Mike Domeny, actor, author, and founder of Outloud Bible (outloudbible.com), reads the Bible out loud in a conversational and approachable way so you can read the Bible like it makes a difference! This isn't simply an audiobook version of the Bible! Every episode offers helpful context so you won't get lost, and a brief takeaway to help apply that reading to your life.
Want to invite Mike to read Scripture at your event or gathering? Visit outloudbible.com.
We open 2 Corinthians by naming the real tension between Paul and the church in Corinth and why reconciliation has to be fought for when trust gets damaged. We read Paul’s words on comfort, integrity, and forgiveness, then we challenge ourselves to drop grudges before they turn into a foothold for division. • the backstory after 1 Corinthians and why the relationship stays strained • reconciliation as the main theme and a model for real life • God as the source of comfort in suffering and affliction • Paul’s explanation for changing travel plans and being misunderstood • the painful visit, the tearful letter, and rebuilding trust with love • forgiving and comforting the repentant so they are not crushed • forgiveness as protection against Satan’s schemes and church division Pray about what you may need to forgive, who you may need to forgive, and what the first step of reconciliation may be for you. Only God has the answer. Take it to him.
At outloudbible.com, you can find free resources to help you study the Bible. And while you’re there, send us a message to say hi, or start a conversation about having us at your church or event.
If Outloud Bible has been a valuable part of your understanding of the Bible, please consider supporting the ministry by visiting outloudbible.com.
Check out outloudbible.com for helpful study resources, and to discover how to bring the public reading of God's word to your church, conference, retreat, or other event.
Welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Podcast. This is Mike, and last time on the podcast, we concluded the letter of 1 Corinthians. It's Paul's letter to the church in Corinth. And we discussed that it wasn't his first letter. It's what we call 1 Corinthians because it's the first one we have in our Bible. But he clearly wrote another letter to them at some point. And they wrote a letter to him and just trying to get some guidance through some issues that had come up in the church. And there were quite a few issues to have come up. And uh it's a it's a church that had a lot going for it, but frankly, uh just a lot of people means a lot of potential for sin. And when there's a lot of sin, then there's just just a lot of mess. And so Paul's letter the first time around was to address and clarify some of the sin issues, some of the try to fix some of the mindsets and to try to get these people back on track to living in peace, living in order with each other, and uh and just and rooting out some of the sin so that they can be a healthy church, a healthy body of Christ. Well, it seems like since that letter was received, things did not get better right away. For one, Paul said at the end of his last letter, like, I'm hoping to come visit you sometime soon. And well, we what we can see in his letter at this point that we're going to read 2 Corinthians today, that he did not come when they expected him to come, and many were doubting if he was going to come at all, or if he cared at all, or if he really, you know, was a man of his word. Some were doubting his integrity through this. And frankly, it was already an issue that there were people who were doubting his authority as an apostle. Even like something like he said in 1 Corinthians, where he said, uh, I don't even consider myself an apostle. He was kind of comparing himself to the apostles who walked with Jesus, and he was like, I don't know why, but Jesus appeared to me because it pleased him too, and he sent me as an apostle. I'm not like any of the other apostles. I I can barely consider myself an apostle. It seems like somebody uh in the church took something like that that he said and just used it to reinforce this idea that Paul has no authority as an apostle for various reasons. And and it seems like what we can tell here that this letter wasn't actually even the direct follow-up to 1 Corinthians, that Paul even references another letter that he had sent, a difficult-to-write letter, a letter of trying to get through to people and try to get on the same page as this church. Um, and that was even after a visit that he made in person, not the one that he intended to make, but uh another visit that he went to try to go patch things over because things were kind of getting out of hand. And uh he he we can see that in a reading today. He calls that a painful visit with many tears. And uh it just was not looking good for a while, this relationship between this church and their founding apostle, founding elder of Paul. And so after all of these attempts to try to reconcile with the church, it seems like most, not all, but most of them had come to apologize to Paul and uh to reconcile with him and rebuild that relationship. And so Paul is writing this letter, 2 Corinthians, again, not directly after 1 Corinthians, but after all of these attempts to reconcile with the church, uh, writing this letter to really solidify the reconciled relationship. He spends the first half of this letter, over half of this letter, trying to just reassure them of his love, reassure them of their uh favor in Christ and their identity that God gives them and their role and purpose in the body. And uh just to reestablish, like, hey, look, I know it's been a rough time. We've had a rough season relationally, that does not take away my love for you, that does not disqualify you from God's love, we're gonna be okay. Let's reconcile and move forward together in the name of Jesus. That's the heart behind this letter. And uh, so reconciliation is a major theme here. And if reconciliation is a theme in your life or should be a theme in your life, maybe there's some unreconciled relationships, this is a really good book to pay attention to and see how Paul goes about this uh manner of reconciliation. We'll actually see that he's uh working on reconciling not just his relationship with the church personally, but also reconciliation within the church. Because if you remember, in 1 Corinthians, there's a manner of uh uh a matter of a man who was in sin, in sin with his uh his stepmother, and the church was even proud of it. They were even celebrating it. And Paul had to try to root that out, and he condemned that. Well, it looks like they did follow through with that and do the right thing, but now there needs to be some reconciliation among him and uh the members of the body now that he's come to a place of repentance. So reconciliation from sin, reconciliation from misunderstandings, reconciliation from rumors spreading and getting out of control. Paul's here to address it all. And so 2 Corinthians is a really fitting follow-up to 1 Corinthians, where 1 Corinthians I nickname Messy Church. Uh what we can see here in 2 Corinthians is messy reconciliation, but we see a good model for how to how to go about this in our own lives, in our own groups, in our own churches.
Let's check it out here what Paul has to say to the church in Corinth in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and chapter 2 in the New English Translation. From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the Church of God that's in Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaea. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow toward us, so also our comfort through Christ overflows to you. But if we're afflicted, it's for your comfort and salvation, and if we're comforted, it's for your comfort that you experience in your patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you will share in our comfort.
For we don't want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, regarding the affliction that has happened to us in the province of Asia, that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living. Indeed, we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us so that we wouldn't trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. He delivered us from so great a risk of death, and he will deliver us. We've set our hope on him that he will deliver us yet again, as you also join in helping us by prayer, so that many people may give thanks to God on our behalf for the gracious gift given to us through the help of many. For our reason for confidence is this, the testimony of our conscience, that with pure motives and sincerity which are from God, not by human wisdom, but by the grace of God, we conducted ourselves in the world, and all the more toward you. For we don't write you anything other than what you can read and also understand, but I hope that you will understand completely, just as also you have partly understood us, that we are your source of pride, just as you also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.
And with this confidence, I intended to come to you first, so that you would get a second opportunity to see us, and through your help to go on into Macedonia, and then from Macedonia to come back to you and be helped on our way into Judea by you. Therefore, when I was planning to do this, I didn't do so without thinking about what I was doing, did I? Or do I make my plans according to mere human standards so that I'd be saying both yes, yes, and no, no, at the same time? But as God is faithful, our message to you is not yes and no. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one who was proclaimed among you by us, by me and Sylvanus and Timothy, was not yes and no, but it's always been yes in him. For every one of God's promises are yes in him. Therefore also through him the amen is spoken to the glory we give to God. But it is God who establishes us together with you in Christ and who anointed us, who also sealed us and gave us the spirit in our hearts as a down payment.
Now I appeal to God as my witness that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth. I don't mean that we rule over your faith, but we're workers with you for your joy, because by faith you stand firm. So I I made up my own mind not to pay you another painful visit. For if I make you sad, who would be left to make me glad but the one I caused to be sad? And I I wrote this very thing to you so that when I came I wouldn't have sadness from those who ought to make me rejoice, since I'm confident in you that all my joy would be yours. For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not to make you sad, but to let you know the love that I have especially for you.
But if anyone has caused sadness, he's not saddened me alone, but to some extent, not to exaggerate, he's saddened all of you as well. This punishment on such an individual by the majority is enough for him, so that now instead you should rather forgive and comfort him. This will keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive grief to the point of despair. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. For this reason I also wrote you to test you to see if you're obedient in everything. If you forgive anyone for anything, I also forgive him. For indeed what I have forgiven, if I've forgiven anything, I did so for you in the presence of Christ, so that we may not be exploited by Satan. For we're not ignorant of his schemes.
Now when I arrived in Troas to proclaim the gospel of Christ, even though the Lord had opened a door of opportunity for me, I had no relief in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there, so I said goodbye to them and set out for Macedonia. But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ, and who makes known through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place. For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to the latter an odor from death to death, but to the former a fragrance from life to life. And who's adequate for these things? For we're not like so many others, hucksters who pedal the word of God for profit, but we're speaking in Christ before God as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God. We'll pause there for
now. Did you notice how Paul refers to forgiveness? He talked about forgiveness as a necessary component of our relationships so that we may not be exploited by Satan. He says, For we're not ignorant of his schemes. I'll tell you what, if you're still harboring unforgiveness against someone who has wronged you, you're ignorant of Satan's schemes, and you're being exploited by him. Jesus says himself, as he teaches, that if you do not forgive others, your father in heaven will not forgive you. That's pretty bold stuff. Well, I thought God will forgive me. Well, not if you're unforgiving to others, he won't. Crazy. That's how seriously God takes forgiveness. Forgiveness and reconciliation is our fight against the schemes of Satan to cause division and pain and guilt and isolation. Let's not be ignorant of his schemes. Let's not allow ourselves to be exploited by our enemy because we are carrying some grudge or offense against somebody. It doesn't matter how long ago it was, it doesn't matter who it was. We need to forgive and do everything in our power to reconcile. We're going to learn more about reconciliation as we continue through this reading of 2 Corinthians, but let's call it there for now. Pray about what you may need to forgive, who you may need to forgive, and what the first step of reconciliation may be for you. Only God has the answer. Take it to him. I love you. Thanks so much for being here with me in 2 Corinthians on the Out Loud Bible podcast. We'll see you next time.
