Second Letter to the Corinthians -- Chapter 2
Having defended the sincerity and consistency of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his proclamation thereof Paul continues on to explain further why he did not visit the Corinthians: “So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved?” (2 Corinthians 2:1-2). Paul saw that if he visited the Corinthians he might cause far more pain and trouble than if he stayed away. Because of the harsh admonishment he had to give them he felt that his presence would only cause awkward pain, grieving, and animosity. In person he would certainly not be able to relent his rebuking and correcting and he knew that they would not take that well, and perhaps turn against him in their anger. “I wrote as I did so that when I came I should not be distressed by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you” (2 Corinthians 2:3-4). Paul’s anguish and depth of concern for the Corinthians was very real. He did not admonish them because he enjoyed it (in fact it broke his heart), but he did it because he knew it is what they needed, it was for their own good, and he loved them very deeply.
Continuing on Paul addresses how the Corinthians are to now deal with the situation he rebuked them for so harshly in his first letter: “If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent—not to put it too severely” (2 Corinthians 2:5). There is little doubt that the “he” that is referred to in this section is the same man who committed the depraved incestuous act Paul reprimands so harshly in the fifth chapter of his first letter to Corinth. “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife” (1 Corinthians 5:1). Paul was very firm in his discipline and admonition of the man who had committed this act and of the Corinthians in regard to their rejoicing and boasting in the sin. The grievance he committed was not against Paul but against the congregation at Corinth and therefore a grievance against God Himself. Therefore Paul had called for the church to throw him out of their midst in order that by God’s grace he would see the wretchedness of his sin and by God’s grace come to repent, clinging for mercy in the cross. “The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him” (2 Corinthians 2:6). There is no need for excessive torture or hatred now, the punishment from the church is sufficient for disciplining this shameful act. The point of church discipline is always to bring men to repentance; the church never disciplines to judge, to be self-righteous, or to hurt, the church always disciplines in order to save, in order to fight for a person’s soul. Therefore Paul tells them what to do next: “Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him” (2 Corinthians 2:7-8). After disciplining in order to bring about repentance the church is not to abandon or desert that person. The church must realize that its discipline is only the beginning of its ministry to a person and that it must follow its discipline up with forgiveness, love, and the gospel. Once a person has been brought to brokenness and repentance before the Law we are to uphold them with the message of Christ crucified for their sins.
Paul tells the Corinthians why he was so harsh with these admonitions in his first letter: “The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything” (2 Corinthians 2:9). Because of the depraved situation that arose among them Paul needed to test the Corinthians. He needed to see if their faith was real and if they were willing to follow the will of God by undertaking church discipline. Paul had feared that the entire congregation had been led astray thru these debaucheries so he felt it very necessary for the church to exercise harsh discipline in order to get itself back on the right path. It is never an easy thing for a church to call a brother to repentance but because we love them we must do this, as God has done for us in Christ Jesus. “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:7-8). In Christ Jesus who carries our sins we share in the punishment and discipline of God. We stand under the compassion of God because the rift between ourselves and God has been healed in Jesus Christ’s work on the cross. Therefore having received this forgiveness we in turn forgive those around us in Christ’s name. “If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:10-11). So that we do not fall into the trap of hating and despising our fellow man we are called to always be forgiving, even in the midst of our discipline. Satan wants to drive hatred, animosity, and unforgiveness between us and he does this by either keeping us from disciplining ourselves and our fellow man (by allowing sin to fester in our midst) or by causing rifts between us because of our discipline (by making us unloving and self-righteous in our discipline). However in Christ we will remain steadfast, being given the grace to persevere in our application of the law as we continually follow this with the soothing salve of the forgiveness of the cross.
As he continues Paul relays to the Corinthians the details of how he got to Macedonia: “Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia” (2 Corinthians 2:12-13). In these words Paul wants the Corinthians to see that plans are constantly changing in the Lord as we follow the doors that He opens in our life each and every day. We must not make attachments to people and things in this life so that we are hindered from moving on at the call of Christ. We need to be willing to pack up and leave anytime the Lord calls us to a new ministry or door in life: “He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’ But the man replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good bye to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God’” (Luke 9:59-62). Jesus Christ isn’t looking for excuses why we can’t follow the doors He opens in our life, He is simply looking for faithful obedience. As we faithfully follow the call of Christ wherever it leads we will find that even despite any unease in God will always work thru us to His glory: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him” (2 Corinthians 2:14). Despite our feelings, emotions, doubts, and sinful flesh God is constantly leading us forward in the triumph of Jesus Christ. We have the guarantee of victory in Him because of His incarnation, suffering, death, and resurrection for our sake. Even though we may not see it tangibly God is always using us to spread about the knowledge of Christ crucified to the world. “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:15). We are the witness of Christ to the world even when men reject Christ and His Word. Our job is simply to faithfully proclaim His Word and follow the path He walks before us, letting Him “sort out the details.” Our prayer is that all those to whom we proclaim God’s Word will hear and be converted, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24), but oftentimes we will find that men will obstinately despise the Word of Christ which we bring to them, “There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day” (John 12:48). The divine mystery of why some men hear and others reject the Word of Christ is a difficult aspect of the task we have been given. We however are not called to ask “why” but to simply and prayerfully carry out the commission we have been given. “To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?” (2 Corinthians 2:16). God has never said that all men will listen to whom we witness and therefore we must remain joyful not in the results we see but in the promise of God to work for the sake of Jesus Christ. Those who by God’s grace hear the Word of Christ and believe it will rejoice with us and find us the pleasant aroma of life. However those who reject the Word of Christ will treat us as the smell of death for they we will despise the condemnation the Word brings upon them. To proclaim the truth of God’s Word faithfully is a task without compare and equal in this life; it is a task that will polarize men and bring out both their best and their worst. In recognizing these truths Paul proclaims that he does not preach God’s Word for selfish reasons (for who would willingly bring upon themselves the scorn and ridicule that comes with the unaltered Word of God?) but solely because he has been called by God: “Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God” (2 Corinthians 2:17). Let us pray that we too remain faithful and steadfast in the sincere Word of Jesus Christ crucified, not falling into the temptation to alter His Word to make it “easier” and “more desirable” to our sinful flesh. “Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:15-18).
Continuing on Paul addresses how the Corinthians are to now deal with the situation he rebuked them for so harshly in his first letter: “If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent—not to put it too severely” (2 Corinthians 2:5). There is little doubt that the “he” that is referred to in this section is the same man who committed the depraved incestuous act Paul reprimands so harshly in the fifth chapter of his first letter to Corinth. “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife” (1 Corinthians 5:1). Paul was very firm in his discipline and admonition of the man who had committed this act and of the Corinthians in regard to their rejoicing and boasting in the sin. The grievance he committed was not against Paul but against the congregation at Corinth and therefore a grievance against God Himself. Therefore Paul had called for the church to throw him out of their midst in order that by God’s grace he would see the wretchedness of his sin and by God’s grace come to repent, clinging for mercy in the cross. “The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him” (2 Corinthians 2:6). There is no need for excessive torture or hatred now, the punishment from the church is sufficient for disciplining this shameful act. The point of church discipline is always to bring men to repentance; the church never disciplines to judge, to be self-righteous, or to hurt, the church always disciplines in order to save, in order to fight for a person’s soul. Therefore Paul tells them what to do next: “Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him” (2 Corinthians 2:7-8). After disciplining in order to bring about repentance the church is not to abandon or desert that person. The church must realize that its discipline is only the beginning of its ministry to a person and that it must follow its discipline up with forgiveness, love, and the gospel. Once a person has been brought to brokenness and repentance before the Law we are to uphold them with the message of Christ crucified for their sins.
Paul tells the Corinthians why he was so harsh with these admonitions in his first letter: “The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything” (2 Corinthians 2:9). Because of the depraved situation that arose among them Paul needed to test the Corinthians. He needed to see if their faith was real and if they were willing to follow the will of God by undertaking church discipline. Paul had feared that the entire congregation had been led astray thru these debaucheries so he felt it very necessary for the church to exercise harsh discipline in order to get itself back on the right path. It is never an easy thing for a church to call a brother to repentance but because we love them we must do this, as God has done for us in Christ Jesus. “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:7-8). In Christ Jesus who carries our sins we share in the punishment and discipline of God. We stand under the compassion of God because the rift between ourselves and God has been healed in Jesus Christ’s work on the cross. Therefore having received this forgiveness we in turn forgive those around us in Christ’s name. “If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:10-11). So that we do not fall into the trap of hating and despising our fellow man we are called to always be forgiving, even in the midst of our discipline. Satan wants to drive hatred, animosity, and unforgiveness between us and he does this by either keeping us from disciplining ourselves and our fellow man (by allowing sin to fester in our midst) or by causing rifts between us because of our discipline (by making us unloving and self-righteous in our discipline). However in Christ we will remain steadfast, being given the grace to persevere in our application of the law as we continually follow this with the soothing salve of the forgiveness of the cross.
As he continues Paul relays to the Corinthians the details of how he got to Macedonia: “Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia” (2 Corinthians 2:12-13). In these words Paul wants the Corinthians to see that plans are constantly changing in the Lord as we follow the doors that He opens in our life each and every day. We must not make attachments to people and things in this life so that we are hindered from moving on at the call of Christ. We need to be willing to pack up and leave anytime the Lord calls us to a new ministry or door in life: “He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’ But the man replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good bye to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God’” (Luke 9:59-62). Jesus Christ isn’t looking for excuses why we can’t follow the doors He opens in our life, He is simply looking for faithful obedience. As we faithfully follow the call of Christ wherever it leads we will find that even despite any unease in God will always work thru us to His glory: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him” (2 Corinthians 2:14). Despite our feelings, emotions, doubts, and sinful flesh God is constantly leading us forward in the triumph of Jesus Christ. We have the guarantee of victory in Him because of His incarnation, suffering, death, and resurrection for our sake. Even though we may not see it tangibly God is always using us to spread about the knowledge of Christ crucified to the world. “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:15). We are the witness of Christ to the world even when men reject Christ and His Word. Our job is simply to faithfully proclaim His Word and follow the path He walks before us, letting Him “sort out the details.” Our prayer is that all those to whom we proclaim God’s Word will hear and be converted, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24), but oftentimes we will find that men will obstinately despise the Word of Christ which we bring to them, “There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day” (John 12:48). The divine mystery of why some men hear and others reject the Word of Christ is a difficult aspect of the task we have been given. We however are not called to ask “why” but to simply and prayerfully carry out the commission we have been given. “To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?” (2 Corinthians 2:16). God has never said that all men will listen to whom we witness and therefore we must remain joyful not in the results we see but in the promise of God to work for the sake of Jesus Christ. Those who by God’s grace hear the Word of Christ and believe it will rejoice with us and find us the pleasant aroma of life. However those who reject the Word of Christ will treat us as the smell of death for they we will despise the condemnation the Word brings upon them. To proclaim the truth of God’s Word faithfully is a task without compare and equal in this life; it is a task that will polarize men and bring out both their best and their worst. In recognizing these truths Paul proclaims that he does not preach God’s Word for selfish reasons (for who would willingly bring upon themselves the scorn and ridicule that comes with the unaltered Word of God?) but solely because he has been called by God: “Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God” (2 Corinthians 2:17). Let us pray that we too remain faithful and steadfast in the sincere Word of Jesus Christ crucified, not falling into the temptation to alter His Word to make it “easier” and “more desirable” to our sinful flesh. “Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:15-18).
No comments:
Post a Comment