2 Corinthians 8:16–9:5 as a Letter of Commendation and Instruction

Abstract Discussion of the integrity of 2 Cor 8–9 since 1985 has not seen new arguments for either reading these chapters as a unit or seeing two letters in these chapters, and the several decades before that saw no real new arguments either. In this essay, I argue that there are two letters in chapters 8–9, but their boundaries are not the same as the chapter designations. Rather, finding 8:16–9:5 as a separate letter provides a solution that accounts for the arguments understanding the two chapters as parts of a single letter and those that have been used to identify all of chapter 8 and all of chapter 9 as separate letters. In addition, this division of the letter conforms to the conventions of letters of commendation and instruction that appear in both official and nonofficial correspondence.