Study questions

Life-Study of 2 Corinthians

1. Introduction (1)

  1. Why does Paul begin 2 Corinthians with a long introductory word of comfort or encouragement?
  2. What is the difference between "gifts" addressed in 1 Corinthians and "ministry" as revealed in 2 Corinthians?

2. Introduction (2)

  1. Why does Paul speak of the singleness and simplicity of God in the opening of 2 Corinthians?
  2. What does it mean to conduct ourselves in the singleness and simplicity of God and how can we do this?

3. Introduction (3)

  1. How was Paul able to live Christ and be one with God?
  2. According to your experience, what is the relationship between being anointed by God and receiving the sealing and pledging of God?

4. Introduction (4)

  1. What does it mean to say that 2 Corinthians can be considered, to some extent, as Paul's autobiography?
  2. What is the significance of Paul forgiving the sinful brother "in the person of Christ"?

5. The Ministry of the New Covenant (1)

  1. How is ministry produced and why does it take a long time?
  2. To what does the metaphor Paul uses imply has happened to ministers of Christ, and what is their function?

6. The Ministry of the New Covenant (2)

  1. In 2 Corinthians 3:1-6 Paul uses a metaphor of writing letters. Where is the letter inscribed, in the hearts of the apostles, or the hearts of the believers? What is the ink?
  2. How can we be qualified to write living letters of Christ?

7. The Ministry of the New Covenant (3)

  1. Describe the ministry of the old covenant and its glory.
  2. Describe the ministry of the new covenant and its glory. In what way is the glory of the new covenant superior?

8. The Ministers of the New Covenant (1)

  1. What are the fours steps of the process of our being constituted new covenant ministers as presented in 2 Corinthians 3:16-18?
  2. What does it mean to be transformed and how can we experience this transformation every day?

9. The Ministers of the New Covenant (2)

  1. What is the conduct of the New Testament ministers and what is the purpose of their conduct and living?
  2. How can God shine in us and what is the divine source of the supply for the Christian life?

10. The Ministers of the New Covenant (3)

  1. What is the source of power that energizes the ministers of the new covenant? In your experience, how does this source empower you?
  2. What is the result and issue of our suffering the killing of the cross?

11. The Ministers of the New Covenant (4)

  1. According to the introductory word in the message, what was Witness Lee's burden in speaking from 2 Corinthians chapters 3-4?
  2. What are the outer man and inner man, and how can our inner man be renewed?

12. The Ministers of the New Covenant (5)

  1. Explain how the tabernacle Paul mentions in 5:1-8 is not a physical mansion and what this implies about the purpose of our body.
  2. Describe the inward and outward aspects of transfiguration and how a God has prepared us for this.

13. The Ministers of the New Covenant (6)

  1. What does it mean to live to the Lord? Explain how such a living is the way to please the Lord.
  2. How does the love of Christ cause us to no longer live to ourselves but to the Lord?

14. The Ministers of the New Covenant (7)

  1. What are the two steps needed for people to be fully reconciled to God?
  2. How can these two steps of reconciliation be illustrated by the two veils in the tabernacle?

15. A Pattern of Living Christ for the Church (1)

  1. How do the sixteen chapters of 1 Corinthians reveal how to live Christ for the church?
  2. How can we have a proper human life to carry out God’s divine administration?

16. A Pattern of Living Christ for the Church (2)

  1. How did Paul present a pattern of a person living Christ for the church in 2 Corinthians, and in particular, what was the grace of God to Paul?
  2. Why did Paul say that they “despaired of living” in 2 Corinthians 1:8 and why did God put them in such a situation?

17. Attached, Anointed, Sealed, Captured, Subdued, and Led to Scatter the Incense of Christ (1)

  1. Give brief yet accurate answers to these two questions: What is Christ and what is the church?
  2. What does Brother Lee mean by the "feathers", "skin," and "'meat" of the Bible? Give examples of each; how would you counsel a new believer to eat the meat?

18. Attached, Anointed, Sealed, Captured, Subdued, and Led to Scatter the Incense of Christ (2)

  1. Why did Paul consider that he had no choice, as a captured foe, to follow Christ? How can we too be fully captured?
  2. How does being attached, anointed, sealed, captured, subdued, and led result in the scattering of the incense of Christ?

19. Competent of Christ as the Alphabet to Write Living Letters with the Life-giving Spirit of the Living God (1)

  1. Based on 1 Corinthians 1 and Luke 15, explain how we should focus on the "meat" in the Bible instead of the "feathers" and "skin"?
  2. How can we write living letters of Christ as Paul did?

20. Competent of Christ as the Alphabet to Write Living Letters with the Life-giving Spirit of the Living God (2

  1. How is our experience of the Trinity involved in writing living letters?
  2. What do we mean by the coexistence and coinherence of the trinity?

21. Shining the Glory of the New Covenant (1)

  1. What is the relationship between glory and the Spirit according to 2 Corinthians 3:18?
  2. How does the titles of God in Genesis 1:1 and Revelation 22:17 as well as 2 Corinthians 3:18 illustrate the processes that God and man passed through to become the “the Spirit and the Bride”?

22. Shining the Glory of the New Covenant (2)

  1. What is the glory of the new covenant and how does it compare to the glory in the ministry of the old covenant?
  2. How can we live the resurrected Christ and how is this different from improving our behavior in an outward way?

23. Being Transformed Into The Image Of The Lord From Glory To Glory As From The Lord Spirit By Beholding And Reflecting His Glory With Unveiled Face (1)

  1. Why did Paul use the word "transformed" rather than "changed"? Give an illustration of the difference.
  2. What is the meaning of "from glory to glory" and how can we experience it?

24. Being Transformed Into The Image Of The Lord From Glory To Glory As From The Lord Spirit By Beholding And Reflecting His Glory With Unveiled Face (2)

  1. Explain why our being unveiled is so crucial for our experience of transformation.
  2. What are the different kinds of veils described in this message?

25. The Essence of the New Covenant Ministry (1)

  1. What is the essence of the ministry of the new covenant?
  2. How are the Spirit and righteousness related? How can we apply this in our daily life?

26. The Essence of the New Covenant Ministry (2)

  1. How is the unique ministry one of inscribing? What is this unique essence which needs to be inscribed into the saints?
  2. Explain how it is the "processed Triune God" that becomes the essence inscribed into us.

27. The Ministry of the Spirit as the Life Supply and of Righteousness as God's Expression (1)

  1. What does it mean to be right with God and how can we become righteous?
  2. How can we say that the new covenant ministry is unique and what is the two central matters of the new covenant ministry according to 2 Corinthians 3:8-9?

28. The Ministry of the Spirit as the Life Supply and of Righteousness as God's Expression (2)

  1. How does the Ten Commandments along with 2 Corinthians 3 show us that the ministry of righteousness is the ministry of the Lord’s image?
  2. How can we have the Lord’s image and how can we experience the ministry of the Spirit and of righteousness in our relationship with Christ?

29. The Ministry of the Spirit as the Life Supply and of Righteousness as God's Expression (3)

  1. Give an experience how walking according to the Spirit has caused or can cause you to automatically fulfill the law.
  2. Using verses from Romans and Revelation, show how righteousness, our expression of God, is related to the kingdom.

30. The Ministers and the Ministry Becoming One

  1. From where does the result, the second stage, of the new covenant ministry come? Can we work harder for it?
  2. What is the treasure in our earthen vessels?

31. The Manifestation of Life Through the Killing of the Cross (1)

  1. How are doctrine and experience related? Why is this crucial to our understanding of 2 Corinthians 3 and 4?
  2. How can we have the manifestation of life? Relate this to Paul's experience in 2 Corinthians 4.

32. The Manifestation of Life Through the Killing of the Cross (2)

  1. What is the decaying or consuming of the outer man and how does it relate to the renewing of the inner man?
  2. What is the renewing of the inner man in 4:16 and how does it relate to the transformation referred to in Chapter 3?

33. The Putting to Death of Jesus and the Renewing of the Inward Man (1)

  1. What is the difference between religion and the apostle’s life portrayed in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and the Lord’s Jesus’ life portrayed in the four gospels?
  2. Instead of boasting of a successful work, why did Paul mention “being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake” in 2 Corinthians 4:11? In particular, why did the apostle Paul simply use use the name “Jesus” instead of “the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings”?

34. The Putting to Death of Jesus and the Renewing of the Inward Man (2)

  1. What aspect of the death of Jesus is emphasized in 2 Corinthians 4?
  2. What is our destination and what is the issue of our being willing to be crucified?

35. The Putting to Death of Jesus and the Renewing of the Inward Man (3)

  1. How is our soul inolved in both the outer man, that is decaying, and the inner man, that needs to be renewed?
  2. Which of the three categories of suffering causes the renewing of the inner man? According to 4:11, what discriminates that category from the others?

36. A New Creation In Christ Becoming God’s Righteousness
Through the Second Step of Reconciliation (1)

  1. Using Paul's experience in chapters 4-5, explain why we should not be on earth simply waiting and longing for a heavenly body.
  2. What is it to live to the Lord and how do we practice doing so?

37. A New Creation In Christ Becoming God’s Righteousness
Through the Second Step of Reconciliation (2)

  1. What are the two steps of reconciliation and what is full reconciliation?
  2. How can we say that righteousness is the ultimate consummation of God’s salvation?

38. The Mingling of Divinity with Humanity

  1. What is the meaning of mingling in the Bible? Refer to the meal offering, the Head and the Body, and the ephod in your answer.
  2. What is the process of mingling and how is this related to our transformation?

39. The Ministers of the New Covenant (8)

  1. What is the biblical understanding of reconciliation? What is the difference between being reconciled to God and being reconciled into God?
  2. What is the nature of a work that brings others into God? When you were working for the Lord, did you have the sense that you were working with Him?

40. The Ministers of the New Covenant (9)

  1. What are the qualifications of the ministers of God according to 2 Corinthians 6:4-7? Explain the significance of Paul’s beginning with the words “in much endurance.”
  2. How has these qualifications impacted your view of the ministers of the new covenant?

41. The Ministers of the New Covenant (10)

  1. Review 2 Corinthians 6:7-13. Are you this kind of person? Who should be such a person?
  2. What is the meaning of Paul's summary charge, "be enlarged" in verse 13? How can we be enlarged?

42. The Ministers of the New Covenant (11)

  1. Using 2 Corinthians 5—6, explain how salvation is not once for all, but a matter of degree.
  2. Share a practical example of how or in what you received some light that you need to be enlarged .

43. The Ministers of the New Covenant (12)

  1. Why does Paul exhort the Corinthians not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers?
  2. What does it mean to perfect holiness in the fear of God? And how does God make us holy?

44. The Ministers of the New Covenant (13)

  1. How can we see the intimate concern of the ministering life expressed in Paul's word in 2 Corinthians 7:2-7?
  2. Why do we need such an intimate concern for others to be fruitful?

45. The Ministers of the New Covenant (14)

  1. How did the apostle Paul express his intimate concern for the Corinthians?
  2. How did Paul use the seven crucial words 2 Corinthians 7:11 to minister life to the Corinthians?

46. The Apostle's Fellowship Concerning The Ministry To The Needy Saints (1)

  1. The extraordinary ministry, the ministry to the needy saints, is the issue of what kind of life and work?
  2. What is the fourfold grace that is needed for us to participate in the ministry to supply the needy saints?

47. The Apostle's Fellowship Concerning The Ministry To The Needy Saints (2)

  1. Using the emphasis of this section and the burden of Apostle Paul, what matters more, our working or our living?
  2. What does the apostle's careful handling of money matters reveal we should consider when handling money and relationships?

48. The Apostle's Fellowship Concerning The Ministry To The Needy Saints (3)

  1. What profound thoughts caused Paul to devote chapter 8 and 9 to the matter of needy saints?
  2. What is the goal of our giving? What is the indescribable gift in 9:15?

49. The Apostle's Fellowship Concerning The Ministry To The Needy Saints (4)

  1. What are the two ways God takes care of us mentioned by Paul in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9?
  2. Why did Paul have the boldness to encourage the poor saints to give?

50. Paul's Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (1)

  1. Why is it more important to pay attention to way of doing things than to the purpose?
  2. What is the difference between meekness and forbearance? And what is the significance of Paul entreating the Corinthian believers through the meekness and forbearance (or gentleness) of Christ?

51. Paul's Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (2)

  1. How does 2 Corinthians chapter 10 show us that the apostles were under the restriction of the Lord?
  2. What can you testify concerning being under the restriction of the God of measure in your church life and in your service to the Lord?

52. Paul's Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (3)

  1. What can we learn from Paul's way of fighting against the Judaistic teachings that can be applied to our situation today?
  2. How did what the Judaizers minister differ from what was ministered by the apostle Paul? What was the result of Paul's ministry and what is the goal of the Lord's recovery?

53. Paul's Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (4)

  1. What is compared with the tree of knowledge of good and evil In 11:3? Contrast the two trees using Paul's words "singleness and purity".
  2. What is the secret to discern the source of all teachngs and matters?

54. Paul's Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (5)

  1. How did Paul's appearing to be foolish in 2 Cor 11 expose the false aposltes? Give an example from your experience how God wanted you to be "foolish."
  2. Why is God's way for His ministers to suffer, and what should be our motivation to live such a way?

55. Paul's Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (6)

  1. What was the "man in Christ" of whom Paul boasted?
  2. What is the way of the Lord's cooking and how can we say that the Lord "cooked" Paul?

56. Paul's Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (7)

  1. How does Paul's word in 2 Corinthians 12 show us how we ought to care for money in our service to the Lord? Relate this to his word concerning, "not seeking what is yours, but you."
  2. What does it mean to spend and be spent for others?

57. Paul's Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (8)

  1. What is Paul’s real care and concern in vindicating his apostolic authority in 2 Corinthians 12:19? How is this concern reflected through the words “for the truth” and “your perfecting”?
  2. How does Paul’s understanding of what an apostle is differ from the concept of Christians who use the word “apostle” today?

58. Final Exhortations, Greeting, and Blessing (1)

  1. What is Paul's final exhortations to the believers in 2 Corinthians? How can we practice a life of rejoicing?
  2. What happens if, according to Paul's exhortation, we rejoice, are perfected, are encouraged, think the same thing, and are at peace?

59. Final Exhortations, Greeting, and Blessing (2)

  1. Explain how the two pairs of three things—love, grace, and fellowship, and God, Christ, and the Spirit—in 2 Corinthians 13:14 are really the same.
  2. Practice speaking to a study companion to prove how 2 Corinthians 13:14, along with the entire book of Ephesians and the writings of the apostle John, proves that God is triune not for study but for our enjoyment.