Overview: (Note: Read Acts 20:1 before this week’s readings. This will keep our chronology in order)
2 Corinthians begins with an encouraging word about suffering. Paul gives lots of encouragement to help in all kinds of suffering. Some of the ways the early Christians suffered include persecution for their faith and the loss of their loves ones (some of whom were being killed for their faith). Paul offers comfort and hope to them and to us.
Paul shows us that he suffered also. He wanted the Christians in Corinth, as well as Christians today to trust God through suffering.
Paul also gives encouragement to those whose loved ones have died. All of us have lost someone we love in death. We are comforted to realize that our Christian loved ones are with God, and we will see them again one day.
Day 1 – 2 Corinthians 1
1. Why does Paul say God comforts us?
2. Why does Paul tell the Corinthians and us about his trouble in Asia?
3. Has God comforted you in the midst of troubles? Is so, when and how?
Day 2 – 2 Corinthians 2
1. Why does Paul encourage the Corinthians to forgive and comfort the
church’s troublemaker?
2. Do you think Paul was avoiding a confrontation when he decided not to go to Corinth a third time?
3. How do you know when another Christian is in need of correction?
Day 3 – 2 Corinthians 3
1. Paul says, “Our only power and success comes from God” (v. 5). How
does God give us that power?
2. In your own words define the old and new covenants?
3. According to Paul, why is the New Testament more glorious than the Old Testament?
Day 4 – 2 Corinthians 4
1. Why did Paul not lose heart or give up (v.1)?
2. What is the “treasure” and what are the “jars of clay” Paul is referring to in verse 7?
3. What does Paul mean when he says “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we
don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. Through suffering, these bodies of ours constantly share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies” (v. 8-12)?
Day 5 – 2 Corinthians 5
1. Paul says that we should “live by faith and not by sight,” (v.7). What does
this mean to you?
2. How can we tell false teachers from the real deal (v. 12)?
3. In verse 19, what do we commonly call the “wonderful message” Paul was talking about?