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2 Corinthians - Overview

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An Open Door, an Unquiet Heart

At Troas, Paul found an open door for the Gospel, yet he had no rest because Titus had not arrived with news from Corinth (2 Corinthians 2:12-13). That brief scene reveals the man and the letter. Paul can recognize a real missionary opportunity and still feel the weight of a wounded church. He is neither a detached administrator nor a religious performer who hides concern behind success. The Gospel he preaches has bound him to a people whose trust has been damaged, whose repentance is incomplete, and whose communion with their apostle must be repaired.

Second Corinthians is that repair carried out in public apostolic speech. Paul blesses the Father of mercies before defending himself. He explains changed plans through conscience and love. He writes about tears, forgiveness, Titus, generosity, false apostles, wounds, visions, weakness, correction, peace, and blessing. His self-defense serves a larger purpose: to protect the Gospel from worldly standards of power and to restore the Corinthians to sincere devotion to Christ.

The book’s controlling spiritual burden is restored communion through cruciform grace. The Father comforts. The Son reconciles, gives Himself in poverty, is crucified in weakness, and speaks sufficient grace. The Holy Spirit writes on hearts, gives life, unveils, transforms, guarantees resurrection, and grants communion. Under that divine action, closed hearts open, sinners repent without despair, gifts become thanksgiving, servants renounce self-display, and authority becomes the labor of restoration.

Author, Situation, and Voice

Paul names himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and includes Timothy in the greeting. He addresses the Church of God in Corinth together with all the saints in Achaia (1:1). Corinth is therefore both a local congregation and the center of a wider regional address. The letter also looks beyond Achaia: Troas is the place of an open Gospel door, Macedonia is where Titus brings comfort and where impoverished churches model generous grace, and Jerusalem is the destination of the collection. Geography carries relationship. The churches are separated by sea and road, yet prayer, correction, material help, and thanksgiving bind them together.

The letter implies a painful history of visits, correspondence, resistance, discipline, and renewed contact through Titus. The precise sequence of the painful visit, the severe letter, and Paul’s travel plans remains debated, so no single reconstruction should be treated as certain. What is clear is the pastoral pressure. Paul fears that delay will be mistaken for instability, gentleness for weakness, refusal of payment for inferiority, and suffering for proof that his apostleship is false.

His voice changes rapidly because the relationship itself is unstable. Tender blessing gives way to explanation; explanation to tears; tears to triumph; confidence to anxiety; exhortation to irony; irony to reluctant boasting; boasting to wounds; wounds to prayer; warning to Trinitarian blessing. These changes are not careless disorder. They reveal a pastor trying to tell the truth without surrendering love. Even the so-called “foolish boast” of chapters 11-12 is reluctant. Paul enters his opponents’ contest only long enough to overturn it: the credential he finally displays is weakness held beneath the grace of Christ.

The Shape of the Letter

PartRangeArgumentSpiritual burden
I. Wounded love and pastoral comfort1:1-2:17Comfort, integrity, tears, discipline, forgiveness, Titus, and the fragrance of Christ reopen a damaged relationship.Receive consolation from God and become able to console, forgive, and speak sincerely.
II. New-covenant ministry in glory and weakness3:1-6:13Christ writes on hearts by the Spirit; unveiled glory becomes truthful ministry carried in earthen vessels, resurrection hope, reconciliation, endurance, and enlarged hearts.Serve by God’s sufficiency rather than self-display.
III. Holiness, open hearts, and repentance6:14-7:16Temple holiness, cleansing, godly sorrow, Titus’ report, and renewed comfort show that separation from idols is ordered toward restored communion.Repent without despair and pursue holiness without contempt.
IV. The grace of generosity8:1-9:15The Jerusalem collection becomes self-offering, equality, accountable administration, willing generosity, thanksgiving, prayer, and fellowship between churches.Give freely and transparently because grace has already been given.
V. Cruciform authority and strength in weakness10:1-13:14Meek warfare, bridal fidelity, foolish boasting, wounds, restrained visions, sufficient grace, fatherly grief, self-examination, restoration, peace, and blessing overturn worldly power.Submit every claim to Christ’s Cross and use authority for edification.

The hinges matter. “Who is sufficient for these things?” (2:16) receives its answer in 3:5-6: sufficiency is from God. Unveiled transformation in 3:18 becomes unveiled conduct in 4:1-6. The eternal weight of glory in 4:17-18 opens into bodily resurrection hope in 5:1-10. The judgment seat in 5:10 leads directly to the fear of the Lord and the ministry of reconciliation in 5:11-21. The enlarged heart of 6:11-13 is followed by holy allegiance in 6:14-7:1, which in turn returns to “open your hearts to us” and the comfort of repentance in 7:2-16.

Chapters 8-9 are not a fundraising interruption. They show what repaired communion costs and produces. Nor are chapters 10-13 an unrelated angry appendix. The accountable grace of the collection exposes, by contrast, the exploitative boasting of false servants; Paul’s final defense tests whether Corinth will receive authority shaped by Christ’s meekness rather than impressive domination.

The Triune God Restores Communion

Second Corinthians is often summarized as a letter about leadership through weakness. That is true but too small. The letter is about the Triune God creating and restoring a people through cruciform ministry.

The Father is “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (1:3). He establishes believers in Christ, anoints and seals them, and gives the Spirit as a guarantee (1:21-22). He shines creation-light in human hearts so that His glory is known in the face of Jesus Christ (4:6). He reconciles the world to Himself in Christ and entrusts to the Church the word of reconciliation (5:18-19). Paul’s theology begins in divine action, not human resilience.

Christ is the Yes and Amen of God’s promises (1:20), the One who writes His letter in living hearts by the Spirit (3:3), the image of God whose face reveals divine glory (4:4-6), and the crucified and risen Lord whose death and life appear in mortal servants (4:10-14). His love ends self-centered living: “those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (5:15). In Him there is new creation and reconciliation (5:17-21). His self-emptying generosity grounds the collection: though rich, He became poor for our sake (8:9). His meekness defines apostolic authority (10:1), His fidelity claims the Church as His bride (11:2-4), and His sufficient grace rests upon weakness (12:9). At the end, Paul says that Christ was crucified in weakness yet lives by the power of God (13:4). The Cross is therefore not only the message Paul announces; it becomes the form of ministry, correction, generosity, authority, and hope.

Second Corinthians 5:21 must be handled with precision. The sinless Christ enters the full consequence and burden of fallen humanity for us, so that in Him we may become the righteousness of God. The verse must not be made to say that Christ became morally sinful in His person. Incarnation, Cross, Resurrection, reconciliation, participation, and life in Christ belong together.

The Holy Spirit is neither a decorative seal on Paul’s argument nor an impersonal force. He is God’s pledge of completed salvation (1:22; 5:5), the One who writes Christ’s letter on hearts and gives life in the new covenant (3:3-6), and the One through whom unveiled believers are transformed from glory to glory (3:17-18). The letter ends where its whole theology has been leading: “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit” (13:14). Grace, love, and communion are not merely a closing formula. They name the divine life toward which comfort, repentance, generosity, correction, and restoration have been ordered.

The Church: Letter, Temple, Bride, and Communion

Second Corinthians refuses an individualistic account of salvation. The Church remains “the Church of God” even while wounded and corrected (1:1). The Corinthians are a letter of Christ, written by the Spirit and known through changed lives (3:2-3). They are an unveiled people being transformed together (3:18), servants who proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord rather than themselves (4:5), and reconciled people entrusted with reconciliation (5:18-20).

Paul’s appeal, “our heart is wide open” (6:11), reveals ecclesial maturity as the capacity to make room for others without surrendering truth. The Church is also the temple of the living God (6:16), so worshipal allegiance cannot be shared with idols. Yet holiness is ordered toward communion, not social disgust. The call to cleanse flesh and spirit (7:1) flows into Paul’s renewed appeal for room in the Corinthians’ hearts (7:2) and into the comfort brought by Titus.

In chapters 8-9 the Church appears as translocal communion. Macedonia, Achaia, and Jerusalem share more than an administrative project. The collection is grace, service, equality, confession, thanksgiving, prayer, and fellowship. Material giving becomes an ecclesial act because the saints give themselves first to the Lord, trusted brothers administer the gift honorably, needs are supplied, God is thanked, and believers long for one another in prayer.

In chapters 11-13 the Church is betrothed to one Bridegroom and must test every ministry by fidelity to the apostolic Jesus, Spirit, and Gospel. Paul seeks the Corinthians themselves, not their possessions (12:14). His authority exists for edification (12:19; 13:10), and his goal is restoration, peace, holy greeting, and communion. The Church in this letter is therefore letter, unveiled people, temple, bride, reconciled body, translocal fellowship, and restored household. No single image is sufficient by itself.

Sacramental and Worshipal Implications

Second Corinthians is not a systematic treatise on the sacraments, but its grace is embodied, ecclesial, and worshipal. Anointing, sealing, and the Spirit as arrabōn, pledge or guarantee, describe divine possession and a future already given in the present (1:21-22; 5:5). Spirit-written hearts and new-covenant ministry describe participation in God’s life, not private inspiration. The temple language of 6:16-7:1 joins indwelling, worship, bodily holiness, and communal allegiance.

The word koinōnia links material sharing with the final communion of the Holy Spirit (8:4; 9:13; 13:14). The collection is also diakonia, service to the saints; in 9:12 its service produces many thanksgivings to God. Offering, confession, prayer, peace, the holy kiss, and the Trinitarian blessing belong to one ecclesial world. These are real sacramental implications, but they should not be forced into claims that every image is a direct reference to a particular rite.

The Healing of the Heart

Paul’s asceticism is not a set of detached techniques. It is the healing of the heart for communion. The practices of the letter answer grace:

  • Receive comfort from God, then become present to another person’s affliction instead of making pain a private possession (1:3-7).
  • Walk by conscience and godly sincerity rather than managing reputation (1:12).
  • Let discipline reach its medicinal purpose; then forgive, comfort, and visibly reaffirm love without erasing truth, safety, or accountability (2:5-11).
  • Renounce hidden shame, craftiness, and every manipulation of God’s word (4:1-2).
  • Carry weakness honestly. The vessel is fragile and the treasure belongs to God; neither pain nor endurance should become a performance (4:7-18).
  • Walk by faith, aim to please Christ, and remember His judgment seat without collapsing into scrupulosity (5:7-10).
  • Enlarge the heart under pressure and cleanse flesh and spirit in the fear of God (6:11-13; 7:1).
  • Distinguish godly sorrow, which produces repentance and concrete fruit, from shame that closes the soul and tends toward death (7:8-11).
  • Give willingly, proportionately, transparently, and without compulsion (8:1-9:15).
  • Take proud arguments and thought-patterns captive to obedience to Christ without turning spiritual warfare into suspicion or aggression (10:3-6).
  • Resist vainglory, fascination with visions, and the urge to make suffering prove spiritual importance (11:16-12:10).
  • Examine oneself in the faith, seek restoration, and live in peace (13:5-11).

The book presses on recognizable temptations: serving while needing recognition, defending oneself instead of confessing sin, using correction to secure importance, giving in order to control, mistaking shame for repentance, and treating endurance as permission for unsafe harm. Paul’s answer is neither self-protection nor self-contempt. It is a life held before Christ, corrected by truth, strengthened by grace, and reopened to communion.

Words That Carry Paul’s Argument

Paul’s vocabulary reveals the unity of the letter. The following terms are most useful when they remain tied to their passages rather than becoming a detached lexicon.

Greek termKey textsForce in the letter
paraklēsis / parakaleō1:3-7; 7:4-13Comfort, consolation, encouragement, and strengthening move from God through afflicted believers and return through Titus. The word can console and exhort, which suits a letter that heals by telling the truth. See paraklēsis.
arrabōn1:22; 5:5The Spirit is God’s pledge or guarantee: resurrection life is future in fullness and already present as gift. See arrabōn.
diakonia3:6; 5:18; 8-9Ministry joins new covenant, reconciliation, and service to the saints. Apostolic work and material stewardship share the form of service.
doxa3:7-18; 4:6, 17Glory passes from Moses’ real glory to abiding transformation, the face of Christ, and an eternal weight beyond comparison.
katallagē / katallassō5:18-21Reconciliation begins in God, is accomplished in Christ, and becomes the entrusted ministry of a reconciled people. See katallagē.
charis1:2; 4:15; 8-9; 12:9; 13:14Grace names divine favor, salvation, generous participation, thanksgiving, and Christ’s sufficiency. Chapters 8-9 cannot be understood if grace is reduced to money.
koinōnia8:4; 9:13; 13:14Communion joins material sharing, ecclesial confession, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. See koinōnia.
astheneia and episkēnoō11:30-12:10Weakness is the condition Paul refuses to disguise; Christ’s power “rests upon” or tabernacles over him without making injury holy. See episkēnoō.
oikodomē and katartisis12:19; 13:9-10Edification and restoration define the proper end of apostolic authority. Power that delights in destruction contradicts Paul’s stated purpose.

The sequence is theological: comfort creates truthful ministry; ministry reveals glory in fragile vessels; grace reconciles; reconciliation creates communion; weakness receives Christ’s resting power; authority seeks restoration.

Israel’s Scriptures and the Septuagint World of the Letter

Paul does not reject Israel’s Scriptures when he proclaims new-covenant glory. He reads Moses, covenant, creation, temple, manna, prophecy, wisdom, and legal witness in Christ and by the Spirit.

Exodus 34 stands behind the tablets, Moses’ shining face, the veil, turning to the Lord, and glory in 2 Corinthians 3. Paul’s contrast is between real glory and surpassing, abiding glory, not between an evil Law and a good Gospel. Jeremiah’s promise of a covenant written on the heart and Ezekiel’s heart-and-Spirit promises illuminate 3:1-6, although the exact Septuagint chapter and verse numbering should be checked in the edition used for teaching. Genesis 1 stands behind God’s command that light shine out of darkness in 4:6. Psalm 115:1 LXX, corresponding to Psalm 116:10 in many English Bibles, stands behind “I believed and therefore I spoke” in 4:13.

Isaiah 49:8 supplies the acceptable time and day of salvation in 6:2. The cluster of scriptural phrases in 6:16-18 joins temple, divine indwelling, separation from defilement, God’s reception of His people, and the promise of sons and daughters; because the passage gathers several texts, teachers should verify the exact source and Septuagint form before presenting a detailed quotation map. Exodus 16:18 supports Paul’s argument for equality in the collection (8:13-15). Psalm 111 LXX, Psalm 112 in Masoretic numbering, stands behind the righteous giver in 9:9. Jeremiah 9:24 governs boasting in the Lord (10:17). Genesis 3 supplies the serpent and Eve imagery in 11:3, and Deuteronomy 19:15 supplies the requirement of two or three witnesses in 13:1.

This scriptural world prevents two errors. Paul is not anti-Jewish, and the Spirit is not opposed to Scripture. The God who gave glory through Moses is the God who reveals surpassing glory in Christ and writes His covenant on living hearts by the Spirit.

The Fathers Read Paul

St John Chrysostom’s homilies on Second Corinthians are the strongest direct patristic companion to the letter. His reading consistently protects Paul’s weakness from being mistaken for apostolic failure. On the unveiled glory of 2 Corinthians 3, Chrysostom insists that Paul does not deny Moses’ glory; he compares it with the greater glory of grace.1 On the Macedonian collection, he reads their example as grace expressed through willing self-offering rather than pressure.2 On the weapons of 2 Corinthians 10, he identifies apostolic strength precisely in the refusal of wealth, display, flattery, and other fleshly means.3 On 12:9, he holds Paul’s affliction, prayer, sufficient grace, and Christ’s power together.4

These readings converge on one pastoral judgment: divine power is revealed when the servant refuses both domination and despair. Correction is medicinal and aims at restored love. Generosity begins with giving oneself to God. Weakness may become the place where Christ’s power is displayed, but it is never made a good in itself.

St Irenaeus offers an important cross-reference rather than direct commentary on the whole letter. In Against Heresies V.3, he cites 2 Corinthians 12:9 while defending the resurrection of the body and God’s power manifested in mortal flesh.5 His use of Paul guards the earthen-vessel and weakness passages against dualism or contempt for the body. The treasure does not save us by discarding creaturely flesh; God’s power brings mortal humanity into resurrection life.

Heard in Coptic Worship

Second Corinthians has a substantial place in the Coptic Pauline lectionary. The placements below are representative rather than exhaustive, and several are larger readings that contain only part of a study section.

The fourth Sunday of Tout includes 1:1-14, joining comfort with conscience and integrity. Nasie 2 includes 3:12-4:4, so the Church hears the removal of the veil, liberty in the Spirit, transformation, and the rejection of hidden shame as one continuous summons. Larger annual and Great Lent readings carry 4:5-5:11 from the light in Christ’s face through earthen vessels, resurrection hope, and the judgment seat. The Tout 1, Feast of Nayrouz reading includes 5:11-6:13, placing reconciliation, the acceptable day of salvation, endurance, and the enlarged heart at the opening of the Coptic year.

The Saturday before Great Lent includes 6:14-7:16, joining freedom from idolatrous allegiance to whole-person cleansing, godly sorrow, Titus’ report, and restored comfort. The Pauline reading for Tuesday of the second week of Great Lent is 9:6-15, where almsgiving becomes willing sowing, sufficiency, service, thanksgiving, and communion. The Sunday before Great Lent includes 11:16-28, while larger readings continue into 12:12; the Church therefore hears Paul’s wounds, care for the churches, restrained visions, thorn, prayer, sufficient grace, and apostolic signs within a single ascetical frame.

The spiritual logic is consistent. The Church hears comfort with integrity, glory with transparent ministry, suffering with resurrection, holiness with repentance, giving with thanksgiving, and weakness with sufficient grace. Exact day and range should still be checked against the parish’s authorized lectionary edition before reuse, especially where a passage is only partially contained in a larger reading.

Geography and Visual Teaching

Four places organize the human drama. Corinth and Achaia are the wounded local church and its wider regional setting. Troas is the open Gospel door where Paul’s spirit remains restless because Titus is absent. Macedonia is both the place of comfort through Titus and the home of churches whose generosity overflows from poverty. Jerusalem is the destination of the collection and the concrete sign that Gentile churches do not belong to themselves alone.

A single route map showing Corinth, Achaia, Troas, Macedonia, and Jerusalem would clarify the letter better than decorative imagery. A five-part structure chart would help readers see that comfort, ministry, repentance, generosity, and authority form one argument. A carefully labeled Moses-and-the-veil diagram may support 2 Corinthians 3 if it affirms Moses’ real glory and avoids supersessionist caricature. A manuscript image from P46 could introduce the material transmission of 2 Corinthians, while an icon of St Paul could support teaching on apostolic witness.

None of these should be published merely because the concept is useful. Every asset requires a direct source, creator or owner where known, rights or license status, caption, alt text, and a clear teaching purpose. A rights-verified route map and a simple structure chart are the highest priorities. The thorn should usually remain in prose; visual speculation about its identity encourages certainty where Paul is restrained.

Hard Texts and Pastoral Guardrails

Second Corinthians contains passages that can be misused by leaders, fundraisers, spiritual abusers, or anxious readers. The answer is not to weaken Paul’s correction, but to teach its purpose and limits plainly.

  • Affliction, “light affliction,” the thorn, and weakness: Do not romanticize pain, silence truthful grief, or treat wounds as automatic credentials. Paul names affliction honestly and distinguishes faithful endurance from abuse, neglect, recklessness, and unsafe passivity.
  • Discipline and forgiveness, 2:5-11: Discipline is medicinal and sufficient. Forgiveness and reaffirmed love do not erase truth, safety, restitution, or accountability; neither may punishment be prolonged to satisfy communal anger.
  • Letter, Spirit, veil, and Moses, 3:1-18: Reject anti-Jewish, anti-Law, and anti-Old Testament readings. Moses’ glory is real, God’s commandments are holy, and the heart needs the life-giving Spirit. Preserve the distinction of the Son and the Holy Spirit when interpreting 3:17-18.
  • “The god of this age,” 4:4: Satan blinds within creaturely rebellion; he is not a rival deity equal to the Creator, who shines light in the face of Christ.
  • The judgment seat and self-examination: Join sober accountability to bodily resurrection, grace, restoration, and peace. These texts summon repentance, not obsessive self-surveillance or public policing of another person’s soul.
  • “Made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,” 5:21: Keep Christ’s sinlessness, Incarnation, Cross, Resurrection, reconciliation, and our participation in Him together. Do not say that the Son became morally sinful in His person.
  • The unequal yoke, 6:14-7:1: Paul’s issue is idolatrous communion and divided worshipal allegiance. The passage does not authorize contempt for unbelievers or automatic abandonment of vulnerable spouses, converts, children, and complex families.
  • Godly sorrow, 7:8-11: Pain is not proof of repentance. Godly sorrow turns toward God and produces earnest, concrete change; shame that closes the heart and destroys hope tends toward death.
  • The collection, chapters 8-9: Grace precedes the gift. Giving is willing, proportionate, accountable, ordered toward equality, and free from compulsion. Prosperity promises, forced cheerfulness, and romanticized poverty violate Paul’s argument.
  • Spiritual warfare, 10:3-6: Paul identifies strongholds as arguments and proud thought-patterns. His weapons serve obedience to Christ and edification, not paranoia, culture-war aggression, or domination.
  • Godly jealousy and false apostles, 11:1-15: The Church belongs to Christ, not to a possessive leader. Discernment tests fidelity to the apostolic Jesus, Spirit, and Gospel; suspicion itself is not a spiritual gift.
  • Sexual and communal sins, 12:20-21: Paul joins impurity to envy, strife, slander, disorder, and exploitation. Correction should mourn sin and seek repentance rather than reduce the passage to one category or use it to shame wounded people.
  • Apostolic authority: Paul refuses financial exploitation, submits gifts to accountable administration, seeks people rather than possessions, and delays severity because he wants restoration. Authority that protects ego, conceals money, or delights in destruction contradicts the letter’s stated end.

The Controlling Spiritual Burden

Second Corinthians teaches the Church how to remain open to God and to one another after trust has been wounded. It does not promise painless ministry or effortless reconciliation. It shows the Father meeting the afflicted with comfort, the Son reconciling enemies through His Cross and Resurrection, and the Spirit writing a new covenant in human hearts. Grace then takes visible form: forgiveness after discipline, truth without manipulation, courage in fragile bodies, almsgiving without pressure, discernment without paranoia, and authority without domination.

The deepest test of ministry in this letter is not whether a servant appears invulnerable. It is whether Christ is made known: whether the servant tells the truth, refuses exploitation, bears weakness without calling evil good, seeks the sinner’s restoration, and is willing to become small so that the Church may be built up. Paul’s wounds do not make him an apostle; Christ’s call does. Yet his wounds expose the false standard that equates divine power with prestige.

For the reader, the book offers a demanding hope. A closed heart can open. Sorrow can become repentance rather than despair. Possessions can become communion and thanksgiving. Fear of judgment can become a sober desire to please Christ. Weakness can become a place of prayer. Correction can end in peace. The final word is not Paul’s defense but the life of the Holy Trinity: the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit with the restored Church.

Teaching the Book

Keep Paul’s emotional register connected to his theological argument. His tears, irony, travel explanations, refusal of payment, relief through Titus, and reluctant boasting are not autobiographical clutter. They show how the Gospel governs conduct when trust is damaged.

Three emphases should recur without becoming slogans:

  1. The Cross shapes ministry. Return to 4:7-12, 5:14-21, 8:9, 10:1, 12:9, and 13:4. Weakness is not holy by itself; Christ is holy, and His life may be manifested in fragile servants.
  2. Communion is the goal. Track the heart language, the ministry of reconciliation, the temple and bride images, the collection, the holy greeting, restoration, peace, and the Trinitarian blessing.
  3. Grace becomes concrete. Ask what grace does in each section: comforts, establishes, writes, unveils, reconciles, cleanses, produces repentance, gives, strengthens, corrects, and restores.

A useful opening map should be followed by the five-part structure. Linger over Second Corinthians 3, 5:21, 6:14-7:1, chapters 8-9, and 12:1-10 because these passages carry both major theology and major pastoral risk. When teaching chapters 10-13, explain irony before quoting it; otherwise Paul’s “foolish” boasting may be heard as vanity rather than a deliberate exposure of worldly standards.

Footnotes

  1. St John Chrysostom, Homily VII on Second Corinthians, direct commentary on 2 Corinthians 3:7-18, https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf112.v.vii.html#v.vii-p15 ↩

  2. St John Chrysostom, Homily XVI on Second Corinthians, direct commentary on 2 Corinthians 8, https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/220216.htm ↩

  3. St John Chrysostom, Homily XXI on Second Corinthians, direct commentary on 2 Corinthians 10, https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/220221.htm ↩

  4. St John Chrysostom, Homily XXVI on Second Corinthians, direct commentary on 2 Corinthians 12:9, https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/220226.htm ↩

  5. St Irenaeus, Against Heresies V.3, explicit cross-reference to 2 Corinthians 12:9, https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix.vii.iv.html#ix.vii.iv-p1 ↩

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