2 Corinthians 1 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~AD 55-56, during the reign of the emperor Nero, roughly five years after Paul first preached in Corinth
Location
Written from Macedonia in northern Greece to the church in Corinth, a wealthy Roman colony and port on the narrow isthmus linking mainland Greece to the Peloponnese
Audience
A mixed congregation of Greeks, Romans and Jews in Corinth, many of them poor, some of them influential, and currently divided over whether to trust Paul
Situation
Paul opens by describing a crisis in the province of Asia so severe he expected to die, and frames comfort as something passed along from those who have received it. He then defends himself against the charge that he is unreliable because he changed his announced travel plans.
Key Background
Paul's relationship with this church had broken down badly since his first letter, involving a painful visit and a severe letter that does not survive, and rival teachers in Corinth were using his cancelled visit as evidence that his word meant nothing. In the Greek and Roman world a public figure's reliability was measured partly by whether he kept his stated commitments, so this was an attack on his standing rather than a scheduling complaint. Corinth had been destroyed by Rome and refounded as a colony for freed slaves and veterans a century earlier, producing a city obsessed with status and self-promotion, which is the backdrop for a letter that argues weakness is the point.
Paul, an of the Jesus by the will of God, along with our brother Timothy, to the of God in together with all of throughout the region of
May you experience and from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus, the One.
All to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the One — the Father who is the God who is the source of all
He us in every we face, so that we can comfort others in any they face, using the same comfort we ourselves have received from God.
Because just as the of the One into our lives, so through the One, our comfort overflows just as much.
If we go through crushing times, it is for your comfort and If we experience comfort, that is also for your comfort — a comfort that gives you the strength to the same kinds of suffering we face.
And our in you is rock-solid, because we know that just as you in the suffering, you also in the comfort.
We don't want you to be unaware, and of the crushing pressure we experienced in the of We were weighed down far beyond what we could handle — so much that we weren't sure we would even survive.
In fact, in our hearts we felt like we had received a But this happened so that we would not rely on ourselves but on God, who the
He us from a deadly situation, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him that he will continue to rescue us,
as you also in us through your prayers. Then many people will give thanks on our behalf for the given to us through the prayers of so many.
Here is what we are of: Our conscience confirms that we have conducted ourselves in the world — and especially toward you — with the and that come from God, not with but with God's undeserved kindness.
We are not writing you anything that you can't read and understand. And I'm confident that you will come to understand fully,
just as you have already partially understood us — that on the of the we are your of just as you are ours.
Because I was so confident about this, I planned to visit you first so you could experience a —
I planned to visit you on my to then visit you again on my back from and have you me on my to Judea.
So when I made these plans, was I being Or do I make my plans the the does — saying "Yes, yes" and "No, no" at the same time?
But as surely as God is our message to you has not been "yes" and "no" at the same time.
Because the of Jesus the One — who Timothy, and I proclaimed among you — was not "yes" and "no." In him it has always been "yes."
For every one of God's finds its "yes" in him. That is why through him we say — which means "yes, it is true" — to the of God.
Now it is God who makes both us and you in the One. He is the one who us,
set of on us, and put in our hearts as a of what is to come.
I as my — and I my on it — that the reason I did not come back to Corinth was to you.
We are not trying to your — you are standing firm in your on your own. Instead, we are for your