Salvation Summaries

OVERVIEW OF BOOK

We all have seen political ads where one candidate criticizes and says something deceptive about his or her opponent, and also boasts about what he/she has done or will do, all in an effort to win the hearts of the voters.

In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he essentially finds himself in a political race against other “super apostles” who criticize Paul and claim to be better than him.  These super apostles are really false apostles though, for they are boastful, and have deceived and tricked the Corinthians in order to take advantage of them.

In an environment of skepticism, Paul must defend himself against untrue accusations from false apostles, show how he differs from them, and in the end regain the trust of the Corinthian “voters” so that they believe in Paul and his message about Christ.  Paul attempts to do this by asking them to look at his message, which is from the Lord, and to look at his life, for Paul has endured hunger, insults, beatings and other hardships all for the sake of doing what he was called to do – preach the gospel.

SALVATION VERSES

2 Corinthians contains a half-dozen verses on salvation that answer important questions, such as:

• Does the ruler of this world, Satan, have any influence on non-Christians?

• Can you have assurance of your salvation?

• Is salvation a one-time event or life-long process (I answered this in a recent posting, but we’ll see if this book has the same answer)?

• What does 2 Corinthians say about salvation?

• What are you to do if you’re not sure whether you’re saved?

• As a Christian, how are you to associate with non-Christians?

I’ll answer the first half of these in 2 Corinthians – Part 2 of 3, and the second half in 2 Corinthians – Part 3 of 3.