The Second Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians)

The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, in the Vulgate Epistola II ad Corinthios, follows 1 Corinthians among the Epistles of St Paul. The First Epistle corrects a Church; the Second opens the Apostle's heart to it. In it, says Challoner's preface, St Paul "absolves the incestuous man on doing penance... Hence he treats of true penance and of the dignity of the ministers of the New Testament. He cautions the faithful against false teachers... He gives an account of his sufferings and also of the favours and graces which God hath bestowed on him." No other letter shows us so much of the man.

The author: St Paul the Apostle

St Paul the Apostle, with Timothy named beside him in the greeting: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother: to the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints that are in all Achaia" (2 Corinthians 1). Its voice is that of the Epistles to the Romans and the Galatians.

The external witness is early. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 notes that the Second Epistle "was known from the very earliest times", to St Polycarp, Athenagoras and even the heretic Marcion. Its authenticity has been "frankly admitted by every distinguished writer of the most advanced critical schools," and the Pontifical Biblical Commission issued no decree on it. For the Apostle's life, see our article on St Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Some modern critics, while holding that Paul wrote every part, think the Epistle joins two or more of his letters, chiefly because the stern chapters 10–13 differ in tone from chapters 1–9. The Catholic Encyclopedia judges that this "can scarcely be regarded as probable": the change of tone is that of an orator turning from friends to accusers, as in Demosthenes' speech On the Crown, and the early manuscripts, versions and quotations point to one letter.

Date and place of writing

The Epistle was written in Macedonia, about AD 57, during Paul's third missionary journey. Challoner says it "was written in the same year with the first and sent by Titus from some place in Macedonia." The Catholic Encyclopedia dates it "a few months after" the First, written about Easter 57.

After the riot of the silversmiths at Ephesus (Acts 19), Paul went north to Troas, but "I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother" (2 Corinthians 2). He crossed into Macedonia, and there "God, who comforteth the humble, comforted us by the coming of Titus" (2 Corinthians 7). The old Greek subscription to the Epistle names Philippi as the place of writing. Paul wrote this letter, sent it ahead by Titus and two brethren, and followed to Greece, as Acts 20 relates.

The occasion of the Epistle

Titus brought mostly good news: the Corinthians had obeyed and the public sinner had repented. But a few rivals, whom Paul calls "false apostles," mocked his change of plans as fickleness, sneered that "his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible" (2 Corinthians 10), and denied that he was an Apostle. So Paul wrote to make peace and have the penitent pardoned, to complete the collection for the poor of Jerusalem, and to defend his apostleship before coming "the third time" (2 Corinthians 13).

Summary of 2 Corinthians

The Epistle has three parts: Paul's ministry and his reconciliation with the Corinthians (chapters 1–7), the collection (chapters 8–9), and his defence against the false apostles (chapters 10–13).

Comfort, pardon and the glory of the ministry (chapters 1–3)

The letter opens by blessing "the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort" (chapters 1–3). Paul delayed his visit "to spare you," not out of lightness, and now asks them to forgive the man he had punished, "lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow." The Corinthians are his letter of commendation, "written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart" (2 Corinthians 3), the new covenant of Jeremias 31. The veil Moses wore (Exodus 34) still lies on hearts that read him without Christ.

Treasure in earthen vessels (chapters 4–5)

Afflicted on every side but not crushed, the Apostle carries "this treasure in earthen vessels" (2 Corinthians 4) and looks past the earthly tent to "a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven," and to the judgment seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5). Christ died for all, so that "they also who live, may not now live to themselves"; whoever is in Christ is "a new creature," and to the Apostles God has given "the ministry of reconciliation."

Open your hearts (chapters 6–7)

"Behold, now is the acceptable time" (2 Corinthians 6, quoting Isaias 49). Paul lists the trials that prove him a minister of God, "as having nothing, and possessing all things," begs them to enlarge their hearts, and warns them not to bear "the yoke with unbelievers." In chapter 7 he rejoices that his earlier letter made them "sorrowful unto penance."

The collection for Jerusalem (chapters 8–9)

The poor churches of Macedonia gave "beyond their power"; let Corinth follow them and Christ, who "being rich he became poor, for your sakes" (chapters 8–9). The manna of Exodus 16 shows the equality God wills. Titus and two brethren will gather the gift, and "God loveth a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9).

Paul's defence of his apostleship (chapters 10–13)

The tone changes. Paul's weapons "are not carnal, but mighty to God" (chapters 10–13). Forced to "glory a little," he sets against his rivals' boasting his stripes, stonings and shipwrecks (2 Corinthians 11) and his escape from Damascus, told also in Acts 9. He tells of his rapture and of the Lord's answer, "My grace is sufficient for thee" (2 Corinthians 12), warns the impenitent that he "will not spare," and closes with a blessing in the name of the Holy Trinity.

Themes and the Catholic reading of 2 Corinthians

The ministry of reconciliation. "God indeed was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself... and he hath placed in us the word of reconciliation. For Christ therefore we are ambassadors" (5:19-20). God has committed reconciliation to the ministry of the Apostles, and Paul pardons the Corinthian sinner "in the person of Christ" (2:10), in the Vulgate in persona Christi, the words theology uses of the priest. The Council of Trent (Session XIV) teaches that Christ gave His Apostles and their successors the power of forgiving sins in the sacrament of Penance; see why Catholics confess to a priest.

Penance and indulgences. Challoner's note on 2:10: "The apostle here granted an indulgence, or pardon, in the person and by the authority of Christ, to the incestuous Corinthian, whom before he had put under penance, which pardon consisted in a releasing of part of the temporal punishment due to his sin." Trent (Session XXV) affirms that the Church received from Christ the power of granting indulgences. And 7:10 marks true contrition: "the sorrow that is according to God worketh penance, steadfast unto salvation; but the sorrow of the world worketh death."

Death and judgment. "We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the proper things of the body, according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil" (5:10). Challoner explains: "In the particular judgment, immediately after death, the soul is rewarded or punished according to what it has done in the body." See what happens after death.

The letter and the spirit. "The letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth" (3:6): the letter, says Challoner, "not rightly understood, and taken without the spirit." St Augustine built his treatise On the Spirit and the Letter on this verse.

Suffering and grace. "As the sufferings of Christ abound in us: so also by Christ doth our comfort abound" (1:5). On 12:9 Challoner writes: "the more weak we are of ourselves, the more illustrious is his grace in supporting us." See what God says about suffering. St John Chrysostom preached thirty homilies on this Epistle, and St Thomas Aquinas and Cornelius a Lapide commented on it.

Famous verses and chapters from 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 1:3-4. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. Who comforteth us in all our tribulation; that we also may be able to comfort them who are in all distress" (2 Corinthians 1).

2 Corinthians 3:17-18. "Now the Lord is a Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3).

2 Corinthians 4. "The god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers" (4:4), which most interpreters understand of the devil; "For that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen... For the things which are seen, are temporal; but the things which are not seen, are eternal" (4:17-18), in 2 Corinthians 4.

2 Corinthians 5:7, 5:17 and 5:21. "For we walk by faith, and not by sight"; "If then any be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away, behold all things are made new"; "Him, who knew no sin, he hath made sin for us, that we might be made the justice of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5). "Sin for us," Challoner explains, means "a sin offering, a victim for sin": Christ was never a sinner, but the sinless Victim offered for sinners.

2 Corinthians 6:14. "Bear not the yoke with unbelievers." (2 Corinthians 6). The King James renders it "unequally yoked"; the verses that follow, "what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?", show that Paul forbids fellowship with idolatry and unbelief.

2 Corinthians 9:7-8. "Every one as he hath determined in his heart... for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound in you" (2 Corinthians 9).

2 Corinthians 10:4-5. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to God unto the pulling down of fortifications, destroying counsels, And every height that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10).

2 Corinthians 11:14. "Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11).

2 Corinthians 12:2-10. Paul speaks of "a man in Christ" caught up "to the third heaven" and "into paradise." The man is Paul himself, as he shows at once: "lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me." Three times he asked to be freed, "And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity...

For when I am weak, then am I powerful" (2 Corinthians 12). The Fathers differed on the "sting": Tertullian understood a bodily pain, St John Chrysostom the persecutions raised by Paul's enemies, many later writers temptations of the flesh. St Augustine and St Thomas (Summa II-II, q. 175, a. 3) taught that in this rapture Paul saw for a moment the very essence of God; see what is heaven.

2 Corinthians 13:13 (13:14). "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of God, and the communication of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen" (2 Corinthians 13). The Vulgate and Douay join the King James verses 12 and 13, so this blessing is 13:13 here and 13:14 in Protestant Bibles. See the Holy Trinity.

Who was Titus in 2 Corinthians?

A Greek convert and one of Paul's closest companions, taken uncircumcised to Jerusalem (Galatians 2). Here he is the Apostle's envoy to Corinth, "my companion and fellow labourer towards you" (8:23); Paul later left him in Crete to "ordain priests in every city" and wrote him the Epistle to Titus. With him went "the brother, whose praise is in the gospel through all the churches" (8:18), whom St Jerome thought most likely to be St Luke the Evangelist; the 1962 Missal reads 8:16-24 on his feast.

2 Corinthians in the canon and in the liturgy

2 Corinthians has the same name and thirteen chapters in Catholic and Protestant Bibles, and was never among the disputed books: the Muratorian Fragment counts two Epistles to the Corinthians, and the Councils of Rome (382), Hippo (393), Carthage (397), Florence and Trent (Session IV, 1546) list it among the fourteen Epistles of Paul. Written in Greek, it reached the West in the Latin of the Vulgate, from which our Douay-Rheims Bible was translated.

In the 1962 Roman Missal, 2 Corinthians gives the Epistle of Sexagesima Sunday (11:19-12:9), of the First Sunday of Lent (6:1-10, "now is the acceptable time"; see Lent) and of the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (3:4-9), and of the feasts of St Lawrence (9:6-10) and St Luke (8:16-24). In the Roman Breviary it is read at Matins in the second week after Epiphany. Follow these days in our liturgical calendar and in the Breviary.

How to read 2 Corinthians

Read 1 Corinthians first, then this letter in one sitting, with Acts 19 and 20 at hand for the journey behind it. Then return slowly to chapters 4 and 5 and to chapter 12, with the Vulgate beside the English: sufficit tibi gratia mea; nam virtus in infirmitate perficitur.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote 2 Corinthians?

St Paul the Apostle wrote the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, naming Timothy with him in the greeting (1:1). St Polycarp and other second-century writers already knew it, and even critics who doubt other letters accept it as Paul's.

When was 2 Corinthians written?

About AD 57, a few months after 1 Corinthians, during Paul's third missionary journey. Challoner says it "was written in the same year with the first."

Where was Paul when he wrote 2 Corinthians?

In Macedonia, where Titus had just brought him news from Corinth (7:5-6). Challoner says it was "sent by Titus from some place in Macedonia," and the old Greek subscription names Philippi.

Why did Paul write 2 Corinthians?

To make peace with the Corinthians after his severe earlier letter, to have them pardon the repentant sinner, to complete the collection for the poor of Jerusalem, and to defend his authority as an Apostle against false teachers before his third visit.

What is 2 Corinthians about?

St Paul's heartfelt defence of his apostolic ministry. It treats of consolation in suffering, the glory of the New Covenant, the ministry of reconciliation, generous almsgiving, and the grace of God made perfect in human weakness.

How many chapters are in 2 Corinthians?

Thirteen, in the Douay-Rheims, the Latin Vulgate and Protestant Bibles alike; the last verse is 13:13 in the Vulgate and Douay and 13:14 in the King James. Begin with 2 Corinthians 1, Latin and English side by side.

What does 2 Corinthians 12:9 mean?

"My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity" is the Lord's answer when Paul begged three times to be freed from the "sting of the flesh." God did not remove the trial but gave grace to bear it, so that His power would shine more clearly in Paul's weakness: "when I am weak, then am I powerful" (12:10).

What does 2 Corinthians 5:17 mean?

"If then any be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away, behold all things are made new." Whoever is joined to Christ by Baptism and grace is truly remade within, not merely forgiven in name, and must "not now live to" himself, but for Christ (5:15).

What is the third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12?

Heaven in the highest sense, the place of God's glory, which Paul also calls "paradise." He was "caught up" there fourteen years before writing. St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas taught that he then saw God's essence for a moment.

Read the whole Second Epistle to the Corinthians verse by verse, Latin and English, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, Latin Vulgate and Douay-Rheims (Challoner revision, 1749-1752), with Challoner's preface and notes; St John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians; St Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter and The Literal Meaning of Genesis, book XII; Tertullian, On Modesty; St Jerome, On Illustrious Men; St Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians and Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 175; Cornelius a Lapide, Commentaria in Epistolam II ad Corinthios; Council of Trent, Session IV (1546), Session XIV, Doctrine on the Sacrament of Penance (1551), and Session XXV, Decree on Indulgences (1563); The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), "Epistles to the Corinthians"; Missale Romanum (1962); Breviarium Romanum (1962).