New Testament
2 Corinthians
Second Corinthians is Paul's most personal letter, written out of real pain about a church that had wounded him. It is where weakness becomes the surprising place God's strength shows up, and where comfort overflows from God to us and on to others.
2 Corinthians 1
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 1:8
For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia: that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 1:8-9
For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia: that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life. Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
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2 Corinthians 2
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- 2 Corinthians 2:4
For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made to grieve, but that you might know the love that I have so abundantly for you.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 2:6
This punishment which was inflicted by the many is sufficient for such a one;
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 2:7
so that, on the contrary, you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 2:8
Therefore I beg you to confirm your love towards him.
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2 Corinthians 3
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- 2 Corinthians 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
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2 Corinthians 4
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- 2 Corinthians 4:6
seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 4:7
But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed;
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 4:14
knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will present us with you.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 4:16
Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day.
Read the passage article - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory, while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Read the passage article - 2 Corinthians 4:17
For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory,
Read the passage article - 2 Corinthians 4:18
while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
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2 Corinthians 5
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- 2 Corinthians 5:1
For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 5:2
For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 5:5
Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 5:7
for we walk by faith, not by sight.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 5:14
For the love of Christ compels us; because we judge thus: that one died for all, therefore all died.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 5:16
Therefore we know no one according to the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
Read the passage article - 2 Corinthians 5:18
But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation;
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 5:19
namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 5:20
We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 5:21
For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
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2 Corinthians 6
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- 2 Corinthians 6:10
as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 6:18
I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
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2 Corinthians 7
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- 2 Corinthians 7:10
For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world produces death.
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2 Corinthians 10
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 10:10
For, “His letters”, they say, “are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is despised.”
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2 Corinthians 11
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- 2 Corinthians 11:25
Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 11:25-26
Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep. I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils amongst false brothers;
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2 Corinthians 12
Power Made Perfect in Weakness
“By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, a thorn in the flesh was given to me: a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively. Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.”
2 Corinthians 12:9My Grace Is Sufficient for You
“He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.”
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- 2 Corinthians 12:2
I know a man in Christ who was caught up into the third heaven fourteen years ago, whether in the body, I don’t know, or whether out of the body, I don’t know; God knows.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 12:2-4
I know a man in Christ who was caught up into the third heaven fourteen years ago, whether in the body, I don’t know, or whether out of the body, I don’t know; God knows. I know such a man (whether in the body, or outside of the body, I don’t know; God knows), how he was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
Discussed in: - 2 Corinthians 12:7
By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, a thorn in the flesh was given to me: a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively.
Read the passage article - 2 Corinthians 12:7-9
By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, a thorn in the flesh was given to me: a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively. Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.
Read the passage article - 2 Corinthians 12:8
Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
Read the passage article - 2 Corinthians 12:8-9
Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.
Read the passage article - 2 Corinthians 12:9
He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.
Read the passage article - 2 Corinthians 12:20-21
For I am afraid that perhaps when I come, I might find you not the way I want to, and that I might be found by you as you don’t desire, that perhaps there would be strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, whisperings, proud thoughts, or riots, that again when I come my God would humble me before you, and I would mourn for many of those who have sinned before now, and not repented of the uncleanness, sexual immorality, and lustfulness which they committed.
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2 Corinthians 13
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- 2 Corinthians 13:14
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s love, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
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More about 2 Corinthians
Second Corinthians is the most personal letter Paul ever wrote, and you can feel the bruises on it. Between his first letter and this one there had been a painful falling-out with the Corinthian church. Some among them had turned against him, his authority had been challenged, and rival teachers had moved in to undermine him. So this is not a calm piece of teaching but a letter written out of real hurt and, by the end, real relief that the breach was healing. Paul opens his heart in a way he rarely does elsewhere, and the result is raw, tender and at times almost too honest. It reads like a wound that is beginning to close.
Out of that pain comes one of the great themes of the whole Bible: that God's strength shows up most clearly in our weakness. Paul had what he called a thorn in the flesh, some affliction he begged God three times to remove. The answer he received was not the healing he wanted but a promise he came to treasure: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness' (12:9). So he learned to boast in his weaknesses rather than hide them, because that was where Christ's power rested on him. For anyone tired of pretending to be stronger than they are, this is liberating ground.
Paul is equally honest about suffering and its strange fruit. He describes carrying the gospel like treasure in clay jars, fragile and unimpressive, so that the glory clearly belongs to God and not to the messenger. He admits to being hard pressed on every side, yet he refuses to lose heart. The troubles of this life, he says, are light and momentary compared with the eternal weight of glory they are producing, and so he fixes his eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen (4:16-18). This is not denial. It is a man who has suffered telling us where he has learned to look when things are hard.
There is comfort here too, and Paul almost cannot stop talking about it in the opening chapter, where he calls God the Father of compassion and the source of all comfort, who comforts us so that we can comfort others. And there is a promise of fresh starts: anyone in Christ is a new creation, the old gone, the new come (5:17). If you are reading this in the aftermath of conflict, or feeling weak and worn down, Second Corinthians may be the friend you need. It does not pretend the hard things away. It simply insists, from someone who had every reason to despair and did not, that grace is enough, and that weakness is not the end of the story.
Questions about 2 Corinthians
- Why is 2 Corinthians considered Paul's most personal letter?
- Because it was written out of a genuine and painful conflict. After his first letter, Paul's relationship with the Corinthian church had soured. His authority was being questioned, some had opposed him directly, and false teachers had arrived to discredit him. Second Corinthians is his response as the rift began to heal, and in it he drops his guard. He writes about his anguish, his fears, his weaknesses and his deep affection for them with unusual openness. There is far less formal teaching and far more of Paul's own heart on display, which is exactly why so many readers find it the most moving of all his letters.
- What does 'my grace is sufficient for you' mean in 2 Corinthians 12:9?
- Paul had a persistent affliction he called a thorn in the flesh, and he pleaded with God three times to take it away. Instead of removing it, God told him, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. The meaning is that we do not have to be strong for God to work through us. In fact our weakness becomes the very place where his strength is most clearly seen, because then no one can mistake the glory for our own. It is one of the most freeing truths in scripture for anyone weary of having to appear capable and self-sufficient.
- What does it mean to be a new creation in 2 Corinthians 5:17?
- In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul writes that if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come. He is describing the change that takes place when a person belongs to Jesus. It is not merely self-improvement or turning over a new leaf, but a genuinely fresh start, as though life has been begun again. The past, with all its failures, no longer defines us. This is one of the most hopeful sentences Paul ever wrote, especially for anyone who feels trapped by who they have been. In Christ, God does not patch up the old; he makes something new.
Topics in 2 Corinthians
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