Status Updates From The Second Letter to the Co...

“The new creation has not yet arrived universally in the fallen world. It has intersected it at one, fixed place: ‘If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation’” (140).

“God’s saving work takes place only in the ‘fleshly hearts’ of sinful people. The godly need not apply. Indeed, they refuse to do so” (118).

Paul understands God's mercies and comfort to be given in the face of physical distress, failure of health, disability, illness, and weakness. They cover all human sins and failures, including those of the Corinthian church, that Paul must endure. They extend to the condemnation and death that the Law brings on all human beings, including the apostle. The mercies and comfort of God give life to the dead. (22)

“Sanctification is God’s work that believers do not do themselves but “suffer,” as God—in his own times and ways, not theirs—drives them outside themselves to Christ, who alone remains their sanctification” (1 Cor. 1:30).

“The Corinthians were looking for a genius. God sent them an apostle, who was theirs in weakness and suffering” (3–4).