When was 2 Corinthians written?

Around the time the apostle Paul sent Timothy to Corinth (see 1 Corinthians 4:17; 16:10), he also planned to visit the church there himself for the second time. The congregation was facing serious problems, and tensions had developed in their relationship with Paul (2 Corinthians 2:1). Paul wrote 2 Corinthians to address these issues and prepare the way for his visit. The most reliable internal and external evidence suggests that Paul wrote 2 Corinthians in AD 56, about one year after his first letter.

Paul’s authorship of 2 Corinthians is rarely questioned because the letter includes many personal details about his life. The reason he writes about his own life and ministry is to defend his apostleship. Some false teachers in the church at Corinth, who claimed authority over him, had challenged Paul’s right to direct the church. Paul counters, “I do not think I am in the least inferior to those ‘super-apostles’” (2 Corinthians 11:5). In his letter, Paul defends himself as they were demanding proof that Jesus was speaking through him (2 Corinthians 13:3).

The timeline of Paul’s ministry provides insight into when he wrote 2 Corinthians. According to Luke, Paul stood trial before the Roman proconsul Gallio during his stay in Corinth. Luke writes, “While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment” (Acts 18:12). An inscription carved into stone in the Greek city of Delphi in AD 52 shows that Gallio was serving as proconsul by the middle of AD 51. This helps scholars date Paul’s time in Corinth to that period. After the trial, Paul left Corinth in AD 52 and returned to Antioch, marking the end of his second missionary journey.

Paul began his third missionary journey around AD 53. At the start of it, he spent about two and a half to three years ministering in Ephesus (Acts 19:8–10; 20:31). During this time, he wrote 1 Corinthians, likely in the spring of AD 55, while still in Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:8). After leaving Ephesus, Paul traveled through Macedonia, and it was during this phase of his journey that he wrote 2 Corinthians (2 Corinthians 7:5; 8:1). This places the writing of 2 Corinthians in late AD 55 or early AD 56.

The content of 2 Corinthians also supports this dating, as it reflects issues known to have occurred around AD 56. At the time, Paul longed for reconciliation with the Corinthian church after a period of tension in their relationship. Paul had sent Titus to deliver a difficult letter, written “out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears” (2 Corinthians 2:4). After hearing that the church had responded with repentance, Paul wrote 2 Corinthians to offer comfort, clear up misunderstandings, and defend his ministry against critics (2 Corinthians 7:6–16; 11:5; 13:3). Taken together, these details strongly support the traditional view that Paul wrote 2 Corinthians about AD 56, likely from Macedonia, during the latter part of his third missionary journey.

Though written almost two thousand years ago, 2 Corinthians continues to encourage Christians to trust God through hardship. Paul defends his ministry with passion, reminding the church that faithfulness to the gospel often involves suffering. As he recounts, God said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul wrote these words in AD 55 or 56, reflecting on how God’s strength sustained him in a time of great need.