Paul wrote this book as a letter, or epistle, to the church in Corinth.
As mentioned in the article on First Corinthians, Corinth was a very wicked city . The Christians had to be faithful in a place where many people worshipped idols and did bad other bad things. The church had many problems as members tried to learn to do good after spending much of their lives living sinfully like other people in the city.
Paul sent the first letter, 1 Corinthians, to correct problems in the church and answer some of their questions. In the second letter, Paul told them he was happy about some of the changes they made and hoped they would continue to grow in the faith.
Some people were saying bad things about Paul. It seems that some people said that he was not as good an apostle as Peter and the original apostles. Paul told them to think about how he lived and what he taught and they would know that he was just like the other apostles.
Paul reminded the church in Corinth to keep saving the money that they were going to send with Paul to help the Christians in Jerusalem who needed food since it had not rained for a long time. He told them to give much because God loves a cheerful giver.
Paul had to tell the church to change some things in order to help them please God. He did this because he loved them and wanted them to be saved.
Lessons from 2 Corinthians
- A person can please God even if he lives in a wicked place
- A person can change from a sinful life to a godly life
- A Christian, he must continue to grow in the faith
- God loves a cheerful giver
- Sometimes you need to tell someone you love to change some bad actions but you must do it in love
