Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

It's day four of our International Challenge Week and we're posting about this all week long

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Okay, let's get to recapping.

Today we jumped into second Corinthians, which is at least Paul's third letter to the Corinthians

because there's also zero Corinthians which we've never found and maybe more.

Yesterday as we finished off, first Corinthians, Paul told him he hoped that letter would help

smooth out some of the tension.

He said he's coming to visit soon and that in the meantime they should collect money for the believers in Jerusalem.

Between that letter and this letter, some people repented of the things he addressed, while others rebelled all the more.

And for some of those who rebelled, his subsequent visit is what God used to turn their hearts back to him.

Paul writes this letter in response to the whole situation.

He starts out by praising the God of mercy and comfort.

Paul has experienced both of these things in the midst of all he has endured.

He says God does that in part so that when we experience Christ's comfort, we know how to pass it on to others who are suffering.

It's always helpful for me to remember that he says to comfort those who are afflicted, not instruct them.

Paul reiterates this later in Romans 12-15 when he says to weep with those who weep, not put together a detailed list of how they could have avoided this,

or why it's not actually a big deal at all, or how to solve it.

Instead, he calls us to enter in and to speak comfort and hope.

Paul and his traveling companions endured a lot in Asia specifically and he's probably talking about all the persecutions they experienced in Ephesus.

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