100 Fun Facts About 2 Corinthians

How did Paul escape Damascus, 'let down by the wall' through a window, in 2 Corinthians 11?

In a basket, Paul says, he slipped 'through a window' and 'escaped his hands' while the city was under guard. Acts 9 tells the same escape from the outside, with disciples doing the lowering.

'My grace is sufficient for thee', says 2 Corinthians 12:9, 'for my strength is made perfect in' what?

Weakness is where strength is made perfect, Paul is told after asking the Lord to remove his 'thorn in the flesh', so he resolves to 'take pleasure in infirmities'. The next verse adds 'when I am weak, then am I strong'.

What sort of person does 2 Corinthians 9:7 say God loves, one who gives not 'grudgingly, or of necessity'?

A cheerful giver is God's favourite because each person should give 'as he purposeth in his heart', Paul says, urging Corinth to finish the collection it had promised a year earlier.

What does 2 Corinthians 6:14 warn believers not to be 'with unbelievers'?

Unequally yoked is a farming image, two mismatched animals pulling one plough, and the passage goes on to ask what part 'he that believeth' has with 'an infidel'. The verse never mentions marriage, though it is often applied to it.

What does 2 Corinthians 5:17 say anyone 'in Christ' is, adding that 'old things are passed away'?

A new creature, in modern translations 'a new creation', is what Paul says anyone in Christ becomes, and the verse ends 'behold, all things are become new'. It follows his line that he now knows no one 'after the flesh'.

What diplomatic title does Paul claim 'for Christ' in 2 Corinthians 5:20, speaking 'in Christ's stead'?

Ambassadors for Christ is the title Paul claims, 'as though God did beseech you by us', and he adds in the next verse that God 'made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin'.

2 Corinthians 5:7 says believers 'at home in the body' walk 'by faith', and not by what?

Sight is what faith replaces while 'we are absent from the Lord', Paul says, adding that he would rather be 'absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord'.

In what does 2 Corinthians 4:7 say 'we have this treasure', so the power is 'of God, and not of us'?

Earthen vessels, 'jars of clay' in modern versions, hold the treasure of the gospel so that its 'excellency' is plainly God's, and the next verses list being 'troubled on every side, yet not distressed'.

Into what does 2 Corinthians 11:14 say Satan 'is transformed', so 'his ministers' can pass as righteous?

An angel of light is the disguise, 'and no marvel', Paul says, that Satan's servants copy it, but he adds a threat: their end, he says, will match 'their works'.

Whose deception does 2 Corinthians 11:3 hold up as a warning that the Corinthians' minds may be corrupted?

Eve is the warning: as 'the serpent beguiled' her 'through his subtilty', Paul fears rivals preaching 'another Jesus' will lead the Corinthians 'from the simplicity that is in Christ'.

Who is named with Paul as co-sender in the first verse of 2 Corinthians, called simply 'our brother'?

Timothy shares the greeting, and 1:19 recalls that he had preached Christ in Corinth alongside Paul, while the address reaches beyond the city to 'all the saints' of the surrounding province.

2 Corinthians 1:3 calls God 'the Father of mercies' and 'the God of all' what, a gift meant to be passed on?

Comfort is the word, and the next verse explains why God gives it: 'that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble'. Forms of the word come four times in that one verse alone.

In which Roman province does 2 Corinthians 1:8 say Paul was 'pressed out of measure' and 'despaired even of life'?

Asia, the Roman province on the west coast of modern Turkey, is where Paul says he had 'the sentence of death' in himself, though he never says what the trouble was, only that it taught him to trust 'God which raiseth the dead'.

What change does Paul defend in 2 Corinthians 1, denying he used 'lightness' or meant 'yea yea, and nay nay'?

His travel plans had changed, skipping a promised stop at Corinth, and Paul swears that 'to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth' rather than make another visit 'in heaviness'.

With what does Paul say he wrote to Corinth 'out of much affliction and anguish of heart', in 2 Corinthians 2:4?

Many tears went into that earlier 'letter of tears', which many scholars take to be a separate letter written after 1 Corinthians, and Paul admits in chapter 7 that for a while he regretted sending it.

Where do some scholars think Paul's anguished earlier letter to Corinth survives today?

In 2 Corinthians 10 to 13, where the tone turns abruptly from warm to bitterly reproachful, is where some place the lost severe letter, though others hold that it simply did not survive.

In which port did Paul find 'a door was opened' yet have 'no rest in my spirit', per 2 Corinthians 2:12–13?

Troas, the port for crossing from Anatolia to Europe, is where Paul abandoned an open door because a companion had not arrived with word from Corinth, so he crossed the sea to look for him.

What does 2 Corinthians 3:2 call the Corinthians themselves, 'written in our hearts, known and read of all men'?

Our epistle, Paul says, is the church itself, 'written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God', so he needs none of the 'epistles of commendation' that rival teachers carried.

Which Old Testament figure's veiled face does 2 Corinthians 3 use to argue the old covenant's brightness was passing?

Moses 'put a vail over his face' so Israel could not watch the fading, Paul says, and the same veil 'remaineth' whenever the old covenant is read, 'which vail is done away in Christ'.

What does 2 Corinthians 3:17 say there is 'where the Spirit of the Lord is', right after 'the Lord is that Spirit'?

Liberty, 'freedom' in modern translations, is the mark of the Spirit, and the next verse says believers are 'changed into the same image' with unveiled faces as they behold the Lord.

What does 2 Corinthians 4:4 call the one who 'hath blinded the minds of them which believe not'?

The god of this world, usually read as the devil, blinds unbelievers so that the gospel cannot 'shine unto them', and two verses on Paul says God himself 'hath shined in our hearts' instead.

2 Corinthians 4:17 says 'our light affliction, which is but for a moment' works an 'eternal weight of' what?

Glory, 'far more exceeding and eternal', outweighs present trouble because, as the next verse says, 'the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal'.

Before what does 2 Corinthians 5:10 say 'we must all appear', to receive for 'things done in his body'?

The judgment seat of Christ is where everyone receives for 'that he hath done, whether it be good or bad', and that prospect, Paul says in the next verse, is why 'we persuade men'.

Which 'ministry' does 2 Corinthians 5:18 say God gives, described as 'not imputing their trespasses unto them'?

Reconciliation is the ministry, and the next verse spells it out: 'God was in Christ' restoring all people to himself, then handing believers 'the word of reconciliation' to pass on.

With which name for the devil does 2 Corinthians 6:15 ask 'what concord hath Christ'?

Belial is the name, in the third of five rapid contrasts that build to the command 'come out from among them, and be ye separate'.

Which companion's arrival with news from Corinth cheered Paul, who was 'cast down', according to 2 Corinthians 7:6?

Titus brought word that the Corinthians had received the severe letter with 'mourning' and 'fervent mind', and Paul, 'troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears', was lifted by that arrival.

What does 'godly sorrow' work, per 2 Corinthians 7:10, unlike worldly sorrow, which 'worketh death'?

Repentance 'to salvation not to be repented of' is what godly sorrow produces, and Paul says he is glad he made the Corinthians sorry 'after a godly manner' with his earlier letter.

Believers in which Roman province gave 'beyond their power' amid 'deep poverty', the model held up in 2 Corinthians 8?

Macedonia's churches begged 'with much intreaty' to join the collection, and Paul uses their generosity to shame the richer Corinthians into finishing the gift they had promised a year before.

Which province, Corinth's own, had Paul boasted 'was ready a year ago' with its collection, per 2 Corinthians 9:2?

Achaia, the province surrounding Corinth in the letter's own address, had been Paul's boast to the northern churches, which is why he sends brethren ahead so the gift is ready 'as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness'.

What does 2 Corinthians 10:4 say 'the weapons of our warfare are not', though 'mighty through God'?

Carnal, meaning fleshly, is what the weapons are not, being instead for 'the pulling down of strong holds' and 'casting down imaginations' that rise against 'the knowledge of God'.

Critics said Paul's writing was 'weighty and powerful' but what about him was 'weak', per 2 Corinthians 10:10?

His bodily presence was weak and his speech 'contemptible', said the critics, and Paul replies that what he is 'in word by letters when we are absent' he will be 'in deed when we are present'.

As what does Paul hope to present the Corinthians 'to Christ', having 'espoused you to one husband'?

A chaste virgin is the bride Paul has promised to Christ, which is why he is 'jealous over you with godly jealousy' and alarmed by rival preachers of 'another Jesus'.

What does 2 Corinthians 11:13 call Paul's rivals, 'deceitful workers' who disguise themselves as Christ's messengers?

False apostles is the verdict on the rivals, often identified with the 'very chiefest apostles' Paul says he was 'not a whit behind', even if he is 'rude in speech'.

What does Paul say he 'robbed', 'taking wages of them, to do you service', in 2 Corinthians 11:8?

Other churches paid: 'robbed' is Paul's own word for taking their wages, and brethren arriving from the north brought what he lacked in Corinth.

Paul matches his rivals' boasts in 2 Corinthians 11:22: Hebrews, Israelites and 'the seed of' whom, 'so am I'?

Abraham's seed, Hebrews and Israelites are the credentials Paul matches one by one, and Paul caps the list by claiming to be 'more' a minister of Christ, 'in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft'.

Which punishment does Paul say he suffered just once, in the hardship list of 2 Corinthians 11?

Stoning came once, and the one stoning Acts records is at Lystra, where the crowd dragged Paul out of the city for dead and he got up and walked back in.

Where does Paul say he spent 'a night and a day', in the 2 Corinthians 11 list of his hardships?

In the deep, 'in the open sea' in the NIV, comes right after 'thrice I suffered shipwreck', so he was most likely adrift after one of those wrecks, before the famous one in Acts 27.

Which king's governor kept Damascus 'with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me', per 2 Corinthians 11:32?

Aretas the king, a Nabataean ruler, had a governor holding Damascus who wanted Paul arrested, which is why the apostle left the city by a window in the wall rather than through a gate.

Of the man 'caught up to the third heaven' fourteen years before, what does Paul say he 'cannot tell'?

Whether he was in the body or out of it, 'God knoweth', Paul says twice, and the coy third person hides a vision that commentators take to be his own.

Into what does 2 Corinthians 12:4 say the man was 'caught up', hearing words 'not lawful for a man to utter'?

Paradise follows 'the third heaven' as Paul's name for where the man was taken, and the words heard there were 'unspeakable', so the letter reports the journey but none of the message.

What does 2 Corinthians 13:5 command readers to do, 'whether ye be in the faith', before 'prove your own selves'?

Examine yourselves is the order, with the test that 'Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates', and it comes as Paul warns that on his next visit he 'will not spare'.

With what does 2 Corinthians 13:12 say believers should 'greet one another', in the closing verses?

A holy kiss is the greeting, pointed after so combative a letter: the verse before it tells the Corinthians to 'be of one mind, live in peace'.

What closes 2 Corinthians 13:14, after Christ's grace and the love of God?

The communion of the Holy Ghost closes the letter, and after four chapters of rebuke Paul extends the blessing to 'you all', critics included.

What do scholars call Paul's second trip to Corinth, recalled in 2 Corinthians 2:1?

The painful visit, made 'in heaviness' in the King James wording, went so badly that an anguished letter followed it, and Paul resolved not to come to Corinth that way again.

For believers in which city was the collection Paul organises in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 intended?

Jerusalem's church, its poor in particular, was the destination of the collection, and Paul sends unnamed brethren ahead so that the money is 'ready' when he arrives rather than gathered in a rush.

How often does 2 Corinthians 4:16 say 'the inward man is renewed', even as 'our outward man perish'?

Day by day is the pace of renewal, which is why Paul says 'we faint not', and the next verse calls present trouble a 'light affliction, which is but for a moment'.

Which church's New Testament kept the apocryphal 3 Corinthians for centuries?

The Armenian church took up 3 Corinthians, a reply to a letter from Corinth written in Paul's name, and kept it for centuries after the Syriac church that once revered it as scripture had let it drop.

2 Corinthians 10:5 speaks of 'bringing into captivity every' what 'to the obedience of Christ'?

Thought is the last prize in a picture of siege warfare: Paul's weapons pull down 'strong holds' and 'every high thing', then march every thought off as a prisoner.

What 'wrong' does Paul sarcastically apologise for in 2 Corinthians 12:13, the one way Corinth was 'inferior'?

Not being a burden is the 'wrong', because Paul had refused the Corinthians' money, and in the next verse he promises the same on his coming visit: 'I seek not yours, but you'.

Paul's 'thorn in the flesh' was given, 2 Corinthians 12:7 says, lest he be 'exalted above measure' through what?

The revelations, the visions he had just described, are the reason Paul says the thorn was sent, and he asked the Lord 'thrice' to remove it before being told 'my grace is sufficient for thee'.

Which idiom comes from the King James wording of 2 Corinthians 11:19?

Suffer fools gladly began as sarcasm: Paul was teasing the Corinthians for putting up with boastful rival teachers while doubting him.

2 Corinthians 3:6 warns that 'the letter killeth', but what does the same verse say the spirit does?

Gives life is the other half of a famous contrast: Paul calls himself a minister of a new covenant, 'not of the letter, but of the spirit'.

According to 2 Corinthians 9:6, whoever 'soweth sparingly' will also do what sparingly?

Reap completes the farming picture Paul uses for generosity: the same verse promises that whoever sows 'bountifully' brings in a bountiful harvest.

2 Corinthians 10:4 says the weapons of Paul's warfare are mighty 'to the pulling down of' what?

Strong holds means fortresses: Paul pictures proud arguments raised against God as walled defences to be torn down.

2 Corinthians 8:9 says that Christ, 'though he was rich', became what 'for your sakes'?

Poor is the word, and the verse is a fundraising argument: Paul points to Christ's own generosity to urge Corinth to finish its gift for needy believers.

'Behold, now is the accepted time', says 2 Corinthians 6:2, adding that now is the day of what?

Salvation is the word, borrowed from an older prophecy: Paul quotes a promise of help 'in a time accepted' and insists that the promised moment has arrived.

How does 2 Corinthians 4:9 finish the line 'Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not'?

Destroyed ends a run of four contrasts that opens 'troubled on every side, yet not distressed', Paul's portrait of a battered but surviving messenger.

What does 2 Corinthians 6:16 call believers, with a promise to 'dwell in them, and walk in them'?

The temple of God is Paul's reason for shunning idols: he asks what agreement such a place could have with them, then quotes God's promise to live among his people.

Which ordeal did Paul suffer three times, alongside beatings with rods, per 2 Corinthians 11:25?

Shipwreck sits in a breathless list of hardships that Paul offers as an ironic 'boast': his rivals bragged of strengths, so he brags of disasters.

What does 2 Corinthians 13:1 say will establish 'every word', a rule taken from Deuteronomy?

Two or three witnesses was the old courtroom standard, since a lone accuser could not convict; Paul cites it while announcing a third visit and warning that he will not spare offenders.

Which word does 2 Corinthians 1:20 pair with 'yea', saying God's promises are affirmed in Christ?

Amen is Paul's answer to the charge of being fickle: his word to Corinth was never yes and no, he says, because in Christ every divine promise gets a firm yes.

Out of what does 2 Corinthians 4:6 say God commanded light to shine, echoing the creation story?

Darkness recalls the first command of Genesis, and Paul turns it inward: the same God, he says, 'hath shined in our hearts'.

For whom does 2 Corinthians 12:14 say parents 'lay up', Paul's reason for taking no pay in Corinth?

Their children is the point of the comparison: Paul casts himself as Corinth's father and tells the church 'I seek not yours but you'.

Which command follows 'be of one mind' in the farewell of 2 Corinthians 13:11?

Live in peace comes with a promise: Paul adds that 'the God of love and peace shall be with you', a gentle close to a stormy correspondence.

By what does Paul say the Corinthians are 'helping together' on his behalf, in 2 Corinthians 1:11?

Prayer is the help Paul asks for straight after describing a brush with death, so that 'thanks may be given by many' when he is rescued again.

2 Corinthians 3:3 describes a message 'written not with' what, but 'with the Spirit' instead?

Ink is the ordinary tool Paul sets aside: he says the Spirit writes on 'fleshy tables of the heart', a surface no scribe could use.

What does 2 Corinthians 2:7 urge the church to do for a punished man, lest sorrow swallow him up?

Forgive him was Paul's verdict once the penalty imposed by the majority had done its work; he asks the church to confirm its love for the offender.

In which modern country is Corinth, the city whose church received 2 Corinthians from Paul?

Greece is the answer, and the greeting reaches further than one city: Paul also addresses believers across the surrounding Roman province.

What does 2 Corinthians 12:7 call Paul's thorn, a tormentor sent 'to buffet me'?

A messenger of Satan is Paul's blunt label, yet in the same breath he says the affliction was 'given' to keep him from growing proud.

From whom does Paul say he five times received 'forty stripes save one', in 2 Corinthians 11:24?

The Jews applied Deuteronomy's limit of forty strokes for a flogging, and by custom stopped one short so the law was never exceeded.

Which word does Paul keep repeating in 2 Corinthians 11:26, before 'of robbers' and 'in the sea'?

Perils rings out eight times in one verse, covering rivers, bandits, city and wilderness, and even 'false brethren' inside the church.

What does 2 Corinthians 4:18 call 'the things which are seen', unlike the unseen things that last?

Temporal, meaning lasting only for a time, is why Paul keeps going: he fixes his gaze on what cannot be seen because it alone endures.

2 Corinthians 1:9 says Paul learned not to trust in himself, but in God who does what?

Raises the dead is how Paul names God after a crisis so severe he had given up on surviving; he says it taught him to stop relying on himself.

What does 2 Corinthians 6:17 say to 'touch not', after the call to 'come out from among them'?

The unclean thing comes with a reward attached: 'and I will receive you', says the Lord, to those who keep themselves separate.

Paul recalls in 2 Corinthians 7:5 that 'without were fightings', while within were what?

Fears is a rare admission from an apostle: Paul says his body 'had no rest' and he was 'troubled on every side' until good news arrived.

What does 2 Corinthians 7:1 tell believers to be 'perfecting', after cleansing 'flesh and spirit'?

Holiness is the goal Paul draws from the promises he has just quoted: people given such pledges, he argues, ought to clean house.

What must 'be first' for a gift to count 'according to that a man hath', per 2 Corinthians 8:12?

A willing mind matters more than the sum: Paul says God measures a gift by what a person has, 'and not according to that he hath not'.

What principle does 2 Corinthians 8:14 set for giving, one church's plenty meeting another's want?

Equality is Paul's aim, not hardship for donors: he expects the favour to be returned whenever Corinth itself falls short.

Paul's boast in 2 Corinthians 1:12 is 'the testimony of our' what, kept in 'godly sincerity'?

Conscience is Paul's first witness when accused of double-dealing: he insists his letters mean only what the Corinthians can read in them.

In the King James wording, how does 2 Corinthians 9:15 describe God's gift, ending two chapters about a collection?

Unspeakable, meaning too great for words, is Paul's last word on money: after urging Corinth to donate, he turns to what God gave first.

By which two qualities 'of Christ' does Paul appeal to his critics in 2 Corinthians 10:1?

Meekness and gentleness come before a warning: Paul begs first, hoping he will not have to be bold with his critics when he arrives.

What verdict does 2 Corinthians 10:12 pass on those 'measuring themselves by themselves'?

They are not wise, says Paul of rivals who graded one another; he promises to boast only within the field God assigned to him.

Paul concedes in 2 Corinthians 11:6 that he is 'rude in speech', but claims no lack of what?

Knowledge was Paul's defence against polished rivals: he grants that he is no trained orator, then insists he understands the gospel he preaches.

What does Paul say he will 'very gladly' do for the Corinthians, in 2 Corinthians 12:15?

Spend and be spent has a sting in its tail: Paul adds that the more he loves the Corinthians, the less he seems to be loved in return.

2 Corinthians 12:12 says an apostle's marks were shown in Corinth 'in signs, and wonders, and' what?

Mighty deeds completes Paul's claim that he worked miracles in Corinth 'in all patience', part of his case that he ranks behind no other apostle.

Against what does Paul say 'we can do nothing', only for it, in 2 Corinthians 13:8?

The truth binds even an apostle: Paul says he would rather look like a failure than have the Corinthians do wrong just to prove him right.

Whom does 2 Corinthians 1:19 name with Paul and his co-sender as preaching Christ in Corinth?

Silvanus is traditionally identified with Silas, the companion Acts places beside Paul on his second missionary journey; Paul always uses the Roman form of the name.

Which trade term does 2 Corinthians 1:22 use for the Spirit 'in our hearts', like a first payment?

The earnest is a deposit proving a buyer means to complete a deal, so Paul is calling the Spirit God's pledge that the rest will follow.

Denying 'dominion over your faith', Paul calls his team helpers of what in 2 Corinthians 1:24?

Joy is what Paul says he works for, as a partner rather than a master: 'by faith ye stand', he tells the church, not by his control.

Of what does 2 Corinthians 2:11 say 'we are not ignorant', lest Satan 'get an advantage of us'?

His devices is the King James wording for what modern translations call Satan's schemes or designs: Paul says he knows them too well to be outwitted.

2 Corinthians 2:15 calls believers 'unto God a sweet' what 'of Christ', among saved and lost alike?

Savour means fragrance: Paul pictures the gospel as a scent that smells of life to some hearers and of death to others.

In what does 2 Corinthians 3:18 say believers 'with open face' behold the Lord and are changed?

A glass here means a mirror: Paul says that those who gaze at the Lord's reflection are gradually remade to resemble what they see.

What does 2 Corinthians 4:4 call Christ, in the verse about unbelievers whose minds are blinded?

The image of God is a title Paul ties to light: he speaks of 'the light of the glorious gospel' shining, and treats unbelief as blindness to it.

In 2 Corinthians 4:5, Paul says 'we preach not ourselves' and calls his team the church's what?

Servants is how Paul ranks himself: the message is 'Christ Jesus the Lord', and the messengers merely work for the hearers 'for Jesus' sake'.

2 Corinthians 6:7 lists 'the armour of' what, worn 'on the right hand and on the left'?

Righteousness arms both hands in a long list of credentials that runs from sleepless nights and beatings to kindness and 'love unfeigned'.

2 Corinthians 6:15 asks what part 'he that believeth' has with whom, in the King James wording?

An infidel is the King James word for an unbeliever, the fourth of five mismatched pairs that Paul fires off as questions.

Which prophet's promise of help 'in a time accepted' does Paul quote in 2 Corinthians 6:2?

Isaiah has God say 'in an acceptable time have I heard thee'; Paul lifts the line to tell Corinth that the awaited moment is now.

'I believed, and therefore have I spoken', in 2 Corinthians 4:13, quotes which Old Testament book?

Psalms supplies the line: the singer of Psalm 116 speaks out after being 'greatly afflicted', and Paul claims the same spirit of faith.

On which day do Catholics hear a reading from 2 Corinthians 5:20 to 6:2 at Mass each year?

Ash Wednesday sets the passage beside the marking of foreheads: its plea to turn back to God without delay suits the first day of Lent.

'As we have received mercy', says 2 Corinthians 4:1 of Paul's ministry, 'we' do not do what?

Faint, meaning lose heart, frames the whole chapter: Paul repeats 'we faint not' in verse 16 after describing what his body has endured.