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1 and 2 Corinthians

  1. Lesson One
    Overview of 1 and 2 Corinthians (Skim 1 and 2 Corinthians)
    24 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  2. Lesson Two
    Holiness in the Context of Freedom (1 Corinthians 5–8, 10, 15)
    20 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  3. Lesson Three
    Unity and Order in the Context of Diversity (1 Corinthians 1–3, 11–14)
    19 Activities
  4. Lesson Four
    Paul’s Apostleship (1 Corinthians 4, 9, 16, 2 Corinthians 1–7)
    19 Activities
    |
    3 Assessments
  5. Lesson Five
    Author and Audience (2 Corinthians 8–13)
    25 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Paul uses his own suffering and the suffering of his co-workers to defend their authority. Here’s an example:

We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
2 Corinthians 6:3-10 NIV

After listing the hardships he and his companions suffered, Paul turns his case on its head by claiming that in spite of all their losses and poverty, he and his co-workers “possess everything.” It’s a powerful speech, but as we know from the Gospels and Old Testament, Paul wasn’t the first to reverse worldly values in this way. 

Anyone in the Corinthian church who was familiar with Jesus’ teaching would have noticed another layer to Paul’s appeal. If we place Paul’s account from 2 Corinthians alongside the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew, the relationship between the two speeches becomes clear. 

Select the appropriate verse corresponding to the Beatitudes reference from Matthew 5.