God wants you to learn to rely on Him more than on yourself. Being a God-dependent woman will make you stronger and more effective in life than you could ever be on your own.
The key to being a God-dependent woman is dependent living. Paul teaches you how to do that in Second Corinthians.
Through this 11-lesson study of 2nd Corinthians, you will learn how to make plans for your life and rely on God with how you proceed. You will learn how to educate your mind and rely on God to use that knowledge to glorify Him. You will learn how to make money and rely on God to show you how to use it wisely. You learn how to do this as you act in obedience to the Word of God, depend on Jesus Christ for the power to do so, and trust Him with the results.
Work through The God-Dependent Woman study and start living this way today!
This study guide consists of 11 lessons covering Paul’s letter we know as “Second Corinthians.” Since this letter consists of 13 chapters in our New Testaments, we will need to cover more than one chapter in some of the lessons. If you cannot do the entire lesson one week, please read the Bible passage covered by the lesson and try to do the “Day One Study” of the lesson.
Each lesson includes core questions covering the passage narrative. These core questions will take you through the process of inductive Bible study—observation, interpretation, and application. It is the best approach for doing Bible Study. The process is more easily understood in the context of answering these questions:
Dependent Living: The focus of this study is choices we make to rely more on God than on ourselves in weakness and in strength. That is called dependent living, meaning we live in daily dependence upon God. Some questions have a DL in front of them. These will prompt you to recognize what it means to live dependently on God and how to apply it to your life.
Study Aids: To aid in proper interpretation and application of the study, additional study aids are located where appropriate in the lesson:
Other useful study tools: Use online tools or apps (blueletterbible.org or “Blue Letter Bible app” is especially helpful) to find cross references (verses with similar content to what you are studying) and meanings of the original Greek words or phrases used (usually called “interlinear”). You can also look at any verse in various Bible translations to help with understanding what it is saying. You will have the opportunity to add your own study at the end of every What does it mean? section.
The New Testament opens with the births of Jesus and John (often called “the baptist”). About 30 years later, John challenged the Jews to indicate their repentance (turning from sin and toward God) by submitting to water baptism—a familiar Old Testament practice used for repentance as well as when a Gentile converted to Judaism (to be washed clean of idolatry).
Jesus Christ, God’s incarnate Son, publicly showed the world what God is like and taught His perfect ways for 3 – 3½ years. After preparing 12 disciples to continue Christ’s earthly work, He died voluntarily on a cross for mankind’s sin, rose from the dead, and returned to heaven. The account of His earthly life is recorded in 4 books known as the Gospels (the biblical books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John named after the compiler of each account).
After Jesus’s return to heaven, the followers of Christ were then empowered by the Holy Spirit and spread God’s salvation message among the Jews, a number of whom believed in Christ. The apostle Paul and others traveling with him carried the good news to the Gentiles during 3 missionary journeys (much of this recorded in the book of Acts). Paul wrote 13 New Testament letters to churches & individuals (Romans through Philemon). The section in our Bible from Hebrews to Jude contains 8 additional letters penned by five men, including two apostles (Peter and John) and two of Jesus’s half-brothers (James and Jude). The author of Hebrews is unknown. The apostle John also recorded Revelation, which summarizes God’s final program for the world. The Bible ends as it began—with a new, sinless creation.
Through this 11-week study of 2nd Corinthians, you will learn how to make plans for your life and rely on God with how you proceed. You will learn how to educate your mind and rely on God to use that knowledge to glorify Him. You will learn how to make money and rely on God to show you how to use it wisely. You learn how to do this as you act in obedience to the Word of God, depend on Jesus Christ for the power to do so, and trust Him with the results. This “dependent living” will make you stronger and more effective in life as you become a God-dependent woman.
As a reminder, you’ll see this main idea at the end of each lesson:
As His child, God transforms your life by teaching you to live dependently on Him in weakness and in strength.
But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. (2 Corinthians 1:9b, Memory Verse #1)
Like any book you read, it always helps to know a bit about the author, the background setting for the story (i.e., past, present, future), and where the book fits into a series (that’s the context). The same is true of Bible books.
Paul identifies himself as the author of this letter written to the church at Corinth. Paul, whose Hebrew name was Saul, was born in Tarsus, a major Roman city on the coast of southeast Asia Minor. Tarsus was the center for the tent making industry. Paul was trained in that craft as his occupation (his primary paying profession). As a Jewish Pharisee from the tribe of Benjamin, Paul was educated at the feet of Gamaliel, a well-respected rabbi of the day. Paul was an ardent persecutor of the early church until his life-changing conversion to Christianity
After believing in Jesus Christ as his Savior, Paul was called by God to take the gospel to the Gentiles. This was an amazing about-face for a committed Pharisee like Paul who ordinarily would have nothing to do with Gentiles. Paul wrote 13 letters that are included in the New Testament. Tradition has it that Paul was beheaded shortly after he wrote 2nd Timothy in 67 AD. (The above information comes from Acts 8:3; 9:1-31; 22:3-5; 26:9-11; and Galatians 1:11-24.)
Around 44 B.C., Julius Caesar rebuilt Corinth from a pile of rubble into a great Roman capital city. So, it was relatively young by the time of Paul without aristocracy, traditions, or well-established citizens. As a Roman colony and the capital of the province of Achaia, the people who called Corinth home were mostly retired Roman soldiers, merchants (many of whom were Jews) and other immigrants from the East. Corinth’s strategic location brought commerce and all that goes with it: wealth, a steady stream of travelers and merchants, and vice (including prostitution as part of the worship of their local gods and goddesses). Corinthians had a reputation for wealth and sensuality.
As we read Acts and Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, we can piece together a lot of the background information for this letter. On his second missionary journey, Paul spent a year and a half in Corinth (A.D. 51-52). Then, Paul went to Ephesus on his third missionary journey and made that city his base of operations for almost three years (A.D. 53-56). There he heard disturbing news about immorality in the Corinthian church. So, he wrote a letter urging the believers not to tolerate such conduct in their midst. Paul referred to this previous letter in 1 Corinthians 5:9. It has not been preserved.
After this, Paul heard from “Chloe’s people” that factions had developed in the church. He also received a letter from the church in Corinth requesting his guidance on certain matters. Those who carried this letter also reported other disturbing conditions in the church. These factors led Paul to compose another letter, the one we call “1 Corinthians,” in which he dealt with the questions and problems, promised to visit them soon, and said he was sending Timothy to Corinth. Paul sent this letter from Ephesus by trusted messengers in the late winter or early spring of A.D. 55.
There was internal strife in the Corinthian church. But, the larger problem seems to have been that some in the community were leading the church into a view of things that was contrary to that which Paul taught them. This resulted in a questioning of Paul’s authority and his gospel.
While the letter we know as “1 Corinthians” did not dispel the problems in the church at Corinth completely, it resolved some of them. Yet, opposition to the Apostle Paul persisted. Paul’s critics continued to speak out against him in the church, claiming equal authority with Paul and questioning whether Paul was really an apostle. The Christians in Corinth didn’t argue with what he had written; they simply denied his right to tell them what to do.
News of continuing problems in Corinth reached Paul in Ephesus so he made a brief visit to Corinth. What he called “a painful visit,” his efforts to resolve the conflicts proved unsuccessful. He then returned to Ephesus and sent a “severe letter” from Ephesus carried by Titus and another unnamed believer. This letter has not been preserved.
While waiting to receive the report back from Titus’ visit, persecution made Paul leave Ephesus earlier than he had anticipated. He found an open door for the gospel to the north in Troas. Eager to meet Titus, who was taking the land route from Corinth back to Ephesus, Paul moved west into Macedonia. There Titus met him and gave him an encouraging report. Most of the church had responded to Paul’s directives, and the church had disciplined the troublemakers. Unfortunately, some in the congregation still refused to acknowledge Paul’s authority over them.
Paul wrote what we know as “2 Corinthians” from Macedonia (Philippi, Thessalonica, or Berea) probably in the fall or winter of A.D. 56. (The above information adapted from Dr. Constable’s Notes on 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, 2018 Editions)
Though found in our New Testaments after the book of Romans, Paul wrote 1 Corinthians (from Ephesus) and 2 Corinthians (from Macedonia) before he wrote Romans during his stay in Corinth.
Historical Insight: Trying to piece together this section of Paul’s life and ministry is like assembling a picture puzzle without the box-top. The big pieces are easy, but the small ones drive you crazy! (Steve Hixon, The New Covenant Lifestyle, p. 3)
Here is a possible timeline just to give you some perspective on the interaction between Paul and the Corinthians over several years:
1. What grabbed your attention as you read the ABC’s of the book of 2 Corinthians?
This letter, 2 Corinthians, is considered one of Paul’s most personal letters. It’s not a “sermon” like Romans or Ephesians that can be easily outlined. It’s a messy letter, just like most personal letters. It is full of personal feelings and experiences interspersed between some terrific teaching. It’s like life—messy—because people are messy, relationships are messy, circumstances are messy, and community within the church is messy.
The majority of New Testament writings exist because the early church was messy … Emerging from the mess is the fingerprint of God writing the hope of the gospel and the story of redemption. (Heather Zempel, Community Is Messy, pages 24, 26-27)
In the midst of our messy lives, God wants us to learn to rely on Him more than on ourselves. If you have been reared in western culture, this is contrary to what you’ve been taught most of your life. To compensate for poor teaching in the past, women are taught from girlhood to “stand on your own two feet” and “you don’t need anyone to be successful.” So, what does this relying on God look like?
Are we as Christians supposed to stay like babies not doing anything for ourselves? Does it mean we are supposed to just lie back and let anything happen to us? Does it mean we aren’t supposed to use our skills, talents, advantages, and opportunities to be the best we can be? No! That’s not what it means.
We are supposed to grow and mature in our thinking and behavior. God wants us to give to Him all the skills, talents, advantages, and opportunities and use them for His glory. That involves following His leading and guidance. It means submitting our strengths and our weaknesses to Him for His purposes in our lives.
Here is the key to this: Human parents raise their children to be less dependent on them and more independent. But, God raises His children to be less independent and more dependent on Him. Whatever He brings into our lives that makes us more dependent upon Him is good for us. The key to being a God-dependent woman is dependent living.
Throughout 2 Corinthians, we will see examples of dependent living. Paul makes plans and submits them to God to be changed. We will see him demonstrating his authority as a leader and submitting that to God. He asks for healing and submits to God’s answer. And, Paul talks about preaching the gospel in one city while his heart wants to be in another city, waiting for God to say “go.” That’s dependent living.
Dependent living is not weakness. It is being stronger and having more influence, success, and satisfaction than we could ever have through our own efforts—as brilliant and self-sufficient as we think we are or as weak and messed up as we think we are and everywhere in-between.
Through this 11-week study of 2 Corinthians, we will learn how to make plans for our lives and rely on the Lord with how to proceed. We will learn how to educate our minds and rely on the Lord to use that knowledge to glorify Him. We will learn how to make money and rely on the Lord to show us how to use it wisely. We learn how to do this as we act in obedience to the Word of God, depend on Jesus Christ for the power to do so, and trust Him with the results. This “dependent living” will make us stronger and more effective in life than we could ever be on our own.
As a reminder, you’ll see this main idea at the end of each lesson: As His child, God transforms your life by teaching you to live dependently on Him in weakness and in strength.
The following verses describe or relate to dependent living. To help you learn about living dependently on the Lord, we recommend you memorize the verses listed below. I’ve included the NIV version of each, but you can use any translation. Write them on cards and place them where you will see and review them.
But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. (2 Corinthians 1:9b)
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
2. What questions do you have about “dependent living” that you hope to have answered through this study?
This day will take a little longer than most because we ask you to read through the entire letter of 2 Corinthians. Reading through the whole letter is the best way to see the entire message and get the “big picture” before we divide it into smaller pieces to enjoy it more slowly.
Read the letter called “2 Corinthians” as it was intended … a letter from one dear friend to another. Read it at one sitting. It will take about 40 minutes. Consider the following questions as you read. Ready? Go!
3. What do you remember the most from your reading of this entire letter? What topics, situations, or teachings does Paul include in his letter that particularly interest you?
Ask God to show you answers to your questions and what He wants you to learn through this study of 2 Corinthians.
Let’s start digging into this wonderful letter from God to us. For every lesson, we will begin with reading the whole passage to get the big picture before we study the verses more closely.
To learn how to really observe what is in the text, it helps to print out the verses. I will give you a link to follow to print the specific passage we are studying in that lesson. You can choose a translation by pulling down the menu. Sometimes the link will include sections from a previous lesson so you can see the continuity in Paul’s letter.
Read 2 Corinthians 1:1-11. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word. (This is a dependent living choice.)
[To print, follow this link (or for the NIV, this one). Use your own method (colored pencils, lines, shapes) to mark: 1) anything that grabs your attention and 2) words you want to understand. Feel free to develop your own method of marking up a passage. Put a star next to anything you think relates to dependent living.]
4. What grabbed your attention from this passage?
5. What verses or specific words do you want to understand better?
6. What verses illustrate or help you understand what dependent living on God looks like? [Example: We receive comfort from God for ourselves and to comfort others. (v. 4)]
7. Focus on vv. 1-2. This is called the “salutation.” In ancient letters, the salutation included both the letter writer and the recipient’s name.
Historical Insight: Paul intended that the Corinthian Christians would read this epistle in the church, but he also wanted all the Christians in the province of Achaia to read it. We know that at this time there was another church a few miles away in Cenchrea (Romans 16:1), and perhaps one in nearby Athens (Acts 17:34). (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 10)
8. Read 1 Corinthians 1:26. What does Paul say about the Corinthians that might help you to identify with them?
9. Read the following verses to compare Paul’s salutations in other letters. Galatians 1:1-3 (Paul’s first letter); 1 Corinthians 1:1-3 (written before 2 Corinthians); Romans 1:1, 7-8 (written after 2 Corinthians) and Ephesians 1:1-2 (one of Paul’s last letters). What is consistently the same?
Focus on the Meaning: “Grace” was a common Greek salutation that meant “greetings” or “rejoice.” The Jews said “shalom” to each other, meaning “peace and prosperity.” Paul used both words when he greeted the recipients of his epistles. For the Christian, these terms took on a deeper meaning. God has chosen to set His love upon the believer in Christ (grace) resulting in something that the world cannot give (peace).
10. Being confident in the authenticity of what you read in the Bible is important to your faith. How would the consistency you found in the previous question help to prove the authenticity of those letters? By the way, skeptics concede that Paul wrote 2 Corinthians. No argument about it.
Read 2 Corinthians 1:3-11. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
11. Let God feed your hope through the truths revealed in this passage.
12. Paul describes God as “the Father of compassion” (v. 3) and “the God of all comfort,” the one to whom we should go first in our troubles. Compassion means to not just feel sympathy for someone’s pain but to do something to alleviate it. Paul equates this with receiving “comfort” from God.
Scriptural Insight: God is not detached, cold and distant. He knows, understands, empathizes with and responds to the pain in our lives with compassion. This is beautifully illustrated in the life of Jesus (see Mark 6:34).
13. What did Paul mean when he said we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ (v. 5)? Think of the human experiences that we share with Jesus.
14. Paul wrote this letter after experiencing severe trials in Ephesus (vv. 8-9). Read Acts 19:23-41 and 1 Corinthians 15:32. What did he experience?
Although the context of Paul’s “sufferings” may be persecution, the principle applies to any troubles experienced by humans. Jesus experienced them all except those brought on by personal sinfulness since He was sinless. But, He understands our need for comfort even then.
15. Paul admitted weakness. Being a mature Christian doesn’t exempt you from fear, struggle, doubt, stress and suffering. Paul viewed those experiences as opportunities for learning to rely on God more than oneself (v. 9).
16. When you have trouble in your life, someone might tell you this, “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.” Based upon what you read in vv. 8-9, why is that a false teaching?
Think About It: God allows painful things to happen to His children. He puts us in situations where it’s beyond our ability. We are still capable of sinning. We can’t fully trust ourselves. He gives us more than we can handle on our own so we are forced to trust in Him.
17. Read 1 Corinthians 10:13. What does God promise regarding any temptation to sin that you face at any time? How is this also teaching you to rely on God more than yourself?
From the Greek: “Gracious favor” NIV / “blessing” ESV (v. 11) comes from the Greek word charisma meaning “a favor with which one receives without any merit of his own.” This undeserved gift of divine grace towards us stems from God’s love for us. God chooses to give it because of His love so that men and women can become acceptable to Him. Grace is summed up in the name, person, and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We receive this favor or acceptance from God as a free gift through faith. God’s grace is all-sufficient, and our weakness is precisely the opportunity for His power to be displayed.
Did you see something else in this passage that you wanted to study more? This is where you would use an online tool or app (blueletterbible.org or “Blue Letter Bible app” is especially helpful) to find cross references (verses with similar content to what you are studying) and meanings of the original Greek words or phrases used (usually called “interlinear”). You can also look at any verse in various Bible translations to help with understanding what it is saying. These tools help you get a clearer picture of the meaning of a passage after you have studied if for yourself. You will have the opportunity to add your own study at the end of every What does it mean? section.
18. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 1:3-11?
19. If you consider that God’s purpose in allowing troubles in your life is to lead you to rely on Him more than yourself (v. 9):
Think About It: Suffering drives us to dependence on God. We set our hope on Him more than ourselves. We see His love and grace given to us. We give thanks.
20. Read vv. 4, 6-7 again. God has purpose even for our pain.
21. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
22. Review the passage for this lesson in “Day One Study.” Add reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves to the chart below. I’ve given a few prompts.
Verse(s) |
Reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves |
v. 4 |
We receive comfort from God for ourselves and to comfort others. |
v. 9 |
He’s more powerful than we are. |
v. 10 |
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v. 11 |
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Think About It: Every daily lesson in this study begins and ends with prayer. Prayer is conversation with Someone who loves you dearly. It is not about magic words or formulas. God speaks to you through His word. You may respond to Him about anything and ask Him to make His word true in your life. Lack of prayer is often a sign of self-sufficiency rather than dependent living.
As His child, God transforms your life by teaching you to live dependently on Him in weakness and in strength.
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
The God who comforts you understands the many kinds of suffering you undergo in daily life. Although Paul wrote about the persecution he and his friends experienced that made them fear for their lives, suffering doesn’t only come from persecution, from physical danger, or from outside your circle of friends. It can also come from within the circle of those whom you love the most. Misunderstandings, behavioral conflicts, and slanderous information from others can cause hurt feelings and mistrust.
Regardless of the source, suffering drives us to dependence on God. We set our hope on Him more than ourselves. We see His love and grace given to us. We trust Him to work in the situation and give thanks. That’s dependent living.
Read 2 Corinthians 1:12-2:13. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
[To print, follow this link (or for the NIV, this one). Use your own method (colored pencils, lines, shapes) to mark: 1) anything that grabs your attention and 2) words you want to understand. Feel free to develop your own method of marking up a passage. Put a star next to anything you think relates to dependent living.]
1. What grabbed your attention from these verses?
2. What verses or specific words do you want to understand better?
3. What topics are repeated in this passage or continue an earlier discussion in this letter?
4. What verses illustrate or help you understand what dependent living on God looks like?
Read 2 Corinthians 1:12-14. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
5. As you look for the facts, remember that the context of Paul’s words are misunderstandings between the Corinthians and himself because of what other people are saying against him.
From the Greek: “Boast” is based on a Greek word meaning “the act of glorying, rejoicing.” As a key word in 2 Corinthians, Paul uses it 30 times in various forms. Pay attention to all the references to those who are boasting and about what they are boasting.
6. From 2 Corinthians 1:12-14, summarize what you think Paul is trying to communicate to the Corinthian believers.
7. Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. When Paul first met the Corinthians, what examples of worldly wisdom (literally, “fleshly, humanistic”) did he not use? Why?
8. What does Paul say in 2 Corinthians 1:12 to remind them about that?
From the Greek: Wisdom (Gr. sophia, meaning “knowledge, intelligence, learning”) was one of the Corinthians’ buzz words. The Greeks valued wisdom. Paul used this word or variations of it 15 times in 1 Corinthians plus 2 Corinthians 1:12.
9. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 1:12-14?
Being misrepresented by someone and, therefore, misunderstood is very painful. Paul basically tells the Corinthians, “Look at my behavior. I am single-minded and sincere. It’s the truth. Please trust me. Then, we can be proud of each other’s faith.”
10. Have you been in a similar relationship where you were misrepresented and misunderstood? What have you learned from today’s study that you could apply to your situation?
11. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Read 2 Corinthians 1:15-22. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
12. Answer the following questions based on what is written in the biblical text.
Scriptural Insight: Verse 15 can cause some confusion depending on your Bible translation. “Second experience of grace (ESV)” / “benefit twice (NIV)” comes from the Greek word charis, meaning gift, grace, blessing, or benefit. Paul used this word in the context of his visits, not any kind of salvation or spiritual experience. He hoped that his visiting them twice would be a double blessing for them.
Read Acts 19:21-22. Paul was in Ephesus when he made his initial travel plans. To understand where he was and where he was planning to go, find Ephesus, Macedonia, Corinth, and Judea on the map below.
13. Paul made plans but left them in the Lord’s hands. On what was He relying to lead him to visit Corinth? See also Acts 18:21 and James 4:13-15 for insight.
Focus on the Meaning: In making his plans, Paul claimed not to have followed his “flesh” (his sinful human nature) rather than the Holy Spirit … Paul has argued in vv. 18-20 that as God is faithful, so, too, is Paul’s “word.” God’s faithfulness is to be seen (1) in the Son of God preached in Corinth as God’s unambiguous and now-eternal “Yes,” and (2) in the fact of all the promises of God having been kept in the Son of God, as proclaimed by the apostles including Paul, the minister of the God who speaks unambiguously (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:13) and who keeps his promises. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, pages 22, 24)
14. God was completely trustworthy in fulfilling His promises to them in Christ, uniting Paul with the Corinthians. This is true of all believers.
Scriptural Insight: Promise and hope – the Holy Spirit is called a “deposit” or “down payment” on our salvation, giving assurance of the completion of his work. At the moment of salvation, the Spirit places you in Christ. This is the basis for your: 1) acceptance before God, 2) assurance of salvation, and 3) identity. And, Jesus Christ lives in you through His Spirit. Through Christ’s presence in you, you receive: 1) life (regeneration), 2) power for living, and 3) the basis of a relationship with the living God. What a truly awesome deal!
15. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 1:15-22?
Dependent Living: Paul made plans but held them loosely. God’s grace was leading him (v. 12). The Spirit drove his concern for the Corinthians so Paul wanted to check on them. Paul said in vv. 19-20 that he depended on Christ as he made plans. Making plans then having to change them may result in disappointments and misunderstandings for those involved. Paul had to trust in Christ to overcome that as well.
16. Where you can apply what you learned today to your own life?
Read 2 Corinthians 1:23-2:13. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
17. Paul continues to explain himself so they can understand him.
18. Instead of another visit (2:1), Paul wrote a painful letter. What was his concern now (vv. 2-3)?
19. Notice the number of times joy / glad / rejoice are used in 2 Corinthians 1:23-2:13. What is it about broken relationships that affects our joy?
Focus on the Meaning: Paul refers to “joy” repeatedly in this letter, referring to it as “overflowing” and “boundless.” Only the Lord Jesus Christ can fill our hearts with overflowing joy even in the midst of hardships.
20. Correcting someone’s error in behavior or thinking is hard but necessary in the church of Christ. We don’t know what had happened, but we can look at an incident requiring previous correction. Read 1 Corinthians 5:1-7.
21. Based on 2 Corinthians 2:6-10, what are some “tough love” steps you can take to restore an offending community member and then comfort them?
22. Read v. 11 in several Bible translations to help in your understanding.
Paul warned of a danger always threatening believers, especially unity within the local church community. Satan’s schemes could outwit church leaders.
Focus on the Meaning: Comfort means encouragement plus alleviation of grief. The one offended must go to the offender who has been confronted and give forgiveness and comfort to her. This confirmation of love helps to bring everyone back into loving fellowship. Satan delights in seeing our church body, small groups and families broken up by our failure to forgive and confirm love.
23. Paul sent the painful letter with Titus. Read Galatians 2:1-3, Titus 1:1, 4-5, and 2 Corinthians 7:5-7. What do you learn about Titus?
Historical Insight: Paul left Troas, not because he wasn’t having success but because he was so concerned about his Corinthian “children.” His focus was on relationship. The likely route for Titus to take back to Ephesus / Troas would have been up from Corinth to Macedonia then a short sea journey to Troas. He had places to stay along the way with the churches already planted. Paul hoped to meet Titus in Macedonia. Do you now understand why Paul started off this letter with praising God for comfort? Titus brought him comfort in the way of good news about the Corinthians.
Dependent Living: God makes you to stand firm (v. 24). You choose to let Him do so.
24. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 1:23-2:13?
25. Paul trusted Titus to represent him and help with reconciliation. Whom would you trust to send to a family member to help with reconciliation, as Paul trusted Titus? Why?
26. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
27. Review the passage for this lesson in “Day One Study.” Add reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves to the chart below. I’ve given a few prompts.
Verse(s) |
Reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves |
1:17 |
We get distracted and disappointed when things don’t go as we planned |
1:22 |
He owns us and lives in us. |
2:5-10 |
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2:11 |
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As His child, God transforms your life by teaching you to live dependently on Him in weakness and in strength.
You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:2-3)
Paul made plans to visit the Corinthians but held onto them loosely as he left them in the Lord’s hands. The Spirit drove Paul’s concern for the Corinthians so he changed plans to check on them. Because of God’s grace leading him, he chose to delay the visit. This caused disappointments and misunderstandings for those involved. But, Paul had to trust in Christ to overcome that as well.
Broken relationships due to misunderstandings and gossip from those who don’t know the facts can cause great pain. Paul asks the Corinthians to assume good will, listen to wisdom, and do what is right in God’s sight. Then, trust the Lord to heal the relationship as each party loves the other sincerely.
Read 2 Corinthians 2:12-4:6, including verses from the previous lesson. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
[To print, follow this link (or for the NIV, this one). Use your own method (colored pencils, lines, shapes) to mark: 1) anything that grabs your attention and 2) words you want to understand. Feel free to develop your own method of marking up a passage. Put a star next to anything you think relates to dependent living.]
1. What grabbed your attention from these verses?
2. What verses or specific words do you want to understand better?
3. What topics are repeated in this passage or continue an earlier discussion in this letter?
4. What verses illustrate or help you understand what dependent living on God looks like?
Read 2 Corinthians 2:14-17. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
Historical Insight: Paul was an observer of his world and often included references to the culture as illustrations for his listeners. The imagery is that of a Roman triumph (victory parade) in which the victorious general would lead his soldiers and the captives they had taken in festive procession, while the people watched and applauded and the air was filled with the sweet smell released by burning of spices in the street. (NIV Study Bible, note on v. 14, p. 1765)
5. Corinth was a Roman colony. Roman parades were special to them. Consider the “Historical Insight” information above as you answer the following questions.
Think About It: The sobering fact is that the fragrance of Christ is glorious to those who desire Him as Savior, but to those who reject Him, the scent is loathsome. (Kelly Minter, All Things New, page. 44)
6. Paul says that the fragrance we spread is the knowledge of Christ, the aroma of Christ.
Scriptural Insight: Paul asks the rhetorical question, “Who is equal to such a task (v. 16)?” He knows that no one is. Our responsibility to represent Christ well and be that enticing aroma is weighty. But, God doesn’t ask us to do that He doesn’t enable us to do. God makes us competent to share Him with others. See 2 Corinthians 3:5.
7. Read Acts 18:1-7, 1 Corinthians 9:11-15; and 2 Corinthians 11:7-9. Traveling teachers in that culture usually expected to be paid for their services.
Scriptural Insight: How is Paul able confidently to attribute such negative motives to these men, while expecting his own claim “of sincerity” to be accepted? It appears that he is appealing to the known fact that these men have received some material benefit from the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 11:20), whereas Paul deliberately refused payment from them (2 Corinthians 11:7-12; 12:13-16). (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 35)
8. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 2:14-17?
God uses our words and actions to bring out what people are already thinking about Him. Their responses to us are often an indicator of where they are spiritually—and that can be good or bad, positive or negative. If they are seeking to know more about Christ, they may be drawn to His fragrance in us. If someone is mad at God, we may experience that anger directed at us.
9. How do you respond when someone attacks your faith? How does it help to consider they may be reacting more to God than to you?
10. How would you recognize someone peddling the word of God for profit? What questions would you ask to determine if someone is peddling the word of God for profit or sincerely serving the Lord Jesus in ministry?
11. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Dependent Living: Our God leads us and uses us to draw others to Christ and His victory parade. We let Him lead us and use us according to His will.
Read 2 Corinthians 3:1-6. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
Historical Insight: In Acts 18:27 and Romans 16:1, we see examples of letters of recommendation. The appearance of vagrant impostors, who claimed to be teachers of apostolic truth, led to the need for letters of recommendation. Paul needed no such confirmation; but others, including the Corinthian intruders, did need authentication and, being themselves, false, often resorted to unscrupulous methods for obtaining or forging letters of recommendation. (NIV Study Bible, note on 3:1, p. 1765)
12. Have you needed a letter of recommendation for something? Paul’s credentials have been questioned. Paul answers the charge that he needs a letter of recommendation (v. 1).
Scriptural Insight: Notice that v. 3 includes references to God [the Father], Christ and the Spirit. This is a “Trinity” verse supporting the doctrine of one God in three persons.
13. Read vv. 2-3 in several Bible translations. Summarize what Paul is saying.
14. Read 1 Corinthians 9:1-2 and Acts 9:15-16; 18:9-10 for background to what Paul says here. What are Paul’s credentials?
15. How do his credentials give him both confidence (trust, reliance) and competence / sufficiency in the work that Jesus gave him to do (2 Corinthians 1:1; 2:17; 3:5-6)?
From the Greek: The Greek word hikonas (“to have enough”) is translated in vv. 5-6 as competent (NIV), adequate (NAS), qualified (NLT), and sufficient (ESV). God is the one who makes anyone “have enough” for the work He has called her to do.
16. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 3:1-6?
17. In the gospels, we see that Jesus would connect with people and impart truth to them. You are His letter for others to read. And, He’s used His servants to reach you and model for you how to follow Him.
Think About It: In 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul says, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” That’s the kind of statement that gets the apostle Paul slapped with labels like “arrogant” and “egotistical.” Maybe that bothers you, too. Why didn’t Paul just take himself out of the equation and tell people to follow Christ? The answer is that Paul knew we all need a role model, a picture of Christ that makes the heart, mind and ways of Christ visible and tangible. To step into a role of leadership is essentially to state, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” If people are going to follow us, our primary task is to lead ourselves well … The first step toward leading yourself well is following well … And if you are a Christ follower, the practice of following well is fundamental to your identity and may be one of the greatest tests of your character. (Heather Zempel, Community Is Messy, pages 67-68)
18. God is the one who makes you competent / sufficient / adequate for the work that Jesus gives you to do. Is there something right now that’s in front of you—a need, a challenge, an opportunity—but you feel spiritually incompetent to do it? How do these verses today speak to your situation?
19. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Read 2 Corinthians 3:7-4:6. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
20. Paul contrasts the Old Covenant with the New Covenant, revealing how life with the Spirit of God is so much better.
Focus on the Meaning: Freedom is being out in the open; it is the boldness of having nothing to hide. The woman who is free has no reputation to defend, no image to hide behind, nothing to preserve about herself. She can be herself. (Ray Stedman, adapted from Authentic Christianity)
21. Contrast the Old Covenant (the Law) with the New Covenant of the Spirit (3:7-11).
Focus on the Meaning: You may be a Christian, appreciating God’s grace for salvation and heaven, but thinking that you need to be “under the law” in your Christian life. Why would you sense that? Perhaps you feel your relationship with God is based upon your performance, that His love for you is conditional, that you’re never “good enough” for Him to really accept you. That’s Old Covenant thinking. Read this passage again and realize that God wants to set you free from that inner turmoil. The New Covenant is His gift to you. (Steve Hixon)
22. Paul says in v. 18 that we are being “transformed” by the Spirit. The original Greek word means “to change from one form to another.” For us, we are being transformed into the image of Christ … not in our faces but in our characters.
Scriptural Insight: The “image” of God, that we see in the Word, accurately reflects God, though we do not yet see God Himself. What we see in the “mirror” of God’s Word is the Lord [Jesus], not ourselves. We experience gradual transformation … not in our faces but in our characters (cf. 2 Peter 3:18). (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 43)
The concept of glory can be hard to understand. But, Paul uses it repeatedly in this passage so let’s at least try.
From the Greek: “Glory” comes from the Greek word, doxa, meaning “good opinion resulting in praise and honor; splendor, brightness, majesty.”
23. Why will being transformed into the Lord’s image bring “ever-increasing glory” to us rather than fading glory?
Scriptural Insight: We are made holy in God’s sight at the moment of salvation. Holy ones are called saints (2 Corinthians 1:1). During our life on earth, we are also “being made holy” in our thoughts, words, and actions by the work of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18). This is ongoing from the moment of salvation until the Lord comes or the believer dies, when our “being made holy” is complete (Philippians 1:6). The goal of the Spirit’s work is to transform us into the likeness of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18) so that we become in thought and behavior what we are in status—holy as God is holy.
24. Although Moses wore a physical “veil” to cover the fading glory from his face, Paul uses “veil” in a figurative sense to represent the stubborn refusal of the Jews to believe the gospel message. He says that Satan (“the god of this age”) veils the gospel by blinding the minds of unbelievers (as in 2 Corinthians 3:14-16 for the Jews).
Scriptural Insight: In the Bible, there always seems to be a period of darkness before there comes a light. According to the Hebrew calendar—the one Jesus used—a day starts at sunset and not at midnight or sunrise. So even the Hebrew day begins with night. Isn’t that interesting? During dark times, dawn will always come. All around us it is easy to see the darkness present in this world. Wickedness, greed, selfishness, cold-blooded violence… the darkness can quickly overwhelm a soul. But there is hope! Isaiah 9:2 predicted that those living in darkness would see a great light. Jesus was that light. And when you look at His life in the Gospel books you can see that He broke the darkness that was present in His land. He healed sick people, taught the curious how to live a life of purpose, and forgave the sins of those who were longing to be free from their guilt. He still does the same today. Our world is not completely dark. There is light that always dawns. (John Newton, Advent for Restless Hearts, p. 12)
25. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 3:7-4:6?
26. As living letters of Christ, we reflect the glory of Christ. What has the Spirit changed in you since you trusted in Christ so that you reflect His glory more than your own?
27. When given the opportunity, are you prepared to share the gospel message to someone who has been living in blindness? Write out the basic gospel message in the space below. [In the “Resources” section at the end of this study guide, you can see several ways to word it.] Get to know it well and ask the Lord Jesus to give you an opportunity to share this good news with someone who needs to hear it.
28. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
29. Review the passage for this lesson in “Day One Study.” Add reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves to the chart below. I’ve given a few prompts.
Verse(s) |
Reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves |
2:14 |
He uses us to spread the knowledge of Him. |
2:17 |
He sends us to speak for Him. |
3:3 |
He writes a letter of recommendation for Himself in our lives. |
3:4 |
He gives us confidence to trust Him. |
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As His child, God transforms your life by teaching you to live dependently on Him in weakness and in strength.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7, Memory Verse #2)
In chapters 2 and 3, you learned that you are the aroma of God spreading everywhere the knowledge of Him. Women know all about aroma. Think of the delightful smell of good food cooking or fine perfume, and of course, the many benefits of essential oils. A pleasing aroma influences and invites the receiver to enjoy more of the same. So it is with you as the aroma of Christ.
You are also a living letter presenting Christ to those who are “reading” you. Have you thought about how much reading stimulates the mind and draws one into exploring more? That’s what the Spirit of God is writing in your life, a letter that others will want to read and experience what you have in Christ.
And, you are an illustration of the freedom that comes in Christ. Freedom from the blindness enslaving the mind of an unbelieving person. As you are transformed by the Holy Spirit into the image of Christ, you are freed from sinful behaviors so that your life will glorify God more and more. To glorify God means to enhance His reputation. That’s what we are to do with our lives.
But, whether you will be a delightful aroma, an inviting letter, or a clear image of Christ depends on how much you are relying on God to lead you and change you.
Yet, your aroma of God and letter of Christ are emanating from frail human bodies. The best news is that God overcomes your weaknesses with His power as you trust in Him.
Read 2 Corinthians 3:18-5:10, including verses from the previous lesson. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
[To print, follow this link (or for the NIV, this one). Use your own method (colored pencils, lines, shapes) to mark: 1) anything that grabs your attention and 2) words you want to understand. Feel free to develop your own method of marking up a passage. Put a star next to anything you think relates to dependent living.]
1. What grabbed your attention from these verses?
2. What verses or specific words do you want to understand better?
3. What topics are repeated in this passage or continue an earlier discussion in this letter?
4. What verses illustrate or help you understand what dependent living on God looks like?
Read 2 Corinthians 4:7-12. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
5. Answer the following questions based on what is written in the biblical text.
Historical Insight: It was customary to conceal treasure in clay jars, which had little value or beauty and did not attract attention to themselves and their precious contents. (NIV Study Bible, note on v. 7, p. 1767)
Historical Insight: The pottery lamps which could be bought for a coin or two in the Corinthian market-place provided a sufficient analogy; it did not matter how cheap or fragile they were so long as they showed the light. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 49)
6. Let’s try to understand what Paul means by “the treasure” in 4:7.
7. How does 2 Corinthians 4:7 relate to 4:8-9?
Think About It: There will be times when you feel like you’re going crazy, struggling, and wondering how you’ll ever live through your hardships or heartaches. Take it from a veteran: do not let yourself sink into despair. Set the bar high in your battle against despondency by holding onto biblical hope. Find an anchor in Scripture, such as a favorite psalm or snippet of a proverb. Pick a timeless stanza from a hymn or chorus. Use that Scripture or song as your stake in the ground, your resolute act of defiance against discouragement. And, above all, trust in God. (Joni Eareckson Tada, Just Between Us, Fall 2018, p. 8)
8. To understand vv. 10-11 better, see Galatians 2:20 and 2 Corinthians 5:7. This is the life of faith and dependent living.
Focus on the Meaning: Jesus Christ gave His life for you, so He could give His life to you, so He could live His life through you. (Major Ian Thomas, The Saving Life of Christ)
9. So, why does God put His treasure in jars of clay?
10. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 4:7-12?
11. Read the “Think About It” below. Is this how you think of yourself? Why or why not?
Think About It: A vessel’s worth comes from what it holds, not from what it is. Paul contrasted the relative insignificance and unattractiveness of the light-bearers with the surpassing worth and beauty of the light (i.e., God’s glory). … It is precisely the Christian’s utter frailty which lays him open to the experience of the all-sufficiency of God’s grace, so that he is able even to rejoice because of his weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9)—something that astonishes and baffles the world, which thinks only in terms of human ability. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, pages 49-50)
12. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Read 2 Corinthians 4:13-18. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
13. Answer the following questions based on what is written in the biblical text.
Think About It: The more faithful that Paul and his companions remained to God’s will, the more they suffered and the more the Corinthians prospered spiritually from their teaching and examples of faithfulness.
14. Paul quotes Psalm 116 in v.13. Read Psalm 116:5-10. What has the psalmist learned about life that relates to Paul’s experience?
Historical Insight: The resurrection of Christ is the greatest event in human history. No one was resurrected with an immortal body before that time or has been since. The great hope for us is that we will be resurrected when Jesus comes. We will be presented to God with all believers and live in God’s presence for the rest of eternity.
15. Paul mentions “not losing heart” twice in this chapter (vv. 1, 16). Sometimes looking at the opposite helps us to understand.
16. “Overflow” (or, flow over) is another key term in 2 Corinthians. Paul uses it 7 times. It refers to things that overflow, excel or abound.
17. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 4:13-18?
“Light and momentary troubles.” That’s what Paul called his hardships and pain because he was looking beyond today and seeing the joy of being in heaven forever afterwards. After reading just part of what he experienced (we’ll see lots more in chapters 6 and 11), it seems insane for him to say this. Commonly, our frail human nature would rather complain and even compare our troubles with each other to see if we have it better or worse. Have you noticed this?
Scriptural Insight: Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that outweighs them all.” There is purpose and reward in enduring troubles. 1) Endurance is good for us. It teaches us “staying power” for a long-term burden. 2) Endurance makes us stronger. Just like load-bearing exercise makes our bones stronger, troubles that challenge your faith do that, too. 3) Endurance is necessary to grow into maturity. Think about the process of human development. Teething, learning to walk and ride a bike, and adolescence are painful but necessary parts of developing into adulthood. God’s goal for us is to be mature and complete. Endurance is His tool to help us reach that goal, to grow up.
4) Endurance teaches us to depend on God more than on ourselves. Going through troubles is God’s will for us. He allows things in our lives to challenge us, but His motive is not to trip us up. He wants to develop that endurance in us. It is not so we don’t need Him any longer but that we would rely on Him more. He wants to make us stand firm in Him and to get us through “whatever.”
18. What will it take for you to trust in God to help you view whatever hardships and pain you experience as “light and momentary troubles?” Ask Him for that right now.
19. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Read 2 Corinthians 5:1-10. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
Historical Insight: In ancient times, a “tent” was a familiar symbol of what was transitory. Our physical bodies are only temporary structures, but God is preparing new bodies for us, that are far superior to anything that human hands can produce and maintain. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 54)
20. How do you keep your eyes fixed on what is unseen and eternal rather than seen and temporary (4:18)? Paul continued to give reasons why we should not lose heart.
21. We are living in the now and the “not yet.” Describe the future promise we have and the ever-present tension in a Christian’s life (vv. 1-8).
22. Focus on 2 Corinthians 5:4. Paul wrote about this in his previous letter to the Corinthians. Read 1 Corinthians 15:53-54. What did he say?
Scriptural Insight: All Christians who die will receive an immortal body (v. 1). This is by itself a substantial gift of glory. Second, all Christians, including those who die soon after becoming believers, presently possess the Holy Spirit—who is God’s pledge of our future complete glorification (vv. 4-5). Third, death begins a new phase of existence for all believers, that will be far superior to what we experience now (vv. 7-8). (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 54)
23. Let’s look at how we are to live now in these earthly bodies (vv. 6-9). What do these statements mean?
Think About It: Living by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and all He has promised for our present and our future is NOT the same thing as taking a leap in the dark. See Hebrews 11:1, 6. We can know Him through all that is revealed for us to know.
24. When our earthly bodies die, we appear before the judgment seat of Christ (v. 10). Read about this in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. Paul is addressing believers about rewards, not salvation.
25. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 5:1-10?
26. What confidence can you have at your death? Do you have this confidence? Trusting Christ for what happens to you after you die is another aspect of dependent living.
Scriptural Insight: Gain confidence about what happens when you die by looking at these truths.
What does NOT happen at death: annihilation (Luke 16:19-31); soul sleep (Philippians 1:23); become a floating spirit (2 Cor. 5:3); reincarnation (Hebrews 9:27); and purgatory (Colossians 1:22).
What DOES happen at death: Fall asleep on earth; wake up in heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:14); Leave earthly tent; get heavenly dwelling fashioned for us (2 Cor. 5:1); and Be immediately at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8).
27. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Dependent Living: Living by faith is offering yourself to God (Romans 6:13), choosing to approach life His way (seen in the New Testament writings), and trusting Him with the results.
28. Review the passage for this lesson in “Day One Study.” Add reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves to the chart below. I’ve given a few prompts.
Verse(s) |
Reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves |
4:7 |
He can demonstrate His power through our frailty (jars of clay). |
4:8-9 |
He keeps us from being crushed when we are burdened. |
4:10 |
He reveals Jesus’s life in and through us. |
4:16) |
He can keep us from losing heart. |
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Did you notice that every daily lesson in this study begins and ends with prayer? God speaks to you through His word. You may respond to Him about anything and ask Him to make His word true in your life. Lack of prayer is often a sign of self-sufficiency rather than dependent living and will lead you to doing what is not pleasing in God’s sight. Spend some time responding to the Lord about what He’s shown you in this whole lesson.
As His child, God transforms your life by teaching you to live dependently on Him in weakness and in strength.
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
God has put His “light” treasure in your imperfect, easily broken and bruised body so that He can show His all-surpassing power in you and through you. He chooses to use every weakness of yours to demonstrate His strength.
No one denies that life is hard. But, it is full of purpose for you and for those whom you touch with your life. As the Spirit daily renews you from within (4:16), you can choose to view your struggles as Paul did—light and momentary—because you know for certain you have a pain-free, hardship-free, joy-filled forever future in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Seeing the face of Christ will make it all worth it!
Read 2 Corinthians 5:6-6:10, which includes verses from the last lesson. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
[To print, follow this link (or for the NIV, this one). Use your own method (colored pencils, lines, shapes) to mark: 1) anything that grabs your attention and 2) words you want to understand. Feel free to develop your own method of marking up a passage. Put a star next to anything you think relates to dependent living.]
1. What grabbed your attention from these verses?
2. What verses or specific words do you want to understand better?
3. What topics are repeated in this passage or continue an earlier discussion in this letter?
4. What verses illustrate or help you understand what dependent living on God looks like?
Read 2 Corinthians 5:11-15. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
5. Look carefully at these verses which lead up to the more familiar verses in this chapter.
6. Transparency is an important virtue in our world as it was back in Paul’s day. Compare 5:11 with what Paul has already said in 2 Corinthians 1:12-13 and 4:2. Summarize what he wants them to believe about him.
7. Focus on vv. 12-13:
8. Focus on vv. 14-15. What is Paul saying here? How should that look?
Focus on the Meaning: The engine that should drive our spiritual life is the overwhelming gratitude we should feel at the gracious love of God for us. We are the beloved. If you are not firmly grounded in that TRUTH, what motives are fueling your spiritual life? Check to make sure you are not being motivated by fear of God, performance to earn His favor, or general indifference.
9. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 5:11-15?
10. Paul affirmed that Christ’s love compels him to continue preaching the gospel to persuade others to trust the Lord. What does Christ’s love compel you to do (v. 14) in your life?
11. How does taking pride in what’s seen rather than what’s in the heart (v.12) impact our ability to live for Him instead of for ourselves (v.15)?”
12. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Read 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
13. Complete the following thoughts based on what is written in the biblical text.
From the Greek: In v. 17, Paul used the Greek term ktisis (translated creature, “creation”). The rabbis used this term referring to someone who converted from idolatry to Judaism. The Corinthians would have been familiar with this term.
14. Read v. 16 in several Bible translations. Paul’s phrase “worldly point of view” (v. 16) literally means “according to the flesh.” It refers to the human perspective.
Scriptural Insight: Before his conversion, Paul had looked at people on a strictly physical basis, in terms of their ethnicity rather than their spiritual status—which was the merely human perspective. Now, whether a person was a believer or a non-believer was more important to him than whether he or she was a Jew or a Gentile. Paul had also formerly concluded that Jesus could not be the divine Messiah, in view of His lowly origin, rejection, and humiliating death. “Now” he “recognize[d]” (knew) Him for who He really was, and what He really had done. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 63)
15. What does Paul mean by “new creation” in v. 17? Draw from what you have learned so far in 2 Corinthians and any other verses that explain this.
Scriptural Insight: At the moment of salvation, every believer is made into something that never existed before. In God’s eyes, you are now fused with Christ (Rom. 6:5), one of God’s saints (2 Cor. 1:1), adopted as His child (Rom. 8:16; Gal. 3:26), permanently indwelt by His Spirit (John 14:16-17), and made a member of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). Viewing every person as to whether they are in Christ already or needing to be introduced to Him changes our perspective about people (v. 16). And, God is committed to the process of changing you (Philippians 1:6; 2:12-13).
16. Focus on vv. 18-20.
Think About It: Recall how Paul talked about having the treasure of the gospel in jars of clay (4:7). The treasure includes the message of reconciliation. You can know and live with confidence that the barrier of sin has been taken away and a bridge has been built between you and God because of Jesus’s finished work on the cross. This was God’s act of reconciliation offered to you and the reason He is no longer counting your sins against you (v. 20). By believing in His Son, your relationship with God is restored…no longer broken. How does that make you feel? Believe it, sister. Embrace it. Relish in it. Bask in it. Share it.
17. If God is no longer counting our sins against us (v. 20) so that we can be reconciled to Him, where has our sin gone (v. 21)?
Scriptural Insight: This is the “Great Exchange.” When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned (Romans 5:12). We sin because we are sinners. At the cross, God made Him who knew no sin (Jesus) to be sin for us so that we could receive His righteousness as our own in place of our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) forever.
18. What is the one sin that God does count against those who are not Christians? See John 3:16-18; 16:8-9.
Scriptural Insight: One of the Holy Spirit’s jobs on earth is to convict people of their sin of unbelief regarding Jesus as the Son of God (John 16:8-9). Those who refuse to respond to the Holy Spirit’s leading are not saved. In Mark 3:29, Jesus talks about blasphemy (slander) against the Holy Spirit. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is this: “The malicious resistance against the Holy Spirit’s converting power after one is shown that Jesus is the Christ.” It is like a line in the sand. Those who cross the line by believing in Jesus are saved; those who refuse to cross and believe will be held accountable for their sin of unbelief.
19. Do you see yourself the way God sees you? Or, do you tend to allow the baggage of your past to tell you who you are? Can you accept what verse 17 says, that you are a new creation in Christ? How could that change your outlook, your lifestyle, and your relationships?
Think About It: Start using your new identity. See yourself as a righteous, holy daughter of God. Renew your mind according to it. Trust Him to adapt your behavior to align with it (Ephesians 4:1).
20. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Read “Christ’s Finished Work on the Cross” at the end of this lesson. It’s about your life in Christ as a new creation.
Read 2 Corinthians 6:1-10. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
21. Paul gives examples from his own life of what it means to live as an ambassador and a servant of God, including more “light and momentary troubles.” He wrote this letter from Macedonia after he left Ephesus. All these events took place before the end of his third missionary journey in Acts 20. See examples of his experiences in Acts 14, 16 and 19. As servants of God, believers commend themselves (and avoid being stumbling blocks) by their responses to daily life and its challenges.
From the Greek: The Greek word used in 6:4 is hypomone. This is a strong word that means “bearing under.” It’s holding up a load with staying power, tenacity and stick-to-it-iveness. It’s the quality that enables a person to stand on his or her feet when facing a storm head on. Another translation for this word is “perseverance.”
22. To understand 6:1-3, remember that the context is being an ambassador for Christ.
23. Once again, Paul talks about “endurance.” In the last lesson, you learned that endurance has purpose and reward.
24. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 6:1-10?
As Christians, when we encounter stress, pressure, pain and suffering, we are more susceptible to wiggle, run, compromise or sin to avoid the suffering. Paul wrote to encourage suffering believers to patiently endure, to persevere through the challenges.
25. Do you recognize in Paul’s experiences any of your own life challenges?
Dependent Living: The only way to live this kind of life is by a conscious dependence on God’s Spirit.
26. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
27. Review the passage for this lesson in “Day One Study.” Add reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves to the chart below. I’ve given a few prompts.
Verse(s) |
Reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves |
5:15 |
So we can live for Him rather than for ourselves |
5:17 |
He’s made us into a new creation |
5:19-20 |
We are His ambassadors and speak for Him |
5:21 |
He exchanges our sin for Christ’s righteousness |
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As His child, God transforms your life by teaching you to live dependently on Him in weakness and in strength.
The gospel is an announcement to the world of an accomplished fact. What God set out to do for mankind, He accomplished. The apostles declared this from the time of Pentecost (Acts 2) and beyond.
Salvation is available on the basis of a single condition: faith (or “belief”). Belief is not just intellectual assent that something might be true. Belief is a commitment of the will. It is the difference between walking alongside a pool of water (seeing it is there) and jumping into the water (experiencing the water personally). God acted; we are to respond to His action by saying yes and jumping into the new life God has for us. Those who respond with faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, receive a firm assurance of security (1 John 5:13), a secure new identity in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), and a true knowledge of God as seen through all that He has done through Christ’s finished work on the cross.
Six terms describe how our relationship with God is made new because of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ—Propitiation, Reconciliation, Redemption, Forgiveness, Justification, and Sanctification. These 6 relationship changes are the direct result of Christ’s finished work on the cross so they are often called “words of the cross.” We will cover them one at a time.
It comes up time and time again. Women who know Christ and have trusted in Him for salvation and new life struggle with the notion that God is still angry with them because of something they’ve done in the past. Maybe that is how you feel.
Do you wonder if you have a flawed understanding of salvation? Is salvation just getting eternal life when you die? From what are Christians saved? When you study the New Testament, you see that we are saved from many things, including ourselves and our own flawed righteousness. But, the main emphasis is that we are saved from the wrath of God.
What does that mean? And, how does understanding that give you confidence that God is no longer angry with you or at you?
In Colossians, Paul described God’s response to all evil and sin as righteous, holy wrath (Colossians 3:6). We must not project our experience with human anger onto God and assume that “His is the same, only bigger.” God’s wrath is not a mood or a fit of temper. God’s disposition toward sin and evil is as constant and unrelenting as His love and goodness. He hates and rejects evil with a perfect and holy anger. He will never bend or compromise with it. His own nature demands that He judge it through action. To preserve His creation God must destroy whatever would destroy it (Romans 1:18-20). Every wrathful judgment of God in the history of the world has been a holy act of preservation.
God hates sin. It incurs His anger. You can probably recall a time when you incurred the anger of someone you love and needed to make some kind of restitution to “appease” their anger. The act of appeasement leads to that person now being satisfied because restitution has been made, so the relationship can be restored. That is what God did for us. Romans 3:25 says that God presented Christ as a sacrifice of propitiation for our sins. Propitiation is an old word meaning “to appease, satisfy.” Some translations use the words “sacrifice of atonement” or “atoning sacrifice” instead. The concept of God’s satisfaction is the same.
God took action. God’s holy wrath against all sin is fully satisfied by Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross. Because of that, God is able to extend mercy to every believer in Christ without compromise with evil. This is truth for you to know and claim.
Romans 5:9 says this, “Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from God’s wrath.”
There is no longer any sacrifice that anyone can ever do to appease God’s wrath against sin apart from what Christ has already done. Picture an empty altar—never again used. Jesus did the appeasement for you. It’s done, finished!
Because you have trusted Christ and are now found in Christ, you can dwell on the FACT that God is no longer angry at your sin—ever! You CAN KNOW and live with confidence that God is SATISFIED…NO LONGER ANGRY at your sin because you believe in His Son.
At some point in our lives, we all experience a personal relationship that is broken. You can probably think of one such conflict right now. Broken relationships cause pain and often leave us confused about how we can possibly fix them.
Most people want to be reconciled so that the relationship can be restored in some fashion. How sad it is when a broken relationship continues to remain broken and isn’t reconciled. What joy we experience when we see a broken relationship repaired and healthy again!
Reconciliation is certainly a reason for rejoicing, especially in our relationship with God! But, what does it take for reconciliation?
As Romans 3:23 describes, all people have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Before Christ, our problem was a state of alienation (separation) from God because of sin (Isaiah 59:2). There was an impassable barrier between us. A broken relationship. Some kind of reconciliation needed to be done. We couldn’t do it on our part—no matter how many good works we did. There was always that chasm created by sin between us and God.
BUT GOD did something about that! I love those two words in the Bible, “But God.” Whenever it looks absolutely hopeless for us humans, God steps in and does the exact thing we need. God restored the broken relationship by reconciling us to Himself through Jesus’s death.
To reconcile means to re-establish friendship between two parties, to settle or resolve a dispute, and/or to bring acceptance. Wow! Did we need that!
What was God’s motivation to repair the broken relationship? It was love.
But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Romans 5:10 says that God loved us so much that even while we were God’s enemies, He did what was needed to reconcile us to Himself through the death of His Son.
For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:10-11)
Jesus Christ has fully paid mankind’s debt, removing the barrier between God and men. A bridge has been built through Jesus Christ. As we cross over this bridge by our faith in Jesus, our relationship with God is restored. God stands eagerly welcoming anyone who will believe the good news and come home (repent, Luke 15:7-10). And, even more than that, Jesus presents us holy and blameless in God’s sight. Reconciliation is a present reality for every Christian and is worthy of our rejoicing!
Because this reconciliation extends to everyone who chooses to receive it by faith, God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. We are to announce to others that they can have what we have in a restored relationship with the God who loves them.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
The same power of reconciliation is available to you through Christ for your relationships. If you are in the midst of a relationship that is broken and in need of reconciliation, pray that God would work His mighty hand in the relationship and provide you with His wisdom in pursuing reconciliation.
You CAN KNOW and live with confidence that the barrier of sin has been taken away and a bridge has been built between you and God because of Jesus’s finished work on the cross. This was God’s act of reconciliation offered to you because you believe in His Son. Your relationship with God is RESTORED…NO LONGER BROKEN.
Bondage. No one likes being in bondage. Whether it is to a person, a contract, a debt, or something controlling your life, bondage stinks. It stifles. It discourages. It makes you a slave of whatever is holding you “in chains.” Every person who is in bondage longs to be released from those chains.
Did you know that every human being born on this planet is born into bondage? I don’t care how much money or status you have. You were born into bondage. Bondage to what? Colossians 1:13 calls it “the kingdom of darkness.” Romans 6:15-18 describes it as being a “slave to sin.” The slave master “sin” calls the shots. Obedience comes too easily. It’s a trap. But, you are released from that trap the moment you trust in Jesus Christ.
The Bible calls this “redemption.” We sing songs about being redeemed. But, do we really understand what that means?
The concept of redemption refers to recovering ownership by paying a stipulated sum. Or, it can mean to set something or someone free from bondage by paying a ransom, such as for a kidnapped person or releasing a slave to become free. Either way, a price is paid.
Biblical redemption is based on an understanding of the pain of slavery—a common practice in the Roman Empire at the time. Nearly 50% of the people were slaves—1 out of every 2 men, women, and children! The readers of the New Testament were very familiar with the hopelessness of being owned by a slave master, the buying and selling associated with the slave market, and the only two ways out of the miserable cycle, one of which was death. The other way was for you to be bought by someone and then set free. Jesus did that for us.
Jesus declared that He came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). It is through Christ’s blood (the purchase price) that we are redeemed. We are redeemed from the slavery of sin and from the empty way of life handed down to us by our forefathers.
Redemption represents an important change in our relationship with God. Before Christ, we were in a state of slavery to sin and to death (spiritual & physical). Biblical redemption means that we have been purchased by the blood of Christ out of slavery and released into freedom to serve God in obedience.
The life of slavery to sin leads to someone offering their bodies to impurity and ever-increasing wickedness, free from the control of righteousness with no benefits, only shame. The end result is death.
The life of freedom leads to someone offering their bodies to God and His righteousness leading to holiness, lavished grace and eternal life. Their life is characterized by hearts under obedience to God.
God chooses to redeem us. It is an extension of His love and His purpose for us.
When God redeems you, you become the possession of a loving, merciful God and can live in the security of your freedom from bondage to sin. And, here’s the best part. You have a new master now with greater power living inside of you—the Spirit of God Himself—who can give you freedom from any entrapping sin. Claim that freedom now. Choose to obey the Spirit inside you who will lead you and empower you to say “no” to sin.
You CAN KNOW and live with confidence that you, as a believer, have been purchased by the blood of Christ out of slavery to sin and released into freedom as God’s act of redemption.
Are you experiencing the freedom from slavery to sin in your life right now? If not, do you have confidence that you do not have to listen to the voice of your old slave master sin? You have been RELEASED…NO LONGER IN BONDAGE.
“Redeemed how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child and forever I am.” (Fannie Crosby, 19th century hymn writer)
Like the woman washing Jesus’s feet with her tears in Luke 7, many of us carry the guilt of our sins with us like a heavy burden, weighing us down. The continual reminder of our sins keeps us from experiencing freedom and from enjoying the relationship with God that we have by faith in Jesus Christ.
We don’t just need a teacher. We need a Savior who comes in and does for us what we can’t do for ourselves: forgiveness.
All of our debt of sin before God is enormous; we are incapable of ever paying it back. You and I need to understand how complete and continual is God’s forgiveness of us. And, we need to know how to deal with any recognized sin in our lives so that we won’t continue to carry that burden of guilt.
In the Bible, the term “forgiveness” means “to send off or send away.” Our sin is transferred to a substitute, Jesus, and taken away. People in Old Testament times were accepted by God and received eternal life in the same way as we are today: by faith in the merciful grace of God. For daily living, however, they had to bring their animal sacrifice to the priest. Their sin was transferred to that sacrifice, and they received forgiveness for their sins up to that point.
God promised His people that one day forgiveness would no longer be a temporary solution, but it would be complete and permanent. That happened on the cross through Jesus.
As Paul declared in Colossians 2,
“When you were dead in your sins…God made you[a] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:13-14)
Once you place your faith in Jesus Christ, whatever you have done that was wrong in God’s eyes from the time you were born through the time of your death has been canceled. Taken away. All of it. Past, present and future. Nailed to the cross.
It’s even better than that! Paul writes in 2 Corinthians,
“that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.” (2 Corinthiasn 5:19)
Since your sins have been taken away, God is longer counting them against you. You are forgiven based on your faith alone. Sins are applied to Jesus who takes them on your behalf. FORGIVENESS: “Your guilt has been transferred to a substitute and taken away.”
Once you have trusted in Jesus, Ephesians 1:7 says that forgiveness is something we possess as believers. We receive God’s forgiveness for all our sins (past, present, and future) from the moment we place our faith in Jesus Christ. That is very important for you to know. Forgiveness is complete and continual.
Although our God does not hold our sin against us any longer, and His grace is continually forgiving us of sin, that does not give us permission to intentionally sin. Intentional sin does not fit with who you are as a forgiven Christian with a new life to enjoy. But, as long as you live in your earthly body, you will be tempted to sin. Sin will happen—whether intentionally or unintentionally. And, though our God is no longer counting our sins against us, we still must deal with the consequences of any sinful behavior.
As an already forgiven Christian, the biblical process for dealing with recognized sin is to remember first that your identity is child of God, then agree with God that you have sinned against Him, mourn your sin and depend on the Holy Spirit to help you obey God in the future. Then, trust in Him to help you overcome the consequences of any sinful choices you have made in a way that brings glory to Him.
Dwell on the FACT that Jesus will cleanse your conscience from guilt. Will you take Him at His word? If there is any past sin for which you are still feeling guilty, claim God’s complete forgiveness today. Now, choose to believe you are FORGIVEN…NO LONGER BURDENED by your sin. Allow Jesus to cleanse your conscience from any residual guilt. Every time you think about it again, thank God for His amazing gift!
As a teen, I wrestled with the notion that I was not good enough to please God. I could never measure up to His standards of perfection. I was always guilty of not doing something right, of falling short of whatever it was He expected of me.
Then, I heard some good news when I committed my life to Christ and chose to follow Him. God declared me “not guilty” of all my sin. Not guilty? All my sin? Really?
Yes, dear believer, God declares you “not guilty” of all sin, once and for all, based on your faith alone in His Son. It is an amazing plan that is totally based on His grace towards you, not anything you have earned by your own efforts.
And, this one decision made by God the Judge on behalf of every Christian is one of the most important aspects of our relationship with God. The word used to describe it is this: Justification. And, the truth wrapped up in this one word has rocked the world for centuries.
Justification is a legal term that literally means, “to declare righteous, to declare not guilty.” English New Testaments use “justified” and “made righteous” interchangeably, but both mean just about the same thing. Justification represents an important change in our relationship with God. Our problem before Christ was our need for perfect acceptability before a holy God. We could never reach that on our own.
Justification is God’s act as Judge where He declares a guilty sinner to be totally righteous in His sight on the basis of Christ’s finished work on the cross and that person’s faith in Christ. This is possible because the sacrifice of Jesus Christ fully honored and satisfied the righteous demands of a holy God (“propitiation”).
Justification involves both a negative and positive aspect. Negatively, justification is the removal of guilt from the offender (“forgiveness”). Positively, justification is the addition of righteousness to the one who believes (Romans 5:17). This is called the “Great Exchange.” Paul describes it clearly in 2 Corinthians,
God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
God not only declares you “not guilty” of all sin through your faith in His Son, He also gives you a new status called “righteousness before God.” That’s the end result of JUSTIFICATION: “The believer in Jesus Christ is declared righteous before God.”
It is not your own righteousness that does it. You receive this righteous status by faith alone and not depending upon any works that you do to earn acceptability in God’s sight, even after you are saved. The amazing thing is that God does this while we are still capable of sinning. When God looks on you, He sees His Son’s righteousness taking the place of your sin—even your sin after you’ve been a believer for a long time.
Picture an accountant’s spreadsheet dedicated to your life. On the left side of the page is the heading “your sins;” on the right side of the page is the heading “Christ’s righteousness.” When you sin (intentionally or unintentionally) for the rest of your life, God replaces that sin on the “your sins” side with Christ’s righteousness and puts your sin on His side—your sin is taken away (forgiveness). It is a continual balancing. Your sin never stays on your side of the page because God declares in 2 Corinthians 5:19 that He is “not counting men’s sins against them.” You are forever declared “not guilty” in His sight. Isn’t that great news?!
According to Romans 5:1-2, we now have peace with God as a benefit of being justified. We are no longer enemies but are reconciled to Him as saved ones. We are no longer alienated from God as enemies in our minds because of our evil behavior. Instead, we are now presented as “holy in His sight,” without blemish and free from accusation.
In Galatians 3:26-27, Paul declares that every believer is a child of God by faith and, therefore, clothed with Christ. When God looks on you and me, He sees Jesus and His righteousness, not all of our faults. It is an amazing plan that is totally based on His grace toward us, not anything we have earned by our own efforts.
If you are still wrestling with the notion that you are not good enough to please God, remember that no one can ever be good enough on his or her own merits to please God.
In Philippians 3:2-9, Paul considered his birth status, education, pursuit of knowledge, and zeal to get rid of Christians as evidence that he had plenty of reasons to convince himself that he was a “righteous” Jew and that God should have been pleased with his efforts.
But, after knowing Christ, Paul declared all those things that he once thought were in his favor to be rubbish, a loss rather than a win when it comes to faith. Instead, Paul discovered that knowing Jesus Christ as Lord was far better. He now preferred to be found in Christ with the righteousness that comes through faith, not by his own efforts. All Paul had to do to gain his new righteous standing before God was to trust in Jesus Christ as His Savior and Lord. That is true for you as well.
Dwell on the FACT of your justification—being declared righteous so that you are now perfectly acceptable to a holy God based on your faith in His Son. How do you feel about this? When you are tempted to think that God could not possibly accept you because of your weaknesses and guilty past, declare this to yourself: “I am declared righteous in God’s eyes because of my faith in Jesus Christ.” You are RIGHTEOUS…NO LONGER GUILTY in God’s sight.
I was once an up-tight perfectionist. Yes, I admit it. My whole self-image depended upon being perfect in grades, piano performance and whatever got me awards for achievement.
Yet, my flaws kept getting in the way of getting straight A’s one six weeks so that I missed out on the “straight A’s” award for that school year. I was horrible in athletics so PE was my nemesis. Then, in college, physics knocked me down big time. I just couldn’t see how to get the answers to those problems.
My flaws were ever before me, and I sobbed when I couldn’t achieve perfection, which happened a lot. My self-image was tied to a losing cause.
Then, Jesus entered my life and showed me a new way to look at myself—through what He did for me on the cross. When my eyes stopped looking at me and my flaws and started looking at Him and my value in His sight, that burden of performance and perfectionism just rolled off my shoulders. It was the greatest relief I ever felt!
And, perfectionism has never controlled my life since then (although that tendency to evaluate myself and what I do with critical eyes remains latent in my personality). Through my faith in Christ, God looks upon me as already perfect, as flawless as the most perfect diamond. The Bible calls this Sanctification.
Like propitiation (word #1), sanctification is a word we don’t use in our daily vocabulary. To be sanctified means to be made holy. To be “holy” means to be “set apart for special use.” Because the two words—sanctified and holy—are so closely connected, they are used interchangeably in our English translations. They mean the same thing, though.
Sanctification represents another important change in our standing with God. Our problem before Christ was our need to be separated from the world and separated to God. This is accomplished through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as all believers are turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God (Acts 26:17-18).
God demands that we be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16). But, here’s the best news: God makes us holy in His sight by our faith in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:10). His love chooses to do that for us. It absolutely amazes me that God looks upon me and calls me holy in His sight. Doesn’t that amaze you?
But, sanctification is more than just having a different status before God. We have a different purpose as well. Every believer has been set apart as God’s special, beloved possession for His exclusive use. To be set apart for special use is similar to using fine china and silverware for special occasions. It is the opposite of ordinary and common. Dear Christian, you are God’s special, beloved possession—called by Him to be dedicated to His service. You have a valuable purpose. How sweet is that!
Sanctified ones are called “holy people” and “saints” in the New Testament, depending on the translation. You can see how Paul described the believers in the first couple of verses of most of his letters—i.e., Romans 1:7, 2 Corinthians 1:1, and Ephesians 1:1. Translators use various English words to represent Paul’s intended meaning, usually “saints,” “holy ones” or “holy people.” All of those are translating a derivative of the Greek word hagios, “holy,” meaning separated from sin and dedicated to God.
All believers are called “holy ones” based on their faith in Jesus Christ. You as a saint are identified by position, what God declares to be true about you. Every believer, including you, is one of God’s saints, totally loved and accepted by Him. You are considered a saint of God by His declaration, not because of your behavior. Although some particularly influential Christians have been titled “Saint” through the years as an honor for their service to God, this in no way negates the truth that every believer is a saint in God’s eyes.
Believers are made holy by Christ’s death on the cross in their relational status before God. Remember all those words we have already studied? You have been redeemed, reconciled to God, forgiven, justified and completely accepted by God because of what Jesus has already done for you on the cross. All of that contributes to God declaring you holy as one of His saints by faith in Jesus Christ. That is your status before God. Perfected…no longer flawed in His sight.
Believers are also “being made holy” in their thoughts, words, and actions by the work of the Holy Spirit. This is ongoing from the moment of salvation until the Lord comes or the believer dies, when our “being made holy” is complete (Philippians 1:6). The goal of the Spirit’s work is to transform us into the likeness of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18) so that we become in thought and behavior what we are in status—holy as God is holy.
Dwell on the FACT that God declares you holy because of your faith in Christ. You are set apart by Him, for Him. In His eyes, you are perfected, no longer flawed. This is your status before God because of your faith. Your behavior matches your position when you submit to the Spirit’s work to intentionally separate you from what God calls sin and then commit yourself to being used for His purposes throughout a typical day as you care for your household, be a parent or grandparent to children, work for an employer, interact with people around you, and spend your leisure time.
Because of the cross, you can dwell on the FACT that God was fully satisfied by Jesus’s finished work on the cross. God is no longer angry at your sin because you believe in His Son. You can dwell on the FACT that the barrier of sin has been taken away and complete reconciliation between you and God is possible because of Jesus’s finished work on the cross. Your relationship with God is restored. You can dwell on the FACT that you, as a believer, have been purchased by the blood of Christ out of slavery and released into freedom as God’s act of redemption. You have a new master with greater power living inside of you, the Spirit of God Himself, who can give you freedom from any entrapping sin.
You can also dwell on the FACT that you are completely forgiven of your sins and that Jesus promises to cleanse your conscience from guilt. You can dwell on the FACT that you have been declared righteous (justified) and are now perfectly acceptable to a holy God based on your faith in His Son. And, you can dwell on the FACT that God declares you holy because of your faith in Christ. You are sanctified—set apart by Him, for Him.
Mankind’s disease was sin. Because of this disease, we were: 1) never able to make ourselves well, 2) in bondage to the disease, 3) alienated from the one who could heal us, 4) carrying the guilt of having the disease, 5) experiencing cumulative effects of the disease, and 6) unable to live a purposeful life. Jesus’s finished work on the cross removed all these effects of the disease so that “by His wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24)—truly healed!
An understanding of Christ’s finished work on the cross is the basis for a firm knowledge of our identity in Him—a foundational truth for successful Christian living. It was totally God’s work to make sinners acceptable again in His sight. Our proper response is to trust and rest in His work, and to continually offer Him thanks from grateful hearts along with our willing service.
Now that you have a more complete understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ’s finished work on the cross on your behalf—how does that make you feel? Believe it, sister. Embrace it. Relish in it. Bask in it. Anchor your hope in it.
As Paul writes in Colossians 3:12, you are dearly loved!
Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one. (2 Corinthians 7:1-2)
You are the beloved child of the living God who, in His love, has made you into a new creature with a definite purpose. You are the aroma of the knowledge of God for others to sense. You are a righteous light-bearer of God’s glory that shines even in your weakness. You are able to view other people through the lens of their relationship to Christ or need for Him rather than through worldly prejudices. That’s who you are, dear Christian, in God’s eyes—the only view that really matters.
Yet, our frail bodies live in a world filled with struggles. People around us see how we respond and may be drawn to Christ by watching us live with integrity and sincere dependence on the Lord Jesus. This is also true in our relationships with other believers, as Paul addresses in this next section of his letter. His appeal to the Corinthians who are like family to him may resonate in something you have experienced as well. “Open wide your hearts, as we have opened ours to you.”
Read 2 Corinthians 6:3-7:16, which includes verses from the last lesson. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
[To print, follow this link (or for the NIV, this one). Use your own method (colored pencils, lines, shapes) to mark: 1) anything that grabs your attention and 2) words you want to understand. Feel free to develop your own method of marking up a passage. Put a star next to anything you think relates to dependent living.]
1. What grabbed your attention from these verses?
2. What verses or specific words do you want to understand better?
3. What topics are repeated in this passage or continue an earlier discussion in this letter?
4. What verses illustrate or help you understand what dependent living on God looks like?
Read 2 Corinthians 6:11-7:1. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
5. Paul appeals to their hearts and to their choices that influence their hearts.
Scriptural Insight: “Belial” (v. 15) is the personification of Evil (cf. Deuteronomy 13:13; 2 Samuel 22:5-6), and he is the antithesis of Christ. “Belial” was a recognized name for “Satan” in Paul’s day. It may have come from combining the Hebrew word for “worthlessness” with the name of the pagan god “Baal. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 75)
This section of text summarizes 1 Corinthians 10:1-22, where Paul had previously warned the Corinthians about idolatry. This extended to relationships as well as behavior. Being unequally yoked refers to the disastrous results of yoking an ox and a donkey together (Deuteronomy 22:10).
6. Read vv. 14-16 in several Bible translations then answer the following questions. From the original language, we learn that Paul is addressing individual believers. But we know that individuals by their choices influence the whole community.
Scriptural Insight: Paul was not saying that Christians should break off all association with unbelievers (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:9-10; 10:27). He had previously encouraged the saved partner in a mixed marriage to maintain the marriage relationship as long as possible (1 Corinthians 7:12-16). He had also urged his fellow Christians, as ambassadors of Christ, to evangelize the lost (2 Corinthians 5:20). Rather, here Paul was commanding that Christians form no binding interpersonal relationships with non-Christians that resulted in their spiritual defilement. … Such alliances can prevent the Christian from living a consistently obedient Christian life. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 74)
7. Every Christian is the temple of the living God. What makes us the temple of God? See also 2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5 and 6:19-20.
8. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 6:11-7:1?
9. Broken relationships: Paul talks about the pain of broken relationships in 6:11-13. Is this something you are experiencing within your family or with friends? Paul gets it. Jesus gets it. It hurts. How can you follow the process Paul gives throughout 2 Corinthians 6:11-7:16?
10. Contaminating relationships: Review 2 Corinthians 7:1. To purify yourself from everything that contaminates body and spirit means to separate yourself from ungodly, immoral, and testimony-ruining activities.
Scriptural Insight: What if you are married to an unbeliever? See 1 Peter 3 and 1 Corinthians 7. What if you work for an unbeliever or are in business with an unbeliever? See Colossians 3. What if your adult children are unbelievers? See Luke 15. Be careful about causes that you support. See Acts 13:50 and Galatians 6:10.
11. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Think About It: Flee, don’t flirt with corrupting influences of the secular culture. Flirting with it would be considering, “How close can I get to the line of sin without crossing over? Fleeing from it would be “How far away can I get from the line of sin so I am not close enough to cross over.” (Destin Garner, RockPointe Church sermon, June 25, 2017). We often put more effort into being “anti-germ” than we do in being “anti-sin.” Consider the corrupting influences from the secular culture to be as dangerous to your health as the presence of germs in your space.
Read 2 Corinthians 7:2-7. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
12. Review 2 Corinthians 2:12-13 to remember the situation that Paul is addressing. Paul picks up on his wording from 6:11-13.
13. Review 7:2-4. Paul is bearing his heart to the Corinthian Christians. Summarize what Paul is saying.
14. God brings comfort to Paul’s anxious heart concerning the Corinthians (vv. 5-7; 2:1-4). The context is relationship concerns.
From the Greek: Paul had felt disheartened (Gr. tapeinos, meaning “brought low, humble, lowly in spirit,” not clinically “depressed”) when he could not find Titus as he first arrived in Macedonia. He was so concerned about how the Corinthians had received his severe letter that he couldn’t rest until he heard the news.
15. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 7:2-7?
16. Recall a time when you felt disheartened or downcast, and God sent others to encourage and lift you up. Have you recognized that comfort being from Him? Have you thanked Him for it?
Read 2 Corinthians 7:8-16. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
17. In 2 Corinthians 7:8-16, Paul returns to his train of thought from earlier in the letter. Review 2 Corinthians 2:1-11.
Think About It: To reconcile a relationship, one must take deliberate actions and address the problem that caused the breach. These actions hurt but are necessary. Hoping that the misunderstandings will go away on their own rarely works.
18. Regarding repentance and sorrow for sin (vv. 8-12):
19. What was Titus’s role in reconciling the relationship between Paul and the Corinthian church members (vv. 13-16)?
Focus on the Meaning: “Fear and trembling” (v. 15) is likely a hendiadys, an idiom in which a verb is intensified by being linked by “and” to a synonym. We have them in English too. If you’re “sick and tired,” this doesn’t mean you’re sick and you’re tired, it just means that you’re very tired. Similarly, “fear and trembling” seems to mean “great reverence” (or humility) as Paul is using it in 1 Corinthians 2:3; 2 Corinthians 7:15; Philippians 2:12; and Ephesians 6:5. Mark also used this in reference to the woman coming to Jesus in Mark 5:33. The same phrase is found in the Septuagint version of Psalm 2:11 and 55:5. It is the opposite of boasting. (adapted from a posting at Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange)
20. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 7:8-16?
As long as you live in your earthly body, you will be tempted to sin. Sin will happen—whether intentionally or unintentionally. And, though our God is no longer counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:20), we still must deal with the consequences of any sinful behavior.
21. Addressing recognized sin in your life is part of dependent living. Whenever the Spirit convicts you of thinking or behavior that is definitely not pleasing to the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:9), follow this biblical process to deal with it:
Using coveting for example: while reading Philippians 4:12, the Spirit convicts you that you have been coveting rather than being content. You agree with God that your coveting is actually not being content with His provision. Coveting doesn’t fit someone who knows God. That is confession.
Using coveting for example: You want to not covet any longer, and you want to be content and grateful for what God has already provided. So, you pray, “Lord Jesus, please have your Spirit nudge me when I want to covet. Replace my coveting with contentment and gratitude. By faith, Lord, I want you to do that in my life.” That is repentance.
Using coveting for example: Memorize Philippians 4:12-13 and any other scriptures that deal with being thankful for God’s provision. Be sensitive to the Spirit’s nudging when you are tempted to covet. Choose to be thankful instead.
Think About It: Repentance isn’t repentance until you change something. You can confess “until the cows come home” (daily, habitually) and never change anything. Jesus called for people to “repent” not “confess.”
22. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
23. Review the passage for this lesson in “Day One Study.” Add reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves to the chart below. I’ve given a few prompts.
Verse(s) |
Reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves |
6:16-18 |
We are His children |
7:1 |
To purify ourselves to perfect holiness |
7:6 |
He comforts us when we are downcast |
7:9 |
So we rightly respond to sin in our lives |
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As His child, God transforms your life by teaching you to live dependently on Him in weakness and in strength.
And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. (2 Corinthians 8:1-2)
Paul’s heart was hurting because the Corinthian Christians closed off their affection for him. The relationship was broken, at least temporarily, for several reasons—misunderstandings, slander against him, and his need to send them a stern letter warning them about their sinful behavior. Paul took deliberate steps to address the problems. And, he was rewarded with comforting words sent by the Corinthians to Paul through Titus. Paul writes that this comfort came from God, and hearing how much they longed for him and were concerned for him made his heart overflow with joy. He saw the fruit of the letter that had needed to be written, though painful for both the writer and the receiver.
To reconcile a relationship, one must take deliberate actions and address the problem that caused the breach. These actions hurt but are necessary. Hoping that the misunderstandings will go away on their own rarely works. The same is true of recognized sin in one’s life. You must take deliberate actions that are biblical and lead you to depend on the Lord Jesus Christ even more to overcome whatever that sin is. That also makes your joy overflow as you trust in Him to work in your life.
Now, we come to one of the most amazing passages in the Bible. Paul writes about generosity that springs from overflowing joy, even in the midst of extreme poverty. This is so totally opposite of what the world teaches about money. In Matthew 6:32-33, Jesus told His followers to think differently regarding God’s provision. Don’t let your needs dominate your thoughts. Your heavenly Father knows them. He cares for the creatures in the natural world so they lack nothing. He will care for you. Give yourself to the Lord first. Pursue what matters to God—His honor and His purposes—more than your own. God’s provision to us is not only for our needs but also for us to use to advance His purposes as we are ambassadors for Him. Let’s see what that looks like.
Read 2 Corinthians 8:1-9:15. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
[To print, follow this link (or for the NIV, this one). Use your own method (colored pencils, lines, shapes) to mark: 1) anything that grabs your attention and 2) words you want to understand. Feel free to develop your own method of marking up a passage. Put a star next to anything you think relates to dependent living.]
Note: The financial gift is for the impoverished Christians in Jerusalem and Judea.
1. What grabbed your attention from these verses?
2. What verses or specific words do you want to understand better?
3. What topics are repeated in this passage or continue an earlier discussion in this letter?
4. What verses illustrate or help you understand what dependent living on God looks like?
Read 2 Corinthians 8:1-10. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
5. God’s grace not only saves us but also teaches us to trust Him more and more with our lives and everything we hold dear. Paul is with the Macedonians as he writes this.
6. Write verse 2 from any three Bible translations.
What is so amazing about what is revealed in verse 2?
Think About It: While undergoing severe trials, afflictions, and extreme poverty, overflowing joy yielded rich generosity. What counts as “rich generosity?” R. G. LeTourneau, who created the first massive earth-moving machines, would often quote this little poem, “It is not what you’d do with a million, if riches should e’er be your lot. But what you are doing at present with the dollar and a quarter you’ve got.” So true!
7. Looking at vv. 1-5, identify the choices the Macedonians made in their process of giving. Note: Paul never mentioned the size of their gift.
8. God had gifted the Corinthians with every spiritual gift they needed (1 Corinthians 1:5-7). And, Corinth was a prosperous community. They lacked nothing from God.
Scriptural Insight: The incarnation of Jesus Christ is the greatest example of self-sacrificing generosity. He gave up the riches of glory in heaven, when He became a man and died on the cross, so that we might share His riches of glory in heaven (cf. Philippians 2:1-11). Gratitude to Him for His condescending grace should be the supreme motive for Christian giving. … The Macedonians gave when they were very poor, but Christ gave when He was immensely rich. The Corinthians were between these two extremes. These two examples leave no question that giving is a grace which both the rich and the poor should manifest. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 86)
9. Usually, we think of comparison as a bad thing. For what purpose can comparison be good (v. 8)?
10. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 8:1-9?
Scriptural Insight: Tithing is an Old Testament concept. After the death of Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law, the New Testament nowhere commands, or even recommends, that Christians set aside a certain percentage of income, but only says gifts should be “in keeping with income” (1 Corinthians 16:2). The New Testament talks about giving as we are able. Sometimes that means giving more than 10 percent; sometimes that may mean giving less. It all depends on the ability of the Christian and the needs of the body of Christ. Every Christian should diligently pray and seek God’s wisdom in the matter of participating in giving and/or how much to give (2 Corinthians 8:5). Above all, all offerings should be given with pure motives and an attitude of worship to God and service to the body of Christ. “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). (“What does the Bible say about Christian tithing?” from Gotquestions.org)
11. What choices must you make to apply this passage to your life? See also Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 16:2.
Read 2 Corinthians 8:10-24. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
12. Remember that the context is offering to help the believers in Jerusalem and Judea who are suffering persecution and hardship. In his previous letter, Paul proposed how to make this collection. Read 1 Corinthians 16:1-4. Answer the following questions based on 2 Corinthians 8:10-24.
Scriptural Insight: Some think “the brother” was Trophimus the Ephesian (Acts 21:29). The other brother may have been one of those mentioned in Acts 20:1-5. All three of them (v. 23) were representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ.
Based on v. 10, it’s okay to give advice. God gives us a brain to use in making decisions, giving wise counsel, and helping others to see what is best to do in light of the truth of His Word. Paul does that in these verses.
13. Discuss vv. 10-12 regarding the relationship between willingness and intentional action in giving. See also 1 Corinthians 16:2.
14. Examine the sharing principle in verses 13-15. To help in understanding, read these verses in other translations, including “The Message.”
Scriptural Insight: Paul viewed Christians as being brothers and sisters in a large family. As a family, we have a responsibility to care for each other. … Paul did not legislate equality; he appealed for it. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 87)
15. What wisdom does Paul share in in vv. 19-21 regarding the handling of money belonging to others?
16. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 8:10-24?
17. Giving is a part of a Christian’s faith walk with God. Read 2 Corinthians 8:10-11 in The Message version. What decisions must you make to move from having good intentions to being intentional when it comes to giving?
Historical Insight: The Corinthians did follow through and assemble their gift. It was only a few months after Paul penned 2 Corinthians that he wrote Romans. In that epistle, he said that the Christians of “Macedonia and Achaia” (which includes Corinth) had made a contribution to the poor saints in Jerusalem (Rom. 15:26-27). Paul and his delegation then traveled back to Jerusalem, from Corinth, through Macedonia and Asia Minor (Acts 20:3—21:19). The leaders of the Jerusalem church evidently received the gift gladly (Acts 21:17). (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 97)
18. From vv. 18-23, we see that it is important to surround yourself in ministry with people worthy of respect who will be trusted by others and therefore show you to be trustworthy, also. What has been your experience in this?
19. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Read 2 Corinthians 9:1-15. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
20. Paul continues his discussion of the grace of giving. Remember, he is with the Macedonians still.
From the Greek: We read in 2 Corinthians 9:8 that God is “able to bless you abundantly.” That word “bless” (NIV) is from the Greek word charis, meaning grace (see 2 Corinthians 1:11 “gracious favor”). Most translations say that God is able to make all grace overflow or abound to you. It refers to His lovingkindness and favor given to you, which may include material provision but is not guaranteeing financial abundance.
21. God is the source of all physical and spiritual resources.
Think About It: God gives to us. We give to others. Needs are met. Thanks is given. The gospel is proven to be true. God gets praised. Unity and love increases in the church community and body of Christ as a whole. Sounds like a win/win.
22. What is God’s indescribable gift (v. 15)? See 2 Corinthians 8:9; 9:13-14; Ephesians 2:8-9; and John 3:16.
Scriptural Insight: God is the first giver; He first selflessly gives Himself to us in the person of His Son, and all true Christian giving is our response of gratitude for this gift that is beyond description. See also 1 John 4:9-11. (NIV Study Bible, note on v. 15, p. 1773)
23. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 9:1-15?
24. Like those Macedonian Christians, you can ask God to help you determine something you can and will live without for a period of time. Your choice. No one’s looking. Take the money you would have spent on that and look for ways to further God’s kingdom with it. Or, remember a time in your life when God provided what you needed through others giving to meet your needs. It’s all His anyway. Give Him the glory.
25. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Dependent Living: Read the essay “It’s His Anyway” at the end of this lesson to learn more about trusting God with His money that He gives to you to use for His purposes.
26. Review the passage for this lesson in “Day One Study.” Add reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves to the chart below. I’ve given a few prompts.
Verse(s) |
Reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves |
8:1 |
He initiates the grace of giving |
8:5 |
We need Him to direct our giving according to His will |
8:9 |
He makes us spiritually rich so we can give |
8:16 |
He puts into our hearts concerns for us to have |
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As His child, God transforms your life by teaching you to live dependently on Him in weakness and in strength.
[To get a better perspective on how we should view and use God’s provision to us, read the following essay, “It’s His Anyway.”]
Jesus said to His followers in Matthew 6:32-33, “Don’t let your needs dominate your thoughts.” Your heavenly Father knows your needs. He cares for the creatures in the natural world so they lack nothing. He will care for you. Give yourself to the Lord first. Pursue God’s purposes more than your own purposes. Think differently about God’s provision for you.
Out of my study, I believe God has 4 lessons for us to learn today regarding God’s provision, and they are tough ones. We might all wish we had skipped this class!
Paul reminds us about this in one of his letters to the Corinthians.
“What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?” (1 Corinthians 4:7 NLT).
There isn’t anything we have that we did not receive from God—birthplace, height, attractiveness, intelligence, natural talents. Yet we boastfully live as though we had everything to do with those things.
How God chooses to provide for you or for me at any time in our lives is His sovereign choice. Paul was in God’s will and doing what God purposed for Him to do. Yet, he experienced times of hunger and need (2 Corinthians 6:5, 10). Philippians 4:12-13). When God removes what makes us comfortable and strips away our support, we actually begin to depend on Him as God Almighty—as an essential to our lives, not just an appendage. Don’t let anyone deceive you by equating prosperity with your measure of faith.
Most of the time, God’s provision is going to come through people, not miraculously appear from the sky. People design products and services to sell. People take the risk to start businesses and hire workers, including you. People buy farmers’ crops. And, people provide meals for someone in a time of need. God determines how He provides to His own. We must learn to trust whatever manner He chooses.
In 1 Kings 17:1-7, Elijah was in hiding after confronting wicked king Ahab with God’s judgment upon his wickedness—a drought for 3 ½ years. God sent Elijah to live beside a stream for about 6 months. Birds (specifically, ravens) brought him food twice a day—not exactly ordered from a menu. And, it’s during a drought so he watches the stream gradually dry up!
Chuck Swindoll says in his sermon series on Elijah, “The God who gave the water has chosen to take the water. It’s His sovereign right! He gives the child; He can take it away. He gives the business; He can take it away. He gives the house; He can take it away.”
Yikes! I don’t like that, do you? But, it’s true. #1: God’s provision is His to give and take away. Regard it humbly.
The definition of “enough” is “as much as is needed or can be tolerated.” I think I can tolerate quite a bit, don’t you? But, maybe God knows better. I’ve learned two things about this.
At the end of 40 years of nomadic life in the desert, with manna in the morning and quail every night for supper, no house or farm, no new shoes or clothes, Moses tells the people of Israel they “lacked nothing” (Deuteronomy 2:7). Later, he tells them that in their new land with abundant water and bountiful food they “will lack nothing” (Deuteronomy 8:7-9). With little or with lots, they “lack nothing.” When you have the Lord’s provision (whatever it is), you lack nothing that you need at this time in your life. It’s what you HAVE that counts, not what you don’t have. Then, there’s…
When you receive God’s provision, you learn that He is trustworthy, creative, and personal. For one Old Testament widow (1 Kings 17:8-16), she had endless pancakes but only enough for today with a promise for tomorrow. No 50-pound sack of flour in her pantry. She had to trust that her jars would be refilled with flour and oil for the next day’s meals. She lacked nothing. For another woman (2 Kings 4:1-7), she had a bottomless pot of oil, enough for today and to sell for her future. She lacked nothing. God doesn’t do the same thing for everyone. Both of those widows learned to follow God’s directions even when it made no sense. Your hope is to be in your God, not in prosperity—current or future.
#2: God’s provision is always enough. Receive it gratefully.
Compassion is doing something to ease someone’s pain, whether it’s for this week or more. And, most times of need last longer than a day! God’s plan for the needy in Israel was that perfectly good food was purposely left in the fields for the poor to have. It was proactive.
This is totally opposite of the world’s thinking, isn’t it? There is a fine line between good stewardship of the provisions God’s given today and not trusting God enough to be able to share it.
In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes some of the most mind-blowing verses in the Bible. He tells about some of his Christian friends,
Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity… they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will. (2 Corinthians 8:2, 7)
That is so radical! Extreme poverty giving generously with overflowing joy! That’s trusting God. It’s what you do with what you have. As someone once said,
It is not what you’d do with a million, if riches should e’er be your lot. But what you are doing at present with the dollar and a quarter you’ve got. (R. G. LeTourneau)
God’s grace can make a dynamic difference in the mindset of His people when it comes to provision. Whether you are the receiver or the giver, how you do both should be different than what the world does.
Paul goes on to say,
“Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need.” (2 Corinthians 8:13-14)
Here’s the key: God’s riches to us are supplied through us to meet another’s needs. We are brothers and sisters in a large family with a responsibility to care for each other. That may require some learning to live without something so we have more to give.
Have you experienced the joy of deliberately and delightfully meeting the specific needs of a person with a name and a face you know? I remember a time when a friend of mine shopped with two baskets—1 for her family, the other for our family. Everything she bought for her family for Thanksgiving, she bought for us, including all the staples to make everything we’d need. When she pulled up in my driveway, I was absolutely floored by her love in action. Compassion is personal.
#3: God’s provision is meant to be shared. Give it generously.
Knowing women, we usually want to openly share how God creatively provided for us in a tough time. That is giving Him praise. Acknowledging that what we have, whether much or little, all comes from God is giving Him glory. Every time you tell about it, thank Him. Ask God to give you frequent opportunity to tell that story and give Him praise.
#4: God’s provision brings Him glory. Praise Him openly.
My dear sisters, let’s recognize God’s provision to us as being supplied to us for His purposes. Whenever there doesn’t seem to be enough, remember these four truths to stand strong in the tough times:
Whatever provision you do receive from God: regard it humbly, receive it gratefully, give it generously and, praise Him openly.
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
In our study of 2 Corinthians so far, we have seen how the God who comforts us understands the many kinds of suffering we undergo in daily life. Although Paul and his friends experienced a lot of persecution that made them fear for their lives, suffering doesn’t only come from persecution. Suffering can be caused by physical danger and financial hardships. It can also come from within your circle of friends, including those whom you love the most. Misunderstandings, behavioral conflicts, and slanderous information from others can cause hurt feelings and mistrust. Regardless of the source, suffering drives us to dependence on God. We set our hope on Him more than ourselves. We see His love and grace given to us. We trust Him to work in the situation and give thanks. That’s dependent living.
In the last lesson, we saw how God teaches His children to be generous to one another as He Himself is a generous giver. This requires that we trust Him with every bit of provision we receive, recognize that it all comes from Him and belongs to Him, then ask Him to guide us as we use what He has provided to us. That’s dependent living.
At this point in the letter, Paul begins to hit hard at the charges made against him by his opponents in Corinth. We don’t know who they are except that they are Jews (2 Corinthians 11:22). Their teaching may be like the Judaizers that infiltrated the Galatian churches (Jewish Christians insisting Gentiles must be circumcised and follow the Mosaic Law to be saved). We can infer from the text that these false teachers attack those who have influence over the Corinthians (Paul and his companions) in order to gain prestige and power for themselves.
When we are falsely accused, we have a choice. We can choose to get sidetracked by copying the bad behavior of the accusers, or stay on course by continuing to walk faithfully in dependence on God to avenge us and tear down the walls for us. That’s also dependent living.
Read 2 Corinthians 10:1-18. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
[To print, follow this link (or for the NIV, this one). Use your own method (colored pencils, lines, shapes) to mark: 1) anything that grabs your attention and 2) words you want to understand. Feel free to develop your own method of marking up a passage. Put a star next to anything you think relates to dependent living.]
1. What grabbed your attention from these verses?
2. What verses or specific words do you want to understand better?
3. What topics are repeated in this passage or continue an earlier discussion in this letter?
4. What verses illustrate or help you understand what dependent living on God looks like?
Read 2 Corinthians 10:1-6. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
Scriptural Insight: Whenever he described himself as “I Paul,” he is making his point with strong emphasis and telling them that what he is about to say is indeed coming from him. See where he does this in Galatians 5:2; Ephesians 3:1; Colossians 1:23; 1 Thessalonians 2:18; 2 Thessalonians 3:17; and Philemon 19.
5. Paul addresses accusations made against him that he is “timid.” He responds with truth.
Historical Insight: The word picture Paul used in v. 5 is that of Roman siege warfare focused on tearing down walls of a fortified city in order to take it captive.
Focus on the Meaning: Humility and gentleness were characteristics of Christ. Humility recognizes God as one’s authority and takes a servant attitude toward people. Gentleness refers to strength under control and is expressed through fairness and graciousness to others. Both are available to us under the control of Christ who is in us. Both are evidence of dependent living.
6. Review 2 Corinthians 10:1 in the ESV translation. After reading the “Focus on the Meaning” above, how has Paul’s behavior toward the Corinthians been like this? Note: We will address the rest of v. 1 in the Day Three Study.
Since the fall of Man in the garden (Genesis 3), there has been a spiritual war raging in our world concerning God’s truth versus lies being disseminated through human reasoning and demonic influence. One leads to overflowing joy and dependent living on God. The other leads to self-dependence and rebellion against God. Let’s look at this warfare more closely
7. Truth #1: We have God’s power to fight the war effectively. Note: The context in vv. 3-4 is the Church.
Think About It: Weapons such as intimidation, manipulation, trickery, double-talk, rumor, and hypocritical behavior are not from the Spirit of God and are not acceptable weapons for the believer to use in spiritual warfare. Victory comes from approaching life (and battles) God’s way and relying on His power to overcome the enemy.
8. Truth #2: We have God’s power to demolish strongholds. Strongholds are anything upon which one relies for security and survival. Think “castle” or “fortress.” But, these are not good castles. They are anything that takes captive the minds of believers away from God-dependence.
From the Greek: “Arguments” comes from the Greek logismos, meaning “thoughts, calculations, and reasonings.” Paul uses that to represent walls of wrong thinking standing in opposition to right Christian thinking. “Pretension” comes from the Greek hypsoma, meaning “elevated structure such as a barrier or rampart.” This represents a notion contrary to God that’s been raised up or lifted high with the purpose to intimidate. (Kelly Minter, All Things New, p. 141)
Think About It: Satan’s strategy uses speculations (theories) and incorrect information that contradict God’s revealed truth. When approaching Bible Study, beware of speculating just to derive an answer. That would include reading into Scripture what we want it to say to match what our culture is teaching us. God has revealed much for us to know. Some things He has reserved for Himself (Deut. 29:29).
9. To complete tearing down these walls (v. 5), means you must take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (a continuous action). How would you do that for a stronghold in your life?
10. Strongholds are not just thoughts but can be associated with people who have influence over you. What should you also do? See 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 and 1 Corinthians 15:33.
Focus on the Meaning: Based on 2 Corinthians 10:2 and 6, the Corinthians needed to make a clean break from the rebels in their midst. Paul needed the church to stand firm with him in disciplining his unrepentant opponents and removing themselves from that influence.
11. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 10:1-6?
12. Do you recognize a current situation in your life where you’re trying to fight a spiritual battle with worldly weapons such as deception, manipulation, and intimidation? How is that working for you?
Demolishing strongholds requires that you: 1) Identify the toxic thought patterns you’ve been building in your mind that work against the knowledge of God and your dependency on Him. 2) Give those to God and ask Him to help you knock them down with truth. 3) Destroy the stronghold by consistently applying the truth.
13. Follow the steps above to recognize and demolish strongholds in your reasoning and thoughts that work against the knowledge of God and dependency on Him.
To get help recognizing cultural strongholds that affect you or your children, check out the podcasts on mamabearapologetics.com.
14. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Read 2 Corinthians 10:7-11. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
The word “boast” occurs twenty-nine times in this letter, and only twenty-six times in all the other letters put together. Paul used this conflict with the Corinthians as a “teachable moment” for them on what validates boasting for a believer. His words are still extremely relevant for us today as we learn to live dependently on the Lord.
15. Let’s continue to explore the gracious yet unbending ways in which Paul addressed his opponents. Though Bible translations of v. 7 differ, we can conclude from the context of vv. 1 and 10 that Paul is telling them to look at the facts and not outward appearances.
Scriptural Insight: Like so many who judge things according to the outward display of this world, Paul’s opponents interpreted meekness (humility) as weakness, forbearance as cowardice, and gentleness as indecision (cf. v. 1; 11:21)—or at least they had sought to induce the Corinthians to place this interpretation on Paul’s character. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 101)
16. Paul refers to his authority in v. 8. Referring back to v. 1, Paul said he was letting Christ’s humility and gentleness live through him as he exhorted the Corinthians in a gracious manner.
Focus on the Meaning: This does not mean Paul—or any spiritual leaders for that matter—should be a pushover who never enforces any rules. Here’s where the good tension of extending grace and applying discipline comes into play. We need the discernment of the Holy Spirit to know when to emphasize each. (Kelly Minter, All Things New, p. 148)
17. Though Paul might not be the flashy speaker like the professional orators of his day, from where did the power and influence of his teaching come so people should follow him? See 1 Corinthians 1:17; 2:1-5 and 2 Corinthians 11:6,10.
Think About It: In 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul says, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” That’s the kind of statement that gets the apostle Paul slapped with labels like “arrogant” and “egotistical.” Maybe that bothers you, too. Why didn’t Paul just take himself out of the equation and tell people to follow Christ? The answer is that Paul knew we all need a role mode, a picture of Christ that makes the heart, mind and ways of Christ visible and tangible. To step into a role of leadership is essentially to state, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” If people are going to follow us, our primary task is following well … We all follow somebody. If you are a Christ follower, the practice of following well may be one of the greatest tests of your character. Who are you following? (Heather Zempel, Community Is Messy, pages 67-68)
18. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 10:7-11?
19. All of us have spheres of authority. We are to use our authority for building up those in our sphere of influence. Some of us don’t handle that authority well.
20. We should be careful how we talk about other Christian teachers / leaders. Review 2 Corinthians 10:7-8. We are to demolish arguments, not people. What if you have a disagreement with other believers, perhaps a former church you attended the leaders of a ministry? Usually it is over leadership style or your preferences.
21. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Read 2 Corinthians 10:12-18. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
Historical Insight: The Greek philosopher Aristides said that on every street in Corinth one met a so-called wise man, who had his own solutions to the world’s problems. (NIV Study Bible, note on 1 Corinthians 1:19, p. 1736) Does this sound familiar to today’s world?
22. Paul helps the Corinthians to recognize what true wisdom is and what is really worth boasting about.
Focus on the Meaning: Paul did “pioneer evangelism.” He did not want to build on, much less take credit for, the foundation work that anyone else had done, but to “preach the gospel” in previously unevangelized areas. He did not, however, object to others building on the foundation that he had laid, or watering what he had planted (1 Corinthians 3:6, 10). He did object to their failing to give credit where credit was due. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 103)
23. Comparison is a huge issue for some people. Write v. 12 in the NLT (New Living Translation) and 2 other Bible translations. Then, answer the questions.
Think About It: Comparison against a standard isn’t all bad. But, comparison becomes dangerous when that standard is based on worldly values, and we deem ourselves “successful” when we hit that worldly standard. And, with the prevalence of social media, we can be tempted to compare ourselves with other believers—their achievements, social platform, and even their recreational activities. This can lead to self-centered pride or feelings of discouragement and failure. Also, don’t glorify men or women by 1) depending on them more than on Christ, 2) crediting them for your spiritual blessings, or 3) namedropping to increase your own image. Gratitude is okay.
24. The answer to this “comparison thinking” is in vv. 17-18. Considering what you have learned so far in 2 Corinthians, why should we boast about the Lord and not about ourselves? See also John 5:44.
Focus on the Meaning: The word Paul kept using for “boast” means “to glory in or on something, to rejoice.” Boasting is not bad if you are boasting about the Lord and His work (v. 17) and the assignment He has given you (v. 13).
25. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 10:12-18?
26. Do you have a tendency to compare yourself to others to see how you measure up? Or, do you look at the world’s standards to define your achievements. How does that affect you?
27. How does living dependently on Christ keep you focused on what He has appointed YOU to be and do?
28. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
29. Review the passage for this lesson in “Day One Study.” Add reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves to the chart below. I’ve given a few prompts.
Verse(s) |
Reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves |
10:1 |
So we can treat others with the humility and gentleness of Christ |
10:3-4 |
We need His power to demolish strongholds holding us captive |
10:5 |
We need His power to take captive our thoughts for Him |
10:13 |
To find our sphere of service He has assigned to us |
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As His child, God transforms your life by teaching you to live dependently on Him in weakness and in strength.
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. (2 Corinthians 11:30-31)
Why is Paul even bothering to write this letter? He loves the Corinthian believers. He spent more than a year and a half of his life there giving birth to the church. He made friends. He poured into them. He loved them. Yet, the relationship has been very rocky.
Even in the mess of this rocky relationship with people he dearly loves, and whom Christ dearly loved, Paul writes to them in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” Paul desired to be for them an exemplary role mode, a picture of Christ that makes the heart, mind and ways of Christ visible and tangible. He lives out his life as a servant of God in every way—in good times and in very hard times.
While those influencing his Corinthian family are claiming to be “super-apostles,” they are actually deceivers, masquerading as servants of light but really being used as servants of Satan instead. Paul emerges as the truly Spirit-led apostle. He is the one following Christ.
If people are going to follow us, our primary task is to test whom we are following. We all follow somebody. If you are a Christ follower, the practice of following Him well may be one of the greatest tests of your character. Whom are you following?
Read 2 Corinthians 10:12-11:33, which includes verses from the last lesson. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
[To print, follow this link (or for the NIV, this one). Use your own method (colored pencils, lines, shapes) to mark: 1) anything that grabs your attention and 2) words you want to understand. Feel free to develop your own method of marking up a passage. Put a star next to anything you think relates to dependent living.]
1. What grabbed your attention from these verses?
2. What verses or specific words do you want to understand better?
3. What topics are repeated in this passage or continue an earlier discussion in this letter?
4. What verses illustrate or help you understand what dependent living on God looks like?
Read 2 Corinthians 11:1-15. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
5. Answer the questions below based on what is in the biblical text.
Paul’s jealousy was in line with God’s purposes. The false teachers were not only calling his apostolic authority into question. They were also leading the Corinthians astray from pure devotion to Christ. This was serious.
6. Contrast jealousy “of someone” with jealousy “for someone.”
Focus on the Meaning: There is a place for a spiritual father’s / mother’s passionate concern for the exclusive and pure devotion to Christ of their spiritual children, and also a place for anger at potential violators of that purity (11:29). (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 105)
Think About It: Leaders who can’t be questioned end up doing questionable things. (Jon Acuff)
7. Though not a trained speaker, what Paul said he had knowledge (v. 6)
Think About It: Paul didn’t pretend to be one of those dazzlers the Greeks valued. But, the listeners were stirred by his words and grew in their knowledge of and relationship with God because of his teaching. The world has plenty of dazzlers. What people are longing for is to meet someone with abiding spiritual wisdom and knowledge about what truly matters. It’s okay to have godly dazzlers pointing us to dependence on God as Paul did. That’s what matters.
8. One of the accusations against Paul centered around how he differed from the usual professional speakers who expected the listeners to pay for their “wisdom.” Such money given also gave the audience a measure of control over the speaker (permission) and the speaker control over the audience (influence). Keep in mind that Greek culture considered manual labor such as Paul’s tent making to be “lower class.”
Scriptural Insight: Paul’s principle was to preach and teach without charging those who benefited directly from his ministry. This is a good policy in church planting, but it is not normative for a settled pastoral ministry (1 Corinthians 9:14; 1 Timothy 5:17-18). (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 108)
9. Recognizing false teachers:
Scriptural Insight: They may have been genuine believers. Indeed they appear to have been (2 Cor. 11:23). Nevertheless in their conduct, they were following the example of Satan. They perverted the thinking of, and misdirected the affections of, the Corinthians. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 109)
10. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 11:1-15?
Paul was a successful church planter, a gifted teacher, and excellent writer. Yet, he gave all those strengths to the Lord and still depended on the Lord as he accomplished those tasks.
11. It’s okay to prepare and refine your skills and talents, especially as you want them to be used for God’s purposes. What would it look like for you to give your preparations to God and desire that the power of God will shine His light through you? A good question to ask yourself regarding your strengths is this, “Am I living in self-sufficiency or God-dependency?”
12. Even if you do everything right, that doesn’t stop people from trying to slander and discredit you. What have you learned from Paul’s letter that will help you deal with false information about you?
13. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Read 2 Corinthians 11:16-21. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
From the Greek: A “fool” in Hellenistic-Roman society was one who had lost the correct measure of himself and the world around them.
14. The Corinthians have been putting up with the teaching of fools, contrary to the solid, biblical truth that Paul taught them. The foolish teachers claimed to be God’s leaders but were more interested in their own position and power. Paul had no choice but to refute them for the sake of the church he loved. He creatively uses sarcasm to make the Corinthians recognize what was happening. He answered the fools “according to their folly” Proverbs 26:5)
Remember that the false teachers were masquerading as apostles of Christ and servants of righteousness. Judging by physical appearances, they mostly likely didn’t look like evil people (vv. 13-15). Their teaching and behavior betrayed their motives.
15. Bad teaching and dictatorial behavior (vv. 3-4, 19-20) lead to exploitation—what we might even call cultic behavior, including the kind of treatment listed. Who is vulnerable to that kind of exploitation? Why?
Think About It: According to 1 Corinthians 8:1, knowledge puffs up (makes proud, inflates ego). Depending on one’s own “wisdom” can lead to foolish choices and susceptibility to being ensnared by false teaching. The answer is to know Christ, embrace God’s grace and the truth of His Word, and live confidently in your identity. Then you can say “no” to such foolishness from bad teaching.
16. How was Paul’s approach to ministry with the Corinthians different from that of the false teachers? What Christ-like characteristics did Paul display? Use what you’ve learned so far in 2 Corinthians to get your answer.
17. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 11:16-21?
From the Greek: Back in 2 Corinthians 4:2, Paul said that he did not use deception or distort the Word of God like those who masqueraded as servants of righteousness were doing. The Greek word from which we get “distort” primarily signifies “to ensnare,” especially by mingling the truth of the Word of God with false doctrines or notions, and so handling it “deceitfully.” (Kelly Minter, All Things New, p. 55)
Distortion of God’s Word plays out in many ways. It is especially done to justify some behavior that the false teachers want to engage in themselves. Or, it can happen when a spiritual leader uses a verse to shame, manipulate, or condemn you for something already forgiven by Christ.
18. You may be wondering how you can tell if someone exercising authority over you is a true servant of the Lord Jesus and not someone masquerading as a servant of righteousness and exploiting you.
19. Have you fallen victim to a “distortion of the Word of God” in the past? What was taught, and how did you get freed from that?
Scriptural Insight: A common false teaching says that women are more easily deceived than men because of what happened in Genesis 3. That is NOT a biblical truth. Dr. Sandra Glahn, gender studies professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, explains it this way, “What is significant about the man and woman in [Genesis 3] is that they both rebelled. … Being seduced by evil is a human thing, not a woman thing—as Paul mentions when warning the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 11:3). The Bible does not teach that because Eve was deceived, all women are more easily deceived than men. Nor does the Scripture teach that all women excel at seducing and deceiving (these ideas are contradictions, anyway—one cannot be a master of deception while also being easily duped).” (Sandra Glahn, “Biblical Womanhood”: What is a Woman? accessed online at Bible.org)
20. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Read 2 Corinthians 11:21-33. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
Paul’s approach to ministry was to promote Christ, not himself. Because of the false apostles claiming to be servants of Christ yet denying Paul’s authority, Paul felt pressed to talk about his own life choices and experiences, especially hardships. These are evidences of the Lord Jesus’s commendation of his work and vindication of him as an apostle (2 Corinthians 10:18). As you study this passage, recognize that many of these challenges can happen to anyone, not just those being persecuted for their faith.
21. Complete the following statements based on what you see in the biblical text. Put a star next to challenges that any servant of Christ may face in life, including what you might have already experienced.
Historical Insight: Because Paul’s writing of 2 Corinthians fits into Luke’s chronology of his life at Acts 20:2, everything that Paul described here occurred before Acts 20:2 and, therefore, before the end of his third missionary journey, arrest and transport to Rome. Many of these experiences are not even mentioned in Acts.
22. Read 1 Corinthians 4:1, 9-13. What does God put his apostles through to test them?
23. As a servant of Christ,
24. Review 2 Corinthians 11:12, 18, and 21. Paul said that since many were boasting according to the flesh, he would do that, too.
Think About It: Instead of citing successes that he had experienced in his ministry and any accolades he had received from others, Paul listed what some would consider defeats and speaks of these as victories! They were victories because he depended on God, and God had supernaturally sustained His servant through every hardship he experienced. What he listed was, therefore, the greatest possible proof and vindication that Paul was an apostle.
25. Was Paul a fool to serve Christ so relentlessly? Why or why not?
Dependent Living: According to 11:33, Paul was dependent on God to rescue him. God used people to do His work. Paul could do nothing on his own except get in the basket, be quiet, and trust the rope holders. See Acts 9:24-25. God helps those who trust in Him. He uses people as His helpers. You might be that basket provider or the rope holder for someone.
26. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 11:21-33?
Think About It: The Christian life is impossible to live without 2 Corinthians. This letter calms us into settled assurance that it is in the adversities of life in this fallen world, not by avoiding adversity, that life with God blossoms. Ease of life results in frothiness of life. The most substantial, radiant men and women we meet are those who bear scars, who have endured dark valleys. … we all walk through pain. In different ways, for different reasons, at different seasons of life, hardship washes over us. How could we possibly remain sane and cheerful without God’s insistence throughout this letter that his deepest consolations are mediated to us in, not after, sorrow? … The way to joy is actually Christ Himself, walking with Him day by day. And the enjoyment of this Friend tends to rise as circumstances around us fall. (Dane C. Ortlund, Why Study the Book of 2 Corinthians? posted online August 2, 2016)
27. When it comes to the troubles and difficulties of life, how can we more consciously focus on what Jesus can do or has done for us rather than focusing on what He hasn’t done?
28. Paul faced daily pressures of responsibility. What pressures come upon you daily? What is your usual response to them? Based on what you have learned from Paul’s example, how can you handle daily pressures as a servant of Christ should?
29. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
30. Review the passage for this lesson in “Day One Study.” Add reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves to the chart below. I’ve given a few prompts.
Verse(s) |
Reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves |
11:3 |
To keep us from being led astray by false teaching |
11:4-5 |
To help us recognize error in teaching |
11:6 |
To know the truth about God |
11:7-9 |
For financial support that enables us to share Christ and disciple others |
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Dependent Living: As His child, God transforms your life by teaching you to live dependently on Him in weakness and in strength.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Memory Verse #3)
The Corinthians had been putting up with the teaching of fools, contrary to the solid, biblical truth that Paul taught them. The foolish teachers claimed to be God’s leaders but were really masquerading as apostles of Christ and servants of righteousness. They didn’t look evil, but their teaching and behavior exploited the Christians in Corinth—drawing them away from following Christ more than themselves.
On the other hand, Paul chose to promote Christ, not himself. To counter the evil influence on those whom he loved so dearly, Paul is forced to talk about his own life choices and experiences, especially hardships. These are evidences of the Lord Jesus’s commendation of his work and vindication of him as an apostle (2 Corinthians 10:18).
Many of those same challenges can happen to anyone, not just those being persecuted for their faith. And, in the midst of those messy and often painful circumstances, we also have a choice of whom to promote—ourselves or Christ. On whom will we rely at those times? It is in our weaknesses that He is the strongest. He uses many things to come to our rescue and to comfort us. Sometimes all we can do is to get into the basket provided for us, be quiet, and trust the One holding the rope. Whether weak or strong, living dependently on Christ is the best way to live.
Read 2 Corinthians 11:30-12:21, which includes verses from the last lesson. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
[To print, follow this link (or for the NIV, this one). Use your own method (colored pencils, lines, shapes) to mark: 1) anything that grabs your attention and 2) words you want to understand. Feel free to develop your own method of marking up a passage. Put a star next to anything you think relates to dependent living.]
1. What grabbed your attention from these verses?
2. What verses or specific words do you want to understand better?
3. What topics are repeated in this passage or continue an earlier discussion in this letter?
4. What verses illustrate or help you understand what dependent living on God looks like?
Read 2 Corinthians 12:1-10. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
Focus on the Meaning: The “third heaven” probably represents the presence of God. It could be a technical description of God’s abode, above the cloudy heavens overhead, and beyond the farthest reaches of space that man can perceive. “Paradise” (v. 4) is a good synonym for the third heaven (cf. Luke 23:43; Revelation 2:7). (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 116)
5. Paul shares his vision from Christ and what he learned from that experience.
Historical Insight: Paul said he was caught up to heaven 14 years before the writing of this letter (56 AD). That would have happened around 42 AD. Paul was back in Tarsus ministering in Syria and Cilicia (Acts 9:30; Galatians 1:21). This was before Paul went to Antioch to pastor the church there and before He went on any missionary journey. No wonder he was so sure of his mission and his life knowing Christ.
Looking at v. 6, we see that Paul preferred to be remembered for what he said and did in following Christ rather than for that one extraordinary experience that certainly contrasts with sneaking out of Damascus in a basket.
6. Why did Paul share this experience with the Corinthians after keeping it private for 14 years? See also v. 11.
Think About It: We love the sensational. We get excited for a miracle or a good vision or dream. … we’re infatuated with the platforms of Christian celebrities … But do we have the same level of passion for daily faithfulness? … it’s the consistent godly patterns of our lives that yield enduring fruit. (Kelly Minter, All Things New, p. 175)
7. Let’s look at the what, why, and who of Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” Note: Although a lot of speculations are made, no one knows what this ailment was. Most of us can identify with having a thorn or splinter stuck in our skin at some point in our lives.
8. To understand God’s answer, read 2 Corinthians 12:9 in The Message translation and 2 other Bible translations then answer the questions below.
9. After Paul heard from Jesus, his tone changed from pleading with the Lord to remove the thorn to what entirely new response (vv. 9-10)?
From the Greek: The word translated “rest” referring to Christ’s power means “to dwell, to take possession of and live in.” The word translated “delight” means “seems good, take pleasure in, ready to do, think well of.”
10. Why is Paul willing to delight in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties “for Christ’s sake?”
11. Considering the definitions above, how can it be that when you are weak (admit it, boast in it, even be glad about it), you are strong?
Scriptural Insight: Paul’s response relates back to what he shared previously about his own life. Look back at Acts 18:9-11; 2 Corinthians 1:9; 4:7-11; 6:3-10 and 11:21-33.
12. In what ways was Paul made strong in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties?
Think About It: God is attracted to weakness. He can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need Him. Our weakness, in fact, makes room for His power. (Jim Cymbala, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire)
13. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 12:1-10?
14. What could it look like, feel like, and sound like (the words we use) if we applied vv. 9-10 to our lives?
15. In the midst of your most painful trial, how have you seen Christ’s words to be true, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness?”
16. Have you been spending precious energy trying to solve or figure out “a thorn” in your life? If there doesn’t appear to be a clear answer—or at least in the near future—take a moment to entrust it to the God who knows.
17. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Consider using any creative means to respond to the Lord’s grace being sufficient for your every weakness—poem, song, painting, craft, prose, or other means.
Read 2 Corinthians 12:11-18. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
18. See how Paul picks up again on what he shared in 2 Corinthians 11:1-12 …
19. Focus on v. 11.
20. What does he confirm about his behavior toward them (vv. 14, 16-17)?
21. Contrast the false teachers’ behavior (11:19-21) with that of Paul and his associates. See also 2 Corinthians 7:13-16; 8:22-23.
22. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 12:11-18?
Focus on the Meaning: Paul’s focusing on the signs (evidences) of an apostle, rather than on the rights of an apostle, is helpful for all servants of the Lord to observe. We, too, should concentrate on demonstrating the proofs of our ambassadorship in our works, especially our perseverance, rather than expecting those we serve to follow us because we are “claiming” our rights. We need to earn the respect of those we serve, with our works and by our example, rather than demanding it because of our position. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 121)
23. When people mistake your love for something else (especially contrary to your true intentions), that can be deeply wounding. Is that something you are experiencing right now or have experienced in the past? Look at Paul’s response in today’s passage. What can you learn from him that challenges and inspires you for dealing with this hurtful experience?
24. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Read 2 Corinthians 12:19-21. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
25. Paul had genuine concerns (fears) about his next visit to the church. Fear is a normal human emotion designed to alert us to danger so that we can take action against it. Answer the following questions based on what is in the biblical text.
Think About It: Paul shares many things with the Corinthians. All of them are “in Christ.” Their identity in Christ is equal. But, authority is different. Paul as an apostle has authority over them.
26. What could Paul mean by saying “you may find me not as you want me to be?” See 10:10-11.
27. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 12:19-21?
What Paul describes in v. 20 sounds like some family gatherings, especially around the holidays. Does it sound familiar to you?
28. Describe a time when you had anxiety over seeing someone you hadn’t seen in a while. What were your worries? How did you prepare yourself? Did it go as you expected or were you surprised?
29. The sinful behaviors Paul mentions in vv. 20-21 are common to humans. Paul mentions these same things in most of his other letters. See Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 4:25-32; 5:3-4, and Colossians 3:5-10 for example. Are you “indulging” in any of these behaviors? If so, purify yourself now (2 Corinthians 7:1). See Lesson 6, Day Four Study application for the biblical process for dealing with sin in your life. Repentance begins with agreeing with God that what you are doing is sin against Him. Mourn your behavior because it causes Him sadness. Commit to letting the Spirit transform you in that area of your life (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). Trust Him to work in and through you beginning today.
30. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
31.Review the passage for this lesson in “Day One Study.” Add reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves to the chart below. I’ve given a few prompts.
Verse(s) |
Reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves |
12:6 |
To refrain from boasting about personal spiritual experiences |
12:7-8 |
Enduring a thorn in the flesh that God chooses not to heal |
12:9 |
Trusting God’s grace to be sufficient |
12:9 |
Being glad about weaknesses so Christ’s power shines |
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Dependent Living: As His child, God transforms your life by teaching you to live dependently on Him in weakness and in strength.
…since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you. (2 Corinthians 13:3-4)
As we have studied this letter, 2 Corinthians, we have seen how personal and messy it is. It’s messy because it is full of emotions and experiences. It’s like life—messy—because people are messy, relationships are messy, circumstances are messy, and community within the church is messy.
In the midst of our messy lives, God wants us to learn to rely on Him more than on ourselves. Throughout 2 Corinthians, we have seen examples of Paul making plans and submitting them to God to be changed, demonstrating his authority and submitting that to God, asking for healing and submitting to God’s answer, and preaching the gospel in one city while his heart wants to be in another city but waits for God to say “go.” That’s dependent living.
Through your study of 2 Corinthians, you have learned how the Lord Jesus Christ will transform your life as His child by teaching you to live dependently on Him in weakness and in strength. This “dependent living” will lead to you becoming stronger and more effective in life by relying on God rather than on yourself. You learn how to do this as you act according to the Word of God, depend on Jesus Christ for the power to do so, and trust Him with the results.
He’s all you need to find the best way to live!
Read 2 Corinthians 12:14-13:14, which includes verses from the last lesson. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
[To print, follow this link (or for the NIV, this one). Use your own method (colored pencils, lines, shapes) to mark: 1) anything that grabs your attention and 2) words you want to understand. Feel free to develop your own method of marking up a passage. Put a star next to anything you think relates to dependent living.]
1. What grabbed your attention from these verses?
2. What verses or specific words do you want to understand better?
3. What topics are repeated in this passage or continue an earlier discussion in this letter?
4. What verses illustrate or help you understand what dependent living on God looks like?
Read 2 Corinthians 13:1-4. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
5. Paul continues his discussion of his planned visit to the Corinthians.
Focus on the Meaning: What did Paul mean by the “two or three witnesses?” He could be referring to himself, Titus and the other brother when they last visited the Corinthians. Or, it could be the people who know the truth about Paul, heard the warning from him before, and will be present when he comes to visit the church.
6. Paul takes his authority and responsibility of servant-leadership in the church very seriously. Summarize what he is saying to the Corinthians.
Scriptural Insight: Rebellion against Paul is rebellion against Christ, who appointed him as His apostle. (NIV Study Bible, note on 13:3, p. 1777)
7. Does God’s power (v. 4) shown through His representatives include the authority to judge sin and correct sinful behavior in Christians? See v. 10. Also, see 2 Corinthians in 2:5-10; 6:14-7:1; 7:8-13; 11:3-4; and 12:20-21 to help you answer this question.
Focus on the Meaning: It appears that Paul and the Corinthians did not understand
“power” in the same way. For them it was on display in an aggressive and a mighty personality. For the apostle, it is seen in weakness [that relies on Christ]. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 124)
8. What else did you learn as you studied 2 Corinthians 13:1-4?
Scriptural Insight: Christ’s finished work on the cross is His power perfected for us. See the essay after Lesson 5 for the descriptions of some of what He made complete for us.
9. Is the proof of Jesus’s hand on our lives found only in big money, big deals, flashes of fame, and our biggest dreams coming true? If not, why not? Use what you have learned in this letter to explain your answer.
Think About It: Dear follower of Christ, make sure you’re not judging the proof of God’s hand on your life merely by outward, materialistic blessings. As we’ve seen throughout 2 Corinthians, oftentimes His greatest display of power in our lives is in our places of loneliness, battles with infirmities, and painful losses. Whether you’re feeling weak or strong, hide yourself as weak in Christ. A child is weak when resting in her father’s arms. This is where we’ll find the true strength to love God and serve others. (Kelly Minter, All Things New, p. 200)
10. In what other ways can you apply this lesson to your life?
Read 2 Corinthians 13:5-10. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
11. Answer the following questions based on the text.
From the Greek: Paul meant v. 5 to be an affirming question, carrying the idea of “proving in the expectation of approving.” The Greek word peirazo means “to try, make trial of, test: for the purpose of ascertaining quality, or one’s thinking, or how one will behave himself.” The end result is to show that what one expected is true. The Corinthians had been examining him. Now he turned the tables and challenged them to examine themselves—not for salvation but for obedience to the Lord.
12. Paul wanted the Corinthians to take a hard look at themselves with the expectation they would discover that Jesus Christ was truly in their lives and working in their midst. What are some of the evidences that would show this to be true? [Note: They would only fail the test if they had never trusted in Christ.]
13. Relate v. 9 to what you learned in 2 Corinthians 12. What could Paul have meant when he said he’s glad when he’s weak and the Corinthians are “fully restored” / “made complete?”
From the Greek: The end of verse 9 reads very differently among the various translations. You will see “become mature” (NLT), “fully qualified” (NET), “made complete” (NAS), and “fully restored” (NIV, ESV). You’ll see the same differences in verse 11. The Greek words used there carry the idea of strengthening, perfecting, training, being completely ready to take on whatever is needed. The goal is to move forward in your transformation to become more like Jesus Christ and serve Him well.
14. What is the proper use of authority in the church (v. 10)? See also 2 Corinthians 1:24 and 10:8.
15. Notice Paul’s mention of prayer twice in this section. Every daily lesson in this study begins and ends with prayer. Lack of prayer is often a sign of self-sufficiency rather than dependent living and will lead you to doing what is not pleasing in God’s sight. Spend some time responding to the Lord about what He’s shown you today.
Read 2 Corinthians 13:11-14. Ask the Lord Jesus to teach you through His Word.
16. Paul’s closing words in a letter often include simple reminders of how to live as a Christian in community. As he says goodbye, Paul sums up his letter with five “take-away” actions. What are they?
17. What does Paul mean when he tells them to strive or aim for full restoration (NIV, ESV)? To what or whom must they be restored? See also 2 Corinthians 11:3 and 12:20-21.
Historical Insight: Evidently Paul’s anticipated visit to Corinth turned out to be a pleasant one. Paul wrote Romans during the three months he was in Corinth (Acts 20:2-3, A.D. 56-57). In that epistle, he gave no indication that there were problems in Corinth. Moreover, he proceeded with his plans to evangelize unreached areas, which he would not have done if the Corinthian church still needed his attention (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:14-16). Furthermore, Paul wrote that the Corinthians (believers in Macedonia and Achaia) “were pleased” to complete their collection for the Jerusalem saints (Romans 15:26-27). Finally, the Corinthian church’s preservation of 2 Corinthians argues for this church’s acquiescence to Paul’s admonitions and warnings. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 127)
18. Focus on the phrases: “be of one mind” and “live in peace.” You can find “cross references” (verses that are similar to the one you are reading) in most study Bibles and in the Blue Letter Bible App. Look at cross references to find other verses that describe how to:
Historical Insight: The “holy kiss” was an expression of brotherly love, a sign of being in fellowship with one another. It welcomed newly baptized believers into the family of God. It symbolized the forgiveness, reconciliation, unity, and fellowship that existed between the believers.
19. Write Paul’s benediction (v. 14) in the space below.
20. What do you learn about the three persons of our one God from this verse?
Scriptural Insight: This benediction confirms the Trinity and has ever since been a part of Christian worship tradition. It serves to remind us that the mystery of the Holy Trinity is known to be true not through rational or philosophical explanations but through Christian experience, whereby the believer knows firsthand the grace, the love, and the fellowship that freely flow to him from the three Persons of the one Lord God. (NIV Study Bible, note on v. 14, p. 1778)
21. Review the passage for this lesson in “Day One Study.” Add reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves to the chart below. I’ve given a few prompts.
Verse(s) |
Reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves |
13:4 |
To live by God’s power to deal with people |
13:5 |
To gain assurance that you are in Christ by your faith in Him |
13:7 |
For our disciples to do what is right even though we may fail |
13:8 |
To stand for the truth |
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22. What are your takeaways from this study? What have you learned about being a God-dependent woman? Have you learned to depend on Christ more? In what ways do you understand dependent living better? Are you making the choices daily to live in God-dependency rather than self-sufficiency?
As His child, God transforms your life by teaching you to live dependently on Him in weakness and in strength. See all the reasons why in the chart on the next page.
What Paul teaches us in 2 Corinthians
1:4—We receive comfort from God for ourselves and to comfort others
1:9—He’s more powerful than we are
1:10—We set our hope on Him to deliver us
1:11—He graciously answers our prayers
1:20—He’s faithful to His promises
1:22—He owns us and lives in us
1:17—We get distracted and disappointed when things don’t go as we plan
2:1-10—To reconcile relationships rightly when our feelings are hurt
2:5-10—To execute tough love when a Christian is deliberately sinning
2:11—To keep Satan from getting an advantage over us
2:14—He uses us to spread the knowledge of Him
2:17—He sends us to speak for Him
3:3—He writes a letter of recommendation for Himself in our lives
3:4—He gives us confidence to trust Him
3:5—He gives us competence to represent Him
3:16—He takes away the veil over our hearts when we believe
3:18—He transforms us by His Spirit
4:1—To not lose heart
4:6—He makes His light shine in the darkness through us
4:7—He can demonstrate His power through our frailty (jars of clay)
4:8-9—He keeps us from being crushed when we are burdened
4:10—He reveals Jesus’s life in and through us
4:14; 5:1; 5:5—He will give us a new resurrection/heavenly body as a reward
4:16—He can keep us from losing heart
4:16—He renews us inwardly while we outwardly “waste away”
4:18—He gives us an eternal perspective about our “light, momentary troubles”
5:7—Because we must live by faith not by sight
5:8—We will be with Him when this life ends
5:9—To learn how to live to please Him
5:10—He rewards us for our earthly lives
5:15—To live for Him rather than for ourselves
5:17—He’s made us into a new creation
5:19-20—We are His ambassadors and speak for Him
5:21—He exchanges our sin for Christ’s righteousness
6:4—We are His servants
6:4-9—To respond to troubles in a godly manner
6:10—Our lives influence others
6:16-18—We are His children
7:1—To purify ourselves to perfect holiness
7:6—He comforts us when we are downcast
7:9—To rightly respond to sin in our lives
7:12—To see truth in ourselves, in our hearts
8:1—He initiates the grace of giving
8:5—We need Him to direct our giving according to His will
8:9—He makes us spiritually rich so we can give
8:16—He puts into our hearts concerns for us to have
8:23—We are His representatives who honor Christ so can be trusted with money handling
9:8—God blesses us so we can give to others
9:10—God enlarges the harvest of our generosity and good works
9:12—God gives through us to meet the needs of His people
10:1—To treat others with the humility and gentleness of Christ
10:3-4—We need His power to demolish strongholds holding us captive
10:5—We need His power to take captive our thoughts for Him
10:8; 13:10—To use our authority to build others up and not tear them down
10:13—To find our sphere of service He has assigned to us
10:13—To confine our boasting to the Lord and the sphere of service He has assigned to us
10:17—To seek our approval and commendation from Him rather than others
11:3—To keep us from being led astray by false teaching
11:4-5—To help us recognize error in teaching
11:6—To know the truth about God
11:7-9—For financial support that enables us to share Christ and disciple others
11:13-15—To show us those masquerading as His servants and release us from their grip
11:23-27; 32-33—To rescue us from danger
11:30—To teach us the value of boasting about the things that show our weakness and need for Him
11:31—To keep praising God in all our afflictions
11:28—To help us handle the daily pressures of that which concerns us
12:6—To refrain from boasting about personal spiritual experiences
12:7-8—Enduring a thorn in the flesh that God chooses not to heal
12:9—Trusting God’s grace to be sufficient
12:9—Being glad about weaknesses so Christ’s power shines in us
12:10—Trusting Him for strength
12:14—To love others so much you don’t want to “use” them in any way
12:15, 19—To spend ourselves for others to grow spiritually
12:17—To walk by the Spirit consistently with other believers
12:20-21—Facing sin in those we love
13:4—To live by God’s power to deal with people
13:5—To gain assurance that you are in Christ by your faith in Him
13:7—For our disciples to do what is right even though we may fail
13:8—To stand for the truth
13:9—To be fully restored/matured in pure devotion to Christ
13:7, 9—To be concerned for disciples’ growth more than your own personal reputation
13:11—To rejoice, mature, encourage others, be united, and live in peace with other believers
Has anyone ever taken a Bible and shown you how you can know you’re going to heaven? May I?
Bad News #1 ‑— We are all sinners. Romans 3:23
Bad News #2—The penalty for sin is death. Romans 6:23
Good News #1—Christ died for you. Romans 5:8
Good News #2—You can be saved through faith in Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9
You can watch a free online training video at http://evantell.org.
You can access this online at www.godlife.com.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
“Has anyone introduced you to Jesus so you could know Him? May I?”
1. Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange online
2. Dane C. Ortlund, Why Study the Book of 2 Corinthians? posted online August 2, 2016
3. Dr. Sandra Glahn, “Biblical Womanhood”: What is a Woman?
4. Dr. Tom Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition
5. Heather Zempel, Community Is Messy
6. Jim Cymbala, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire
7. John Newton, Advent for Restless Hearts
8. Joni Eareckson Tada, Just Between Us, Fall 2018
9. Kelly Minter, All Things New
10. Major Ian Thomas, The Saving Life of Christ
11. NIV Study Bible 1985 Edition
12. Steve Hixon
13. The Bible Knowledge Commentary (New Testament), Walvoord and Zuck