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2 Corinthians |
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| Chapter 1 | Prayer | Devotional | Chapter 8 | Prayer | Devotional | |
| Chapter 2 | Prayer | Devotional | Chapter 9 | Prayer | Devotional | |
| Chapter 3 | Prayer | Devotional | Chapter 10 | Prayer | Devotional | |
| Chapter 4 | Prayer | Devotional | Chapter 11 | Prayer | Devotional | |
| Chapter 5 | Prayer | Devotional | Chapter 12 | Prayer | Devotional | |
| Chapter 6 | Prayer | Devotional | Chapter 13 | Prayer | Devotional | |
| Chapter 7 | Prayer | Devotional |
Prayers
God of Glory, You sent Your Son to be our Redeemer. Jesus Christ is the fullest expression of both Your Wisdom and Your Power. You are the Father of Mercies. You have given us abundant spiritual comfort. All who share in Your Son’s sufferings know the comfort that You bring to Your children. Help us in the burdens of ministry and service as we live for Your Son today. Grant us perseverance in family life, and in our duties throughout the church and the world. We need Christ for a full life of love. He is Your Yes and Amen for every promise that You have made to Your people.
Lord of Love, we know that the Word that You speak to us sometimes brings pain, for we are convicted of our sin. Yet You bring us the comfort of the gospel, for there is much joy for Your children. We are not ignorant of the design of Satan. He would try to steal away our joy, but Christ will lead us in glorious triumph. Make Your church a pleasant aroma of life unto life for all who will receive Your Word and follow Your Son.
Father God, You have made the church a living letter in Christ. May we be a letter full of true spiritual life. We thank You for the blessing of the New Covenant, and for the gospel ministry. Because of the surpassing glory and righteousness of Christ, we have a great hope, and are very bold. A veil of ignorance has been removed from our hearts. Fill us with Your Spirit, and enable us more and more to behold Your Son’s beauty, and to grow from glory to glory.
God of Glory, we want to be committed to an open statement of truth. We have no interest in trickery in our proclamation of the gospel of Your Son. The power of change is in You, and not in us. May we who know the meaning of the death of Jesus be faithful agents of His life. Raise us up in heavenly knowledge and service. We look for an eternal weight of glory beyond this present day of comparatively light and momentary affliction.
Heavenly Father, we long for our eternal dwelling. Swallow up our mortality with resurrection life. Make us courageous as we walk by faith and not by sight. We know that our lives here are significant. Make us faithful in Your service. May we live for You, for Christ has died for us. Thank You for the new creation that You have given us in Christ. We commit ourselves to the ministry of reconciliation. You made Your Son to be sin for us, and we have become Your righteousness in Him.
Lord God of grace, help us. Now is the time for true progress in faith and obedience. Will we shrink back from suffering when opportunities for gospel service are so near at hand? Will we reject the gift that comes from Your hand? May we be partners together in the church for the glory of Your Name. Do not abandon us, but welcome us and lead us in the way of true holiness.
Holy God, we thank You for Your servants who have helped us on the pathway to life in Your Son. We are deeply appreciative of their sacrificial ministry of prayer and service. May we not be a grief to those who lead us in our heavenly calling. May we instead have the gift of a godly grief that turns away from sin, and leads to new gospel joys in Christ. We rejoice with all the church in the power and love of Your Son, for He is our hope.
Gracious Lord, You have given to us great things from Your extraordinary riches. We thank You for the gift of Your Son. May we excel in all acts of grace. We count it a great blessing to be able to contribute to Your church. We are ready to give out of that which we have been given. Bless us with a great sense of the unity that we have in Your church throughout the world. As one region has need, and one region has plenty, it is our glory to be able to supply good things to one another. Everything that we have is a gift from You. Thank you also for the messengers of the glory of Christ who come to us from every corner of the world, and grant that each true servant of Your Son be well supplied in every need.
Glorious God, where is our cheerfulness and zeal in good works? Why are we selfish and self-absorbed? Make us willing people that we might sow bountifully in every act of service. You have distributed very many blessings so freely to us through Your Son. As we consider this kindness, we are thankful to You. May many others glorify and worship You as we serve them in love. We magnify Your Name on account of Your inexpressible gift.
Merciful Lord, we bless Your Name for the spiritual ministry that You have established. Use true teachers to take every thought captive in Your Son’s church. Use also the written works of Your servants over the centuries for the growth in godliness of many congregations. All this is from You, O God. The gospel of Jesus Christ is Your precious gift to all who will believe. We boast in You, O Lord.
Our Father, You have given us to be a pure bride for Christ. Keep us from false teachers that would come and preach a new Jesus or a new gospel. Teach us to reject super-apostles who teach error, and to cling to the one Christ and the one gospel that has patiently been taught to us by servants of the truth. Protect us from the Father of Lies who would pretend to be an angel of light. Thank you for ministers who have been willing to suffer for the glorious message of the atoning sacrifice of Christ for sinners. Give us the discernment to receive the faithful ministry of those who have rightly spent their lives for Your glory. Most of all, we thank You for the One Good Shepherd of the sheep who gave His life for us on the cross.
Great Master and King, You gave to Your servants of old amazing experiences in Your presence. Despite those times of great revelation, our full assurance of the truth of their teaching comes to us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit as we read the settled deposit of Your Word in the Scriptures. You are able to use a man with even humble gifts of communication for the profit of many others. Help us to expound the Word of Your love for the weak communicated to us throughout the Bible. We are thankful for Your power in our lives. Keep us from sins of the tongue that bring such disaster upon the church, and help us to build one another up in love, that we might all praise You together with one voice.
God of Glory, bring purity and peace to Your church. Speak to us through the ministry of the Word, that we might live by Your power. May Christ live in us, for He is our hope. Help us to pursue that which is true and good. Build us up in our holy faith. May we live in peace with one another, as we together receive Your grace day by day.
Devotionals
2 Corinthians 1
Like the love of Christ and His church which was such an important topic in
First Corinthians, the ministry of the servants of the Word, an important
concern of Paul in Second Corinthians, is something that must be learned by the
work of the Spirit of God. True Christian love is not a matter of the first
birth, but the second. The same can be said about true gospel ministry.
This ministry of the Word which is so important to the definition of an apostle or messenger of Christ, may not seem impressive to the world, just as the love of Christ expressed through the church may also be unimpressive. Even when people may say, “See how they love one another,” this does not mean that we can bring about the new birth through the agency of charitable living. Only God by His Spirit can raise up His resurrection church, only God can produce real cross-love, and only God can make a man to be a crucified expositor of our glorious Lord.
Paul is such a man, but apparently not everyone who visits the Corinthian church claiming the name of apostle is actually the genuine article. Paul is a true messenger of Christ Jesus by the will of God. He speaks a word of gospel comfort which is ours only through the affliction of one Servant of the Lord for us, Jesus the Christ. This is a message of divine grace, and not of our merit. It is a word of a settled peace, and not another chapter in our assault against God which has been going on since the Fall of Adam. It is word delivered by messengers who have felt the comfort of true grace and peace, and who desire to comfort others with this same comfort.
The reality of gospel comfort is especially tried and proven in the furnace of sovereign affliction. Gospel comfort is not merely a matter of talk, but of healing for those touched by the miseries of life in this world of death. When someone has received this comfort, they have something to share. This is one powerful way that faith will yield love. In our afflictions we lay hold of the truth of Christ by faith, we believe the promises of the resurrection age by hope, and we express the joy of Christ to others who face trials as we serve them in sacrificial love. All of this is a glorious privilege for us, and it is delightful to be used by the Lord for the furthering of gospel comfort, but only the Lord by His Spirit can make a Christian, and only the Lord by His Spirit can call a man to be a true shepherd and expositor of the Jesus of the Scriptures.
As we move forward with the message of Christ, we speak a message not only of comfort but of suffering. Christ’s sufferings have brought us comfort. The church is called now to suffer, that others might hear and experience this word of comfort. In this we have fellowship with each other, and with Christ, who suffered for our salvation. Paul does not hide the fact of his affliction or their affliction from those who would read this letter. This is part of the eternal plan of God for us. Affliction can be very significant, and Paul says that for him and his gospel companions, it was like a sentence of death. But God raises the dead, and knows how to distribute affliction and comfort even now as we wait for the fullness of eternal comfort that is reserved for us in heaven through Christ Jesus.
As Paul experiences God’s deliverance from peril, he urges upon the church the duty of prayer. This is not an option for the church. Paul says, “You also must help us by prayer.” When you bring the cross love of Christ to the world, you bring something that is not earthly wisdom. The wisdom of heaven can only be received and embraced through heaven’s gift. Thus we pray. We also hold back on certain methods. This word is best presented without too many earthly props designed to make heavenly food palatable for those who only have an appetite for an earthly banquet. Present the gospel with only the dressing of simplicity and the godly sincerity of a messenger with a good conscience. Then the grace of God will be the only reason for the message to be embraced.
Paul wanted this grace of God to be known in the church in Corinth, not only as a matter of their first reception of the truth of Christ, but also as a gift of Christian growth that comes to those who would yield themselves to the Lord. This sanctification is God’s will for His people, and He and His ministers need to be “Yes and Amen” for this kind of growth, as Christ is consistently “Yes” for the fullness of the resurrected and sanctified church.
But not all can consistently receive this word, and some are led astray by false messages and wandering messengers. Therefore, it is always a question of some spiritual discernment as to how and when to move a congregation from their current attainments in Christ to more godliness and love by the power of the gospel. In the case of Corinth, at some point Paul decided not even to visit, because he determined that this would not serve the Lord’s holy goals for the church. Yet he did not give up on the church, but continued to seek God’s best for His beloved.
Despite all the profound disappointments in the path of any one church or individual, the Lord will not abandon those for whom He shed His blood. They will be sanctified. God will establish His entire church in Christ. His Spirit is a guarantee to us even in the most desperate times, that God will finish His work, and will greatly bless His church. Thus we pray. Thus we preach. Thus we live.
2 Corinthians 2
Paul had a visit to Corinth that he calls “painful” in the beginning of this
letter. That is a sad fact. Paul was a significant figure in the early life of
the church in this region. He suffered to bring them the message of Christ, and
he suffered with them in the persecution that they faced. This is the stuff
that good reunions are made of for those who are soldiers of the cross. It is
sad and disappointing when a visit with companions in the gospel does not go
well. There is some breech that needs to be addressed.
But Paul is more than a friend. He is an apostle. He brings more than sympathy, or even advice; he brings commands. If he brings pain to those who he is desiring to build up in the faith, it may mean a more permanent rupture in their hope of working together for Christ. This is a family, and disagreements and troubles within families are often painful. Sometimes a strategic distance can de helpful for a time. Rather than visit in person, Paul sent a letter to the church, either First Corinthians or some other letter. He poured out his heart to them as parents might write to a child that was straying from the right path. Sometimes love requires this kind of careful, serious communication, and parents then have to wait to see how the letter is received.
Apparently the church has taken action on a matter that involved Paul in some way, perhaps the situation of church discipline that he addressed in First Corinthians 5. Whatever action has taken place is enough as far as Paul is concerned. There was some measure of damage to the peace of the church, at least for a time, but now the offending party is repentant and is seeking restoration within the communing fellowship of the church. This is good news, and should be received as such by all. Depending on the circumstance of any particular case, there needs to be some understanding of the way of restoration for someone who had to be excluded in some way for some amount of time. One of the goals of the church in this kind of action is to see a great work of God’s grace in the life of the one who was wandering from the Lord, and to see that person brought near again to Christ and His people. Paul’s begs the church in this case to reaffirm their love for this person who they fairly recently must have excluded from the church.
As the Lord’s apostle, he expects their obedience to his instruction. When he said that the man needed to be excluded, he needed to be excluded. When he said that the many needed to be restored, he needed to be restored. Paul is aware that there is some kind of danger at every turn, danger that needs to be avoided for the name of Christ. Is there immorality that is not being adequately confronted? It needs to be confronted for the glory of God. Is there some true repentance that needs to be officially received with forgiveness and grace? Then this needs to be done as well. In all matters we are expecting that spiritual leaders must be considering the demonic dangers that come from disobedience, and steering clear of the right hand and the left.
It is not that the apostle has no respect for the judgment of the church on these matters. He knows that he will not be there forever looking over their shoulder and insisting that they do the right thing. They need to understand the heart of Christ on these matters for themselves. If they will address each situation with the heart and mind of heaven according to the available word of God, then Paul will recognize this, and will be happy to affirm what they have done. But he will not stand idly by in these early years of the church and see Satan win a foothold whether through a lax use of church authority or through a heavy-handed and unforgiving leadership. When any court of the church acts, they act for the whole church. In this case, Paul is quite content to affirm the decision of the local Corinthian leadership.
Satan is crafty. He can upset gospel labors by actions that are too loose; he can do the same thing through decisions that are obstinate, unrealistic, and unmerciful. We need to see the Christ-like path in all situations, and be willing to take action accordingly.
These are things that concern ministers and elders who have been charged with maintaining the order of gospel purity and love within the church. Paul found himself distracted by his care for the Corinthian church. He is not some peddler of Christ and the word of God willing to do whatever seems to work. He was commissioned by God as a messenger of Christ and has a true sense of the seriousness of the charge he has received.
Just as our Lord had a narrow pathway to travel in obedience to the Law and to the plan of the covenant of grace, a road that sent Him to Jerusalem and to His death on the cross, those who represent Him must also follow on a narrow road of obedience to the word. We long for the triumphal procession of the church into the heavenly Jerusalem, but we are not permitted to settle for a false peace that is only a whitewashed wall.
To some, the words that we speak for Christ and the actions that we take in His Name are an aroma of death. To others they are the fresh smell of life. Either way they are offered up to God in obedience to His Word as the true aroma of Christ on this matter, the perfect offering to the Father. We may err, but we must speak and act as those who do what we do for the King who died for our sins, and who lives and reigns forever at the right hand of the majesty on high. Other models of ministry may seem more successful for a time, but they will not stand when the judgment comes. Of course, we feel our insufficiency for such important tasks, but through the Word and prayer we commit ourselves to the One has given us eternal life, trusting that He will take our faithful efforts and perfect them for His own glory.
The Christian ministry is a position of servant leadership. The church needs to remember the pathway of her King. He was the ultimate Servant and Leader, and His way of leading was the way of the cross. He instructed us that this way was also the way for us. Nonetheless, for Paul to be an apostle was to be in a situation of representing the Lord of glory. To speak of it rightly was to attract the resentment of those who were not apostles. He anticipates this kind of jealousy when he writes, “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?”
This rhetorical question is not asked because Paul is
curious about the answer. He knows that He is not writing as one who should
have to sell his customers on the product of Paul. He is not writing a letter
of recommendation for himself. He turns the tables on them and says, “You
yourselves are our letter of recommendation.” The church in Corinth should be a
display of Paul’s ministerial labors, the fruit of His gospel efforts as those
have been blessed by God.
Christ is the one who has written the true letter in their hearts, a letter
written with the ink of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the living God, upon the
tablets of their souls and lived out in their lives. This is Paul’s confidence,
that the true God of creation and providence has redeemed His people through
Christ and is perfectly capable of not only claiming them for eternal life, but
even of changing them now in such a way that others should be able to read the
letter of God to the world in the changed lives of those who worship the Lord in
the city of Corinth.
If Paul has been a part of this, and he surely has, he knows that his sufficiency is only from God. What has happened in the church is a heavenly work; it is not a work of the Law as if we now know the right way to go according to a variety of verses, so that all we needed was the information on what God liked, and we are out there now obeying him. This is not at all the case. We need an internal work of the Spirit of God in order to follow the Lord. This is something that we should ask for, knowing that if we truly seek, we will find. For the elect of the Lord to come to faith and to grow in obedience by the Spirit is the will of God.
This is part of what is so exciting about the New Covenant and about New Covenant ministry. No longer is God doing His saving work of preparation for the Messiah within the more restricted covenant community of the Old Testament Jews. The gospel Word has gone forth to the nations. The ascended Christ has poured out His Spirit upon the church throughout the world. This is a great moment in the history of redemption. All power and authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus, and He is the One who has called us to make disciples of the Gentiles. This is spiritual work, and He is giving us the resources that are most necessary for the completion of the task.
The Law is beautiful and holy, but it brings us death because of our disobedience; a death which is neither beautiful nor holy. But where the letter kills, now the Spirit brings life. And to think, we are ministers of this New Covenant when we are sent by the church to proclaim the mystery of Jesus for the nations, a mystery that has now been plainly revealed. This mystery was surely there in the Old Testament, yet it was veiled, waiting for the arrival of the Bridegroom. The glory of God was so dangerous for the Israelites that even the fading glory on the face of Moses needed to be covered lest the people of God be killed. But now we have the Spirit of God within us bringing us life, and the end result will be shining glory in a world of perfect safety and blessing. This is a ministry of righteousness provided by a substitute, the Lord Jesus, and this is what makes it safe for us to be in the presence of God again: the righteousness of Christ. This is an era of such surpassing glory, that the old era of fading glory appears to have no glory at all.
Now is the day for people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, including the Jewish community throughout the world, to take off the veil of ignorance concerning the answer to our deepest longings. Now is the time for hearts and minds to be open to the fact of Jesus the Messiah, our new heart’s desire. Someone may have been reading Moses all of his life and passages like Genesis 3:14-15, Genesis 15, Genesis 22, the entire Joseph story, the reality of the entire sacrificial system, the entire metaphor of going from bondage to the promised land, all this and so much more has been under the thick tarp of a dead unbelief. Even where rituals were accurately followed, there was no sense of Messiah for so many. But when a person comes to the Lord, that veil of ignorance and superstition is removed through Christ. Then the Lord is revealed by the One who is called here the Spirit of the Lord. Then freedom from sin, death, hopelessness, and eternal misery is granted through faith in Christ, His cross and resurrection.
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” All of this good work is done through this simple New Covenant ministry, as the truth of Christ in the Scriptures is opened up to the hearts and minds of a people who have been made to thirst for the One who loves them. This is the power of God. To be touched by that hand from on high that brings life to the dead is an incomparable blessing. The one who is truly touched and changed by the Lord will never be the same. It is with this great realization that our years here of humble service are rightly seen as our great gospel privilege.
2 Corinthians 4
This New Covenant ministry of the Word that we have been considering together is
not boring. Somehow we are lead by unspiritual prophets of commercial success
to think that the Bible will be dull to new people if we minister to them simply
by giving them a plain sense of the words. I wonder, are we reading the same
Bible? Have they heard of the eternal plan of God in Christ to bring all things
together in Him, things in heaven and things on earth? Perhaps I don’t get out
much, but I think this is all extremely interesting. I am not alone in that
assessment. Paul also finds it far from boring.
This is the ministry we have been given, and we should steer very far away from any salesmen who want to give us a new and improved ministry product. Some people want us to spend all our time talking to people about how bad everything is in the world. Others want us to talk forever about how bad everything is in the church. Now I will admit that after a few years of hearing that kind of negativity it does get rather boring. But we have an awful lot on this New Covenant ship of God that is good in the extreme, and we need busy ourselves talking like movie critics that have never seen a show they liked. If we focus on Christ and the eternal plan of God, we will not lose heart, and we will begin to see that we have been granted a tremendous ministry.
We renounce, as Paul does, all disgraceful, ridiculous, and underhanded tricks to somehow dress up the message of Christ to be impressive to others. We don’t need those things because we are too busy speaking of the wonder of the One who died for the many, so that the many might be made righteous in the blood of the One. Now that is a powerful story, and we did not make it up! It has been more than vindicated in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So why would we want to do something strange to deceive the ignorant into loving Jesus, as if such a thing were really possible. Nor will we tamper with God’s Word, changing something here or there, or living in fear that people will find out that God has actually provided a singular savior for people all over the world. Here is our plan: the open statement of the truth. This is a very positive enterprise, because we have been given a very excellent truth.
Furthermore, we want nothing that has the tiniest whiff of coercion connected to it. No physical force, no once-in-a-lifetime deals of emotional manipulation. As Psalm 110 promises, “A willing people in Thy day of power will come to Thee.” Therefore let every person throughout the world give careful consideration to the truth of the Word as it touches upon the conscience of every hearer. Christ Jesus saves, and He alone can do this. He rescues from hell by taking hell’s curse for us on the cross. We were in Him in His death, and we are in Him in His heavenly life. This is very good news, and there is no light show that needs to brighten it up.
This does not mean that every hearer immediately sees the glory of this simple message. Some are perishing, and to those who are perishing, even the plain statement of the love of God in this Jewish Messiah can seem like a veiled and cloudy wish with no real substance. The substance is in the Word, for those who will hear and believe. It is in the Word from beginning to end in a way that cannot be explained without the power of God as the divine author of our salvation, and the Speaker of the Word by which we have come to know life. Some are blinded by the devil, and find the jewels of a fading earth more impressive than the many-faceted gem of the glorified Son of God. This Jesus is the perfect image of God, the Lord who comes to save sinners.
In a word, this New Covenant ministry is not the proclaiming of ourselves. Paul’s story is not about the glory of Paul, but about the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul does fit into the story in his place, along with all ministers of the Word, and all Christians: your servants for Jesus’ sake. We follow the Leader of servants, who came to serve, and so we serve with joy. The joy comes from heaven. Heaven’s light has been shining into the windows of our hearts of late, by the Word of the One who said “Let there be light,” and darkness had to flee.
This is a great treasure, to have light in us, but the vessels that contain that light are only plain jars of clay. Let’s not brag about the relative beauty of one jar of clay over another, but let us seek to serve the true and living God in the light of the face of Jesus Christ. He is no ordinary jar of clay, though he was nothing to look at, as Isaiah had warned us long before. Yet what surpassing glory is our Jesus, our Lord. The face of His perfect holiness is without blemish. The smile of His love is the fullest expression of the complete sincerity of the divine mind that chose you in love before the foundation of the world.
This is what we are as the church of Jesus Christ in the world. We are willing to suffer for Christ and for one another, though we are nothing to look at in terms of outward glory. We show forth our Lord’s death, but don’t you see His life in us too, life for you? We believe and we speak, knowing that these mortal lives, these jars of clay, are not our final story. We will rise in the newness of heavenly life, and be where Jesus is in His glory. This is so wonderfully exciting and fulfilling, this ministry of life, that many millions around the world, some in the worst poverty, others facing deadly oppression, are thanking God Almighty today that they have the privilege of worshiping Him through His only-begotten Son. And they know that there is an eternal weight of glory that is theirs, and it is beyond all comparison. There are a lot of words that we could use to describe this ministry, but I don’t think boring is one of them. What would be worse than boring today, what would be horribly disappointing and depressing, would be the thought that this transient world is everything. But this is not the case. By the authority of the Word of our Redeemer, who came from heaven, saved us on earth, and returned to heaven again with all power and authority, we can know for certain that the things that are unseen today, the things of the greatest enjoyment and wonder, are eternal.
There is something to the simplicity of the gospel that the messengers of Christ need to consider, We are too easily moved away from the facts and meaning of the cross and resurrection of Christ. Those who have preached for years may begin to think that they have already said what needs to be said about Jesus. In order to please their audiences they may begin to turn to other topics that they imagine to be of more practical concern to their hearers. Before long the entire character of the ministry begins to shift away from God, seeking a more intriguing focus somehow in man.
We do have something to say about man that is very interesting, but we discover it only by first seeing the truth of the Son of God. What we discover about ourselves in light of Christ, is that when our earthly tent (our body) is destroyed, there is a new building from God for us that is eternal in the heavens.
Books like Ecclesiastes are a wonderful exploration of the human condition in our brief life under the sun. In the thoughts of Solomon recorded for our consideration, we hear the groans of one who searched out things about life, and continually ran into the vanity, or fleeting nature, of life here and now after sin and death have entered into the world. Now our hearts yearn for eternity, for God has put eternity somehow within us in our immortal souls. We long to put on our heavenly dwellings.
Only in God can we find something that lasts. We do not long for some imagined Nirvana of extinction or nothingness. We long for the eternal substance of heavenly life upon a renewed earth. We want to be further clothed in a better body, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. God has prepared us for this, and has given us the Holy Spirit, as a guarantee of the new life that is coming for us.
All of this good teaching is the best news of humanity, but we can never find it without Christ, the Son of God. He was in the body, but then His body was given up for us when He laid it down as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice in His death. He was away from that body for three days, and He was with the Lord, as He told the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” Then He took up that body again in a great act of new creation. We now are in the body, but the day may soon come when we are away from these exact bodies, and we will be with the Lord. As He is, we shall be, for we will see Him. These things we know now, not by sight, but by faith. When faith is based on God’s Word it is better than our current eyesight. Our eyes can be too easily deceived, but God’s Word is sure and true. Therefore we have courage.
As we begin each day, we do not know where that day will end. We will be at home with the Lord by the end of the day? That would be wonderful, but whether we stay or go, we trust the Lord, and make it our aim to please Him in all things. One day we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and then it will be very evident that our labor in the Lord was not in vain. The deeds of our lives, whether good or evil, will make a difference in heaven, though our salvation itself could only come through the deeds of our Redeemer.
In all of our godly decision-making and sacrificial living in the present hour, we are persuaded that the proper perspective for holy living is a heavenly one. We are to keep the fact of the coming day of the Lord before our hearts always, and we are to live for the glory of God and the good of His family. In this we are governed by the prime directive of Christianity, the love of Christ, which Paul says controls the church. Here the message of love from First Corinthians and the message of the apostolic ministry from Second Corinthians come together. The true ministry preaches, teaches, and lives toward this end: that the Lord’s beloved would be controlled by the love of Christ, and that we would therefore abound in true gospel good works.
What is this love of Christ that has captivated our hearts? One died for all, therefore all have died to self in the One that we might no longer live for self but for him who died for our sake and was raised from the dead as the Man of the new creation. We keep this truth ever before us, lest we look at people according to the way of the old man, only seeing the sin and the trouble. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; he has the life of the resurrection Man in him.
Therefore we are able to move forward with a word of reconciliation from our King. The simplicity of the gospel is in our hearts and on our lips. God made Him who knew no sin, Jesus, to be a sin offering for us, a sin offering covered with our sin, so that we might become counted as the righteousness of Christ in Him. We are no longer viewed as far-off sinners, but as reconciled sons of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This is the most important truth of the Christian faith. Because of the truth of the cross of Christ, we have come to believe that something old and decaying within us has passed away, and that something new and full of life has been born in the resurrection of our Lord. This is what we have heard from those who have proclaimed the truth to us as ambassadors of Christ, and this is what we have believed. This is what we live, however imperfectly and inconsistently, and this our single message of hope to the world.
One of the mysteries of godliness is that there is a very real and important connection between Christ and the church. The work that we do in His Name, He is doing in us and through us. When we are persecuted, He is persecuted. When we are taken up in glory, it is somehow the case that He is taken up in glory. This should not surprise us since He is the head of the same entity of which we are said to be the body. We are truly united with Christ.
This has very important implications for our understanding of the ministry. We are certainly not on our own. We are working together with the ascended and reigning Messiah, Jesus Christ, as if He and His bride are already one. When the ministers of Christ make an appeal to people, they make His appeal in His Name. In this case, the Apostle Paul is making Christ’s appeal to the church in Corinth that the grace which the church has already experienced and known would be fruitful in their lives, and through them that this grace would overflow to others in Corinth and beyond.
It is fitting that the Apostle would cite Isaiah 49 in making his point. In Isaiah, the Servant of the Lord sometimes appears to be a singular figure, and other times might be thought to be a group of people. Isaiah spoke about the Messiah and about elect Israel. The message of Christ goes forward yielding a new life for the covenant people of God. Paul is saying that through the church now the Servant of the Lord is speaking and calling Jews and Gentiles into a bigger restored Israel. This was not unknown to Isaiah, who said in the same chapter concerning the Messiah and His church, “I will make you as a light for the nations.” Paul says here, again quoting Isaiah’s words about a “favorable time,” and a “day of salvation,” now is the favorable time, now is the day of salvation. As the ministry of the church moves out into the Gentile world, Christ goes forward and speaks a word of powerful grace that changes lives.
Someone can claim to speak for the Ruler of the universe, but that claim is not the same thing as proof. How do we know that Paul and the ministers of the Word are truly connected to Christ, and are ambassadors for Him? Is it possible that they are just liars? There is such a thing as a false prophet, but one way to discover an imposter is the road of suffering. As Paul and other true messengers of the Lord suffer in order to bring a Word of new life, life through the death of Christ, the truth of the gospel is demonstrated in the suffering of the Lord’s messengers.
Paul would rather commend himself through the record of his afflictions than through an account of his triumphs. Facing success and enjoying wealth and blessing for the word of Christ is not as good a proof of a true servant of the Lord as facing a cross. This is how the truth of Christ shined most brightly in our Master, through His suffering for our redemption. This is also the way He continues to shine, through our faithful suffering in gospel endeavor. This suffering must be united to true Christian virtue from the Holy Spirit, not as some hypocritical show, but in a genuine way. We cannot be overly moved by the fact that others may mistreat us. Whether we are slandered or praise, our message stays the same, since the message belongs to our King.
Purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, and genuine love, all produced by the Holy Spirit at work within us, make us a living display of the One who died, and who now lives. This is part of the ministry too. Truthful and plain speech is combined with the power of suffering love in a new life that has been granted by God. Through the life of the messenger, the message of a death that brings life is seen and known by others. This is not an impersonal work of the transfer of knowledge. The ministers are loved. Their suffering is felt by those who hear the Word of Christ from their lips. Somehow they keep on going when a hypocrite would have given up. They grow in their zeal through affliction. When they should be down for the count, they are yet found to be standing by a strength that must come from the Lord. This is the way that the life of faith, hope, and love, flowing forth from the death and resurrection of the Son of God, is best displayed to those with ears to hear. This is the truth of the ministry. Any takers?
Paul loves the church in Corinth, and he appeals to their love for him. Of course not everyone loves the Apostle Paul. In fact not everyone associating with the church in Corinth loves the Lord who is united to Paul and to the elect church of Jesus Christ. The temple of the Holy Spirit built up through this suffering ministry has become defiled with the presence of some who do not believe. Paul closes with a series of quotations from the Law and the Prophets that make the case that this union between the Lord and His people is not between God and all who claim to be His, but between God and all who truly are His.
To reject the apostolic messenger of death and resurrection truth is to reject the Man of death and resurrection. He is there with His servant who speaks and with all who believe. They are one. But those who bring suffering upon Him through the persecution of the beloved, through persistence in immorality disguised as liberty, through a life of lies, through some other pathway than the way of love, are not safely thought of as brothers and sisters in the Lord’s household. This requires discernment and courage, and will very likely involve more insult and suffering directed at God’s messenger and those who support him; but the One who died for His church is with us through this trial, and He is with His messenger who is willing to display the suffering love of Jesus, which is the way that leads to heavenly glory in the household of the Lord Almighty.
God has made a promise that His people will be His holy temple, pure and undefiled. This will surely happen. One day, that will be our existence in our every moment. We will have no ungodly impulses molesting our hearts. This is our future because of what Christ has done. Paul tells the church in Corinth that, in light of these great promises of their participation in Christ in an eternal community of perfect purity, why should they wait for heaven in order to put off sin from their lives? They should take these promises of God, and use them even now to be cleansed from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness toward the fullness of its eventual completion in the fear of God. This is a good way for us to spend our time.
Your minister, your elders, your deacons, and your church family are supposed to be your allies in this Christian endeavor, this task of perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Therefore you need to be in a spiritual family where you are able to open your hearts to those who are on the same team as you. Paul says to the Corinthians, “Make room in your heart for me.” I am on your side. Together we serve our King, the Lord Jesus. Paul has not stolen anyone’s possessions there; he has not led anyone into sin; he has not taken advantage of anyone. Why then are some people in Corinth speaking about him as if he is an enemy of the church? It is because there is a spiritual battle going on in Corinth, and the Apostle Paul is a central figure in that battle on the side of Jesus Christ. He is willing to live and die for these people, so that whether they live or die, they will do so together. He writes this to them as a friend who sticks closer to them than a brother.
He recounts his own struggle for them since this controversy against him started. He says that this breach between him and some in the church has been keeping him up at night. He was so concerned about their reaction to his letter of correction, until he received good news at the return of his ministerial associate Titus, news that the church had responded well to the things that he had written to them. He is now ecstatic. This is a man who cares about Christ, the kingdom of God, and the gospel, not just in some abstract way, but as these things touch the lives of people in Corinth that he loves. With this news from Titus, Paul is now overflowing with joy.
What was the reaction of the church that made Paul so happy? The church in Corinth repented; they moved away from sin and darkness, and toward God and light. Paul distinguishes between a grief that just leads to death, and a grief that comes from the Holy Spirit and the love of Jesus when our sins are confronted by God, a grief that yields repentance and surely leads to life. This is the report that he received from Titus. The Corinthian church, at least most of them, have repented of their bad feelings toward Paul, and have abandoned their attraction to those who set themselves up as workmen for some other King than Christ, and messengers of some other news than the one and only gospel. The grief of this church was a good grief, a grief consistent with the best of heaven, a grief that was a gift from the One who was a Man of Sorrows for our sake.
Is the grief in your life good grief that leads to life, or is your grief something that will drag you down to death? Does your grief over sin warm your heart toward the true messengers of the gospel and especially toward Jesus, or is your grief the kind that can never seem to get away from self-preoccupation and spiritual bondage. If you have good grief, it will bear good fruit in pursuing holiness in the fear of God and in the love of Jesus Christ. If you are captivated by self-centered grief, you will never be moved from grief to true Christian joy, but only to misery and self-condemnation.
Paul’s purpose in writing to the church was to help to save the true believers in Corinth from being enticed away by some false messengers of discord. His words helped those with a true love for the Christ of the cross to remember again those things of first importance. This visit by Titus has confirmed to Paul that the church has not lost the faith for which the apostle had labored for so many months. God had encouraged him at the beginning of his dealings in that city that He had many people there (See Acts 18:10). This has been proven true in the way that the church has responded to Paul’s correction.
Real ministry is wrenching. The life of faithfulness in the midst of spiritual battle is not easy. This is not just a matter of wanting to be proven right, or wanting to be seen as a hero. Our concern for the success of the gospel ministry among those in whom we have invested our lives is all about the One who assured Paul that He had many people in that city. The church people in Corinth, or in any place, belong not to Paul or to any minister. They belong to the one who bought them with His blood. It is for His sake, for the glory of His Name and for the wonder of His grace that we stand firm in the message once for all time delivered to the church.
The problem with false teachers and divisive troublers is that they would pull people away from the love of Christ, which is the only thing that can save us, and the only thing that can move us forward in true holiness. Everything less than the cross-love of the Son of God is some kind a false message that will not yield a community of holiness. Such false messages may look very clean, but they are simply not the love of Christ, and they are powerless to truly prepare God’s people for the hope of heaven, and for a life on earth of perfecting holiness in reverence toward the Lord who saved us with His blood.
In this letter that is almost entirely about the true ministry of the New Testament church, from the beginning of chapter 8 through the close of chapter 9 the Apostle Paul gives some extended instruction on giving. How is giving related to gospel ministry? The cross can be viewed through the lens of divine charity. The death of Jesus is God’s greatest gift to us. Our response to the gospel shines forth in the generous gift of ourselves to Christ and His church. If we are stingy with our money, what does that say about how we appreciate the gift that God has given to us in His Son?
Generous giving is a sign and fruit of the grace of God at work in the lives of those who have received His gift. Before challenging the church in Corinth about their giving, Paul speaks of their brothers and sisters in faith in the northern churches of Macedonia. He sees the generous giving of these relatively poor churches as an example of the grace of God. Churches in poor regions that are continually sending out appeals for funds may be doing just what they need to do. Nonetheless, what they are doing is perfectly understandable without bringing in the matter of grace. What shows grace is when poor people freely and quietly give of themselves for the glory of God. This is what was happening in Macedonia. The same Christ who multiplied the loaves and fishes to feed a multitude is able to multiply the giving of the poor to accomplish amazing things. Jesus has never been all that impressed with the substantial gifts of the rich. He does call his disciples together to watch a poor widow put two small copper coins into the temple treasury. She gave out of her poverty. That was impressive.
This kind of giving comes out of an abundance of joy. The people in Macedonia were begging to do their part, and then some, for the collection of a great gift for Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. They wanted to help their new brothers and sisters in the Lord’s family. This starts with hearts that are willing to give to the Lord, not just money, but more importantly our lives. We give ourselves over to the worship of God. We give ourselves to learning the Word of God and applying it to our lives. We give ourselves to prayer and service. We do all this because we have been captivated by the love of the Christ who gave Himself for us.
This is the way of genuine Christian living, not as a matter of law or compulsion, but as the evidence of a renewed spirit that has been made alive by the Lord. The Corinthians excelled in so many wonderful ways, and they had made a start toward excellent giving, but now it was time to be spurred on to finish the good work they had begun. If Christians say that they desire to be generous because of the Lord’s love in their lives, then they should move on to do the thing that they desire.
This is not first and foremost about how much a church collects for an offering, or how much any one person gives. Some have much in the way of resources; others have very little. God knows both our desire and our follow-through on that desire. People that have much in any area of life have a responsibility to give much. It is God who somehow brings it all together and multiplies it so that the needs of His people are supplied. In the wilderness, when manna was falling from heaven, some gathered much, some gathered little, and everybody shared enough so that everybody could eat. This is the way it needs to be in any one church, and even between churches in a region and throughout the world. That does not mean that poor churches are to resent the rich churches. The poor churches are to consider giving a joy, just like the Macedonians did, and the wealthier churches should be spurred on by that great grace of the generosity of the poor to do give substantially and sacrificially.
This joyful extravagance of collecting and giving involves the Apostle Paul, his representative Timothy, other trusted people appointed by the churches, all the members of the churches who have chosen to freely give; but especially this gospel giving involves God. The Lord has given us Himself. We thank God for the gift of Christ. We thank God for the preaching of the message of grace. We thank God for the gathering and perfecting of His people. We thank God that we are one in Christ throughout the world. We thank God for our eternal destiny which was purchased at such a very high cost. That is why we are happy to give when we are in our right gospel minds, and that is why even poor people are begging to be able to give.
That does not mean we get ourselves way over our heads in unsecured debt in order to give to others. That is giving what we really don’t have in a way that people in ancient days could not do in exactly the same way as we unfortunately do today, usually just for ourselves and not for others. Instead of racking up more enslaving debt, we need to be willing to deny ourselves things to make sure that the whole family of God has something to eat and that the ministry of the Word goes forward to all the earth. This is the era of giving and receiving. Christ has given and we have received. That is why we are so happy to give, so that others might receive. There is something fundamentally right that is happening with true Christian ministry when the people of God, especially those who are poor, are begging to be able to give.
When Paul writes to the church in Corinth about the ministry for the saints, He uses two words that people have come to use in very different ways than he did. The first is the word “ministry,” and it is used here to refer to their giving as an act of their worship and as an expression of their love for God and His people. The second is the word “saints,” which refers to all the members of the Lord’s church, those set apart from the world at large, with particular reference here to those who are part of the largely Jewish Christian church in Jerusalem. Therefore the ministry for the saints that Paul is speaking of here is the act of worship where the lovers of Christ in Corinth are gathering their resources for the purpose of giving a needed gift to the lovers of Christ in Jerusalem.
This specific ministry for the saints fits within the larger ministry for the saints in all times and places where God expresses His love for His people through the worship, teaching, and service of His church. This broadly defined ministry for the saints, and all the specific examples of the ministry for the saints that the Lord’s people are engaged in, are closely connected to the apostolic message of the love of God for His people. Our belief about what Christ has done for His own on the cross has everything to do with the way that we live out that faith together as the church in true Christ-directed cross-based love.
The way we get stirred up to do acts of service ministry is through the hearing and feeling of the word-based ministry of the love of God for sinners. We should not think that Christian acts of service have nothing to do with the teaching of the cross. It is from the love of God expressed to us through the cross that loving service for the church (and ultimately for the world) must flow. If the people in Corinth are ready to give sacrificially for the good of the church in Jerusalem, it is because their hearts have been changed by the love of God to us in Jesus Christ.
Paul has bragged about the church in Corinth when he spoke in churches in Macedonia. He has said that the Corinthians are so moved by what Christ has done for them that they want to give generously. This example had an impact on the Macedonian churches. They did not want to be left behind in this grace of giving. Paul does not want the Corinthian church to be embarrassed when he comes with messengers from Macedonia. They need to have taken action so that the collection is ready, or they will look like hypocrites who do not really love God or His church.
He uses this occasion to succinctly note some very important principals of Christian giving. The first of these is that what you give, you somehow get. This is not a get-rich quick scheme. The getting might not be material entirely. As he says in another place, godliness with contentment is great gain. If you want great blessings of contentment and of anything else that God should choose to give by way of encouragement, you should not be stingy with the love of Christ that flows through you to others.
Here’s another important thought: Giving is a privilege. It is not an occasion to think of ourselves too highly, but to remember that God is being so kind to us to show us this opportunity to serve Him. That should make you happy. If it makes you mad, something went wrong in your mind somewhere, and you need to find out what it is and change. That means going back to the cross and resurrection as starting points and remembering the gift that you have been given.
One more thing to consider: God can do lots of good things for your heart. Having lots of money or possessions does not guarantee anyone’s well-being. In fact, more often than not, having too much causes problems that are often too big to handle. But having God in fullest measure and letting His presence in you be expressed in mercy to others is a very good way to gain all kinds of graces in abounding portions, and with it the contentment that can not be bought with gold.
Here’s a final lesson of giving in the form of a question: Do you want to see people all over the church and the world give heartfelt thanks to God? You can help bring that about by letting the love of Christ flow through you in generous Christian giving. He is not only the supplier of both seed and also bread when it comes to food; He is also the beginning and end of every expression of righteousness and every other spiritual and material prosperity. When God works through you to bless others, people start thanking Him. Don’t you want to see God’s name honored as more and more people thank Him on account of something He let you do for someone else?
What is your life about anyway, if it is not in some way about the privilege of serving God and His people through honest love? Your ticket into this tremendous opportunity is hearing and responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ. You have heard of God’s inexpressible gift for you in Jesus Christ. You have believed that you have a future and a hope on account of His suffering. You have confessed this with your lips and have lived it out in your life. Now people you do not even know, when they come to God with real thanksgiving are thanking Him because of something that He let you have a part in, something that you were allowed to quietly do in His Name. This is just another blessing from on high. You cannot outgive God! He will give all kinds of things to people who receive the love of the Lord and give out that love freely in the Name of Jesus. This kind of giving of our lives is the privilege of the work God calls the ministry for the saints.
The Apostle has presented the case in this letter for true Christian ministry, a God-given and God-ordained plan for our humble service in teaching and living, so the faith of the church in Christ might work itself out in God-honoring love. He celebrates the fact that apparently a sizeable majority of the church in Corinth has received his written word of encouragement to them. They have repented and have returned to their better and true assessment of Paul as a genuine servant of the Lord, an example to the church in the broader life of ministry that Christ has for His people. Nonetheless, the word “some” shows up in this chapter. Some suspect Paul of walking according to the flesh. In other words, a minority have come to the conclusion that Paul is not spiritual enough.
They apparently see their own pushy exercise of supposed authority accompanied by words and actions of coercion as being a sign of true spirituality. They claim that Paul is easily opposed in person, even if his letters sound strong. He begs the church in Corinth not to mistake his demeanor of Christian meekness and gentleness as a sign of lack of conviction or of some deficiency in gospel courage. For his part, Paul has an awareness of who he is in Christ, knowing that he is ready to sternly confront this continuing minority in Corinth who see it as their job to judge the Lord’s apostle. If we have true meekness and gentleness in the ministry it comes to us and from Jesus Christ. If we have boldness to speak plainly and directly, this too comes from our strong King.
Paul understands that the power at work in the ministry is divine power. For those who are interested in seeing some spectacle and calling that flashy display “spiritual,” they may judge the apostle to be a disappointment. But to wow people with your strong looks or the power of your voice is no proof of divinely-approved spirituality. This is not what Paul does. He does not wage war according to the flesh like the rhetorical equivalent of some wrestling hero. He uses the power of God’s Word to destroy strongholds. He dismantles arguments and takes down every lofty opinion that stands in the way of the propagation of the knowledge of God throughout the earth. He takes prisoners, but not with the weapons of this world. He uses the simple teaching of Christ to take every thought captive to the Lord our God.
This is very different than worldly and fleshly religious bullying. With the kind of teachers that impress the minority in Corinth, the force of personality, appearance, name-dropping and a little physical pushing around is enough to make the unwilling go along with bad theology. With God’s real ministers, it is the Spirit of God who makes us willing, and the plain statement of the love of the cross is eventually embraced with eagerness. That’s real power. Coercion is not at all impressive when compared with a true work of grace. How sad it is that too often in the history of the church we have turned to physical force and commercial strategy to try to accomplish what can only be done by the Spirit of God.
The kind of punishment that Paul will bring to the church in Corinth is not some strange or impressive fleshly discipline, but the theological and biblical dismantling of false teachers who would speak against the truth of Christ, and would seek to build a different kingdom as they try to tear down the true temple of the Lord’s Spirit in the process. Such proud teachers will be stopped, not with physical force, but with the strength of truth and according to the Lord’s own judgment as He sees fit. He is able to make even the wrath of His enemies to praise Him.
What is the measure of the Lord’s apostle? What is his true boast? Does he live to compare himself with those who are approved by men? Can he speak as well as they can? Does he make everyone laugh? Is he strong in his ability to move an audience with his natural gifts of personality, and his use of language in ways that demonstrate unusual facility? Is that what the church of Jesus is built upon?
We serve a God who died for us in weakness, and thus accomplished something beyond human strength. Could it be that one death could so completely defeat death for us, that we now have been granted life through that one great death? If this is the message that we proclaim, what room is there for proud boasting in our supposed abilities?
But God did use the apostle Paul. He used him to preach the gospel throughout an amazingly extensive region. He used him to bring a most excellent word to the ears of Jews and Gentiles in the city of Corinth, a word that changed hearts by the power of God. He used him to be spent for the Man who spent Himself entirely for the glory of His Father. In all of this, Paul’s boast was not in himself, but in the One who appointed Him as a messenger, though he had been a persecutor of the church. Paul was the chief of sinners, but God had appointed him to be spent in proclaiming Christ to Corinth and beyond. If Paul had a boast, his boast was in the Lord, the One who died that we might live, and who allowed his apostle to die daily, that the dying might hear a word of life. In that sacrificial ministry, no false and fleshly teachers would be Paul’s judge. God Himself, who appointed him, and gave him every gift and grace for the glory of the Name of Jesus, the King and Head of the church, would prove Paul faithful in the strength that comes from Christ for the glory of the Name above every name.
Ministers are supposed to love their congregations, but love is sometimes painful. When a church is rejected, it is hard for a minister not to take it personally, but he really must find a way to get himself out of the middle of a decision that is really about the worshipers of God and the God whom they worship. That is not to say that the answer for ministerial sanity and longevity is detachment from people. A tempting thought… but Paul’s language of true and intense gospel affection prohibits the keeping of our emotion distance. The real answer is two-fold. First, negatively, the minister must not feel sorry for himself. That leads to a downward spiral of me-oh-my ministry that is not profitable for anyone, and easily spreads discontentment throughout a church. Second, and positively, the minister must be jealous for Christ and His interests in the beloved disciples who worship God in the place where he has the privilege of suffering and serving as an ambassador.
This is so important, and it is the only way to stay emotionally engaged without losing perspective. We are friends of the groom. If some part of the bride seems to waver in terms of commitment to the coming marriage, we should be very concerned and very jealous, but not for ourselves; for the groom. If some part of the bride, while still committed to the groom, is finding it challenging to profit from our teaching and friendship, whether we agree with her or not, if her warmth for the groom is still there, we can probably find a way to continue to rejoice and let everyone be. We may all be better off when the Lord has finished His mysterious providential dealings with all of His beloved children and churches, though we probably will not understand these troubles any more than we do any of the other very significant trials that we suffer.
Any jealousy that we have must ultimately be for Christ’s sake, not for our own ministerial feelings, or we get dangerously close to thinking that we are the groom. We are not. We just want to see the bride presented to Christ as a pure virgin. Therefore we are on our guard when we notice serpents coming around the church with deceiving doctrines, leading people away from the Lord, the cross, and the way of holiness. We will not tolerate the proclamation of some other Jesus. We are rightly suspicious of other suitors who might steal away the bride’s affections for her King.
There have always been such false super-apostles in the church, men who serve themselves, and not the Lord Jesus Christ. The true friends and ambassadors of the bridegroom are willing to put their own needs aside as long as the wedding plans are moving along well. Paul preached the gospel free of charge in Corinth to avoid putting any stumbling block in front of those who were set apart for the Lord Jesus in that place. Even now he is not writing to them asking for monthly support but only calling upon them to stay true to the One who died for them. It was through His suffering for Christ, for the gospel, for the beloved bride in Corinth, that Paul proved his love for Christ and His church in that place. Others might claim to love the church as they attack Paul, but even Satan knows how to use a disguise. Are these false apostles willing to suffer to bring the bride of Christ safely to the One who is the true and only husband of the church? What do they really want from the church at Corinth? Are they looking for the praise of men? Are they trying to make a living? Do they want to see Paul disgraced? More to the point, do they have a different gospel?
These so-called apostles who were willing to strike people in the face in front of the congregation, and who presented themselves as more spiritual than Paul, what were they all about? One thing we do know is that they seemed to be boasting in their Jewish credentials. They were the real Hebrews, Israelites, and sons of Abraham. It does not take much imagination to guess the kind of message that they were trying to present as the real truth of Christ, a nice Pharisaic mix of Jesus and tradition. But where were their sufferings, the kind of wounds that send the hypocrite running, and show the true servant of the Lord to be faithful to Christ and His kingdom. Paul had those sufferings, and he lists some of them. Did they have any such list?
Had they given themselves for the ministry of Christ? This is a very fitting test. Remember that the Lord demonstrated Himself to be the Husband of the bride through His death on the cross for us. Doesn’t it make sense that the true ministers of His love would show the credibility of the message preached through their own lives of suffering? Not only had Paul faced many physical hardships, he remained appropriately engaged in the lives of the church members in Corinth and so many other places. This was very difficult. He loved them for the sake of Christ.
Paul’s life was not an easy one. If others claim that he is unimpressive and unspiritual, let them be lowered down in a basket from a window in the wall around the city of Damascus while soldiers of the king are looking for some Jewish rabbi to kill. The ultimate test of love is the cross itself. It is on the cross that the hypocrite is separated from the genuine Son of God. Jesus passed that and every other test for you. As His ministers, we appeal for your love, not ultimately for us as if we are the grooms in this divine drama, but as friends and ambassadors who want nothing more than to see this best of all marriages come to a most happy consummation.
Humanly speaking, as historical figures go, the Apostle Paul has much that he could boast about. He worked miracles; he spoke in more tongues than anyone else; he saw the Lord; he heard from the Lord; and like the Old Testament prophets, he was brought up to visit heavenly paradise. Yet he chooses not to boast in His many visions and revelations. He instead boasts in His weakness. It is in the weakness of His willing death for sinners that the Lord demonstrated the greatest power ever known. We follow Him in ministry when we celebrate not our supposed spiritual strength or ability, but the way that God is able to use the weak to display His own power in bringing life to the dead.
Think about the work of Christ and its relevance for our understanding of powerful ministry. Millions were bound in sins chains according to our own demerit and Adam’s sin. Imagine the firepower necessary to make an assault on hell, and to free the captives who were bound in death and misery. Who would know how to fight that battle, and who could put together a military strategy that would have even the remotest chance of success? Yet Jesus not only defeated death with the power of His weakness, He also secured permanently boundless life for millions. This is the power of the cross, and it must be celebrated not only with our words but with deeds of powerful ministerial weakness. There are already enough worldly boasters plying their trade, but the longer one listens to God, one gets the impression that such proud self-promoters accomplish less than they suspect. God converts. God sanctifies. God keeps. God glorifies. Our little part is just the story of God using weakness to demonstrate His power.
Some of the most important things that happen in the life of any minister are not his worldly successes, but his surrenders. Paul was no different in this. We all would become elated beyond reason in the fact that we seem to know what others don’t understand. The normal course of blessing is not through being puffed-up, but through being humbled. When we receive some thorn in the flesh, or some messenger of Satan to harass us, we can be sure that there is a best of all friends behind every providence, the God who is working all things for our good. Though we plead with Him that we will actually be much better servants without our troubles, it could well be that His reply to us is, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
If we have this happen to us frequently and deeply enough, it may be that we will come to see things well, leave our impressive and autobiographical letters of recommendation unopened, and boast instead in the fact of insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities that were very important in our further understanding of, and surrender to, the message of the cross. Is the world so very sweet to you? What reason do you have to seek a sweeter blessing beyond what any number of peddlers would like to sell you? But when we embrace weakness, the strength of God has somehow become our strength, and our surrender to the Christ who surrendered Himself to death for us becomes fuller, richer, and more fruitful in our love for others.
Paul loves the Corinthians. Is this because Paul is a nice fellow, who cannot help but defer to everyone around him? From what we have been reading this does not appear particularly likely. Paul has been humbled through unusual suffering. This was not entirely a surprise, since at the time when he was called to this ministry, the Lord made it known that He would be showing Paul how much he would have to suffer for the Name of Jesus. Any man is only so strong. Eventually we must give in to grace, particularly if we want to proclaim that grace to others. It is then when our weakness finally becomes a greater testimony of what we have to offer than our miracles. Paul did not get any money from the Corinthians, though he had the right. His challenge to all the false ministers was to match his scanty compensation plan, and then see whether they were faithful to the call that they claim God had given them. Paul loved the Corinthians not for what he could get from them, but for what God had done for them in the person of Jesus Christ.
The ministerial imposter has no credibility in such a boast. He is not like the Christ who died for us. He harbors secret desires for his own everything. He hates men like the apostle Paul for the same reasons that so many Pharisees hated Jesus Christ. But the Lord has put all His enemies to open shame in the mighty display of His weakness. Let that cross of Christ be your strength and your boast, and do not reject the trials that He gives you, and may God show you that His weakness is far stronger than the powerful boasts that men so easily make in themselves.
To consider the interaction of the apostolic messenger with the vibrant church at Corinth is a very pleasurable enterprise… at a distance. Up close and personal it must have been very difficult. In 1 Corinthians, Paul displayed the life of love in such a clear and powerful way, while addressing all of the concerns of the church and some of Paul’s own alarm bells based on the reports that people had brought to him. In 2 Corinthians, we have been treated to an exposition of the way that this love is lived out within this gift from heaven that we call ministry. Especially toward the end of this book, we have been forced to admit that not everything is well even now in the church in Corinth. It appears that a minority remains there who are holding on to immorality and are hostile to the words that Paul has written, and to the man himself.
Paul is going to visit them. He held off for some time so that he could calm down, but after writing about these false ministers, he may need to count to ten again. Remember Paul is not defending himself, as if he needs to prove himself to the Corinthians. The controlling idea for the rightly zealous minister must be what he wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:2, “I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.” We are jealous for Christ, and not for ourselves. Especially, we must keep this thought in mind: No matter what happens with this or any other individual, family, or church, we have absolutely no good reason to feel sorry for ourselves. We are headed toward the blessings of heaven because of what Christ has done for us. How can we feel sorry for ourselves? We can feel that the honor of Christ has been offended by wolves, and we can be jealous for Jesus’ sake, and not for us.
This moves us forward in gospel care for the Lord’s assembly of worship. We do not need to come charging into the china shop of the church with the bull of our hurt feelings and bruised pride, but we may need to take some well-considered and godly action in the Name of our King. This King was crucified in weakness, but He is not weak. He lives again by the power of God, and He has all power and authority in His firm grip as He reigns from heaven. He is completely unstoppable, and we are His ambassadors. Though we may be weak, He is determined to use our weakness to display His divine strength and the power of His love, a power that never fails. In Him we have this power, and so do all who are truly in Jesus Christ.
Therefore, it is time for everyone at Corinth to consider the apostle’s directive in a controversy that has caused much difficulty in the church: “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?- unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” Paul is not hoping to find that scoffers and doubters in the church in Corinth who may be unsure about Paul and his message are actually not Christians. He wants them to pass the test. He wants them to face up to the gospel challenge, and to stand with the One who was lifted up on a tree for them that they might be saved.
Paul knows himself to be truly trusting in Jesus. He is not trying to prove himself, but to prove them to be what he hopes them to be – real Christian men and women, who though they may have been deceived for a moment, will finally respond to His correction and return to the One who is the only Husband of the church. If Paul ends up looking weak, or looking like a failure in their eyes, so be it; just as long as the beloved in the church in Corinth will truly stand in Christ, and not fall for some other message that is no gospel at all, or for some false and pushy super-apostles who will only distract people from the one Savior of sinners. Paul does not have to appear right before men, but He cares very deeply that the church in Corinth actually be right before the eyes of God. This can only be the case if they remain in Christ.
This is the desire of the right-minded minister of the Word. We don’t care if we appear weak and foolish, as long as the people who hear the Word and believe find their strength in the Son of God. If some have wandered and become deceived and are contentious, then Paul is praying for their restoration. If the church will receive this letter with the humility that comes from a true consideration of the cross, then he will not have to be stern with anyone when he visits Corinth again. But he will speak the truth when he comes; for the love of Christ and His body, He will speak the truth.
Enough of that… Rejoice in Christ, and in the promises of God that have been so wonderfully secured for us through our Redeemer. We will not end with the negatives of correction, but with the positive of restoration, gospel comfort, the love that comes from the God of love, the peace that comes from the Son of peace, and the Spirit that is the gift of the God of true and pure holiness. Paul will close with a Trinitarian version of the ancient Hebrew blessing, starting now with the Son of God who has secured this blessing for us forever. This word is given from heaven with the authority of the One who has purchased with His blood: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Amen.