses the change in plan of his visit and talks about how Christ set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, GUARANTEEING WHAT IS TO COME....this is a dead-out promise!!!!
Paul talks about forgiveness of the sinner. This may be that fellow that was sent away at the beginning of 1 Corinthians....Paul didn't want two mistakes made a) to be too lenient on a non-repentant sinner and b) to be too harsh and non forgiving on a repentant sinner.
Paul defends his ministry and talks about the superiority of Jesus Christ over the law. We have the new law written on our hearts that were hearts of stone. We are to be light. He compares this to the radiance of Moses face and the veil that had to cover it. To the non-believers, when Moses is read, a veil covers their heart just like we had a veil separating the Holy of Holies in the temple.. We have unveiled faces as believers that reflect God's glory and it comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Have you ever heard of the group Jars of Clay....2 Corinthians 4 is where it comes from....the huge message of salvation in Jesus Christ is in our frail and human bodies.
Paul talks about sufferings. We may think we are at the end of our rope, but we aren't when we have Christ in us. We are to fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen. There is more to this story, because what is seen is of the earth and time but what is unseen is eternal.
Look what comes up from the depths of the sea.
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