There must be something about the letter C. First of all there was 1 Chronicles and now there is 2 Corinthians. Both of these books deal with the the cultural equivalent of church. And both of these book I found difficult. Although I wouldn’t go quite so far and describe them by using another word beginning with c.*
A good strong church
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This is Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, although some think it could be the third or a mixture of two letters in one. Either way, it doesn’t make too much difference and I don’t think it would help me like it more. The problem is that I just found it hard going. I didn’t think it flowed too well and so struggled to follow what Paul was saying. Perhaps that is why some think it is cobbled together. Of course, by cobbled I mean inspired.
Second post
The letter deals with Paul arguing for his position. He points out why the church should follow what he says and not what another group of ’super apostles’ say. This isn’t because Paul wants to win a popularity contest but because he believes the others are false teachers, leading the church Paul had started to believe the wrong things. By the end of the letter we know that the church has rejected these teachers and are back on track with Paul.
Love letter
Going back to what I said earlier about cobbled, there is a serious point to be raised. The Bible is made up of different types of writing and because of that each sort of writing should be read in a slightly different way. We don’t read poetry the same way as fiction, or even historical fiction the same as sci-fi. In the same way we need to remember that this is a letter written to a 1st century church. It is easy to read the whole Bible in a ‘thus saith the Lord’ tone of voice. And while I’m not disregarding those who believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, we also need to remember it was written by frustrated people who got annoyed at the way some churches were behaving.
The next stop in my New Testament journey through the Bible is Galatians, another church with another set of problems. I wonder how Paul will feel about them?
*Easy now
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