Timothy has rejoined Paul and is with him while writing the letter. Paul had sent Timothy with the first epistle to the Corinthians.
It seems that a lot of the issues and divisions that had plagued the church of Corinth had fallen away. That said, Paul's authority as an apostle is still questioned, which is dealt with later in the book.
In this letter, Paul spends considerable time discussing why he did not revisit the church in Corinth. He wanted to visit them twice, but made the decision not to do it because it would be a painful visit. I think it is a little unclear as to why he thought visiting them would be painful.
In this discussion, he makes cool statement about promises from God, implicitly contrasting the promises from people. He states that promises from God are always "yes, in Christ".
Further on, he makes the analogy that people who have been transformed by Jesus are letters from God. It reminds me of some of the parables that Jesus said about that his disciples are lights and salt to the world. Further, we don't necessarily need to intentionally evangelize on a street to be a light, but just the presence of God and the transformation of the lives is a witness. Now, this does not mean withdraw from the world, otherwise the light would not shine.
He continues this reasoning by discussing how Moses had to wear a veil. But us, we don't need a veil to show God's glory to the world.
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