Use this lively guide to get to grips with this challenging and very relevant letter.
Part of the Good Book Guides series.
Many of the problems in our churches today are the same things that the Corinthians struggled with. Problems with pride and arrogance, with misunderstanding the gospel, with thinking that the Christian life is more about health, wealth and happiness than about suffering, wrestling and persevering through difficulties to reach glory.
Just like the Corinthians, we get stuck in the here and now, and forget about eternity. Like them, we are more impressed by fame and fortune than by faithfulness to Jesus Christ. We too struggle when life gets hard, and would love life to be a prosperous bed of roses. We would love to be strong, but know that we are weak - fragile clay pots that are filled with the immense treasure of God’s grace.
So Paul’s letter speaks to us as it spoke to them - about the way of true discipleship. And the reality he paints is not for the faint-hearted. Because it involves suffering as well as comfort. It means listening to hard truth as well as receiving and enjoying forgiveness. It involves dying to ourselves and the world, as well as living for the Lord.
Use this lively guide to get to grips with what it means to live as God’s ‘new creation’ in the old creation that is passing away.
1. Suffering and comfort
- God's work in our troubles (2 Corinthians 1 v 1-11)
2. Faithful or fickle?
- When plans have to change (2 Corinthians 1 v 12 - 2 v 4)
3. Truth and forgiveness
- Speaking out in Christ (2 Corinthians 2 v 5 - 3 v 6)
4. The old and the new
- The difference that Christ makes (2 Corinthians 3 v 7-18)
5. Fragile yet eternal
- How to keep going (2 Corinthians 4 v 1-18)
6. Clothed or naked?
- Looking ahead to eternity (2 Corinthians 5 v 1-10)
7. Life and death
- Why we share the gospel (2 Corinthians 5 v 11-21)
8. Grace, not stumbling blocks
- Helping and being helped (2 Corinthians 6 v 1 - 7 v 1)
9. Discipline and encouragement
- Responding to godly correction (2 Corinthians 7 v 2-16)
| Contributors | James Hughes |
|---|---|
| Format | eBook |
| Language | English |
| No. of studies | 9 |
| Publisher | The Good Book Company |
The Good Book Guides have been developed to ensure that each session not only seeks to uncover the meaning of the passage and see how it fits into the big picture of the Bible, but also leads people to apply what they have learnt to their lives. Flexible and practical, the Good Book Guides are ideal for small groups, or individual study.
"The format is very user-friendly and the content is rich and accessible."
- Justin Taylor, Gospel Coalition blogger and Vice-President of Editorial, Crossway
"God-centered, application-oriented, and driven by the text throughout, this resource is a gift to God’s church."
- Matt Smethurst, Gospel Coalition reviewer and Master of Divinity student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Here at Covenant Life Church, we have greatly benefitted from the small group resources from The Good Book Company. Many small groups in our family life ministry have used "Colossians: Confident Christianity" in their study of scripture. Additionally, our youth ministry has used "Romans 1-5: God and You" in their small groups. Both resources were very easy to use, helped the reader engage directly with the scriptures, and had a wonderful pastoral emphasis demonstrated in all the questions.
- Dave Brewer, Youth Pastor at Covenant Life Church, Maryland
