Sunday School

THE LESSON BACKGROUND. The Apostle Paul wrote the Second Letter to the believers in Corinth while in Macedonia within a year of the first letter he wrote to them. After explaining his change of plans about visiting the Corinthians (see II Corinthians 1:12-2:13), Paul describes what true ministry is. It means being ministers of a glorious new covenant and that Jesus Christ is the theme of that ministry (see II Corinthians 3:4-4:6). He then turned to the need to trust God in the midst of all the troubles he and his ministry had faced (see II Corinthians 4:8-12). In verse 15, Paul gave the reason why he and his associates endured the trials he had just mentioned. He said it was for the sake of the believers at Corinth and elsewhere, and for the glory of God. Paul’s evangelistic team were merely servants of the people and of God (see II Corinthians 4:5-15). And even though they would suffer many things, they considered those sufferings as “light afflictions” which would lead to “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” for Paul and his companions focused on the unseen not what was seen (see II Corinthians 4:17-18). Then in chapter 5:1-10, the apostle points out that we should be confident of God’s promise that if our physical body dies, we will one day stand before Him in an eternally perfect glorified body. Our printed text continues with verse 11.