Introduction

Paul must have written at least four letters to Corinth. In our First Corinthians at 5:9 he says "I wrote to you in a letter," which obviously came before our 1 Corinthians. Hence our 1 Corinthians is at least the second letter to Corinth. Again, in 2 Corinthians 2:3-4 he mentions a letter written in tears -- which is surely not our 1 Corinthians, but one in between our 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. Therefore there must have been at least 4 letters to Corinth, and our 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians are actually 2 Corinthians and 4 Corinthians. Still further, some commentators, e.g., V. P. Furnish in the Anchor Bible Second Corinthians, think what we call 2 Corinthians is actually two letters, with the division after chapter 9.

Is there any possibility of finding the lost letters? In our own day finds have been made in Egypt, at Oxyrhynchus, of classical literary works, and at Nag Hammadi (1946-47) of Gnostic works. So there is some possibility.

Could these lost works have been inspired? They could have been. If found it will be for the Catholic Church to decide whether or not they were inspired. For there is no other method of determining which books are inspired.¹

Turning to what we call Second Corinthians -- we will use the usual names hereafter -- it is difficult to reconstruct the date and situation with certainty. It seems that Paul's first letter was not well received, and relations between him and the church at Corinth got worse. It is likely that Paul made a hasty visit to Corinth² which accomplished little if anything. When he got back to Ephesus, he wrote in tears the third letter, which we do not have. Finally Paul sent Titus to try to smooth things out.

While Titus was away, there came the riot of silversmiths at Ephesus mentioned in Acts 19:23 -- 20:1. Demetrius, who made miniature silver copies of the great temple of Diana there, found the fact that Paul was making converts hurt his business. So he led a mob into the theatre against Paul. Paul therefore decided to leave for Macedonia. There, perhaps at Philippi, he met Titus, and found a reconciliation had been made with the Corinthians. From Macedonia he wrote our Second Corinthians, probably in the fall of 57, on the trip reported in Acts 20:1-2.

We do not know who were the opponents or trouble makers at Corinth. Paul does not give a detailed description, for they were well known to the Corinthians. It may have been only two or three persons. It seems likely they were outsiders, who came with letters of commendation, claiming to be superior to Paul. They seem to have called themselves something like superhebrews. Perhaps they claimed ecstatic experiences. They also attacked Paul as unimpressive in appearance and in speaking. They probably had the skills of Greek rhetoric. We do not know at all what doctrinal specialties they may have had.

The way Paul deals and pleads in these troubles makes Second Corinthians the most human of all his Epistles.