Catholic Community Bible Study

2 Corinthians 3:1-18

Paul, yes, believe it or not, continues to defend himself AGAIN; he compares the Old and New Covenant and does some solid theological explanations—that give us some of the best one-liners in the whole Bible! We will talk about REFERENCES and FREEDOM and end with a glorified look at the word GLORY!

Chapter 1:18-2:17

In this exciting episode St Paul defends himself AGAIN, we’ll dive into the concepts of Anointed, Sealed, and Guaranteed. He’ll write about the GLORY of the Lord, and the New Covenant. Paul will beg the Corinthians to forgive an unnamed man, and he will make some comparisons to the Roman Emperors and military leaders to show how JESUS is the true TRIUMPHANT KING!

2 Corinthians 1:1-17

The introduction to this passionate and personal letter of St Paul to the Peloponnesian Peninsula, trying to put together the puzzle and particulars of Paul’s predicament---(HA!) we’ll also spend some time looking at the theme of redemptive suffering and offering it up…

Chapter 15:29-16:24

Paul continues his explanation of the final judgement and the resurrection from the dead. He’ll discuss what the resurrected bodies will be… and he’ll talk about the collection going to help the Church in Jerusalem. Then we will follow St. Paul’s closing of his first letter to the Corinthians, his final salutations and his plans for connecting with this community in the days ahead.

Chapter 15:6-15:28

Paul continues talking about the resurrection from the dead. We’ll dig into some of the crazy theories that non-believers have come up with to explain away what happened to his body. Also Paul’s terrific illustration of Jesus being the First Fruits of the resurrection!

Chapters 14:35-15:11

We’ll start with a really clear image of the spiritual gifts under the authority of the Church, we’ll dig into the issue of "women not being allowed to speak in the assembly," and then little rabbit chase of the topic of male priests. Paul then begins the amazing and important topic of the Resurrection!

Chapter 14

Paul's continuing his long section on the gift of tongues, which flows into the whole matter of order in the assembly. He especially singles out the women. Hmmmm…wonder what that's about? We will focus on the Spiritual Gift of Prophecy, and we will take a couple of road trips along the way…

Chapter 13:4-13

The awesome chapter on LOVE continues; we will explore the Theology of the love between God the Son and God the Father, then St Paul dives deep into the specific Gift of Tongues. He will introduce the theological virtues, and he's going to be talking about how to regulate and rein in some of the more charismatic elements of the Corinthians.

Chapter 12:12-13:4

Paul's going to explain the purpose of the spiritual gifts, talk about the Body of Christ, we’ll take a brief side trip looking at our modern culture through this lens, and then St. Paul will list certain roles that use the spiritual gifts. And we will BEGIN the great song of Agape Love from Chapter 13!

1 Corinthians Chapter 12:1-11

After a peek at the very first century Sunday Worship, St. Paul is going to explain the purpose of the spiritual gifts (the charisms) and we’ll do a fairly deep dive into each one. What are they? What is their purpose? How do they work?