The Severe Letter or Letter of Tears was a letter written to the
Corinth
Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part o ...
ians by the
Apostle Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
. It is mentioned in
2 Corinthians 2:4: "''For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.''" This description does not match
First Corinthians
The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author ...
, so there are two main theories on the Severe Letter:
#The first theory is that the Severe Letter is lost.
#The second theory is that the "Severe Letter" is preserved in 2 Corinthians 10–13.
New Testament Letter Structure
fro
Catholic Resources
by Felix Just, S.J.
For more discussion on reconstructing Paul's correspondence with the Corinthians, see Second Epistle to the Corinthians
The Second Epistle to the Corinthians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author named Timothy, and is addressed to the church in Corinth and Christians in the ...
.
References
Letters (message)
Lost religious texts
Pauline epistles
Christian terminology
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