Paul's Concern for the Corinthians
11I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the "super-apostles," even though I am nothing. 12The things that mark an apostle—signs, wonders and miracles—were done among you with great perseverance. 13How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!
14Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. 15So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less? 16Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery! 17Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent you? 18I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not act in the same spirit and follow the same course?
Dig Deeper
A young lady I once knew was constantly paranoid about people lying to her and stealing from her. She was a student of mine, and she was constantly accusing other people of lying and taking her things. She was also often convinced that her friends were stabbing her in the back. It was often in situations where it was pretty obvious that she was mistaken and that the other person had done no such thing. What we didn’t know, at least for a while, was that she was a frequent liar herself. Then we found out that she had quite the theft problem, and it was she who often ran behind her friend’s back and said things about them. It seems like that happens quite a bit in our world. When someone constantly thinks that everyone else is dishonest, untrustworthy, a liar, or using other people, it is often because they are like that, and they assume that everyone else is like that too. They project their own behavior onto others.
Paul’s critics have accused him of being dishonest, of taking advantage of the church and not really loving them. They claimed that Paul was mistreating the people in the church for his own advantage and that his ministry did not have the tell-tale signs of being a true apostolic ministry. Although we don’t know much about Paul’s opponents, and are left to speculate quite a bit about them, it does seemingly become clear that they are, in fact, guilty of all the things that they accused Paul of. They were the ones who were dishonest, who were lying to and taking advantage of the Corinthians. They were the ones who were not fit to be spiritual leaders, nor had they been chosen by God to be His apostles. Paul had not been a burden to the congregation, they had been.
Paul continues to clear the road for his third and final visit to Corinth (the first was when he planted the church and the second was the painful visit of 2 Cor. 2:1). The one thing he wants to make very clear before he comes is that he is coming to serve and love them. That is it.
Yes, he has made a fool of himself, but it is due to his love for them. It is also true that they drove him to it. It they would have defended him the way they should have, then none of his foolish self-defense would have been necessary. The moment that Paul’s character and ministry was attacked, the people of the Corinthian Church should have leaped to his defense. Instead Paul had to defend himself against their charges which further opened him up the charge of bragging and boasting about himself. What the Corinthians needed to learn is that, often, not doing anything is as harmful as acting negatively. They didn’t stand up for Paul when they should have and it cost Paul a great deal of trouble and sorrow.
Paul wants to make it clear that the Corinthians are not getting some sort of second-rate Christian experience with a quasi-apostle who doesn’t really care about them and treats them as inferiors. This is how the false apostles characterized the situation and the Corinthians listened to them. They should have known better because that was not at all the situation.
One of the things that clearly bothered the Church in Corinth was the fact that Paul would not take money from them, but would from other congregations. They believed that this was a sign of disrespect, showing that he didn’t think much of them and was, in effect, embarrassing them. Paul doesn’t feel any of that. They have listened to the wrong people and have completely read the situation incorrectly.
It’s not that Paul didn’t love them, it’s that he loved them like his own children. Perhaps it is here that Paul gives a clue as to why he would not take money from the Corinthians. He has already stated that they are still spiritual children, needing to mature (1 Cor. 3:1). In the Jewish culture, grown children were expected to provide for their parents (Ex. 20:12; 21:17; Mark 7:8-13), but parents would obviously provide for their minor children. This might explain why Paul refused support from Corinth, but would take it from other churches that were more mature in their faith (cf. 2 Cor. 11:8-9). If this is true, then this might have fueled the belief that Paul didn’t think much of, or love, the Church in Corinth. His treating them like children, though, wasn’t a matter of disrespect, but of deep love that a father has for his child. He was protecting them from things for which they were not yet ready. If they really wanted to show the maturity of their faith by giving their money, then they could do so by contributing the collection in Jerusalem. Paul, evidently, felt that they were ready for that, but not yet ready to handle the responsibility of supporting him without taking it as a patron-client relationship that was so common in their culture (in that relationship, the client would be beholden to the patron).
The very thing that Paul sees as a sign of his true love for Corinth, has been interpreted by them as a reason to withhold their love from him. Paul wants them to be clear on the fact that they have indeed misunderstood him. He hasn’t caught them by trickery. If anyone has done that it has been Paul’s opponents. Not only has Paul not exploited or taken advantage of them, neither has Titus or the other brother that Titus has sent to them. They have behaved with the same sort of love, integrity, and godliness that Paul would have had he been there.
Paul’s experience, as recorded in this letter, is not a popular message, but one that should not be forgotten. Even when we are acting the most Christian, and expressing the most love for others, it is very possible, if not probable, that we will be misunderstood, attacked, and unfairly accused of things. We must, however, learn from and imitate Paul’s patient, kind, and loving response and he calmly explains the truth of the matter.
Devotional Thought
Have you ever been in a situation where your motives were misunderstood or mischaracterized? How have you responded when those situations arise? Do you handle it with patience or irritability? Paul certainly defended himself, but in a calm and loving manner. Surely he would expect no less from us.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
2 Corinthians 12:1-10 & Commentary
Paul's Vision and His Thorn
1I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. 5I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.
7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Dig Deeper
One of the things that really gains a lot of respect for one another among teachers is to have a great deal of education and degrees in your area of expertise. Teachers are usually quick to share with one another what degrees they have and talk about their ongoing education. Not necessarily in a bragging manner, but it’s just regarded highly, and so is talked about quite a bit. I knew one teacher, though, who never seemed too concerned about that; he just went about his business of being a very good teacher. He only wanted to be considered as a good teacher based on his actual success in the classroom. What most of the other teachers didn’t know, because he never discussed it, was the fact that this teacher didn’t just have a masters degree in education, he had two doctorates degrees. Yet, he rarely, if ever, mentioned them because, although he valued what he had gained from them, he just didn’t find them valuable in the discussion of whether or not he was an effective teacher.
In Corinth, visions, revelations, and receiving a "word" from God were highly valued. It appears that Paul’s opponents were claiming experiences of visions, revelations, and special "words" from God as part of their claim to apostolic authority. They talked about them quite a bit and used them to justify their status as those who would claim leadership in the Church in Corinth. In the previous example, we noted that the teachers didn’t necessarily brag about their education but did value it. Conversely, the super apostles in Corinth did brag and boast about these visions. In fact, it would seem that one of their many criticisms of Paul was that he did not have any of these incredible visual experiences, at least he never talked about it.
So, even though he is reluctant, Paul will, because of the situation forced upon him, continue to talk about his boasts in the Lord. Even though he questions the overall effectiveness of this strategy, he will engage in it for a time to counter the boasting of his detractors. Yet, even in talking about the visions and revelations that Paul has received, he demonstrates that he is reluctant to really talk about them or take much stock in them establishing his apostolic authority. First, is the fact that he has apparently not mentioned these visions before, even though he had spent quite a bit of time in Corinth. Second, is that he puts this passage in the third person, intentionally making it vague and demonstrating further his reluctance to appeal to this aspect of his spirituality. Finally, is the fact that, although he does talk about his visions, he does not give any details. Paul simply refuses to appeal to these revelations as important for establishing his authority or his approval by God. The Corinthians must be content with what they can see and hear in Paul’s earthly ministry. This stands in sharp contrast to his opponents who were quick to share their experiences as a key to their authority to preach the gospel.
Paul did not want to take this debate beyond what could be evaluated objectively, so he downplayed his experiences. Yet, once again, he has taken the ground out from under the feet of his opponents. Here is another area in which they attacked Paul and now he turns the tables one more time. They value visions, Paul has had authentic visions of the type that they could never claim, yet he doesn’t try to add a bunch of fabricated details to make it sound better. He was allowed into the third heaven (the realm of God’s presence in the Jewish understanding), but he wasn’t even sure the details of it all; he didn’t even know whether he was in the body or out of the body. Here is another area in which Paul could easily surpass the boasts of his opponents if he so chose, but he makes it clear that he doesn’t want to. He doesn’t need to play their game in order to establish his authority. He could play that game and would win, but no, rather than boasting about these wonderful things, Paul will once again take his boasts back to his own weakness and suffering.
The NIV omits the fact that in verse 7, Paul actually twice says, "To keep me from becoming conceited," stressing the importance and purpose of his thorn in the flesh. He has been allowed, by God, to suffer so as to keep him humble. This would have been shocking to Paul’s Corinthian opponents, who would have always blamed illness and suffering on the individual in question; it would have been blamed on their own lack of faith. Once again, though, Paul has brilliantly turned the tables. He is arguing that that the very cause of the weakness that his opponents have decried is the very types of visions that they valued so highly. He has taken the most effective argument that his opponents had against him and systematically dismantled it one piece at a time. Paul has shown one more way in which his suffering and weakness are not signs that he has been rejected by God, rather they are markers of his apostolic authenticity and approval by God. The more often that an apostle has ascended to the throne of God, the more his pride will need to be stifled by earthly suffering.
Because of his incredible visions and access to the throne of God, Paul has been given a thorn in his flesh. He initially did what anyone who believes in the sovereignty of God would do, he pleaded with God to take it away. The references to three prayers is most likely a Jewish figure of speech, implying that he had prayed repeatedly, but had since ceased. There has been endless speculation as to what Paul’s thorn was, but it is impossible to know, and we should not miss the fact that Paul has intentionally not named it. The language most appropriately leads us to believe that it was some sort of ongoing illness. But Paul does not want any sort of medical diagnosis, he is only concerned with the theological origin, which was sent by Satan and allowed by God. Paul has learned the key to the Christian life. The more that we learn to accept our weakness and frailty, the more we learn to rely on Christ. The more we learn to set ourselves to the side, the more the transforming power of Christ can come into our lives. Paul has realized the great dichotomy of the Christian life. When we rely on our strength, we are weak because we are limited to abilities of the flesh. When we embrace our weakness and reject the strength of the flesh, the true power of Christ explodes in our lives.
Devotional Thought
Paul had all kind of impressive spiritual experiences, but he knew that spirituality wasn’t what was most important. The most important thing was God’s grace released in his life. Have you embraced your own weaknesses so that God’s strength and grace can be fully released in your life? In what areas of your life are you still trying to rely on your own strengths, talents, and abilities?
1I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. 5I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.
7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Dig Deeper
One of the things that really gains a lot of respect for one another among teachers is to have a great deal of education and degrees in your area of expertise. Teachers are usually quick to share with one another what degrees they have and talk about their ongoing education. Not necessarily in a bragging manner, but it’s just regarded highly, and so is talked about quite a bit. I knew one teacher, though, who never seemed too concerned about that; he just went about his business of being a very good teacher. He only wanted to be considered as a good teacher based on his actual success in the classroom. What most of the other teachers didn’t know, because he never discussed it, was the fact that this teacher didn’t just have a masters degree in education, he had two doctorates degrees. Yet, he rarely, if ever, mentioned them because, although he valued what he had gained from them, he just didn’t find them valuable in the discussion of whether or not he was an effective teacher.
In Corinth, visions, revelations, and receiving a "word" from God were highly valued. It appears that Paul’s opponents were claiming experiences of visions, revelations, and special "words" from God as part of their claim to apostolic authority. They talked about them quite a bit and used them to justify their status as those who would claim leadership in the Church in Corinth. In the previous example, we noted that the teachers didn’t necessarily brag about their education but did value it. Conversely, the super apostles in Corinth did brag and boast about these visions. In fact, it would seem that one of their many criticisms of Paul was that he did not have any of these incredible visual experiences, at least he never talked about it.
So, even though he is reluctant, Paul will, because of the situation forced upon him, continue to talk about his boasts in the Lord. Even though he questions the overall effectiveness of this strategy, he will engage in it for a time to counter the boasting of his detractors. Yet, even in talking about the visions and revelations that Paul has received, he demonstrates that he is reluctant to really talk about them or take much stock in them establishing his apostolic authority. First, is the fact that he has apparently not mentioned these visions before, even though he had spent quite a bit of time in Corinth. Second, is that he puts this passage in the third person, intentionally making it vague and demonstrating further his reluctance to appeal to this aspect of his spirituality. Finally, is the fact that, although he does talk about his visions, he does not give any details. Paul simply refuses to appeal to these revelations as important for establishing his authority or his approval by God. The Corinthians must be content with what they can see and hear in Paul’s earthly ministry. This stands in sharp contrast to his opponents who were quick to share their experiences as a key to their authority to preach the gospel.
Paul did not want to take this debate beyond what could be evaluated objectively, so he downplayed his experiences. Yet, once again, he has taken the ground out from under the feet of his opponents. Here is another area in which they attacked Paul and now he turns the tables one more time. They value visions, Paul has had authentic visions of the type that they could never claim, yet he doesn’t try to add a bunch of fabricated details to make it sound better. He was allowed into the third heaven (the realm of God’s presence in the Jewish understanding), but he wasn’t even sure the details of it all; he didn’t even know whether he was in the body or out of the body. Here is another area in which Paul could easily surpass the boasts of his opponents if he so chose, but he makes it clear that he doesn’t want to. He doesn’t need to play their game in order to establish his authority. He could play that game and would win, but no, rather than boasting about these wonderful things, Paul will once again take his boasts back to his own weakness and suffering.
The NIV omits the fact that in verse 7, Paul actually twice says, "To keep me from becoming conceited," stressing the importance and purpose of his thorn in the flesh. He has been allowed, by God, to suffer so as to keep him humble. This would have been shocking to Paul’s Corinthian opponents, who would have always blamed illness and suffering on the individual in question; it would have been blamed on their own lack of faith. Once again, though, Paul has brilliantly turned the tables. He is arguing that that the very cause of the weakness that his opponents have decried is the very types of visions that they valued so highly. He has taken the most effective argument that his opponents had against him and systematically dismantled it one piece at a time. Paul has shown one more way in which his suffering and weakness are not signs that he has been rejected by God, rather they are markers of his apostolic authenticity and approval by God. The more often that an apostle has ascended to the throne of God, the more his pride will need to be stifled by earthly suffering.
Because of his incredible visions and access to the throne of God, Paul has been given a thorn in his flesh. He initially did what anyone who believes in the sovereignty of God would do, he pleaded with God to take it away. The references to three prayers is most likely a Jewish figure of speech, implying that he had prayed repeatedly, but had since ceased. There has been endless speculation as to what Paul’s thorn was, but it is impossible to know, and we should not miss the fact that Paul has intentionally not named it. The language most appropriately leads us to believe that it was some sort of ongoing illness. But Paul does not want any sort of medical diagnosis, he is only concerned with the theological origin, which was sent by Satan and allowed by God. Paul has learned the key to the Christian life. The more that we learn to accept our weakness and frailty, the more we learn to rely on Christ. The more we learn to set ourselves to the side, the more the transforming power of Christ can come into our lives. Paul has realized the great dichotomy of the Christian life. When we rely on our strength, we are weak because we are limited to abilities of the flesh. When we embrace our weakness and reject the strength of the flesh, the true power of Christ explodes in our lives.
Devotional Thought
Paul had all kind of impressive spiritual experiences, but he knew that spirituality wasn’t what was most important. The most important thing was God’s grace released in his life. Have you embraced your own weaknesses so that God’s strength and grace can be fully released in your life? In what areas of your life are you still trying to rely on your own strengths, talents, and abilities?
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
2 Corinthians 11:21b-33 & Commentary
What anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. 22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. 23Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
30If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. 32In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. 33But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands
Dig Deeper
I had only been a Christian for a short time, and I had never been to a men’s devotional and prayer meeting. On the way to the event, I imagined that the meeting would be full of testosterone and inspiring talks from men who had faced the world and overcome it for Christ in powerful and impressive ways. Once we arrived and the meeting began, however, that is not at all what happened. I was quite surprised when the first speaker got up and began to talk of his weaknesses and failures. He spoke of intimate details and made himself extremely vulnerable in front of a room of men who did nothing but support and encourage him. My first thought was "what kind of encouraging men’s meeting is this?" Instead of getting a pep rally that demonstrated the strength of the Christian men, I got a confession session that put all of their weaknesses on display. Yet, as the night went on, I realized that there was a strange sort of dignity, strength, and power that would not make sense to the world, but was still very real. It was the strength and power of Christ that was being displayed through the weakness of these men who had entered into Christ.
It is this same counterintuitive sort of strength in weakness that Paul will put on display for a people that are having great difficulty with the concept of the strength of Christ being made manifest through suffering, persecution, and weakness. In the Roman culture, in which Corinth was deeply steeped, suffering and persecution were a sign of being in disfavor with your gods. This was why Paul’s experiences were so difficult for them to comprehend and why they were so vulnerable to the wealth and health gospel being proffered by the opponents of Paul.
Paul knows, however, that if he simply presents his weakness and suffering, that it will leave him open to the assaults of his detractors. They will simply charge that Paul is arguing for weakness and suffering, because he does not have the blessing of God upon him, and has no choice but to turn around the gospel to fit his impotent life. Thus, Paul will take away that ground from which to launch an attack. He will boast in a worldly manner just to show them that his ministry of weakness in self and strength in Christ is a choice not an excuse. Everything that they might want to brag about to make them look good in the eyes of the world, Paul can match. He could play that game if he wanted to, and he does just long enough to make that point clear. His weaknesses are not because of his own inadequacy, but because he is willing to suffer for Christ and identify with those to whom he has shared the gospel.
Once that has been demonstrated, however, Paul will begin to show the things that a Christian should boast about, if one is going to boast at all. It’s not about the things that might impress the people of Corinth, in fact, it’s the things that would horrify them. If you could make a list of everything that would show disfavor with the gods in the eyes of pagan Corinth, this would be it. Paul says that he has been in prison (seven times according to the early church writing, 1 Clement 5:6), flogged, and exposed to death repeatedly. He had subjected himself to the authority of the Jewish synagogue so that he might continue to share the gospel with his fellow Jews, and had subsequently received 39 lashes five times. He had been in constant danger, gone without sleep, food, and basic shelter. On top of all of that, Paul has had to deal with his own worry and concern over the state of the churches that he has helped to plant. When they are weak, Paul is weak. When they are in sin, Paul burns with shame. Paul realizes that when we enter into Christ, we become one body with out fellow believers and we share in their joys and their sorrows. The fact is, Paul would rather not boast at all, since any kind of boasting other than boasting in Christ is foolish, but the situation in Corinth requires it, so he will boast in such a way to reveal his weakness and demonstrate the power of Christ in his life.
If the false apostles insist on playing a game of boasting, Paul will do that, but he boasts of all the wrong things. This is a strategy that would make a clear distinction between these two versions of the gospel and force the Corinthians to choose between which one sounded more authentic and in keeping with the life and ministry of Christ. Paul will appeal his veracity to the very God of the universe, would his opponents be willing to do the same?
Paul has shown that he doesn’t need to display any sort of human strength in order to show the approval of Christ in his life. Now he will finish it all off with an example that is over the top, so to speak. The Roman Empire gave an award of bravery called the corona muralis, ‘the crown of the wall’. It was given to the first brave soldier who went over the wall of a city that was under siege. If the person lived to actually receive the award, they had to return to Rome and wear a solemn oath to the gods that they were actually the first over the wall.
Rather than being like a culture that made a practice of listing one’s great accomplishments and bragging about how brave or successful you were, Paul will continue to brag about quite the opposite. He, in effect, gives himself a reverse corona muralis. Throughout his two surviving letters to Corinth, Paul has encouraged his spiritual children to resist the dangers of being sucked back into the their surrounding culture. Paul has listed his achievements the way anyone in their society might, but he has assembled a list of all the wrong achievements. These were things that anyone in the Roman world would be ashamed of, let alone put together in a public letter. Paul has topped it off with his achievement of being the first over the wall, but in the wrong direction. In order to continue his work of spreading the true gospel, he was willing to engage in an act that would be considered cowardly and then boast about it because it shows his commitment to the cause of Christ and his disdain for the things that bring honor in the world. The gospel turns things upside down. He had gone to Damascus to persecute Christians, now he would leave Damascus in a basket as a persecuted Christian.
Devotional Thought
One of the great battles of the Christian life that we all face, is to resist the urge to be exalted in the eyes of men. Have you been willing to advance the cause of Christ by being vulnerable about your weaknesses or do you still try to get other people to see your strengths and accomplishments?
30If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. 32In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. 33But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands
Dig Deeper
I had only been a Christian for a short time, and I had never been to a men’s devotional and prayer meeting. On the way to the event, I imagined that the meeting would be full of testosterone and inspiring talks from men who had faced the world and overcome it for Christ in powerful and impressive ways. Once we arrived and the meeting began, however, that is not at all what happened. I was quite surprised when the first speaker got up and began to talk of his weaknesses and failures. He spoke of intimate details and made himself extremely vulnerable in front of a room of men who did nothing but support and encourage him. My first thought was "what kind of encouraging men’s meeting is this?" Instead of getting a pep rally that demonstrated the strength of the Christian men, I got a confession session that put all of their weaknesses on display. Yet, as the night went on, I realized that there was a strange sort of dignity, strength, and power that would not make sense to the world, but was still very real. It was the strength and power of Christ that was being displayed through the weakness of these men who had entered into Christ.
It is this same counterintuitive sort of strength in weakness that Paul will put on display for a people that are having great difficulty with the concept of the strength of Christ being made manifest through suffering, persecution, and weakness. In the Roman culture, in which Corinth was deeply steeped, suffering and persecution were a sign of being in disfavor with your gods. This was why Paul’s experiences were so difficult for them to comprehend and why they were so vulnerable to the wealth and health gospel being proffered by the opponents of Paul.
Paul knows, however, that if he simply presents his weakness and suffering, that it will leave him open to the assaults of his detractors. They will simply charge that Paul is arguing for weakness and suffering, because he does not have the blessing of God upon him, and has no choice but to turn around the gospel to fit his impotent life. Thus, Paul will take away that ground from which to launch an attack. He will boast in a worldly manner just to show them that his ministry of weakness in self and strength in Christ is a choice not an excuse. Everything that they might want to brag about to make them look good in the eyes of the world, Paul can match. He could play that game if he wanted to, and he does just long enough to make that point clear. His weaknesses are not because of his own inadequacy, but because he is willing to suffer for Christ and identify with those to whom he has shared the gospel.
Once that has been demonstrated, however, Paul will begin to show the things that a Christian should boast about, if one is going to boast at all. It’s not about the things that might impress the people of Corinth, in fact, it’s the things that would horrify them. If you could make a list of everything that would show disfavor with the gods in the eyes of pagan Corinth, this would be it. Paul says that he has been in prison (seven times according to the early church writing, 1 Clement 5:6), flogged, and exposed to death repeatedly. He had subjected himself to the authority of the Jewish synagogue so that he might continue to share the gospel with his fellow Jews, and had subsequently received 39 lashes five times. He had been in constant danger, gone without sleep, food, and basic shelter. On top of all of that, Paul has had to deal with his own worry and concern over the state of the churches that he has helped to plant. When they are weak, Paul is weak. When they are in sin, Paul burns with shame. Paul realizes that when we enter into Christ, we become one body with out fellow believers and we share in their joys and their sorrows. The fact is, Paul would rather not boast at all, since any kind of boasting other than boasting in Christ is foolish, but the situation in Corinth requires it, so he will boast in such a way to reveal his weakness and demonstrate the power of Christ in his life.
If the false apostles insist on playing a game of boasting, Paul will do that, but he boasts of all the wrong things. This is a strategy that would make a clear distinction between these two versions of the gospel and force the Corinthians to choose between which one sounded more authentic and in keeping with the life and ministry of Christ. Paul will appeal his veracity to the very God of the universe, would his opponents be willing to do the same?
Paul has shown that he doesn’t need to display any sort of human strength in order to show the approval of Christ in his life. Now he will finish it all off with an example that is over the top, so to speak. The Roman Empire gave an award of bravery called the corona muralis, ‘the crown of the wall’. It was given to the first brave soldier who went over the wall of a city that was under siege. If the person lived to actually receive the award, they had to return to Rome and wear a solemn oath to the gods that they were actually the first over the wall.
Rather than being like a culture that made a practice of listing one’s great accomplishments and bragging about how brave or successful you were, Paul will continue to brag about quite the opposite. He, in effect, gives himself a reverse corona muralis. Throughout his two surviving letters to Corinth, Paul has encouraged his spiritual children to resist the dangers of being sucked back into the their surrounding culture. Paul has listed his achievements the way anyone in their society might, but he has assembled a list of all the wrong achievements. These were things that anyone in the Roman world would be ashamed of, let alone put together in a public letter. Paul has topped it off with his achievement of being the first over the wall, but in the wrong direction. In order to continue his work of spreading the true gospel, he was willing to engage in an act that would be considered cowardly and then boast about it because it shows his commitment to the cause of Christ and his disdain for the things that bring honor in the world. The gospel turns things upside down. He had gone to Damascus to persecute Christians, now he would leave Damascus in a basket as a persecuted Christian.
Devotional Thought
One of the great battles of the Christian life that we all face, is to resist the urge to be exalted in the eyes of men. Have you been willing to advance the cause of Christ by being vulnerable about your weaknesses or do you still try to get other people to see your strengths and accomplishments?
Friday, November 09, 2007
2 Corinthians 11:16-21a & Commentary
Paul Boasts About His Sufferings
16I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. 17In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. 18Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. 19You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! 20In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face. 21To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!
Dig Deeper
The kids at my school used to love to rap at lunchtime. They would all gather round and play beats or make their own and then have a great time rapping to each other. I actually used to enjoy it quite a bit, as they used to do it in my classroom. One year, however, a new group of students came in and joined in the tradition, but through the influence of two or three new students, the rapping began to take a nasty tone. They introduced something that is done on the streets but had not been in our school, the practice of ribbing and battle rap. This is a style of rap where you make fun of anything you can about the other person, and then they answer back by making fun of you.
After becoming aware of what was going on, I warned them not to do but it kept managing to creep in, especially when I would step out of the room. I was close to ending the lunchtime rap sessions altogether when I decided upon a different approach one day. I joined in. I wouldn’t normally do that, but desperate times call for desperate measures. As I walked up, one of the boys had the nerve to take a few shots at me, even though they were marginally good-natured. Then he challenged me to rap back at them. He was sure that I was going to decline and maybe yell at them, but by doing that, he would have won in the eyes of the other students. I smiled wryly because they never expected that their old history teacher had spent a lot of timing rapping in his youth. I quickly sent out a few good-natured but verbally intricate shots at them, which caused all the other students to "ooah and aaah." Then I took a few shots at myself to disarm the situation, and finally I launched into a rap about how silly it was to make fun of other people. By the time I was done, it was obvious that I had beaten them at their own game, and in the process shown that they really weren’t very good rappers and that making fun of others was counter-productive. The problem of battle rapping was over and things went back to the good-natured rap.
As I mulled over what Paul is about to do in the next section, I immediately thought of this story, because it is very similar to the mindset that I believe Paul had, and is almost identical to what Paul is about to do. His opponents have been boasting in the way that the world does, in order to exalt themselves, and Paul is about to expose them as frauds, by playing their own game for a brief moment.
These other teachers had blown in to town, and no doubt, seemed quite exciting and authoritative. They were preaching a gospel of self-fulfillment and excitement and appealing to the weaknesses of the Corinthian’s culture. These guys were impressive. They were witty, clever, good speakers, and said that their version of the gospel could deliver on things like health, wealth, and happiness, the types of things that people want to hear. Yet, there was apparently a downside. They were bossy, they demanded a lot of money, and they were rude and dismissive to the people in Corinth. They had put up with quite a bit of foolishness in order to receive the wisdom of these so-called apostles, all because they were so wise, Paul says rather sarcastically. If they would just wake up and take a look, though, they would see that the result has been anything but the freeing power of the true gospel. They have been enslaved, exploited, taken advantage of, and even slapped in the face (Paul is probably speaking metaphorically here, but it is possible that these teachers had actually slapped people in a demeaning fashion, putting them in their ‘place’.)
The Corinthians have allowed themselves to get sucked in by a worldly view of wisdom, one that values things like flash, charisma, and impressive communication skills rather than actually having the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon them and their ministry. Because they have been so willing to engage in this type of foolishness, however, Paul will enter into that realm, if only for a moment. He will, just for a minute, become all things to all men, in order to help them to see not only that his opponents have engaged in a foolish, worldly brand of wisdom and boasting, but also that they really don’t have much to boast about. Even if Paul were to sink down to their level and look at the things that they value, God has allowed him to be more impressive even by human standards. Once Paul has their attention, though, he will turn things around and boast in the very things that his detractors never would. He will boast in his weakness. He will brag about the suffering that he has endured on the behalf of the Messiah. We should be clear that Paul only boasts at their level in verse 22 and 23a. In 23b, he will engage in the type of boasting that would horrify his opponents, by talking of beatings, danger and imprisonment.
What Paul is about to do is not serious biblical teaching; he is quite clear about that. Yet, in a sense, he feels that engaging in this is necessary to expose his opponents so that the real gospel can be recognized and heard. The next passages will make clear that the gospel will shine through even when Paul engages in what he calls foolishness. In 1 Corinthians 1:25, Paul declared that the foolishness of God was wiser than any human wisdom. He is about to show the truth of that in living color.
Devotional Thought
It was a bold move by Paul to engage the world at their level in order to expose their foolishness and demonstrate the differences and the superiority of the true gospel. How many of us would be willing to do the same thing in with our culture?
16I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. 17In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. 18Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. 19You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! 20In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face. 21To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!
Dig Deeper
The kids at my school used to love to rap at lunchtime. They would all gather round and play beats or make their own and then have a great time rapping to each other. I actually used to enjoy it quite a bit, as they used to do it in my classroom. One year, however, a new group of students came in and joined in the tradition, but through the influence of two or three new students, the rapping began to take a nasty tone. They introduced something that is done on the streets but had not been in our school, the practice of ribbing and battle rap. This is a style of rap where you make fun of anything you can about the other person, and then they answer back by making fun of you.
After becoming aware of what was going on, I warned them not to do but it kept managing to creep in, especially when I would step out of the room. I was close to ending the lunchtime rap sessions altogether when I decided upon a different approach one day. I joined in. I wouldn’t normally do that, but desperate times call for desperate measures. As I walked up, one of the boys had the nerve to take a few shots at me, even though they were marginally good-natured. Then he challenged me to rap back at them. He was sure that I was going to decline and maybe yell at them, but by doing that, he would have won in the eyes of the other students. I smiled wryly because they never expected that their old history teacher had spent a lot of timing rapping in his youth. I quickly sent out a few good-natured but verbally intricate shots at them, which caused all the other students to "ooah and aaah." Then I took a few shots at myself to disarm the situation, and finally I launched into a rap about how silly it was to make fun of other people. By the time I was done, it was obvious that I had beaten them at their own game, and in the process shown that they really weren’t very good rappers and that making fun of others was counter-productive. The problem of battle rapping was over and things went back to the good-natured rap.
As I mulled over what Paul is about to do in the next section, I immediately thought of this story, because it is very similar to the mindset that I believe Paul had, and is almost identical to what Paul is about to do. His opponents have been boasting in the way that the world does, in order to exalt themselves, and Paul is about to expose them as frauds, by playing their own game for a brief moment.
These other teachers had blown in to town, and no doubt, seemed quite exciting and authoritative. They were preaching a gospel of self-fulfillment and excitement and appealing to the weaknesses of the Corinthian’s culture. These guys were impressive. They were witty, clever, good speakers, and said that their version of the gospel could deliver on things like health, wealth, and happiness, the types of things that people want to hear. Yet, there was apparently a downside. They were bossy, they demanded a lot of money, and they were rude and dismissive to the people in Corinth. They had put up with quite a bit of foolishness in order to receive the wisdom of these so-called apostles, all because they were so wise, Paul says rather sarcastically. If they would just wake up and take a look, though, they would see that the result has been anything but the freeing power of the true gospel. They have been enslaved, exploited, taken advantage of, and even slapped in the face (Paul is probably speaking metaphorically here, but it is possible that these teachers had actually slapped people in a demeaning fashion, putting them in their ‘place’.)
The Corinthians have allowed themselves to get sucked in by a worldly view of wisdom, one that values things like flash, charisma, and impressive communication skills rather than actually having the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon them and their ministry. Because they have been so willing to engage in this type of foolishness, however, Paul will enter into that realm, if only for a moment. He will, just for a minute, become all things to all men, in order to help them to see not only that his opponents have engaged in a foolish, worldly brand of wisdom and boasting, but also that they really don’t have much to boast about. Even if Paul were to sink down to their level and look at the things that they value, God has allowed him to be more impressive even by human standards. Once Paul has their attention, though, he will turn things around and boast in the very things that his detractors never would. He will boast in his weakness. He will brag about the suffering that he has endured on the behalf of the Messiah. We should be clear that Paul only boasts at their level in verse 22 and 23a. In 23b, he will engage in the type of boasting that would horrify his opponents, by talking of beatings, danger and imprisonment.
What Paul is about to do is not serious biblical teaching; he is quite clear about that. Yet, in a sense, he feels that engaging in this is necessary to expose his opponents so that the real gospel can be recognized and heard. The next passages will make clear that the gospel will shine through even when Paul engages in what he calls foolishness. In 1 Corinthians 1:25, Paul declared that the foolishness of God was wiser than any human wisdom. He is about to show the truth of that in living color.
Devotional Thought
It was a bold move by Paul to engage the world at their level in order to expose their foolishness and demonstrate the differences and the superiority of the true gospel. How many of us would be willing to do the same thing in with our culture?
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
2 Corinthians 11:7-15 & Commentary
7Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. 9And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. 10As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. 11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! 12And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
Dig Deeper
One of the teams in the high school athletic conference in which I used to coach was a major problem for years. The school was an inner-city charter school just like all of the other schools in the conference but this one had a very poor reputation. The principle had been under investigation for misuse of funds, as had the entire school. The basketball coach had been discovered intentionally using a player who did not even attend the school (false grade reports had been manufactured by someone inside the school office) and on several occasions, teachers were involved in or responsible for inciting altercations at basketball games. Unfortunately, the students seemed to act just like the teachers and administrators at the school. It was no surprise to those familiar with the school that the students would behave in a manner in keeping with the behavior and reputation of the school. In fact, the school was actually thrown out of the athletic conference due to the uncontrollability and potential violence of their fans at games.
Paul is simultaneously defending his apostolic ministry while making it quite clear that the position of his opponents was not just a local variation of the more traditional Christian practices. It wasn’t that Paul just didn’t care for the gospel being preached by the super apostles. In this passage, he gets right to the heart of the matter. Earlier, Paul called those who would oppose him ‘unbelievers’ (2 Cor. 6:14). Now he is even more specific. Paul has acted the way that he has because he belongs to the true Messiah, and they acted the way they had because of who they belong to. They had followed the example of their superior.
We certainly don’t have any written records of the charges that Paul’s detractors were making, but when we look at the areas where Paul defends himself, we can begin to piece together, with a few gaps, the sorts of things they were charging Paul with. The attacks against Paul had, apparently, become so unfair that he was in the position of being damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. On one hand, Paul was accused of being dishonest and stealing money. Yet, on the other hand, when he refused to take any sort of support from the Corinthian Church, he is charged with not loving them enough to take support from them. Paul, however, vigorously defends himself on both ends. On one end, he would not take any sort of money or support, so as not to appear in any way that he was benefiting from the people of Corinth. This makes sense considering that Paul was spreading the gospel in a culture that valued prosperity and thought that the value of the speaker was equal to the amount of money he made. They also believed that it was a sign of respect and patronage for disciples of a teacher to support that teacher. Paul didn’t want any of those things being associated with his ministry (and he wanted disciples of Jesus, not Paul), so he refused to take any support from them.
On the other end, Paul wants them to understand that he has not done all of this because he doesn’t love them. God knows that wasn’t true. He did it all precisely because he loved them. It was the right of an apostle to receive support for his ministry, but Paul lowered himself in status and raised them above the obligation to support him. He shared the gospel free of charge to them, to the point of robbing (Paul is, of course, speaking hyperbolically here meaning if there was theft it was for not from them) churches that were extremely poor. He has not and would continue not to take support from them because he don’t want them to ever see Paul in any of the worldly ways that might have come so naturally to them.
Despite the fact that this would open himself to more criticism form his opponents, Paul would keep on doing what he was doing. He knew that by doing this, it would cut the ground (a military word that meant the place from where an attack was launched) from under his opponents. Paul realized that the criticism of him for not taking money was more of a result of the fact that his opponents knew that once the Corinthians began to understand his reasons, it would make them look badly. If Paul would compromise on this, it would make them look a little better in comparison.
Paul now hits the real reason that his opponents have attacked him so violently, have preached a different gospel, and have masqueraded as authentic apostles of the real gospel. The one to whom they belonged was not the Messiah, but Satan. This explains their behavior. Satan was known to masquerade as an angel of light (see Isa. 14:12-15), so it only makes sense that those who belong to him would pretend to be something that they were not. Paul has already stated that they taught a different Jesus, were animated by a different Spirit, and spread a different gospel (v. 4). Now he explains why. They were acting just light Satan, obviously implying that they belonged to Satan. In the end, though, they would receive exactly what they deserved, which will presumably be the lake of fire (Gehenna) that was prepared for Satan and his angels (Matt. 25:41).
Throughout this section, Paul has carefully crafted a parallel that should not be missed. Korah was the man who led a rebellion against Moses (Num. 16). Korah and his followers wanted honor and authority that was equal with Moses, all the while they questioned and sought to undermine the authority of Moses. They tried to gain equality with Moses, but were shown by God to be false leaders while Moses was demonstrated as the true leader. In the end, Korah and his followers were swallowed up by the earth and went down into Sheol, the place of the unrighteous dead. In the same way, Paul’s opponents have not just made a mistake in doctrine, they have attacked the authority of the true leader and the man of God. They have desired for themselves the honor and authority that were due only true apostles. They made an attempt to undermine the authority of Paul that had nearly led many people away from the true gospel. They would get precisely what their actions deserved, just as Korah had.
Clearly, Paul does not pull any punches here. But his reasons are valid. This is no mere doctrinal squabble. He is in a battle for the very gospel itself. He was trying to protect it from being turned into another Corinthians philosophical system with a Christian twist. He was, in essence, fighting to keep it the as the true vehicle of God’s new creation. That was a fight from which Paul would never back down.
Devotional Thought
Much of our version of Christianity in America today is in desperate need of a close examination that would rid it of it’s unhealthy cultural influences. In what areas do you see that your surrounding culture has crept in and watered down your own Christianity or that of your church?
Dig Deeper
One of the teams in the high school athletic conference in which I used to coach was a major problem for years. The school was an inner-city charter school just like all of the other schools in the conference but this one had a very poor reputation. The principle had been under investigation for misuse of funds, as had the entire school. The basketball coach had been discovered intentionally using a player who did not even attend the school (false grade reports had been manufactured by someone inside the school office) and on several occasions, teachers were involved in or responsible for inciting altercations at basketball games. Unfortunately, the students seemed to act just like the teachers and administrators at the school. It was no surprise to those familiar with the school that the students would behave in a manner in keeping with the behavior and reputation of the school. In fact, the school was actually thrown out of the athletic conference due to the uncontrollability and potential violence of their fans at games.
Paul is simultaneously defending his apostolic ministry while making it quite clear that the position of his opponents was not just a local variation of the more traditional Christian practices. It wasn’t that Paul just didn’t care for the gospel being preached by the super apostles. In this passage, he gets right to the heart of the matter. Earlier, Paul called those who would oppose him ‘unbelievers’ (2 Cor. 6:14). Now he is even more specific. Paul has acted the way that he has because he belongs to the true Messiah, and they acted the way they had because of who they belong to. They had followed the example of their superior.
We certainly don’t have any written records of the charges that Paul’s detractors were making, but when we look at the areas where Paul defends himself, we can begin to piece together, with a few gaps, the sorts of things they were charging Paul with. The attacks against Paul had, apparently, become so unfair that he was in the position of being damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. On one hand, Paul was accused of being dishonest and stealing money. Yet, on the other hand, when he refused to take any sort of support from the Corinthian Church, he is charged with not loving them enough to take support from them. Paul, however, vigorously defends himself on both ends. On one end, he would not take any sort of money or support, so as not to appear in any way that he was benefiting from the people of Corinth. This makes sense considering that Paul was spreading the gospel in a culture that valued prosperity and thought that the value of the speaker was equal to the amount of money he made. They also believed that it was a sign of respect and patronage for disciples of a teacher to support that teacher. Paul didn’t want any of those things being associated with his ministry (and he wanted disciples of Jesus, not Paul), so he refused to take any support from them.
On the other end, Paul wants them to understand that he has not done all of this because he doesn’t love them. God knows that wasn’t true. He did it all precisely because he loved them. It was the right of an apostle to receive support for his ministry, but Paul lowered himself in status and raised them above the obligation to support him. He shared the gospel free of charge to them, to the point of robbing (Paul is, of course, speaking hyperbolically here meaning if there was theft it was for not from them) churches that were extremely poor. He has not and would continue not to take support from them because he don’t want them to ever see Paul in any of the worldly ways that might have come so naturally to them.
Despite the fact that this would open himself to more criticism form his opponents, Paul would keep on doing what he was doing. He knew that by doing this, it would cut the ground (a military word that meant the place from where an attack was launched) from under his opponents. Paul realized that the criticism of him for not taking money was more of a result of the fact that his opponents knew that once the Corinthians began to understand his reasons, it would make them look badly. If Paul would compromise on this, it would make them look a little better in comparison.
Paul now hits the real reason that his opponents have attacked him so violently, have preached a different gospel, and have masqueraded as authentic apostles of the real gospel. The one to whom they belonged was not the Messiah, but Satan. This explains their behavior. Satan was known to masquerade as an angel of light (see Isa. 14:12-15), so it only makes sense that those who belong to him would pretend to be something that they were not. Paul has already stated that they taught a different Jesus, were animated by a different Spirit, and spread a different gospel (v. 4). Now he explains why. They were acting just light Satan, obviously implying that they belonged to Satan. In the end, though, they would receive exactly what they deserved, which will presumably be the lake of fire (Gehenna) that was prepared for Satan and his angels (Matt. 25:41).
Throughout this section, Paul has carefully crafted a parallel that should not be missed. Korah was the man who led a rebellion against Moses (Num. 16). Korah and his followers wanted honor and authority that was equal with Moses, all the while they questioned and sought to undermine the authority of Moses. They tried to gain equality with Moses, but were shown by God to be false leaders while Moses was demonstrated as the true leader. In the end, Korah and his followers were swallowed up by the earth and went down into Sheol, the place of the unrighteous dead. In the same way, Paul’s opponents have not just made a mistake in doctrine, they have attacked the authority of the true leader and the man of God. They have desired for themselves the honor and authority that were due only true apostles. They made an attempt to undermine the authority of Paul that had nearly led many people away from the true gospel. They would get precisely what their actions deserved, just as Korah had.
Clearly, Paul does not pull any punches here. But his reasons are valid. This is no mere doctrinal squabble. He is in a battle for the very gospel itself. He was trying to protect it from being turned into another Corinthians philosophical system with a Christian twist. He was, in essence, fighting to keep it the as the true vehicle of God’s new creation. That was a fight from which Paul would never back down.
Devotional Thought
Much of our version of Christianity in America today is in desperate need of a close examination that would rid it of it’s unhealthy cultural influences. In what areas do you see that your surrounding culture has crept in and watered down your own Christianity or that of your church?
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
2 Corinthians 11:1-6 & Commentary
Paul and the False Apostles
1I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness; but you are already doing that. 2I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 5But I do not think I am in the least inferior to those "super-apostles." 6I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.
Dig Deeper
In a movie I saw recently, one of the characters was supposed to be the pilot of a futuristic helicopter that served as a shuttle for rich people. It was his birthday, however, and one of the other pilots offered to go in his place so that he could go home to his family. He said that he couldn’t because the client had requested him specifically. The other pilot pointed out, though, that they didn’t know what he looked like, so he would just go and pretend to be his friend. He did, and no one was the wiser, until, of course, a little later in the plot when the mistaken identity became a major part of the plot twist. They didn’t know the real pilot from the imposter, however, because they didn’t really know the real pilot.
In this section Paul begins to identify for the Corinthians how they can know the difference between those approved by God and those not. The real issue can be boiled down to who is presenting the authentic versions of Jesus, the Spirit, and the gospel. Implicit in this appeal by Paul is that the Corinthians must know the real Jesus that Paul presented to them so that they can identify the imposters. This section can be particularly instructive for those of us who live in such confusing pluralistic times where it seems as if on every street corner and every TV channel, someone else is presenting a different version of Jesus and claiming it to be the real one.
Paul begins with a bit of irony. If the Corinthians can put up with the foolishness of his opponents as they have, then they can bear with a little foolishness from Paul as he makes a point. He is jealous for them in the sense that God was jealous for the Israelites in the Old Testament. God did not want the Israelites harming themselves by seeking after false gods, and Paul does not want the Corinthians to harm themselves by seeking after false versions of the gospel.
Paul has gone to a great deal of work to prepare the people of Corinth as a beautiful bride for the Messiah. In the Old Testament, it was quite common to refer to YHWH as the husband of Israel and Israel as His bride (Hos. 1-3; Ezek. 16; Isa. 49:18; 50:1-2; 54:1-8; 62:5). Mark 2:19 makes reference to the Messiah as the bridegroom and in Ephesians 5:22-23, Paul applies this image to describe the relationship between Christ and His Church. Paul makes a double point by using this imagery. The first is that the Messiah’s people, the Church, have now become the true people of God, replacing the nation of Israel. The second is that, as the betrothed, they must remain faithful to the Messiah. The last thing he wants is the bride to start taking a look at other men before the final wedding.
Paul has talked quite a bit about his opponents, but now he gets to the heart of the matter and accuses them of something far more serious. When they teach the things they have and stand in opposition to Paul, they are actually teaching a different presentation of what Jesus accomplished in his ministry, a different version of how one receives and grows in the Spirit, and completely different conditions for belonging to the people of God.
These false apostles were teaching that Jesus had come and suffered so that we didn’t have to. He hadn’t opened the door to the Kingdom, allowing people an access to it that would bring misunderstanding and persecution from those who did not possess and did not understand the Kingdom. Rather, they taught that Christ had brought the entire fullness of the Kingdom now, and that the true signs of that were health, wealth, and freedom from suffering. Any lack in someone’s life or any suffering were sure signs that that person did not possess the fullness of the version of the Kingdom of Jesus they were teaching. This was a Santa Claus Jesus who would give anyone anything they wanted. Paul’s concern was that it was enough like the true Jesus, with enough similarities to the true Kingdom, that people who didn’t intimately know the authentic Jesus might be confused. This Jesus, who would give all the benefits without repentance and dying to self was just that sort of thing that appealed to the felt needs of people and could be extremely dangerous. It is dangerous because it convinces people that they can have everything that makes them happy. It keeps people focused on themselves when they should be learning to embrace the fact that they have died to themselves.
The true gospel, however, is not that at all. It is the truth that Jesus did suffer, die, and raise from the dead. He does allow us to enter into His Kingdom and the age to come in the present age but it isn’t so that we can have an eternal Christmas morning, with Christ giving us everything we want like some spoiled little children. The real gospel is the fact that Christ preached that we will suffer and go through many difficult times, but He promised to walk with us and take us through those times, more refined and purified than we had ever been. Paul’s opponents didn’t like this version of the gospel. It didn’t give them the status, reputation, wealth, and comforts that they wanted. If you really believed in Paul’s version of the gospel and patterned your life after the suffering Messiah, you might wind up looking like, well. . . Paul. And that’s the last thing they wanted. Paul preached and lived as though the Kingdom had been inaugurated but not fully consummated, and that it was up to the Messiah’s people to share in his life of suffering in order to expand the Kingdom. His opponents wanted a Kingdom that was already here in full and could be accessed like an eternal, bottomless ATM machine, constantly dispensing anything that we can set our hearts on.
Paul didn’t have all the rhetorical prowess in presenting the real Kingdom, but rather than that making him inferior as his detractors had claimed, it made his humble presentation of the gospel all the more powerful. But the question remains, how could the Corinthians (and us) know the authentic gospel? The answer is simple. By making every effort to know the real Jesus. Once we do that, we can spot the Santa Claus Jesus from a mile away.
Devotional Thought
Which Messiah do you seek after? Are you faithful to the suffering Messiah, the crucified and risen Messiah? Is that the Messiah that you embrace and live out in your own life or do you occasionally find yourself seeking after the Santa Claus Messiah?
1I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness; but you are already doing that. 2I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 5But I do not think I am in the least inferior to those "super-apostles." 6I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.
Dig Deeper
In a movie I saw recently, one of the characters was supposed to be the pilot of a futuristic helicopter that served as a shuttle for rich people. It was his birthday, however, and one of the other pilots offered to go in his place so that he could go home to his family. He said that he couldn’t because the client had requested him specifically. The other pilot pointed out, though, that they didn’t know what he looked like, so he would just go and pretend to be his friend. He did, and no one was the wiser, until, of course, a little later in the plot when the mistaken identity became a major part of the plot twist. They didn’t know the real pilot from the imposter, however, because they didn’t really know the real pilot.
In this section Paul begins to identify for the Corinthians how they can know the difference between those approved by God and those not. The real issue can be boiled down to who is presenting the authentic versions of Jesus, the Spirit, and the gospel. Implicit in this appeal by Paul is that the Corinthians must know the real Jesus that Paul presented to them so that they can identify the imposters. This section can be particularly instructive for those of us who live in such confusing pluralistic times where it seems as if on every street corner and every TV channel, someone else is presenting a different version of Jesus and claiming it to be the real one.
Paul begins with a bit of irony. If the Corinthians can put up with the foolishness of his opponents as they have, then they can bear with a little foolishness from Paul as he makes a point. He is jealous for them in the sense that God was jealous for the Israelites in the Old Testament. God did not want the Israelites harming themselves by seeking after false gods, and Paul does not want the Corinthians to harm themselves by seeking after false versions of the gospel.
Paul has gone to a great deal of work to prepare the people of Corinth as a beautiful bride for the Messiah. In the Old Testament, it was quite common to refer to YHWH as the husband of Israel and Israel as His bride (Hos. 1-3; Ezek. 16; Isa. 49:18; 50:1-2; 54:1-8; 62:5). Mark 2:19 makes reference to the Messiah as the bridegroom and in Ephesians 5:22-23, Paul applies this image to describe the relationship between Christ and His Church. Paul makes a double point by using this imagery. The first is that the Messiah’s people, the Church, have now become the true people of God, replacing the nation of Israel. The second is that, as the betrothed, they must remain faithful to the Messiah. The last thing he wants is the bride to start taking a look at other men before the final wedding.
Paul has talked quite a bit about his opponents, but now he gets to the heart of the matter and accuses them of something far more serious. When they teach the things they have and stand in opposition to Paul, they are actually teaching a different presentation of what Jesus accomplished in his ministry, a different version of how one receives and grows in the Spirit, and completely different conditions for belonging to the people of God.
These false apostles were teaching that Jesus had come and suffered so that we didn’t have to. He hadn’t opened the door to the Kingdom, allowing people an access to it that would bring misunderstanding and persecution from those who did not possess and did not understand the Kingdom. Rather, they taught that Christ had brought the entire fullness of the Kingdom now, and that the true signs of that were health, wealth, and freedom from suffering. Any lack in someone’s life or any suffering were sure signs that that person did not possess the fullness of the version of the Kingdom of Jesus they were teaching. This was a Santa Claus Jesus who would give anyone anything they wanted. Paul’s concern was that it was enough like the true Jesus, with enough similarities to the true Kingdom, that people who didn’t intimately know the authentic Jesus might be confused. This Jesus, who would give all the benefits without repentance and dying to self was just that sort of thing that appealed to the felt needs of people and could be extremely dangerous. It is dangerous because it convinces people that they can have everything that makes them happy. It keeps people focused on themselves when they should be learning to embrace the fact that they have died to themselves.
The true gospel, however, is not that at all. It is the truth that Jesus did suffer, die, and raise from the dead. He does allow us to enter into His Kingdom and the age to come in the present age but it isn’t so that we can have an eternal Christmas morning, with Christ giving us everything we want like some spoiled little children. The real gospel is the fact that Christ preached that we will suffer and go through many difficult times, but He promised to walk with us and take us through those times, more refined and purified than we had ever been. Paul’s opponents didn’t like this version of the gospel. It didn’t give them the status, reputation, wealth, and comforts that they wanted. If you really believed in Paul’s version of the gospel and patterned your life after the suffering Messiah, you might wind up looking like, well. . . Paul. And that’s the last thing they wanted. Paul preached and lived as though the Kingdom had been inaugurated but not fully consummated, and that it was up to the Messiah’s people to share in his life of suffering in order to expand the Kingdom. His opponents wanted a Kingdom that was already here in full and could be accessed like an eternal, bottomless ATM machine, constantly dispensing anything that we can set our hearts on.
Paul didn’t have all the rhetorical prowess in presenting the real Kingdom, but rather than that making him inferior as his detractors had claimed, it made his humble presentation of the gospel all the more powerful. But the question remains, how could the Corinthians (and us) know the authentic gospel? The answer is simple. By making every effort to know the real Jesus. Once we do that, we can spot the Santa Claus Jesus from a mile away.
Devotional Thought
Which Messiah do you seek after? Are you faithful to the suffering Messiah, the crucified and risen Messiah? Is that the Messiah that you embrace and live out in your own life or do you occasionally find yourself seeking after the Santa Claus Messiah?
Monday, November 05, 2007
2 Corinthians 10:12-18 & Commentary
12We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. 13We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a field that reaches even to you. 14We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. 15Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand, 16so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in another man's territory. 17But, "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
Dig Deeper
My students were sure they had it all figured out. They had completed their timeline projects on Egyptian history and were busy comparing one another’s work. Some of the students had adorned their work with some beautiful drawings and impressive artistic additions that really impressed the other students. When they reviewed one another’s work, it was those extra artistic flairs that convinced them that those students would be the one’s to receive a high grade. The problem was that the students were not the one’s determining the grades, nor were they determining the criterion on which the assignments would be graded. I was the one doing that. What they had failed to understand was that, although the extra artwork was nice and helped their grades slightly, it was the fundamentals of accuracy, thoroughness, and good writing that were far more important. Because of that, several of the timelines that received the highest grades were not the fanciest or most attractive, they were the ones who had followed the guidelines of the assignment and completed the important work excellently.
This is one of the things that Paul is trying to help those see who might still be swayed by his opponents in Corinth, or still sitting on the fence. His opponents, those claiming to be apostles, only appeared impressive if they were judged by the wrong standards. They looked impressive and flashy but that is not how an apostle or any worker in the gospel should be judged. On this point, Paul was extremely clear, and so should they be.
Paul’s opponents were claiming that Paul had shown that it was they, not Paul, who had the right to exercise apostolic authority over the community in Corinth. Paul, in chapters 11-12 will pick up the question of whether these men should be considered apostles at all, but for right now he will deal with the topic of his own claim of apostolic authority over the Church in Corinth. To do so he will first, establish the proper criterion for determining apostolic authority and second, he will demonstrate that he, not his opponents, meet that standard.
His opponents evidently spent a lot time judging their worth by comparing themselves to one another. Paul points out that this is a fundamental flaw in their understanding that shows that they did not understand the true nature of apostolic authority. They are not wise because they are judging by flashy human standards of their own abilities, spiritual gifts, and rhetorical excellence. Paul, though, will have none of that. He sarcastically confirms that he wouldn’t dare to use those standards because he knows he won’t match up well in that contest. He will limit himself to the things that God uses to establish authority. Paul is only interested in God’s standard, which is that God established Paul as the one to reach Corinth with the gospel. That is the marker of Paul’s authority because that door was opened and established by God. Paul is not trying to boast in the Lord of authority that he does not have. His point is obvious. This is what his opponents have done by claiming authority in a community in which they did not establish. Paul believed that the founding of a community was the only appropriate and divinely instituted measuring stick for determining true apostolic authority.
Paul’s authority has been demonstrated by the fact that God had allowed him into Corinth and had ordained him as the one who would preach the gospel and establish a Christian community there. Now Paul hopes that he can complete the establishment of the gospel community in Achaia in the East so that more areas in the West, like Spain, can have the gospel preached to them. Paul, presumably, will only go to areas opened to him by the will of God and he believes that God will not call him to expand his areas of ministry until his work in and around Corinth has been firmly established. These are the things that Paul will boast of. In Paul’s eyes, the only true grounds for boasting in the Lord, the only rightful standard of exercising authority is that the approval comes directly from God’s will. Boasting in the Lord is to boast in the divine mercy of God. The fact that Paul’s opponents were boasting in and claiming authority because of their own abilities and talents was a clear indicator that they were trying to grade themselves based on the extras rather than the necessary requirements.
For Paul, the problem with his opponents is not that they are boasting, it is that they are boasting in all the wrong things. They are comparing themselves to one another and boasting in their own natural abilities. Paul is not interested in the things that most humans value. What is important for him is that the object of the boasting is what God has done. In verse 17, Paul quotes from Jeremiah 9:23-24, which is a call from Jeremiah to acknowledge God for his grace and provision. Paul’s opponents were claiming authority in Corinth because of their impressive stature, their prosperity, and their flashy abilities. The fact that they claimed authority based on these criterion were a demonstration that their boast of authority came from the wrong source. They were not relying on and acknowledging God. By commending themselves and claiming authority that was not given to them by God, they have shown themselves to not be wise and to fail to have an understanding of divine approval. Just as in Paul’s day, the church in our day must constantly be on guard for those that would commend themselves according to human standards but are not commended by the Lord according to His standards.
Devotional Thought
When you consider who is effective in Christian ministry, do you tend to judge or commend others by God’s standards or by human standards? Paul says that his apostolic authority was established by the fact that God allowed him to spread the gospel to Corinth. By what ways, in our own churches and ministry, might we determine who is approved by God?
Dig Deeper
My students were sure they had it all figured out. They had completed their timeline projects on Egyptian history and were busy comparing one another’s work. Some of the students had adorned their work with some beautiful drawings and impressive artistic additions that really impressed the other students. When they reviewed one another’s work, it was those extra artistic flairs that convinced them that those students would be the one’s to receive a high grade. The problem was that the students were not the one’s determining the grades, nor were they determining the criterion on which the assignments would be graded. I was the one doing that. What they had failed to understand was that, although the extra artwork was nice and helped their grades slightly, it was the fundamentals of accuracy, thoroughness, and good writing that were far more important. Because of that, several of the timelines that received the highest grades were not the fanciest or most attractive, they were the ones who had followed the guidelines of the assignment and completed the important work excellently.
This is one of the things that Paul is trying to help those see who might still be swayed by his opponents in Corinth, or still sitting on the fence. His opponents, those claiming to be apostles, only appeared impressive if they were judged by the wrong standards. They looked impressive and flashy but that is not how an apostle or any worker in the gospel should be judged. On this point, Paul was extremely clear, and so should they be.
Paul’s opponents were claiming that Paul had shown that it was they, not Paul, who had the right to exercise apostolic authority over the community in Corinth. Paul, in chapters 11-12 will pick up the question of whether these men should be considered apostles at all, but for right now he will deal with the topic of his own claim of apostolic authority over the Church in Corinth. To do so he will first, establish the proper criterion for determining apostolic authority and second, he will demonstrate that he, not his opponents, meet that standard.
His opponents evidently spent a lot time judging their worth by comparing themselves to one another. Paul points out that this is a fundamental flaw in their understanding that shows that they did not understand the true nature of apostolic authority. They are not wise because they are judging by flashy human standards of their own abilities, spiritual gifts, and rhetorical excellence. Paul, though, will have none of that. He sarcastically confirms that he wouldn’t dare to use those standards because he knows he won’t match up well in that contest. He will limit himself to the things that God uses to establish authority. Paul is only interested in God’s standard, which is that God established Paul as the one to reach Corinth with the gospel. That is the marker of Paul’s authority because that door was opened and established by God. Paul is not trying to boast in the Lord of authority that he does not have. His point is obvious. This is what his opponents have done by claiming authority in a community in which they did not establish. Paul believed that the founding of a community was the only appropriate and divinely instituted measuring stick for determining true apostolic authority.
Paul’s authority has been demonstrated by the fact that God had allowed him into Corinth and had ordained him as the one who would preach the gospel and establish a Christian community there. Now Paul hopes that he can complete the establishment of the gospel community in Achaia in the East so that more areas in the West, like Spain, can have the gospel preached to them. Paul, presumably, will only go to areas opened to him by the will of God and he believes that God will not call him to expand his areas of ministry until his work in and around Corinth has been firmly established. These are the things that Paul will boast of. In Paul’s eyes, the only true grounds for boasting in the Lord, the only rightful standard of exercising authority is that the approval comes directly from God’s will. Boasting in the Lord is to boast in the divine mercy of God. The fact that Paul’s opponents were boasting in and claiming authority because of their own abilities and talents was a clear indicator that they were trying to grade themselves based on the extras rather than the necessary requirements.
For Paul, the problem with his opponents is not that they are boasting, it is that they are boasting in all the wrong things. They are comparing themselves to one another and boasting in their own natural abilities. Paul is not interested in the things that most humans value. What is important for him is that the object of the boasting is what God has done. In verse 17, Paul quotes from Jeremiah 9:23-24, which is a call from Jeremiah to acknowledge God for his grace and provision. Paul’s opponents were claiming authority in Corinth because of their impressive stature, their prosperity, and their flashy abilities. The fact that they claimed authority based on these criterion were a demonstration that their boast of authority came from the wrong source. They were not relying on and acknowledging God. By commending themselves and claiming authority that was not given to them by God, they have shown themselves to not be wise and to fail to have an understanding of divine approval. Just as in Paul’s day, the church in our day must constantly be on guard for those that would commend themselves according to human standards but are not commended by the Lord according to His standards.
Devotional Thought
When you consider who is effective in Christian ministry, do you tend to judge or commend others by God’s standards or by human standards? Paul says that his apostolic authority was established by the fact that God allowed him to spread the gospel to Corinth. By what ways, in our own churches and ministry, might we determine who is approved by God?
Thursday, November 01, 2007
2 Corinthians 10:1-11 & Commentary
Paul's Defense of His Ministry
1By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" when away! 2I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
7You are looking only on the surface of things. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he. 8For even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 9I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. 10For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." 11Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.
Dig Deeper
The young teacher was rather quiet and unassuming. He didn’t really care to engage his students in discipline if he didn’t have to. He much preferred to lay down the rules of the class quietly and without much fanfare. That way when he was actually in class with the students, he could get down to the business of teaching and enjoying the topic of the class. Most of the students greatly enjoyed the class and the teacher, but one year a couple of students came in and began to challenge the young man. They took his good nature and quiet way fro weakness and begin to attempt to convince other students that the teacher was weak and wasn’t a good teacher like they had all thought.
A few days later, a situation happened outside of the school when a couple of non-students came up to beat up a current student in the teacher’s class. The teacher happened to be outside and ran right into the middle of a clear gang attack. He immediately and swiftly dealt with the situation and actually scared the assailants away. The next day in class things were different. The students that had questioned the teacher because of his demeanor, suddenly realized that there was much more to him than that. What he had down outside of the class, he was surely able to do inside of it if need be.
What the students discovered on their own, Paul tells his Corinthian detractors outright. They have accused him of being timid and bold in person, but bold in his letters. This was an act of cowardice in their minds. By this point, Paul in comfortable in the knowledge that he has the hearts and support of the majority of the Corinthian congregation. In a sense, now, he turns his attention towards his detractors and those that might still be swayed by him.
Paul begins by appealing to the meekness and gentleness of Christ. In doing so he accomplished two things. First, because he has claimed all along to be a minister in the same manner of Christ, he sets up the problem that if he is weak, then so was Christ. Second, was the fact that everyone at that time understood that Christ was meek and gentle when appropriate, but he was also fierce and bold when he had to be. Paul’s message is that as Christ was, so am I as His apostle. Paul does not want to have to be that way when comes, but he will. In essence, this passage is all about Paul balancing gentleness and meekness with the type of boldness that can tear down the strongholds of the world.
The world of Paul’s day was full of religions, philosophies, and wisdom from which to choose. What Paul is offering is decidedly not just another alternative but a way of life. A manner of living that uses a whole different set of weapons because it is part of an entirely different reality. Paul firmly believed that reality had been revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and because of that the task of every Christian is to demolish the strongholds of the world. This is an allusion to Proverbs 21:22, where the wise man goes up against strong cities and tears down the stronghold in which the ungodly trusted. When put side-by-side with worldly philosophies, the reality of the Messiah shows them to be mere pretenders. That doesn’t mean, however, that every position other true Christianity is devoid of any truth. All truth is God’s truth. We must be clear that there is no truth that is so great that it cannot be perverted by man’s pride, nor is there any morsel or tidbit of human insight, truth, or reality that cannot be taken into service to the true King of the world. This is what Paul means when he says to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. This is precisely what he was doing when he did things like take Caesar’s title, Lord and Savior, and applied it to Christ, or even in his speech that was inspired by the altar to an unknown god in Athens. He was taking small glimmers of reality and turning them over to the obedience of the true King. We share in this task even today. It is our job to find the small glimmers of truth that man has perverted because of our own pride and turn them back over in obedience to Jesus, the Messiah and King of the world.
If anyone claims to be an apostle belonging to Christ, as Paul’s opponents did (he will soon pick up that thread and demonstrate that they are certainly not true apostles), then they need to reconsider things. They have been looking at worldly things and have convinced others in Corinth to do the same. Paul is doing something that those who are caught up in worldly things don’t understand. Human pride has perverted things like boasting and boldness, but Paul will make those very things captive and use them for the glory of God. He will boast about the authority the Lord has given him to build up and expand the Kingdom of God.
In the same vein, he hasn’t used boldness in his letters because he is a coward. Quite the contrary. He has used painful letters in an effort to avoid painful visits. He was not trying to use boldness in a human way, in order to frighten or intimidate them. No, he was using godly boldness for their own good. Again, his opponents had judged him according to human standards, claiming that he was weighty and forceful in letters but unimpressive in stature and a poor speaker in person. Paul can be bold in person, but even then it won’t come through vehicles of human pride like an impressive stature and forceful speaking skills. His boldness, force, and authority will come through in his godly actions when he arrives. We certainly can learn both from Paul’s reluctance to use his authority and boldness, and his godly willingness to when needed.
Devotional Thought
Paul was willing and able to take human things like boldness and boasting and turn them over to Christ in obedience. What are ways that you can take the things of the world and turn them over to the Lord that you have not yet thought of?
1By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" when away! 2I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
7You are looking only on the surface of things. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he. 8For even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 9I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. 10For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." 11Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.
Dig Deeper
The young teacher was rather quiet and unassuming. He didn’t really care to engage his students in discipline if he didn’t have to. He much preferred to lay down the rules of the class quietly and without much fanfare. That way when he was actually in class with the students, he could get down to the business of teaching and enjoying the topic of the class. Most of the students greatly enjoyed the class and the teacher, but one year a couple of students came in and began to challenge the young man. They took his good nature and quiet way fro weakness and begin to attempt to convince other students that the teacher was weak and wasn’t a good teacher like they had all thought.
A few days later, a situation happened outside of the school when a couple of non-students came up to beat up a current student in the teacher’s class. The teacher happened to be outside and ran right into the middle of a clear gang attack. He immediately and swiftly dealt with the situation and actually scared the assailants away. The next day in class things were different. The students that had questioned the teacher because of his demeanor, suddenly realized that there was much more to him than that. What he had down outside of the class, he was surely able to do inside of it if need be.
What the students discovered on their own, Paul tells his Corinthian detractors outright. They have accused him of being timid and bold in person, but bold in his letters. This was an act of cowardice in their minds. By this point, Paul in comfortable in the knowledge that he has the hearts and support of the majority of the Corinthian congregation. In a sense, now, he turns his attention towards his detractors and those that might still be swayed by him.
Paul begins by appealing to the meekness and gentleness of Christ. In doing so he accomplished two things. First, because he has claimed all along to be a minister in the same manner of Christ, he sets up the problem that if he is weak, then so was Christ. Second, was the fact that everyone at that time understood that Christ was meek and gentle when appropriate, but he was also fierce and bold when he had to be. Paul’s message is that as Christ was, so am I as His apostle. Paul does not want to have to be that way when comes, but he will. In essence, this passage is all about Paul balancing gentleness and meekness with the type of boldness that can tear down the strongholds of the world.
The world of Paul’s day was full of religions, philosophies, and wisdom from which to choose. What Paul is offering is decidedly not just another alternative but a way of life. A manner of living that uses a whole different set of weapons because it is part of an entirely different reality. Paul firmly believed that reality had been revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and because of that the task of every Christian is to demolish the strongholds of the world. This is an allusion to Proverbs 21:22, where the wise man goes up against strong cities and tears down the stronghold in which the ungodly trusted. When put side-by-side with worldly philosophies, the reality of the Messiah shows them to be mere pretenders. That doesn’t mean, however, that every position other true Christianity is devoid of any truth. All truth is God’s truth. We must be clear that there is no truth that is so great that it cannot be perverted by man’s pride, nor is there any morsel or tidbit of human insight, truth, or reality that cannot be taken into service to the true King of the world. This is what Paul means when he says to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. This is precisely what he was doing when he did things like take Caesar’s title, Lord and Savior, and applied it to Christ, or even in his speech that was inspired by the altar to an unknown god in Athens. He was taking small glimmers of reality and turning them over to the obedience of the true King. We share in this task even today. It is our job to find the small glimmers of truth that man has perverted because of our own pride and turn them back over in obedience to Jesus, the Messiah and King of the world.
If anyone claims to be an apostle belonging to Christ, as Paul’s opponents did (he will soon pick up that thread and demonstrate that they are certainly not true apostles), then they need to reconsider things. They have been looking at worldly things and have convinced others in Corinth to do the same. Paul is doing something that those who are caught up in worldly things don’t understand. Human pride has perverted things like boasting and boldness, but Paul will make those very things captive and use them for the glory of God. He will boast about the authority the Lord has given him to build up and expand the Kingdom of God.
In the same vein, he hasn’t used boldness in his letters because he is a coward. Quite the contrary. He has used painful letters in an effort to avoid painful visits. He was not trying to use boldness in a human way, in order to frighten or intimidate them. No, he was using godly boldness for their own good. Again, his opponents had judged him according to human standards, claiming that he was weighty and forceful in letters but unimpressive in stature and a poor speaker in person. Paul can be bold in person, but even then it won’t come through vehicles of human pride like an impressive stature and forceful speaking skills. His boldness, force, and authority will come through in his godly actions when he arrives. We certainly can learn both from Paul’s reluctance to use his authority and boldness, and his godly willingness to when needed.
Devotional Thought
Paul was willing and able to take human things like boldness and boasting and turn them over to Christ in obedience. What are ways that you can take the things of the world and turn them over to the Lord that you have not yet thought of?
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
2 Corinthians 9:6-15 & Commentary
Sowing Generously
6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9As it is written:
"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever." 10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Dig Deeper
Down on the lakefront of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, just across the street from Bradford Beach, sits a fairly steep hill. I’m sure that my players passed that hill many times in their lives, but never thought about it too much until they found out about three weeks before practice began one season that they would be running that hill every single day for the next three weeks. This was just part of a whole new system of increased conditioning and stricter rules for the team that year. Some viewed the conditioning and the hill running to be harsh and found the rules to be unnecessarily restrictive. In fact, several guys quit the team before we even got to practice. The more I tried to encourage them to finish what they had begun, the more those guys saw the new regimen as a bunch of oppressive measures. In their defense, if one was looking at things from an individual point of view, it would certainly seem that way. What those players could not understand, however, is that it wasn’t that these were just a set of expectations and rules, they were part of the demonstration that this was a new kind of team than we had ever had before at our school. If the players didn’t completely change their mindset, they simply would not understand what was going on.
To this point, Paul has been trying to explain to the Corinthians his reasons for the great collection he is taking, and why he wants them to complete it. In this passage, he ticks off a number of quotes from the Old Testament. If they continue to see things in the old way or from their own individual point of view, then they will seem like a string of quotations trying to get them to act a certain way that Paul wants them to act. That is not the case, though. What they really need to do in order to understand what Paul has been trying to do and say all along is to realize that he expects them to be part of a whole new reality, the restored people of God. The people of God are not just different from the people of the world in degree but in kind and category. This become easier for us to see in this section if we realize that when Paul, or most any New Testament writer, quotes from the Old Testament, they are not just throwing out a quick quote to back up the point they are trying to get across. They are, in fact, invoking the entire passage and line of thought from which the quote comes. If we keep this in mind, we will see more clearly what Paul is trying to tell his brothers and sisters in Corinth.
The first passage that Paul quotes from is from Proverbs 22:8 (from a verse which appeared in the Greek translation that Paul used, but was, for some unknown reason, dropped from the Hebrew texts, and thus, does not appear in English translations), which says that ‘God loves a cheerful giver’. It comes as a part of chapter that is all about riches and poverty. Chapter 22 begins, "a good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed (or grace) is better than silver or gold. This is exactly what Paul has been trying to tell the Corinthians. They need to learn about the value of grace and esteem in the eyes of God rather than clinging to the gold and silver of the world. In the Proverbs, we find a complete and complex picture of the God-fearing person who is generous with money. Paul wants them to learn that way of life because of who they now are as the people of God. Notice that he wants them to give cheerfully as a way of life, but Paul doesn’t say "don’t give if you don’t feel like it". That’s what a lot of people would, perhaps, like it to say, but Paul’s point is that if you don’t give cheerfully, then you haven’t yet understood the Kingdom way of living and you need to change your entire attitude and worldview.
The second passage that he quotes from Psalm 112:9, which speaks of the one who scatters generous blessings to the poor. The Psalm says that the one who does this has a righteousness that endures forever. When righteousness refers to God, it speaks of Him being faithful to the promises that He has made to His people. When I refers to His people, it usually refers to the behavior through which we demonstrate gratitude for God’s faithfulness. Psalm 112 is all about those who fear the Lord and how that comes out in their life in overwhelming generosity and mercy. Once again Paul is inviting the Corinthians to embrace a whole new identity rather than just throwing out a few snappy lines. Just as a young man who joins the army must embrace a whole new life, a whole new way of thinking and being, so must the Christian.
The final passage from which Paul quotes is Isaiah 55:10. Isaiah 55 is an incredible description and invitation to come and be a part of God’s new creation that will be coming soon. The new creation of Isaiah 55 will come about as a result of the suffering (vv. 3-5), death (v. 9), and resurrection (vv. 11-12) of God’s servant, and the covenental renewal of chapter 54. Isaiah 55:10 says that just as the rain comes down from heaven and waters the earth, giving seed to the sower, "so is my word that goes out from my mouth" (v. 11). This is exactly the point that Paul has been making throughout this letter. God’s new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) is based on His new covenant (ch. 3) which was accomplished by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and can now be seen at work through the preaching and ministry of the gospel.
If they would only look up and realize that they are the people of God, living precisely in God’s new creation, then the life of generosity to which Paul is calling them, will come quite naturally. It’s the same for us. There are aspects of the Christian life that seem so foreign and difficult, yet if we would simply understand who we are and where we stand in the history of the great drama of God’s people, the things that now seem so unnatural would become the most natural things in the world.
Devotional Thought
Paul’s point here is that grace, gratitude, mercy, and generosity are not side orders of the main meal of the Christian life, they are the centerpiece. To what degree is your life characterized by these things? In what ways are they still a struggle?
6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9As it is written:
"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever." 10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Dig Deeper
Down on the lakefront of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, just across the street from Bradford Beach, sits a fairly steep hill. I’m sure that my players passed that hill many times in their lives, but never thought about it too much until they found out about three weeks before practice began one season that they would be running that hill every single day for the next three weeks. This was just part of a whole new system of increased conditioning and stricter rules for the team that year. Some viewed the conditioning and the hill running to be harsh and found the rules to be unnecessarily restrictive. In fact, several guys quit the team before we even got to practice. The more I tried to encourage them to finish what they had begun, the more those guys saw the new regimen as a bunch of oppressive measures. In their defense, if one was looking at things from an individual point of view, it would certainly seem that way. What those players could not understand, however, is that it wasn’t that these were just a set of expectations and rules, they were part of the demonstration that this was a new kind of team than we had ever had before at our school. If the players didn’t completely change their mindset, they simply would not understand what was going on.
To this point, Paul has been trying to explain to the Corinthians his reasons for the great collection he is taking, and why he wants them to complete it. In this passage, he ticks off a number of quotes from the Old Testament. If they continue to see things in the old way or from their own individual point of view, then they will seem like a string of quotations trying to get them to act a certain way that Paul wants them to act. That is not the case, though. What they really need to do in order to understand what Paul has been trying to do and say all along is to realize that he expects them to be part of a whole new reality, the restored people of God. The people of God are not just different from the people of the world in degree but in kind and category. This become easier for us to see in this section if we realize that when Paul, or most any New Testament writer, quotes from the Old Testament, they are not just throwing out a quick quote to back up the point they are trying to get across. They are, in fact, invoking the entire passage and line of thought from which the quote comes. If we keep this in mind, we will see more clearly what Paul is trying to tell his brothers and sisters in Corinth.
The first passage that Paul quotes from is from Proverbs 22:8 (from a verse which appeared in the Greek translation that Paul used, but was, for some unknown reason, dropped from the Hebrew texts, and thus, does not appear in English translations), which says that ‘God loves a cheerful giver’. It comes as a part of chapter that is all about riches and poverty. Chapter 22 begins, "a good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed (or grace) is better than silver or gold. This is exactly what Paul has been trying to tell the Corinthians. They need to learn about the value of grace and esteem in the eyes of God rather than clinging to the gold and silver of the world. In the Proverbs, we find a complete and complex picture of the God-fearing person who is generous with money. Paul wants them to learn that way of life because of who they now are as the people of God. Notice that he wants them to give cheerfully as a way of life, but Paul doesn’t say "don’t give if you don’t feel like it". That’s what a lot of people would, perhaps, like it to say, but Paul’s point is that if you don’t give cheerfully, then you haven’t yet understood the Kingdom way of living and you need to change your entire attitude and worldview.
The second passage that he quotes from Psalm 112:9, which speaks of the one who scatters generous blessings to the poor. The Psalm says that the one who does this has a righteousness that endures forever. When righteousness refers to God, it speaks of Him being faithful to the promises that He has made to His people. When I refers to His people, it usually refers to the behavior through which we demonstrate gratitude for God’s faithfulness. Psalm 112 is all about those who fear the Lord and how that comes out in their life in overwhelming generosity and mercy. Once again Paul is inviting the Corinthians to embrace a whole new identity rather than just throwing out a few snappy lines. Just as a young man who joins the army must embrace a whole new life, a whole new way of thinking and being, so must the Christian.
The final passage from which Paul quotes is Isaiah 55:10. Isaiah 55 is an incredible description and invitation to come and be a part of God’s new creation that will be coming soon. The new creation of Isaiah 55 will come about as a result of the suffering (vv. 3-5), death (v. 9), and resurrection (vv. 11-12) of God’s servant, and the covenental renewal of chapter 54. Isaiah 55:10 says that just as the rain comes down from heaven and waters the earth, giving seed to the sower, "so is my word that goes out from my mouth" (v. 11). This is exactly the point that Paul has been making throughout this letter. God’s new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) is based on His new covenant (ch. 3) which was accomplished by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and can now be seen at work through the preaching and ministry of the gospel.
If they would only look up and realize that they are the people of God, living precisely in God’s new creation, then the life of generosity to which Paul is calling them, will come quite naturally. It’s the same for us. There are aspects of the Christian life that seem so foreign and difficult, yet if we would simply understand who we are and where we stand in the history of the great drama of God’s people, the things that now seem so unnatural would become the most natural things in the world.
Devotional Thought
Paul’s point here is that grace, gratitude, mercy, and generosity are not side orders of the main meal of the Christian life, they are the centerpiece. To what degree is your life characterized by these things? In what ways are they still a struggle?
Monday, October 29, 2007
2 Corinthians 9:1-5 & Commentary
1There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the saints. 2For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. 3But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. 4For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident. 5So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.
Dig Deeper
Last year, the church of which I was then a part was hosting a conference for college students. The tricky aspect of the conference was that, rather than staying in hotels, all of the students were by housed by families in the church. Before we hosted the conference, we noted that one downside of many good conferences in the past had been a lack of solid communication. Things often seemed to be thrown together (even though they were not) because of holes in communication. In order to avoid the appearance of that, we made an extra effort to communicate clearly every single aspect of the conference, particularly to the host families. We went by the philosophy that it is nearly impossible to communicate too much and be too clear.
Paul has had his problems with the Corinthians in the past, and although we will never know for sure, it is possible that a lack of clear communication may have contributed to some of the problems. Whether that ever was a problem or not, it is clear that Paul is determined for it not to be now. In an effort to have everything ready when he comes so that his visit can be one of joy and celebration rather than correction and discipline, Paul has carefully orchestrated things. He also goes to great lengths here to communicate everything step-by-step, point-by-point, and explain everything that he is doing. Paul, if nothing else, is going to be well understood and transparent in his upcoming plans.
In verse 1, the NIV removes the beginning word "for," which indicates that the subject is still connected to verse 24. Thus, Paul continues to discuss the reception of the three brothers rather than their specific response to the collection. Paul wants the Corinthians to respond positively to the three man delegation because they are coming to ensure that their desire to give will be completed before Paul arrives (v. 3) and that completing the collection will demonstrate God’s blessing and grace in their lives. In fact, in chapter 8, Paul was discussing their discipline in completing the collection not in their desire to participate in it. That means that in vv. 1-2 Paul wants to ensure that will respond positively and graciously to the brothers by both being hospitable and by completing the collection before Paul comes.
It appears, in this section, that Paul has switched the focus from the Corinthians alone to the entire region of Achaia (of which Corinth was still the primary city). Again, Paul is not worried about their eagerness and desire to have the collection but simply wants to encourage them to complete the collection in a disciplined fashion. He engages in a fantastic bit of circular logic in order to continue to encourage them. They should finish the task because of the example of the Macedonians, but now we find out that, all along, he has encouraged the Macedonians with the eagerness of Achaia. This provides, then, another impetus for Corinth and the rest of Achaia. Paul wants them to be motivated by both the Macedonian example and by their own earlier example to the Macedonians. If you realize that someone has been motivated by your great example, it makes it quite difficult to not finish the job that you started.
Paul, in verse 3, provides another reason for completing this important task. He has been boasting about the great work that God was doing in them. If they should now fail to complete the collection by the time the three brothers arrived, it will be a demonstration that the power of God has not been flowing through Corinth and Achaia as Paul has said. This would be a serious issue for Paul who believed that actions were the visible sign of God’s transforming power in one’s life. Not only would their failure to have the collection ready for the brothers be a sign of the lack of God’s grace, but it would also be a damaging blow to the reliability of Paul’s word, which had already been under a bit of fire in Corinth.
In verse 4, Paul switches ahead to his own impending trip to Corinth. He wants them to avoid the embarrassment, both for himself and for them, of having the Macedonians comes and see that they have waned in their commitment and discipline. If that were to happen, it would be a clear sign that Paul’s boasting in them was unfounded, meaning that Paul’s apostleship would be called into question, as well a poor demonstration of where their faith was at.
Now the real motivation for Paul is clearly stated. There is no question in Paul’s mind that the collection will be completed. What he wants, however, is that they finish on time in a genuine display of the heart rather than Paul having to come and wrench it out of them. This, perhaps, provides two surprising things for those of us in the 21st century. The first thing is the absolute authority Paul expresses in declaring and carrying out a collection, that by his own admission, was not a command from the Lord. This leads us to believe that church leaders had a great deal more authority than would make most of us comfortable in our time. The second surprise is that Paul has urged, cajoled, and pleaded with them to complete this collection on time, and yet still feels that if they do so, it will be a sign that they have done so out of their own generosity. We tend to think that something done generously from the heart is only so if we are never asked or even reminded. Yet, this does not seem to be the case for Paul. Paul knows that situations happen, but God can still work. As long as they complete the task on time, the difficulties along the way are not at all a sign that God has not been working in their hearts. For Paul, one could obey their leaders and it was still seen as a sign of God’s grace rather than them just being pushed around by his orders. This is a surprising lesson for us, but perhaps one that we need to learn.
Devotional Thought
If someone were to look for signs of God’s grace flowing through your life, what would they find? Would they find a life of power, love, and discipline, or a life of timidity, fear, and half-finished projects?
Dig Deeper
Last year, the church of which I was then a part was hosting a conference for college students. The tricky aspect of the conference was that, rather than staying in hotels, all of the students were by housed by families in the church. Before we hosted the conference, we noted that one downside of many good conferences in the past had been a lack of solid communication. Things often seemed to be thrown together (even though they were not) because of holes in communication. In order to avoid the appearance of that, we made an extra effort to communicate clearly every single aspect of the conference, particularly to the host families. We went by the philosophy that it is nearly impossible to communicate too much and be too clear.
Paul has had his problems with the Corinthians in the past, and although we will never know for sure, it is possible that a lack of clear communication may have contributed to some of the problems. Whether that ever was a problem or not, it is clear that Paul is determined for it not to be now. In an effort to have everything ready when he comes so that his visit can be one of joy and celebration rather than correction and discipline, Paul has carefully orchestrated things. He also goes to great lengths here to communicate everything step-by-step, point-by-point, and explain everything that he is doing. Paul, if nothing else, is going to be well understood and transparent in his upcoming plans.
In verse 1, the NIV removes the beginning word "for," which indicates that the subject is still connected to verse 24. Thus, Paul continues to discuss the reception of the three brothers rather than their specific response to the collection. Paul wants the Corinthians to respond positively to the three man delegation because they are coming to ensure that their desire to give will be completed before Paul arrives (v. 3) and that completing the collection will demonstrate God’s blessing and grace in their lives. In fact, in chapter 8, Paul was discussing their discipline in completing the collection not in their desire to participate in it. That means that in vv. 1-2 Paul wants to ensure that will respond positively and graciously to the brothers by both being hospitable and by completing the collection before Paul comes.
It appears, in this section, that Paul has switched the focus from the Corinthians alone to the entire region of Achaia (of which Corinth was still the primary city). Again, Paul is not worried about their eagerness and desire to have the collection but simply wants to encourage them to complete the collection in a disciplined fashion. He engages in a fantastic bit of circular logic in order to continue to encourage them. They should finish the task because of the example of the Macedonians, but now we find out that, all along, he has encouraged the Macedonians with the eagerness of Achaia. This provides, then, another impetus for Corinth and the rest of Achaia. Paul wants them to be motivated by both the Macedonian example and by their own earlier example to the Macedonians. If you realize that someone has been motivated by your great example, it makes it quite difficult to not finish the job that you started.
Paul, in verse 3, provides another reason for completing this important task. He has been boasting about the great work that God was doing in them. If they should now fail to complete the collection by the time the three brothers arrived, it will be a demonstration that the power of God has not been flowing through Corinth and Achaia as Paul has said. This would be a serious issue for Paul who believed that actions were the visible sign of God’s transforming power in one’s life. Not only would their failure to have the collection ready for the brothers be a sign of the lack of God’s grace, but it would also be a damaging blow to the reliability of Paul’s word, which had already been under a bit of fire in Corinth.
In verse 4, Paul switches ahead to his own impending trip to Corinth. He wants them to avoid the embarrassment, both for himself and for them, of having the Macedonians comes and see that they have waned in their commitment and discipline. If that were to happen, it would be a clear sign that Paul’s boasting in them was unfounded, meaning that Paul’s apostleship would be called into question, as well a poor demonstration of where their faith was at.
Now the real motivation for Paul is clearly stated. There is no question in Paul’s mind that the collection will be completed. What he wants, however, is that they finish on time in a genuine display of the heart rather than Paul having to come and wrench it out of them. This, perhaps, provides two surprising things for those of us in the 21st century. The first thing is the absolute authority Paul expresses in declaring and carrying out a collection, that by his own admission, was not a command from the Lord. This leads us to believe that church leaders had a great deal more authority than would make most of us comfortable in our time. The second surprise is that Paul has urged, cajoled, and pleaded with them to complete this collection on time, and yet still feels that if they do so, it will be a sign that they have done so out of their own generosity. We tend to think that something done generously from the heart is only so if we are never asked or even reminded. Yet, this does not seem to be the case for Paul. Paul knows that situations happen, but God can still work. As long as they complete the task on time, the difficulties along the way are not at all a sign that God has not been working in their hearts. For Paul, one could obey their leaders and it was still seen as a sign of God’s grace rather than them just being pushed around by his orders. This is a surprising lesson for us, but perhaps one that we need to learn.
Devotional Thought
If someone were to look for signs of God’s grace flowing through your life, what would they find? Would they find a life of power, love, and discipline, or a life of timidity, fear, and half-finished projects?
Friday, October 26, 2007
2 Corinthians 8:16-24 & Commentary
Titus Sent to Corinth
16I thank God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. 17For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative. 18And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel. 19What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help. 20We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. 21For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.
22In addition, we are sending with them our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you. 23As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ. 24Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.
Dig Deeper
Part of human nature since the fall of man is to distrust one another. Left to our own devices, we tend to assume the worst about one another. When I was gathering up the money for the fund-raising coin competition at the high school at which I taught, I realized that chances were pretty low that anyone would have a problem with me collecting the money, counting it, and taking it to the bank. Even though I knew I wasn’t going to steal any money, and I felt that everyone trusted me, I thought it best to remain above suspicion. I had two other people with me at all times while collecting and counting the money. As we took the coins to the bank and got cash in return, I never held the money. The reason for all of this was that I wanted to remain above reproach for my own protection. I also wanted, however, to not put anyone in the position of being tempted to mistrust what was going on.
In organizing and calling for the Gentile churches to take up this collection for the Jerusalem Church, Paul knows that the best thing for all concerned was for him to not physically collect the money, and when he did take it to Jerusalem, he would take highly respected men with him so that no one would have doubts about Paul’s integrity. It appears that some of Paul’s opponents had accused him of trickery and embezzlement in the past (cf 2 Cor. 12:16), so he wants to avoid any possible appearance of that, both for his sake and theirs.
The first part of Paul’s plan to stay above reproach is to send Titus back to Corinth to gather the money that they had been collecting. Titus is commended by Paul, not so much for the person that he is, but for the work that God has done in him. God has transformed Titus’ heart, which is of ultimate importance to Paul because a transformed hearts is the hallmark of his Spirit-driven ministry. Titus, then, would likely have just returned from Corinth and met Paul in Macedonia, and now Paul is asking him to turn around and go right back. Certainly Titus is becoming more familiar with the road to Corinth than he might have ever imagined. No doubt, Titus is driven to return to them for three reasons. The first is his loyalty to the Lord God. The second is his loyalty to Paul’s ministry and Paul himself. The third is his loyalty, concern and love for the Corinthians. He had so enjoyed his time with them that he apparently didn’t give a moment’s hesitation when Paul asked him to return to Corinth.
But, Titus is not going alone. There is more to Paul’s plan of perfectly perceived purity. Two other men will accompany Titus. Paul does something unusual for him in not including the name of these two men. Determining Paul’s reasons for not including their name and discovering the identity of these two anonymous brothers are impossible to know beyond conjecture so we will leave them as they will probably always be, a mystery. We can gain a few clues from the text, however, as to what was going on in this situation. The first brother was well known for his service to the gospel, which could mean that he was an evangelist. He was chosen specifically by the church for this task, which means, more than likely, that he was elected by the raising of hands during the assembly of the entire church. The second man (as evidenced by Paul referring to him as our brother that was being sent) was evidently, directly appointed by Paul for this task. They were entrusted with the task of safely transporting the collection just as the priests had been given the job to transport the offering from Babylonia to the Temple in Jerusalem (Ezra 8:24-30).
In verses 20 and 21, Paul clearly states the purpose for all of these precautions. He sought to avoid any criticism. Again, this is both for his benefit as well as to protect the hearts of other men. He wants to always be blameless in the sight of God and of other men. Paul is confident that he is blameless before God, but wants to take steps to make sure that is perceived as such before men. The word that is translated as "administer" in v. 20 literally says "ministered by us." This change in translation obscures the point Paul is making. He says that this collection is part of his ministry, as he uses the same phrase in 2 Cor. 3:3 to describe the new covenant ministry of the Spirit. Paul’s point is that this collection is an indispensable part of the ministry of the Spirit to which he has been called. This collection is the evidence of the Spirit that has come through Paul’s ministry and into the lives of those to whom he has given the gospel. The reality of the Spirit is evidenced by Paul’s enthusiasm and their willingness to meet the needs of other Christians in response to God’s will.
Paul’s desire for the Church in Corinth is that they accept Titus and the other two brothers with open arms. Earlier Paul argued that he did not need a letter of recommendation to or from the Church in Corinth, but has no problem providing one for Titus (although Titus didn’t really need one in Corinth either) and the two reliable brothers. These two men are, says Paul an honor to Christ. The Greek literally says "glory to Christ." To value other believers as one who will be part of the glory of the Messiah when he returns to earth in all of His glory is part of the great task of God’s people (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:10).
Paul calls them to show these men proof of your love by the way that they treat them. This is a great reminder for us that simply professing the gospel and saying that we love others is of little value if we don’t act on it. Paul had shown a great deal of confidence in the Corinthians, now it was time for them live up to that confidence and to welcome the three men coming to them, as well as by reaching out across ethnic and national lines and giving sacrificially to a group of Christians that most of them would never see or meet.
Devotional Thought
If someone were to examine your life what evidence of God’s transforming glory would they see? Does your life exhibit evidence of the things that you profess to be, or have you been reduced to mere words?
16I thank God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. 17For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative. 18And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel. 19What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help. 20We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. 21For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.
22In addition, we are sending with them our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you. 23As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ. 24Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.
Dig Deeper
Part of human nature since the fall of man is to distrust one another. Left to our own devices, we tend to assume the worst about one another. When I was gathering up the money for the fund-raising coin competition at the high school at which I taught, I realized that chances were pretty low that anyone would have a problem with me collecting the money, counting it, and taking it to the bank. Even though I knew I wasn’t going to steal any money, and I felt that everyone trusted me, I thought it best to remain above suspicion. I had two other people with me at all times while collecting and counting the money. As we took the coins to the bank and got cash in return, I never held the money. The reason for all of this was that I wanted to remain above reproach for my own protection. I also wanted, however, to not put anyone in the position of being tempted to mistrust what was going on.
In organizing and calling for the Gentile churches to take up this collection for the Jerusalem Church, Paul knows that the best thing for all concerned was for him to not physically collect the money, and when he did take it to Jerusalem, he would take highly respected men with him so that no one would have doubts about Paul’s integrity. It appears that some of Paul’s opponents had accused him of trickery and embezzlement in the past (cf 2 Cor. 12:16), so he wants to avoid any possible appearance of that, both for his sake and theirs.
The first part of Paul’s plan to stay above reproach is to send Titus back to Corinth to gather the money that they had been collecting. Titus is commended by Paul, not so much for the person that he is, but for the work that God has done in him. God has transformed Titus’ heart, which is of ultimate importance to Paul because a transformed hearts is the hallmark of his Spirit-driven ministry. Titus, then, would likely have just returned from Corinth and met Paul in Macedonia, and now Paul is asking him to turn around and go right back. Certainly Titus is becoming more familiar with the road to Corinth than he might have ever imagined. No doubt, Titus is driven to return to them for three reasons. The first is his loyalty to the Lord God. The second is his loyalty to Paul’s ministry and Paul himself. The third is his loyalty, concern and love for the Corinthians. He had so enjoyed his time with them that he apparently didn’t give a moment’s hesitation when Paul asked him to return to Corinth.
But, Titus is not going alone. There is more to Paul’s plan of perfectly perceived purity. Two other men will accompany Titus. Paul does something unusual for him in not including the name of these two men. Determining Paul’s reasons for not including their name and discovering the identity of these two anonymous brothers are impossible to know beyond conjecture so we will leave them as they will probably always be, a mystery. We can gain a few clues from the text, however, as to what was going on in this situation. The first brother was well known for his service to the gospel, which could mean that he was an evangelist. He was chosen specifically by the church for this task, which means, more than likely, that he was elected by the raising of hands during the assembly of the entire church. The second man (as evidenced by Paul referring to him as our brother that was being sent) was evidently, directly appointed by Paul for this task. They were entrusted with the task of safely transporting the collection just as the priests had been given the job to transport the offering from Babylonia to the Temple in Jerusalem (Ezra 8:24-30).
In verses 20 and 21, Paul clearly states the purpose for all of these precautions. He sought to avoid any criticism. Again, this is both for his benefit as well as to protect the hearts of other men. He wants to always be blameless in the sight of God and of other men. Paul is confident that he is blameless before God, but wants to take steps to make sure that is perceived as such before men. The word that is translated as "administer" in v. 20 literally says "ministered by us." This change in translation obscures the point Paul is making. He says that this collection is part of his ministry, as he uses the same phrase in 2 Cor. 3:3 to describe the new covenant ministry of the Spirit. Paul’s point is that this collection is an indispensable part of the ministry of the Spirit to which he has been called. This collection is the evidence of the Spirit that has come through Paul’s ministry and into the lives of those to whom he has given the gospel. The reality of the Spirit is evidenced by Paul’s enthusiasm and their willingness to meet the needs of other Christians in response to God’s will.
Paul’s desire for the Church in Corinth is that they accept Titus and the other two brothers with open arms. Earlier Paul argued that he did not need a letter of recommendation to or from the Church in Corinth, but has no problem providing one for Titus (although Titus didn’t really need one in Corinth either) and the two reliable brothers. These two men are, says Paul an honor to Christ. The Greek literally says "glory to Christ." To value other believers as one who will be part of the glory of the Messiah when he returns to earth in all of His glory is part of the great task of God’s people (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:10).
Paul calls them to show these men proof of your love by the way that they treat them. This is a great reminder for us that simply professing the gospel and saying that we love others is of little value if we don’t act on it. Paul had shown a great deal of confidence in the Corinthians, now it was time for them live up to that confidence and to welcome the three men coming to them, as well as by reaching out across ethnic and national lines and giving sacrificially to a group of Christians that most of them would never see or meet.
Devotional Thought
If someone were to examine your life what evidence of God’s transforming glory would they see? Does your life exhibit evidence of the things that you profess to be, or have you been reduced to mere words?
Thursday, October 25, 2007
2 Corinthians 8:8-15 & Commentary
8I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
10And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. 11Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
13Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, 15as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little."
Dig Deeper
The high school that I taught at was basically a charter school rather than a ‘normal’ high school. We were always on a quest to do things that normal schools did so that our school and our students would be perceived as equal rather than some inner-city parody of a real school. When the tragedy of September 11th, 2001 took place, it was the week before our school had scheduled a school-wide coin drive competition fund-raiser. Several of the teachers quickly had the idea of swinging into action. Rather than raising money for school needs, we turned the coin drive into a fund-raiser for families of firefighters that died in the collapse of the twin towers. Our small school that was 1/20th of many of the large high schools in Milwaukee raised more money than most of the high schools did for the same cause. Suddenly we gained a fair amount of recognition for the wild generosity that a bunch of poor inner-city students had shown. Not only had they given out of their poverty to a good cause, it had demonstrated to the rest of the city that we were a legitimate school. We were a school to be appreciated and respected.
In a sense, this was Paul’s motivation in collecting money for the persecuted and impoverished church in Jerusalem. If Paul could gather a collection from the Gentile churches around the world, this would be a clear sign to skeptical Jewish Christians that the Gentiles really had embraced the same gospel and Christianity that they had turned to. They had started taking up this collection but, as tends to happen, things seemingly got in the way. People lose enthusiasm, they don’t carry through on things, and of course the trouble between Paul and the Corinthians had not helped. Paul wants them to, once again, embrace the dream of the great collection project, and finish the task at hand.
This whole business of the collection is not something that Paul passes on to them as a direct command. When Paul says he is not giving a command and is giving his advice or opinion, that does not mean that it’s just something Paul thought was a nice idea, but could be discarded if they (or we) would prefer something else. As in 1 Corinthians 7:6, 25, Paul’s point is that this is not something Christ directly passed on to him as a command for the Church. The collection comes from his own judgment and authority as a Spirit-led apostle of Jesus Christ. Philemon 1:8-9 is an example of Paul leaving the matter solely to their own judgment. This is not the case here, he is directing those under his authority to finish up the collection (as we see he clearly commands them what he wants them to do in verse 11). At the same time, though, Paul uses a gentle hand. He wants to convince them to want to do it, not simply because they are bending to his authority. He offers them reasons and examples for doing what he wants them to do. He wants them not just to know what to do but why they are doing it.
He has already offered them the example of the incredible sacrificial heart of the Macedonians, but now Paul will offer them the ultimate example and motivation for having a heart to give. There is nothing more powerful than the example of Christ. Christ gave up the glory and grandeur of heaven to come to earth as a human being so that we might enter into His life and become spiritually rich (cf. Phil. 2:5-11; Gal. 3:13-14). Christ became a curse under the law so that we could know the riches of the Spirit. Paul wants the Corinthians to follow this example of giving from their wealth so that others might share in the riches of their blessing from God. Verse 9 is one of the most beautiful theological statements in the entire Bible. At first glance that might be surprising that it comes in a passage concerning a collection, but on second look, perhaps that’s fitting. The best theology is not nice, neat statements in well-organized books. It comes in the real world, in real life with all of its messiness, its needs, its disparity.
Incarnational theology (living out the presence of Jesus in us in the lives of others) is never easy to figure out. It takes time, effort, courage, and perseverance. The Corinthians will need all of this to complete this important collection. Paul believes that their willingness to give is far more important than the amount given, so he wants them to give whatever they can. In this way, the poor in Christ can give every bit as much as those who have more wealth. Paul knows that the fact that they began taking the collection was a clear sign of the work of the grace of God in them. Now he wants them to complete that task and show that the grace of God is at work in them once again (apparently somewhere along the line they stopped taking the collection, or slowed to a near stop). The willingness is more important than the accomplishment, but the action and accomplishment is the visible sign of the willingness.
Paul finishes this section with yet another comparison between them and the Exodus generation, thereby identifying them as the second Exodus people, the new people of God. Just as the Israelites had been provided for by God so that each one had enough, so will God provide for his people now. This makes two things clear. The first is that Paul does not want them to give more than they have and thus become impoverished. He is calling them to give from what they have and motivated them to do so by sharing the example of the Macedonians. He is not calling to give more than they are able as the Macedonians wanted to. The collection is about everyone having enough, not "robbing Peter to pay Paul." The second item is made clear by Paul’s allusion to Exodus 16:18. In that passage God provided so that everyone will have enough. Here Paul is calling on the Corinthians Christians to provide so that the Christians in Jerusalem will have enough. The obvious implication is that God is working to provide for His people directly through the Corinthian Church and the Churches in Macedonia. The Church comprised of God’s people is the vehicle through which God loves and provides for His people in the present age.
Devotional Thought
Do you realize that the actions we take in accordance with God’s will are the primary means through which God works in the world. Do you have that sense of responsibility and urgency when serving others? Do you act as though, through your effort, work, and sacrifice you are directly dispensing the grace of God into the lives of others?
10And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. 11Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
13Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, 15as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little."
Dig Deeper
The high school that I taught at was basically a charter school rather than a ‘normal’ high school. We were always on a quest to do things that normal schools did so that our school and our students would be perceived as equal rather than some inner-city parody of a real school. When the tragedy of September 11th, 2001 took place, it was the week before our school had scheduled a school-wide coin drive competition fund-raiser. Several of the teachers quickly had the idea of swinging into action. Rather than raising money for school needs, we turned the coin drive into a fund-raiser for families of firefighters that died in the collapse of the twin towers. Our small school that was 1/20th of many of the large high schools in Milwaukee raised more money than most of the high schools did for the same cause. Suddenly we gained a fair amount of recognition for the wild generosity that a bunch of poor inner-city students had shown. Not only had they given out of their poverty to a good cause, it had demonstrated to the rest of the city that we were a legitimate school. We were a school to be appreciated and respected.
In a sense, this was Paul’s motivation in collecting money for the persecuted and impoverished church in Jerusalem. If Paul could gather a collection from the Gentile churches around the world, this would be a clear sign to skeptical Jewish Christians that the Gentiles really had embraced the same gospel and Christianity that they had turned to. They had started taking up this collection but, as tends to happen, things seemingly got in the way. People lose enthusiasm, they don’t carry through on things, and of course the trouble between Paul and the Corinthians had not helped. Paul wants them to, once again, embrace the dream of the great collection project, and finish the task at hand.
This whole business of the collection is not something that Paul passes on to them as a direct command. When Paul says he is not giving a command and is giving his advice or opinion, that does not mean that it’s just something Paul thought was a nice idea, but could be discarded if they (or we) would prefer something else. As in 1 Corinthians 7:6, 25, Paul’s point is that this is not something Christ directly passed on to him as a command for the Church. The collection comes from his own judgment and authority as a Spirit-led apostle of Jesus Christ. Philemon 1:8-9 is an example of Paul leaving the matter solely to their own judgment. This is not the case here, he is directing those under his authority to finish up the collection (as we see he clearly commands them what he wants them to do in verse 11). At the same time, though, Paul uses a gentle hand. He wants to convince them to want to do it, not simply because they are bending to his authority. He offers them reasons and examples for doing what he wants them to do. He wants them not just to know what to do but why they are doing it.
He has already offered them the example of the incredible sacrificial heart of the Macedonians, but now Paul will offer them the ultimate example and motivation for having a heart to give. There is nothing more powerful than the example of Christ. Christ gave up the glory and grandeur of heaven to come to earth as a human being so that we might enter into His life and become spiritually rich (cf. Phil. 2:5-11; Gal. 3:13-14). Christ became a curse under the law so that we could know the riches of the Spirit. Paul wants the Corinthians to follow this example of giving from their wealth so that others might share in the riches of their blessing from God. Verse 9 is one of the most beautiful theological statements in the entire Bible. At first glance that might be surprising that it comes in a passage concerning a collection, but on second look, perhaps that’s fitting. The best theology is not nice, neat statements in well-organized books. It comes in the real world, in real life with all of its messiness, its needs, its disparity.
Incarnational theology (living out the presence of Jesus in us in the lives of others) is never easy to figure out. It takes time, effort, courage, and perseverance. The Corinthians will need all of this to complete this important collection. Paul believes that their willingness to give is far more important than the amount given, so he wants them to give whatever they can. In this way, the poor in Christ can give every bit as much as those who have more wealth. Paul knows that the fact that they began taking the collection was a clear sign of the work of the grace of God in them. Now he wants them to complete that task and show that the grace of God is at work in them once again (apparently somewhere along the line they stopped taking the collection, or slowed to a near stop). The willingness is more important than the accomplishment, but the action and accomplishment is the visible sign of the willingness.
Paul finishes this section with yet another comparison between them and the Exodus generation, thereby identifying them as the second Exodus people, the new people of God. Just as the Israelites had been provided for by God so that each one had enough, so will God provide for his people now. This makes two things clear. The first is that Paul does not want them to give more than they have and thus become impoverished. He is calling them to give from what they have and motivated them to do so by sharing the example of the Macedonians. He is not calling to give more than they are able as the Macedonians wanted to. The collection is about everyone having enough, not "robbing Peter to pay Paul." The second item is made clear by Paul’s allusion to Exodus 16:18. In that passage God provided so that everyone will have enough. Here Paul is calling on the Corinthians Christians to provide so that the Christians in Jerusalem will have enough. The obvious implication is that God is working to provide for His people directly through the Corinthian Church and the Churches in Macedonia. The Church comprised of God’s people is the vehicle through which God loves and provides for His people in the present age.
Devotional Thought
Do you realize that the actions we take in accordance with God’s will are the primary means through which God works in the world. Do you have that sense of responsibility and urgency when serving others? Do you act as though, through your effort, work, and sacrifice you are directly dispensing the grace of God into the lives of others?
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
2 Corinthians 8:1-7 & Commentary
Generosity Encouraged
1And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. 5And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. 6So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
Dig Deeper
One question that often pops into the mind of Christians is what sets us apart from everyone else? The answer to that seems clear, but can get muddled over time as we begin to come in contact with different types of people. One of the areas that has really muddied the situation for many Christians comes in the form of good works. How can Christians see themselves as different from the rest of the world when there are so many people who are not Christians who do incredible acts of service and charity? Isn’t that supposed to be the realm of Christians? If other people excel in those things then how can we feel set apart by God in anyway?
Paul now feels that he has his relationship with the Corinthians established enough that he turns his attention toward his great collection project. He really wants them to participate in this great act of charity and support of the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem for many reasons. What he will make clear though, is that acts of kindness and service aren’t the point of being a Christian, the point is doing those acts in accordance with God’s will.
Paul is ready to take up this potentially touchy subject, yet he knows that he is still somewhat on eggshells. He must tread these waters carefully, which is evidenced by the fact that in the whole of this chapter and the next, Paul never actually uses any of the Greek words for "money." He presses on, however, because he wants them to take part in his great plan to show the Jewish Christian world that the Gentiles are genuinely their Christian brothers and sisters, that they belong at the table of Christians fellowship. He desperately wants to complete this great act of unity that will show to the world that God has chosen to work through Gentiles just as he had through Jews. Paul knows that, at every level, this is a tricky project. Would the Gentiles be willing to contribute to this project? So far they had been more than willing. That wasn’t the only potential obstacle, though. Could Paul collect this money and make it safely back to Jerusalem? Once there, would the Jews even accept money from Gentiles (see Romans 16:31)?
It is God’s grace that Paul doesn’t want them to miss out on. He’s not just referring to the unmerited favor and blessing of God. When Paul refers to God’s grace here, he is referring to the grace that God gives people so that they can abound in good works (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 9:8). God had allowed the Macedonian churches, like Philippi and Thessalonica, to give beyond their means despite their great poverty and suffering from persecution. The churches in Macedonia pleaded with Paul repeatedly to let them give to the level that they did (it’s not that they would have had to urge him to allow them to give at all, but to give to the sacrificial level that they did). They gave so sacrificially that Paul was close to (if he actually didn’t) asking them to stop as Moses had to restrain the Israelites from giving to the Tabernacle (Exod. 36:5-7). Paul wants Corinth to see the incredible grace that had flowed from God through the Macedonian churches. They had done so all on their own, and this is what Paul wants them to be able to experience. Note that just because Paul is urging them to do so, does not take away from the possibility of doing it on their own. It doesn’t necessarily have to be their own idea, it needs to be of their own free will. They gave not only money, but they gave themselves. They understood the true order of things. They gave themselves first to God, and then to his rightful ambassador.
Paul then answers the question of what sets apart Christian good works from the world’s. If the Christian life is about loving and serving others, what does it mean when non-Christians do it to amazing levels? Paul says they gave themselves in keeping with God’s will. That’s the answer. The great expression of God’s grace in our lives is not how much we serve or give to others, but that we do it in response to his cause. My children could do housework around the house all day long, and that would be good, but it doesn’t really demonstrate much if they don’t do the specific things that I asked them to do. They show themselves to be my obedient children by doing the things I have asked of them. When we work in accordance with God’s will and direction in our lives as it leads us to do good works, that is what shows us to be His obedient children. Simply doing good works apart from God’s will and purpose is not really the point. It is obedience to God’s will that he desires.
This is why Paul urged Titus to go and finish the collection. From a worldly point of view, it might be easy to wonder why Paul would bring up an issue like a collection with so much tension having recently passed between them. That’s exactly why Paul wants them to experience this. Allowing God to work His grace so powerfully through the life of a believer is a powerful transforming force. Paul knows that one of the best things for them was to allow God’s grace to flow mightily in their lives. He doesn’t want them to give like the Macedonian churches did out of a worldly motivation of envy or one-upmanship. He wants them to look at the grace that has flowed through Macedonia and to desire that for themselves. Anyone can be persuaded into giving money out of guilt, but that is not what Paul wants. He is trying to explain to them that giving is not about forcing yourself or trying to outdo the next guy (giving from those motivations would be to miss out on the grace that Paul is talking about). Paul wishes for them to desire to excel in the grace that comes through giving. This is probably a good-natured poke at their desire to have all of the gifts (as Paul discussed at length in 1 Corinthians). They wanted to have the fullness of all of the other gifts of the Spirit, so why don’t they turn that desire into a positive things and desire the grace of giving. When they do that they will see what the overwhelming grace of God can do in the lives and works of ordinary people.
Devotional Thought
Paul did not want the Corinthian church to miss out on the incredible power of God’s grace flowing through their lives. In order to experience, the key was to do good works that were in line with God’s will in their lives. What good works is calling you to do right now? How have you responded? When was the last time you asked God to reveal to you the works of service and giving that He has in store for you?
1And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. 5And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. 6So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
Dig Deeper
One question that often pops into the mind of Christians is what sets us apart from everyone else? The answer to that seems clear, but can get muddled over time as we begin to come in contact with different types of people. One of the areas that has really muddied the situation for many Christians comes in the form of good works. How can Christians see themselves as different from the rest of the world when there are so many people who are not Christians who do incredible acts of service and charity? Isn’t that supposed to be the realm of Christians? If other people excel in those things then how can we feel set apart by God in anyway?
Paul now feels that he has his relationship with the Corinthians established enough that he turns his attention toward his great collection project. He really wants them to participate in this great act of charity and support of the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem for many reasons. What he will make clear though, is that acts of kindness and service aren’t the point of being a Christian, the point is doing those acts in accordance with God’s will.
Paul is ready to take up this potentially touchy subject, yet he knows that he is still somewhat on eggshells. He must tread these waters carefully, which is evidenced by the fact that in the whole of this chapter and the next, Paul never actually uses any of the Greek words for "money." He presses on, however, because he wants them to take part in his great plan to show the Jewish Christian world that the Gentiles are genuinely their Christian brothers and sisters, that they belong at the table of Christians fellowship. He desperately wants to complete this great act of unity that will show to the world that God has chosen to work through Gentiles just as he had through Jews. Paul knows that, at every level, this is a tricky project. Would the Gentiles be willing to contribute to this project? So far they had been more than willing. That wasn’t the only potential obstacle, though. Could Paul collect this money and make it safely back to Jerusalem? Once there, would the Jews even accept money from Gentiles (see Romans 16:31)?
It is God’s grace that Paul doesn’t want them to miss out on. He’s not just referring to the unmerited favor and blessing of God. When Paul refers to God’s grace here, he is referring to the grace that God gives people so that they can abound in good works (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 9:8). God had allowed the Macedonian churches, like Philippi and Thessalonica, to give beyond their means despite their great poverty and suffering from persecution. The churches in Macedonia pleaded with Paul repeatedly to let them give to the level that they did (it’s not that they would have had to urge him to allow them to give at all, but to give to the sacrificial level that they did). They gave so sacrificially that Paul was close to (if he actually didn’t) asking them to stop as Moses had to restrain the Israelites from giving to the Tabernacle (Exod. 36:5-7). Paul wants Corinth to see the incredible grace that had flowed from God through the Macedonian churches. They had done so all on their own, and this is what Paul wants them to be able to experience. Note that just because Paul is urging them to do so, does not take away from the possibility of doing it on their own. It doesn’t necessarily have to be their own idea, it needs to be of their own free will. They gave not only money, but they gave themselves. They understood the true order of things. They gave themselves first to God, and then to his rightful ambassador.
Paul then answers the question of what sets apart Christian good works from the world’s. If the Christian life is about loving and serving others, what does it mean when non-Christians do it to amazing levels? Paul says they gave themselves in keeping with God’s will. That’s the answer. The great expression of God’s grace in our lives is not how much we serve or give to others, but that we do it in response to his cause. My children could do housework around the house all day long, and that would be good, but it doesn’t really demonstrate much if they don’t do the specific things that I asked them to do. They show themselves to be my obedient children by doing the things I have asked of them. When we work in accordance with God’s will and direction in our lives as it leads us to do good works, that is what shows us to be His obedient children. Simply doing good works apart from God’s will and purpose is not really the point. It is obedience to God’s will that he desires.
This is why Paul urged Titus to go and finish the collection. From a worldly point of view, it might be easy to wonder why Paul would bring up an issue like a collection with so much tension having recently passed between them. That’s exactly why Paul wants them to experience this. Allowing God to work His grace so powerfully through the life of a believer is a powerful transforming force. Paul knows that one of the best things for them was to allow God’s grace to flow mightily in their lives. He doesn’t want them to give like the Macedonian churches did out of a worldly motivation of envy or one-upmanship. He wants them to look at the grace that has flowed through Macedonia and to desire that for themselves. Anyone can be persuaded into giving money out of guilt, but that is not what Paul wants. He is trying to explain to them that giving is not about forcing yourself or trying to outdo the next guy (giving from those motivations would be to miss out on the grace that Paul is talking about). Paul wishes for them to desire to excel in the grace that comes through giving. This is probably a good-natured poke at their desire to have all of the gifts (as Paul discussed at length in 1 Corinthians). They wanted to have the fullness of all of the other gifts of the Spirit, so why don’t they turn that desire into a positive things and desire the grace of giving. When they do that they will see what the overwhelming grace of God can do in the lives and works of ordinary people.
Devotional Thought
Paul did not want the Corinthian church to miss out on the incredible power of God’s grace flowing through their lives. In order to experience, the key was to do good works that were in line with God’s will in their lives. What good works is calling you to do right now? How have you responded? When was the last time you asked God to reveal to you the works of service and giving that He has in store for you?
Thursday, October 18, 2007
2 Corinthians 7:11-16 & Commentary
11See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. 12So even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong or of the injured party, but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are. 13By all this we are encouraged.
In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. 14I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well. 15And his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you were all obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling. 16I am glad I can have complete confidence in you.
Dig Deeper
Years ago while I was teaching high school, I had a class of students that was a fun but a particularly rowdy bunch. The thing was that this class had 8 or 10 of the most difficult-to-handle students in the entire school. They were usually pretty good for me but could have a great tendency to give other teachers fits. We were having a guest speaker come in to my class one day, a guest who was also a friend of mine. I was a little bit nervous as to how they would respond to and treat my friend, and to make matters worse, I was going to have to be gone that day, so another teacher was filling in for me in that class. Yet, I was convinced that they had learned how to behave and told my friend that I was confident that the class would be great. To make a long story short, things didn’t go very well at all; they gave the guest a very hard time. I was quite embarrassed and my credibility was damaged.
The situation here is almost precisely the opposite. Paul was unsure of how the Corinthians would react to him. He decided to send Titus to them in reconciliation rather than having to come himself in judgment. Before going, however, Titus was seemingly hesitant, not sure of how the Corinthians would treat him based on their difficulties with Paul. Paul was confident in the fact that God had been working in and through the Corinthians and that they would receive him well. Yet, he was extremely anxious over the situation, and it only get worse when Titus didn’t return right away. There was much that was on the line here for Paul. The Corinthians were his letter of recommendation (2 Cor. 3:2-3). They were the embodiment of his ministry and how they acted would either vindicate or indict his ministry of the gospel. Imagine Paul’s relief and pure joy when he finally did hook up with Titus and found out that not only did the Corinthians receive Titus well, but Titus had loved his time with the Corinthians and had been greatly refreshed.
As we have seen previously, some people in the Corinthian congregation had incited many others against the leadership of Paul and challenged the legitimacy of his apostleship. Paul has warned the entire congregation that rejecting him was really a rejection of the gospel itself, and would endanger them of joining the ranks of unbelievers (6:14). He had also charged them, as a congregation, with not defending him and his ministry the way that they should have. When Paul sent Titus, he found complete repentance on their part, but he also found that just as Paul was anxious to see if they would accept him and Titus on his behalf, the Corinthians were anxious to see if Paul would accept them. They had taken action in their repentance and had demonstrated true, godly sorrow, but for them, it remained to be seen if Paul would give his blessing and accept them once again into the type of relationship they had had with him at first.
This is what he means in verse 12, which would otherwise seem a bit strange. In verse 11, Paul holds up a mirror and says "just look at how true repentance has shown in your lives." It had produced earnestness to repair their status as Paul’s spiritual children. Paul then lists a process of six other corollaries that come as a result of earnestness, each resulting from the previous action. The majority of the congregation had taken action on their repentance, including pronouncing judgment and enacting punishment on at least one individual who had spoken out against Paul (2:6). Now Paul wants to reassure them that they have demonstrated godly repentance and that he has accepted them once again with open arms. They need to see the fruit and sincerity of their own repentance.
This repentance has given Paul great encouragement, but he is even more encouraged to see that everything he told Titus about them has been vindicated. God really is working in their lives and through Paul’s ministry. This must have been an incredible mixture of joy, encouragement, relief, and vindication all rolled together into one. This is a special relief for Paul, because his credibility has been brought into question in Corinth. Their repentance has shown Paul to be credible in two major ways. First, he has been proven credible in telling the Corinthians about the power of the gospel to change the lives of people who would be obedient to it. That has certainly happened in the case of the Corinthian Church. Second, he has been shown credible in his confidence in them and God’s power. Had Titus arrived and found that they had not punished the offender(s) or that they would not receive Titus well, then Paul would have been proven to be a wishful thinker who was at best engaging in unfounded optimism. The situation has shown that Paul is not interested in looking good or making up lies to foster a good reputation, he is only interested in the truth.
Titus got to Corinth, though, and was greatly encouraged by their humility in obedience and that they received him with fear and trembling. This is probably an allusion to Isaiah 19:16, which describes the dread that will come over Egypt when it realizes that God has raised up against her. This further demonstrates Paul’s belief that rejecting him was a rejection of the gospel and of the true God. Those in Corinth have realized that and have responded appropriately to the severity of the situation. Because of this Paul affirms once again (v. 4) that he can have great confidence in them. Paul is still walking a fine line here between being encouraged and being affirmed by those who have repented and still wanting to bring back into the fold those who haven’t fully done so yet. His hope, no doubt, was that the encouraging, but firm tone of this letter will accomplish that. He ends this section on a positive tone, though, which will put him in a much better situation to move on to topic of his next section: the completion of his collection, and event that will require great financial sacrifice on the part of the Corinthians.
Devotional Thought
Paul and the Corinthians have been through a great deal together? Yet they both have demonstrated a great deal of humility, forgiveness, and love. When someone offends you, do you show this kind of forgiveness and acceptance or do you tend to hang on to bitterness? In Ephesians 4:31 we are told to "get rid of all bitterness." Have you done that? Is there any bitterness that you are hanging on to?
In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. 14I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well. 15And his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you were all obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling. 16I am glad I can have complete confidence in you.
Dig Deeper
Years ago while I was teaching high school, I had a class of students that was a fun but a particularly rowdy bunch. The thing was that this class had 8 or 10 of the most difficult-to-handle students in the entire school. They were usually pretty good for me but could have a great tendency to give other teachers fits. We were having a guest speaker come in to my class one day, a guest who was also a friend of mine. I was a little bit nervous as to how they would respond to and treat my friend, and to make matters worse, I was going to have to be gone that day, so another teacher was filling in for me in that class. Yet, I was convinced that they had learned how to behave and told my friend that I was confident that the class would be great. To make a long story short, things didn’t go very well at all; they gave the guest a very hard time. I was quite embarrassed and my credibility was damaged.
The situation here is almost precisely the opposite. Paul was unsure of how the Corinthians would react to him. He decided to send Titus to them in reconciliation rather than having to come himself in judgment. Before going, however, Titus was seemingly hesitant, not sure of how the Corinthians would treat him based on their difficulties with Paul. Paul was confident in the fact that God had been working in and through the Corinthians and that they would receive him well. Yet, he was extremely anxious over the situation, and it only get worse when Titus didn’t return right away. There was much that was on the line here for Paul. The Corinthians were his letter of recommendation (2 Cor. 3:2-3). They were the embodiment of his ministry and how they acted would either vindicate or indict his ministry of the gospel. Imagine Paul’s relief and pure joy when he finally did hook up with Titus and found out that not only did the Corinthians receive Titus well, but Titus had loved his time with the Corinthians and had been greatly refreshed.
As we have seen previously, some people in the Corinthian congregation had incited many others against the leadership of Paul and challenged the legitimacy of his apostleship. Paul has warned the entire congregation that rejecting him was really a rejection of the gospel itself, and would endanger them of joining the ranks of unbelievers (6:14). He had also charged them, as a congregation, with not defending him and his ministry the way that they should have. When Paul sent Titus, he found complete repentance on their part, but he also found that just as Paul was anxious to see if they would accept him and Titus on his behalf, the Corinthians were anxious to see if Paul would accept them. They had taken action in their repentance and had demonstrated true, godly sorrow, but for them, it remained to be seen if Paul would give his blessing and accept them once again into the type of relationship they had had with him at first.
This is what he means in verse 12, which would otherwise seem a bit strange. In verse 11, Paul holds up a mirror and says "just look at how true repentance has shown in your lives." It had produced earnestness to repair their status as Paul’s spiritual children. Paul then lists a process of six other corollaries that come as a result of earnestness, each resulting from the previous action. The majority of the congregation had taken action on their repentance, including pronouncing judgment and enacting punishment on at least one individual who had spoken out against Paul (2:6). Now Paul wants to reassure them that they have demonstrated godly repentance and that he has accepted them once again with open arms. They need to see the fruit and sincerity of their own repentance.
This repentance has given Paul great encouragement, but he is even more encouraged to see that everything he told Titus about them has been vindicated. God really is working in their lives and through Paul’s ministry. This must have been an incredible mixture of joy, encouragement, relief, and vindication all rolled together into one. This is a special relief for Paul, because his credibility has been brought into question in Corinth. Their repentance has shown Paul to be credible in two major ways. First, he has been proven credible in telling the Corinthians about the power of the gospel to change the lives of people who would be obedient to it. That has certainly happened in the case of the Corinthian Church. Second, he has been shown credible in his confidence in them and God’s power. Had Titus arrived and found that they had not punished the offender(s) or that they would not receive Titus well, then Paul would have been proven to be a wishful thinker who was at best engaging in unfounded optimism. The situation has shown that Paul is not interested in looking good or making up lies to foster a good reputation, he is only interested in the truth.
Titus got to Corinth, though, and was greatly encouraged by their humility in obedience and that they received him with fear and trembling. This is probably an allusion to Isaiah 19:16, which describes the dread that will come over Egypt when it realizes that God has raised up against her. This further demonstrates Paul’s belief that rejecting him was a rejection of the gospel and of the true God. Those in Corinth have realized that and have responded appropriately to the severity of the situation. Because of this Paul affirms once again (v. 4) that he can have great confidence in them. Paul is still walking a fine line here between being encouraged and being affirmed by those who have repented and still wanting to bring back into the fold those who haven’t fully done so yet. His hope, no doubt, was that the encouraging, but firm tone of this letter will accomplish that. He ends this section on a positive tone, though, which will put him in a much better situation to move on to topic of his next section: the completion of his collection, and event that will require great financial sacrifice on the part of the Corinthians.
Devotional Thought
Paul and the Corinthians have been through a great deal together? Yet they both have demonstrated a great deal of humility, forgiveness, and love. When someone offends you, do you show this kind of forgiveness and acceptance or do you tend to hang on to bitterness? In Ephesians 4:31 we are told to "get rid of all bitterness." Have you done that? Is there any bitterness that you are hanging on to?
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