"False teacher" is an accusation easy to throw around, but who gets to decide? The receiver of a teaching is not always the best judge of whether it was false — or even whether it was worthwhile. Paul's concern in 2 Corinthians 11 is real (charlatans do exist), but surely there are many people earnestly sharing "the gospel" as they believe it to be true, while being labeled "false" by others? Even within Adventism, many cherished theological ideas began as thoughts considered false by the communities the pioneers came out of. The episode ends with a challenge of introspection: usually we look out there for false prophets, but Paul in chapter 13 is willing to consider the possibility that he himself might have failed the test.

Paul tells the Corinthians that since they excel in so many things — faith, knowledge, enthusiasm, love — they should excel also in giving. It's an interesting framing: giving as something you can be genuinely good at. We sit with why generosity can feel uncomfortable to discuss in church, and explore a real tension in the passage between giving proportionally — sustainable, allows you to keep giving — and giving with reckless generosity, which seems more in the spirit of self-sacrificial love. Which kind of giving does Paul actually have in mind?

Paul opens 2 Corinthians 3 with a small piece of wordplay that turns out to carry a large idea: the Corinthian believers themselves are his letter of recommendation — written not in ink but by the Spirit, not on stone but on human hearts. That observation seems almost to launch Paul's thinking toward the old and new covenants, and the contrast between letter and Spirit. We trace that thread through to chapters 4 and 5, where the same contrast keeps returning in a different form: temporary versus permanent, troubles that won't last long versus a glory that lasts forever. We also pause on the word reconciliation — one of Paul's great themes, and a word that carries particular weight in an Australian context — and find that it may be less a once-and-done event than an ongoing commitment, which is perhaps exactly what "forever" implies.