We left off last time, completing our study of the book of 1 Corinthians (see What Happened on the Cross Prepares You).
Now, the time is approximately 55 A.D. Nero is sitting on the Roman throne. During this time, the apostle Paul paid a second visit to the church in Corinth. It did not go well, but we are short on the details of the ‘why.’
He returned to the city of Ephesus, whereupon he wrote a ‘tearful letter’ to the Corinthians – implied to be one that expressed his disappointment over their spiritual state, and in the way they had received him. This letter unfortunately, has been lost in antiquity.
In the course of his stay in Ephesus, Paul preached against idolatry, raising the ire of some of the idol makers, who then started a riot against the apostle. He traveled on to Macedonia, where Paul received a report from Titus, a disciple, who informed him that the Corinthians eagerly awaited his return.
The apostle responded by sending another letter, to encourage the faithful in who they are in Christ and to assure them of their more than ample qualifications for evangelizing the Gospel. This epistle is in now known as the biblical book of 2 Corinthians.
Paul begins with a benediction:
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.
For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. 2 Cor. 1:3 – 5. NLT
We do in fact face persecution from the world, because of our commitment to walk in the ‘narrow way.’ Yet, our Savior comforts us for that dedication. Because of these combined experiences, we can draw from the well of Christ’s compassion within us, and bolster our brothers and sisters in their respective commitments.
The apostle now shifts to the body of his letter, whereupon he defends his behavior and his ministry, with a message that applies to all followers of Jesus:
For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate “Yes,” he always does what he says.
For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory. It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us. 2 Cor. 1:19 – 22. NLT
Paul is saying that his teaching has consistently been about all the promises Jehovah has made to us through His Son. And he is reminding us of our commission, our mandate to evangelize – made possible by our heavenly Father’s anointing, and through being sealed by the Holy Spirit.
The apostle continues, by giving us a much deeper understanding of our place in this process:
…thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God.
But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume…we are not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us. 2 Cor. 2:14 – 17. NLT
We are all ‘Pauls’ – God-equipped to spread the Gospel, bringing life to the new children of God, and conveying a warning of the brevity of life, remaining for those who refuse salvation.
What drives us to do so? The glorious promises of the New Covenant:
We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death, but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life. 2 Cor. 3:4 – 6. NLT
The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away.
Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! 2 Cor. 3:7 – 9. NLT
What’s in it for me? We are so human after all. Yet, because of the love of Christ, we are transcending that same humanity:
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom]. And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:17, 18. AMP
Let’s put this all together: You are a child of God – empowered by Him, to minster the Gospel, bringing others into the Kingdom of God by filling them with the hope of the new eternal covenant.
That covenant is the promise of salvation through Christ, which assures our transcendence by His new evolved promise. God has chosen you to bring the liberty of His Spirit to the willing recipients, who will join us in our transformation.
The unwilling are cast upon a different path:
If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. 2 Cor. 4:3, 4. NLT
Thus, there will be throngs of people who choose to cling to the world and reject Jesus. We can offer the Gospel, but we cannot force it upon others. What we can do is pray that their hearts would soften before it stops beating.
Our hope must be focused on those we may yet reach. We must take a stand for good and another against evil:
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 2 Cor. 4:16 – 5:1. NLT
Now He who made us and prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the [Holy] Spirit as a pledge [a guarantee, a down payment on the fulfillment of His promise].
So then, being always filled with good courage and confident hope, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord – for we walk by faith, not by sight [living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in God’s promises]- 2 Cor. 5:5 – 7. AMP
What do we see? We are an inner growing glory, being prepared by God Himself, for our eternal date in heaven. Latching onto that, we become filled with mountain-moving faith. As a beacon, our glory will attract others to the love of God through Christ. And in our realization of how God transforms us, we can clearly see what has been divinely bestowed upon us:
…Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 2 Cor. 5:14 – 19. NLT
…we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us; we…plead with you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. He made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious lovingkindness]. 2 Cor. 5:20, 21. AMP
You are a child of God, basking in His love, and the love of His Son – who died for you, so that you could become a new eternal spirit, who can enter the presence of the Creator of the Universe, because you are draped in the cleansing / forgiving righteousness of Christ.
Again, Paul returns to your stance between good and evil:
Do not be unequally bound together with unbelievers [do not make mismatched alliances with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership can righteousness have with lawlessness? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial (Satan)? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God… 2 Cor. 6:14 – 16. AMP
…let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. 2 Cor. 7:1 NLT
We act accordingly when we position ourselves to be both vulnerable and obedient to the conviction of God. It’s His way of nudging us back onto our path when we slip. And we all slip. Remembering the sacrifice of Christ, it allows us to put our transgressions behind us:
For you are recognizing [more clearly] the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [His astonishing kindness, His generosity, His gracious favor], that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich (abundantly blessed). 2 Cor. 8:9 AMP
The Son of God came down from heaven cloaked Himself in our frailties so that He could experience the poverty of our flesh. And He lovingly gave up His flesh to transcend death, so that we might be saved and enriched by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit…
It’s a battle out there in the world – good vs evil, a fight for our souls. Fortunately, God does not leave us weaponless:
We are human, but don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. 2 Cor. 10:3 – 5. NLT
Lastly, we must know who our enemy is and how he may manifest himself:
For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works. 2 Cor. 11:13 – 15. CSB
So, where do you stand?
Goodnight and God bless.