I ended my previous post on the Life of Paul with this statement – Luke finishes this section of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus with “After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. (Acts 20:1)”

The next verse in Acts says “When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.” It was in between these two verses that Paul wrote the letter to the church in Corinth that we call 2 Corinthians. We can figure out quite a bit of what happened to Paul in between these two verses from the statements he makes in 2 Corinthians. I briefly addressed these in the last post and will expand on them a bit here.

Paul first traveled to Troas. 2 Corinthians 2:12 says “When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.” He had apparently instructed Titus (who carried his last letter – the one we don’t have) to meet him in Troas and to bring a report back from Corinth about how the church had responded to his letter. His concern and angst over Titus’ tardiness in arriving left him unable to adequately focus on his ministry opportunity in Troas, so he crossed the Aegean Sea and headed to Philippi, which, you may recall, is the first city in Macedonia that Paul visited on his second missionary journey. While in Macedonia Paul underwent struggles, both internal and external, because in 2 Cor. 7:5 he says, “For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within.” This makes sense because Paul had suffered so much there already during his second journey (imprisonment and such).

It was probably somewhere near Philippi that he and Titus found one another. Titus delivered good news of reconciliation with the Corinthians. He also told Paul about a faction in the church that is vocally critical of Paul and wrongfully accusing him. Here are some of the other bits of Titus’ report that we can glean from Paul’s statements in 2 Corinthians:

• Titus tells Paul of some incident in Corinth in which a believer has been ostracized (perhaps the one from 1 Corinthians 5) and has repented, but an unforgiving spirit persists in the church under the rationalization of the offense causing distress and/or harm to Paul (2 Cor. 2:5-11).
• The Corinthians are upset that Paul chose to go to Macedonia first (2 Cor. 1:16-18).
• Paul hears that some in Corinth accuse him of being boastful and without true apostolic credentials (2 Cor. 3:1-2).
• He is also accused of “walking in a fleshly way” (2 Cor. 10:2).
• Paul also hears the accusation that “his letters are weighty and powerful, but his physical presence is weak, and his public speaking is despicable” (2 Cor. 10:9-10).
• Paul hears that his accusers “commend themselves. But in measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves to themselves, they lack understanding” (2 Cor. 10:12).
• Paul is afraid the Corinthians may easily be swayed by false gospel messages (2 Cor. 11:3-4) from other people claiming to be “super-apostles” (2 Cor. 11:5), who may have even been attempting to profit from their preaching (2 Cor. 11:7).
• Titus informs Paul of the Corinthians’ deep longing, sorrow, and zeal for Paul even though they were grieved by his last letter, and the fact that he (Titus) was well received by the Corinthians (2 Cor. 7:6-8)
• As Titus traveled through Macedonia to find Paul, he received free-will offerings from the churches in Macedonia (2 Cor. 8:1-5)
• While in Macedonia, Paul brags about the Corinthians’ interest in giving by saying “Achaia has been prepared since last year” (2 Cor. 9:2)
• Paul is accused of deceiving or tricking the Corinthians (2 Cor. 12:16)
• Paul tells the Corinthians that he is worried that his third visit will force him to “humiliate himself again”, probably meaning he doesn’t want to have to exact discipline on them again, or lose his temper (2 Cor. 12:21). It’s Paul’s preference and desire to build the church up, not tear it down (2 Cor. 13:10)
• Some Corinthians seek proof of Christ speaking through Paul (2 Cor. 13:3)

These points illustrate the fact that the letter to the Corinthians that we call 2 Corinthians is somewhat disjointed and not written in a very organized manner. It is very conversational and jumps around from point to point. That being said, next time, I plan to start going sequentially through the letter to continue filling in the gap of what Paul was doing and thinking between those first two verses of Acts 20.