“The Anatomy of an Apostle” “Greetings, Grace and Peace” 2 Corinthians 1:1-2
I. Introduction 2 Corinthians 1:1
A. Welcome back or welcome to the study of 2 Corinthians.
A.1. Some of you were here last Winter for this study and you
may remember that we were not able to finish it and I
requested to come back to it after teaching the class called
“Islam in Christ’s Eyes.”
A.2. During that study, I put all the class materials on the church
website.
A.3. I have asked Steve Burns to continue this practice and he
has graciously agreed to do it.
A.4. All previous and future classes will be posted on the
website in class you miss a class or you want to print and
keep the material for future usage.
B. All the materials from chapter 1 through 5.10 will be posted on
the website.
B.1. I encourage you to read the materials to refresh your
memory about what we studied the previous quarter. B.2. Or if you were not in the class, it would be very helpful to
you to read the previous lessons to help you understand
where we are in the book.
C. In this class, I am going to reset the table by re-teaching the
introduction to help you dissect and digest this letter called 2
Corinthians written by the Apostle Paul.
D. This man was responsible for establishing Gentile churches
throughout the known world.
E. Paul birthed many congregations which are revealed in the book
of Acts.
F. If you have multiple children, you know they are all different.
F.1. Some of your children will make you glad but others will
make you groan.
F.2. Some will bring a smile to your face but others will bring
you sorrow to your heart.
F.3. Some of your children are worthy of praise and others will
give you a lot of problems.
F.4. All of our children are different because God never makes
copies; they are all originals. G. Brothers and sisters, the church at Corinth was Paul’s problem
child.
G.1. What were some of the headaches they gave to Paul?
G.2. They were racked with division according to 1 Cor. 1.10-17
because they were breaking into preacher political parties.
G.3. They were allowing a man to live with his step mother in
open immorality and were bragging about it in 1
Corinthians 5.
G.4. One church member was suing another church member in 1
Corinthians 6.
G.5. These Christians who had come out of paganism were still
attending the pagan feasts in 1 Corinthians 10.
G.6. Some of the members were getting drunk during the Lord’s
Supper in 1 Corinthians 11.
G.7. They were arguing about who had the biggest and best
spiritual gift in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14.
G.8. Some were even doubting the resurrection in 1 Corinthians
15. G.9. And that is not a complete list of all the problems that are
revealed in the first letter.
H. You see, there was one more problem that was percolating that
gave birth to the writing of this letter we are studying.
H.1. Paul talked about it in 1 Corinthians 9.
H.2. See if you can decipher what the problem was that Paul
addresses.
H.3. (1 Cor 9:1-3 N.V.) {1} “Am I not free? Am I not an
apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the
result of my work in the Lord? {2} Even though I may not
be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the
seal of my apostleship in the Lord. {3} This is my defense
to those who sit in judgment on me.”
H.4. What was the problem that Paul revealed in those verses?
H.5. There was a whispering campaign in Corinth asking, “Is
Paul really an apostle?”
I. Why do you think that may have been a question in some
people’s mind? Paul established the church in Corinth as is
revealed in Acts 18. I.1. Why would he be looked at differently than Peter, Andrew,
James or John?
I.2. Paul was not one of the original twelve.
I.3. He did not walk with Jesus three and half years as the other
12 did.
I.4. He was not an eyewitness of the crucifixion or the
resurrection of Christ.
I.5. Paul was not there to watch Jesus ascend back into Heaven.
J. Therefore, some were questioning Paul’s credentials as an apostle
in Corinth.
J.1. Yet, notice again what he told them in (1 Cor 9:1-3 N.V.)
{1} “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen
Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the
Lord? {2} Even though I may not be an apostle to others,
surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship
in the Lord. {3} This is my defense to those who sit in
judgment on me.”
J.2. Paul asked them in v.1, “Am I not an apostle?” J.3. And in v.2, “If anyone should question me and my
authority, surely you should not be the ones because you
are the seal of my apostleship! I gave you spiritual birth!”
K. Can you imagine having the brass to question the credentials of
the apostle Paul? The man who lead them to Christ!
L. Why do you think this happened? This is a hard question.
L.1. What might have been some reasons the Corinthians
questioned Paul’s authority? Ponder that for a minute
L.2. Have you ever noticed the taller a man is, the more likely it
is he will put into a position of authority? I have nothing
against tall men.
L.3. However, tall, good looking men, who speak well are
nearly always going to be moved to the front of the line
when it comes to positions of leadership.
L.4. Why? They look and sound authoritative.
M. Would you agree that looks have a profound affect on the way
society treats you? Sure
N. According to tradition, Paul was short, bald and bow legged.
N.1. He had bushy eye brows and a weak voice. N.2. I ask you again: Why do you think the Corinthians may
have questioned his authority?
N.3. Sadly, human nature is often prejudiced against short,
unattractive men with weak voices.
O. More than likely, there will never be a short, bald, bow legged
President of the United States because he must look good on
television.
O.1. Looks and leadership have a subliminal connection.
O.2. And it’s possible that it caused problems for the Apostle to
the Gentiles.
P. When Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, some “supermen” had come to
Corinth to make war against him in the church.
P.1. Listen to what he said in (2 Cor 11:5-6 N.V.) {5} “But I do
not think I am in the least inferior to those "super-apostles."
{6} I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have
knowledge.”
P.2. Does it sound like Paul was a little defensive about this
issue of looks, leadership and his speaking voice? P.3. He said in 1 Corinthians 10:10 For some say, “His letters
are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive
and his speaking amounts to nothing.”
Q. This is one of the reasons we are calling this study “The Anatomy
of an Apostle.”
Q.1. Paul’s stature and standing in Corinth had come under
attack.
Q.2. When he wrote first Corinthians, there were whisperings
about whether he was truly an apostle.
Q.3. Yet, when he wrote this second letter to them, there was
open hostility to the man they call “ the Apostle to the
Gentiles.”
R. That was the bad news section.
S. Let’s talk about some of the good news of 2 Corinthians because
many of the problems mentioned in the first letter do not appear
in the second.
S.1. There is no mention of drunkenness in the Lord’s Supper or
any more lawsuits among the believers.
S.1.a) It looks like that problem was corrected. S.1.b) Paul did not mentioned it in the second letter.
S.2. There are no mention of the man still living with his step
mother and that’s obviously good news.
S.3. So, the Corinthians were making progress after Paul left the
church to work in other areas preaching the Gospel.
T. Yet, no church moves in a straight line towards perfection.
T.1. There will be ups and downs.
T.2. Let’s look at one of the issues that was moving downward.
U. After Paul left Corinth to work in other areas, he got word of
more problems and went back to correct them but it didn’t go
well.
U.1. He described that visit to Corinth in (2 Cor 2:1) “So I
made up my mind that I would not make another painful
visit to you.”
U.2. At some point between the writing of these two letters, Paul
had made a special trip back to this congregation and he
said it was painful.
U.3. I don’t think it went well for the Apostle or the church. U.4. When he left and arrived at his next destination, he wrote
Corinth a letter we do not possess.
U.5. He talked about it in (2 Cor 2:2-4 N.V.) {2} For if I grieve
you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have
grieved? {3} I wrote as I did so that when I came I should
not be distressed by those who ought to make me rejoice. I
had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my
joy. {4} For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish
of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let
you know the depth of my love for you.
U.6. We do not possess the letter Paul said he wrote to the
Corinthians in v.4.
V. During Paul’s “painful visit”, someone had criticized him
severely in Corinth and he mentions it in (2 Cor 2:5-8 N.V.) {5}
“If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he
has grieved all of you, to some extent--not to put it too severely.
{6} The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient
for him. {7} Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. {8} I
urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.”
V.1. Someone attacked Paul verbally during his visit and it was
painful to him but in the Apostle’s absence, the church had
disciplined the offender.
V.2. The punishment was so severe that Paul encouraged the
church to comfort the attacker and reaffirm their love for
him.
W. What do all these events say to you about the church in Corinth
whether good or bad?
W.1. There were problems but there were mature members who
were capable of dealing with those problems.
W.2. They punished the problem maker.
W.3. So, it was not all doom and gloom and agony on me.
X. I told you all of that by way of introduction to give you a feeling
for what was happening with Paul and the church in Corinth.
Y. The title of this lesson is, “Greetings, Grace and Peace.”
Z. Now that you know what was happening in Corinth, that may
seem like a strange title. Z.1. Yet, that is exactly how Paul introduces the letter.
Z.2. The first thing we see is . . .
II. Greetings - v.1
A. (2 Cor 1:1 N.V.) “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of
God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth,
together with all the saints throughout Achaia.”
B. Let me give you a tip for reading and understanding the Bible.
B.1. Every time you read a text, you should be thinking, “Why
was this written?”
B.2. Why? Because there are no throw away lines in the Bible.
B.3. There are no “off the cuff” remarks in Scriptures.
B.4. Every word, every phrase, every sentence, every verse,
every chapter and every book has God’s purpose stamped
on it.
C. If you will learn this principle, you will immediately become a
better Bible student.
C.1. (2 Tim 3:16-17 N.V.) {16} “All Scripture is God-breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, {17} so that the man of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
C.2. How much of the Scriptures are valuable for us?
C.3. Every word from Genesis to the maps is the Word of God
and it is useful.
C.4. Not just some words, not just most words, but every Word
is useful.
D. With that in mind, I am going to read the opening verse again.
D.1. There are reasons Paul introduces it the way he did.
D.2. After all that you’ve heard about what was happening in
Corinth, ask yourself, “Why did Paul write verse one?”
D.3. “What is this Scripture teaching us?”
D.4. “How is it rebuking, correcting or training in
righteousness?”
D.5. Don’t answer yet. Read the verse again.
E. (2 Cor 1:1 N.V.) “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of
God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth,
together with all the saints throughout Achaia.”
E.1. What claim did Paul make about himself in v.1? E.2. He says, “I am an Apostle of Jesus Christ and not by my
own will but by the will of God.”
E.3. By understanding this opening sentence, you will crack the
code for the rest of this book.
E.4. Every word written afterward supports this one idea.
F. Paul’s authority as an Apostle had come under attack in Corinth
and he wasted no words in staking his claim to the highest office
a human can hold in the Lord’s Church.
F.1. It’s like he pulls out his Gospel guns saying, “Now hear
this. Let’s get this straight: I am Paul. I am an apostle of
Christ Jesus. And it’s all in the will of God.”
F.2. “Any questions?”
F.3. That was some greeting wasn’t it?
G. I told you earlier: there are no throw away lines in the Bible.
G.1. When you read it and ask, “Why was this written?”, it will
unlock the Scriptures for you.
G.2. This opening statement is the key code for the rest of the
book. G.3. Everything we are going to read and study through this
book will be viewed through the lens of v.1.
H. Paul was indeed an Apostle and he had all authority from Heaven
vested in him by the will of God through Jesus Christ.
H.1. Questions or comments?
I. Then in v.1 Paul mentions “Timothy, our brother.”
I.1. Again, I tell you, “There are no throw away lines in the
Bible.”
I.2. Why did Paul mention Timothy?
J. What do you know about Timothy?
J.1. He was Paul’s preaching partner and Timothy had a
problem with timidity.
J.2. Paul wrote him and said in (1 Tim 4:12 N.V.) “Don't let
anyone look down on you because you are young, but set
an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in
faith and in purity.”
J.3. Why did Paul say, “Don’t let anyone look down on
you . . .”? Because Timothy was shrinking back when the
brethren leaned on him. J.4. Then later Paul wrote again saying (2 Tim 1:6-7 N.V.) {6}
“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of
God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
{7} For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit
of power, of love and of self-discipline.”
K. I’m telling you, “There are no throw away lines in the Bible.”
K.1. Every word in the Bible has a purpose.
K.2. And when you ask, “Why was this written? And then
answer it correctly, you immediately become a better Bible
student.
L. Earlier I mentioned that Timothy was Paul’s preaching partner
and he was involved in the work in Corinth with the Apostle.
L.1. Paul said in (1 Cor 4:17 N.V.) “For this reason I am sending
to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the
Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus,
which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every
church.” L.2. Some scholars say that when Timothy was sent to Corinth
to deal with it’s problems, that’s when the church got
totally derailed.
L.3. Paul sent him to straighten out the mess and it seems as if
things only got worse.
M. Is it possible that Timothy’s timidity allowed this powder keg to
blow up? Yes
M.1. It may have been the very reason Paul had to go back to
Corinth for the painful visit that we have already mentioned
because timid Timothy couldn’t handle the situation.
M.2. Later we learn that it was Titus, not Timothy, who delivered
the “Severe Letter” and 2 Corinthians from Paul to this
congregation.
M.3. Did Paul demote Timothy? Did he lose confidence in his
young protégée? We don’t know but it’s a distinct
possibility.
N. With all that in mind, why do you think Paul put Timothy’s name
in the greeting of 2 Corinthians? N.1. Why did he call him “our brother” in his greeting to the
Corinthians?
N.2. Maybe it was the Apostle’s way of rebuilding Timothy’s
image in the eyes of the church of Corinth where this
young man failed so miserably.
N.3. Aren’t you glad that failure doesn’t have to be final?
N.4. The blunders of youth can give you to the brute strength of
maturity.
O. Notice what Paul says next in (2 Cor 1:1 N.V.) “Paul, an apostle
of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To
the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints
throughout Achaia.”
O.1. Knowing what you do about this church in Corinth, do you
see any irony in what Paul calls them? “The church of God
in Corinth?”
O.2. Why is that ironic to call these people “The church of God
at Corinth?”
O.3. Do remember all the problems we have listed that Paul
faced with this church? O.4. Yet, he calls them “The church of God in Corinth.”
O.5. What are some things you think we should learn from this?
O.6. God’s people are not perfect and the Lord knows this and
we need to learn it as well.
P. Someone has written the following statement entitled “What the
Church Is Not . . .”
P.1. The church is not made up of people who believe they are
better than others . . .but rather of those who believe they
ought to be better than they are.
P.2. The church is not trying to make you feel ugly . . .but trying
to instill the beauty of holiness in your life.
P.3. The church is not made of people who never make mistakes
. . .but of those who admit their mistakes and try not to
repeat them.
P.4. The church is not trying to withdraw from everyone . . .but
rather trying to bring everyone into its fellowship and love.
P.5. The church is not trying to separate you from your
money . . . but trying to keep your money from separating
you from God. P.6. The church is not trying to take the joy out of life . . .but to
put real joy in your life and eternal life in the heart.
Q. Sometimes we have a tendency to forget these truths. Why?
Q.1. We expect more of Christians.
Q.2. The world expects more of Christians and as soon as a
believer steps out of line unbelievers will mock him.
R. It is so easy to get discouraged, angry and pessimistic about the
church when you see one of it’s members behaving badly.
R.1. It’s easy to call a believer a “hypocrite” when he strays
from the way.
R.2. When you see sin in a Christian and in the church, it’s easy
to just say, “Why even try? It’s all just a waste of time.”
S. Why is that exactly the wrong approach?
S.1. Just look at the mess Paul was facing in Corinth.
S.2. Yet, what did he call them in his opening address? The
church of God at Corinth.
T. What are truths we can learn from this?
T.1. God didn’t give up mankind even after the flood. T.2. The Lord didn’t give up Israel after thousands of years of
repeated rebellion against Him.
T.3. The Lord didn’t give up on Peter who denied the Lord three
times.
T.4. And Paul didn’t give up on Corinth with all their craziness
either.
U. Never be shocked when you see sin among the saints.
U.1. Look again at what we read in (2 Cor 1:1 N.V.) “Paul, an
apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our
brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all
the saints throughout Achaia.”
U.2. Paul called the Corinthians and the people of Achaia, the
surrounding region, “the saints.”
U.3. Why did Paul call these people “saints?” It’s what we are
even when we’re not acting the part.
U.4. The word “saint” means set apart from the world for God’s
special service.
U.5. Does that sound like what was happening in Corinth? No V. I think Paul was practicing a principle that many parents use with
their children.
V.1. When a little boy eats his green beans, his mother will tell
little Johnny “You are getting so big and strong because
you are eating your green beans.”
V.2. Little Johnny is not big and he’s not strong.
V.3. Is his mother lying to him? No.
V.4. His mother is encouraging him to do the right thing to help
her son become what she wants him to be which is big and
strong.
W. Paul is encouraging the Corinthians to be the saints of God even
though many of them were not living saintly lives.
W.1. Remember, there are no throw away lines in the Bible.
W.2. It all has purpose and Paul laid it out in this opening
greeting.
X. Even though this church had been very hard on Paul, even though
they were his problem child, what did the Apostle to the Gentiles
want for this troubled church? That brings us to . . .
III. Grace and Peace - v.2 A. What did Paul want for these people? (2 Cor 1:2 N.V.) “Grace
and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.” Grace and peace
B. The word “grace” is the totality of all God’s blessing for
humanity.
B.1. (Eph 2:8-9 N.V.) {8} “For it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the
gift of God-- {9} not by works, so that no one can boast.”
B.2. (Titus 2:11-12 N.V.) {11} “For the grace of God that brings
salvation has appeared to all men. {12} It teaches us to say
"No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-
controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”
B.3. (Rom 12:6 N.V.) “We have different gifts, according to the
grace given us.”
C. Grace saves us, sanctifies us and helps us to serve our Lord.
D. The people who have accepted God’s amazing grace are the very
ones who know the peace that it affords. D.1. The atonement Jesus made for us on the cross has brought
us peace with the God so that we do not have to face His
wrath for our sin.
D.2. Aren’t you glad that God is our Father and not our judge?
D.3. Aren’t you glad that we have His amazing grace and the
peace that has been provided through His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ?
E. The common refrain I have used in this lesson is, “Why was this
written?”
E.1. Why do you think Paul was writing to the Corinthians to
remind them of the grace and peace of our Father through
the Lord Jesus Christ?
E.2. It was to remind them of the great blessings that God has
given us and those blessings can be lost.
E.3. It was to remind them that God is the Father of all who
believe that Jesus is our Savior.
E.4. Paul was teaching the Corinthians, “We are all on the same
team and it was time to stop fighting the faithful.” F. You see, the church is made up of two kinds of people: saints and
sinners.
F.1. The irony is that is a description of everyone of us.
F.2. Are we saints? Yes
F.3. Are we sinners? Absolutely
IV. Conclusion
A. I heard a story once about a church that was comprised of saints
and sinners. One Saturday, there was a traveling evangelist who
stopped to visit a preaching friend who invited his traveling
friend to stay and worship on Sunday. This traveling preacher
wanted to be charitable and offered to relieve the local preacher
by offering to speak in his place. The local minister was
embarrassed and had to admit that some of his members had
gotten into the habit of leaving the services before the sermon
ended. The traveling preacher said, “In that case, I must preach
tomorrow.” The next day, the visiting preacher started by looking
around the assembly and said, “My brethren, I am going to
preach to two sorts of people today-saints and sinners. Sinners, I
am going to give you your portion first, so please pay close attention.” After preaching for a few minutes, the traveling
preacher said, “There, sinners, I have finished with you now, you
may take your hats and leave as soon as you please. Now, I will
give the saints their portion of today’s bread of life.” For some
reason, everybody stayed until he had finished speaking.
B. Saints and sinners, now that you have heard the message for the
evening, please share with the class anything that you have
learned from our text this evening.
C. Every Word of the Bible has meaning.
C.1. When you ask and answer the question, “Why was this
written?” you immediately become a better Bible student.
C.2. Why did Paul open this letter by calling himself “an
Apostle?” Because that was the biggest question to be
answered in this letter
C.3. Why did he mention Timothy in the opening greeting? To
rebuild his stature within the Corinthian church
C.4. Why did Paul call these people “saints”? To encourage
them to be what God called them to be which is to be set
apart from the world for His special purpose. What did Paul want for this church in v.2? Grace which is the sum and total of all of God’s blessings which brings us peace, perfect peace that comes only through our Lord, Jesus Christ.