Strength in Weakness: 2 Corinthians.

The future of the Christian cause depends to a large degree on the quality of the next generation of spiritual leaders. Where will these men find role models? To whom will they turn for inspiration? There is the ever-present danger that they will do as Paul’s rivals did in Corinth and turn to the world outside the Church and try to emulate the qualities that make for success in secular life. Indeed, it is not exaggerating to observe that the churches of the modern West, like the Church at Corinth, face a crisis of authority and leadership. In 2 Corinthians we have both a stern warning that we should avoid styles of leadership that are worldly, perhaps even cultic while cultivating the kind of leadership that Paul himself showed, leadership that was self-sacrificing and self-giving, a model of loving service based on the character of Christ himself.

‘This sensitively-applied exposition ... the author keeps us glued to the page through a lively style. It is encouraging to find him drawing on personal experience to illustrate and confirm the points he makes.’

Phil Arthur grew up in the north-east of England. Converted to Christ in his teens, he read history at Cambridge and then earned his living first as a teacher and then as a lecturer in his native County Durham. In 1988 he moved across the Pennines to Lancaster to become the first pastor of Free Grace Baptist Church. He is married to Barbara and has three sons.