Commentary Recommendations & Resources: Second Corinthians

Topical

Gerd Theissen – The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity: Essays on Corinth
This book is a series of translated essays. The points of interest are his discussion of the strong and the weak and the Lord’s supper and the economic/demographic issues tied to each one. I had never considered how wealth would impact the availability of eating meat and how that also then impacts the economic and religious function of the meals that these Christians were engaged in.

Ben Witherington – A Week in the Life of Corinth
A fictional account of life in Corinth that pulls together biblical, cultural and historical points to help one make sense out of how life in Corinth would have been in Paul’s day.

Commentaries

C.K. Barrett – The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Black’s NT Commentary)
This is a great all around commentary on 2 Corinthians. I would first go to Witherington and then to this one. For more technical information try Martin.

Ralph P. Martin – 2 Corinthians (Word Biblical Commentary)
A more technical commentary that requires some knowledge of Greek to be able to get the most of of it.

Ben Witherington – Conflict & Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary

Tom Wright – Paul for Everyone: 2 Corinthians
Very introductory and yet still useful for a more advanced study. I often go here early in my study to help get the gist of the text and then go to the more in depth commentaries in order to get the finer details. Wright’s For Everyone series gives me cubbies in my mind to put the other information into.