II Corinthians

As we finished I Corinthians, I asked you how you think the church accepted Paul’s letter. Imagine you are a married couple who decides that your marriage is a bit shaky so you decide to visit the local pastor for some counseling. What’s the worst that can happen? At least he doesn’t charge anything for his time, maybe it will help.

So, you both attend and after a few hours the pastor starts to come down hard on you. He suggests that you have to change this about your life. He considers you to be the major problem, rather than your spouse. How would you react? You might say, “I’ll never go back to this moron again. What does he know about marriage; anyway, he’s not a trained counselor.”

Well, that was pretty much the reaction the Corinthians had to Paul’s letter. “What does he know? After all, he wasn’t one of the original disciples. In fact, I heard that before he became an apostle, he was a persecutor of the church. I never trusted that man. And have you ever heard him preach? 

So in this letter he spends some time defending himself; his personal integrity and the legitimacy of his ministry. This, I think, explains the harsher tone in chapters 10-13.

On the bright side, he doesn’t mention in this letter misconduct during the Lord’s Supper or lawsuits among the members. So they must have corrected some of the problems mentioned in the first letter.

1:3 “The God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

God comforts us so that we can turn around and comfort others. When someone is battling a serious disease, such as cancer, they will oftentimes become a part of a support group. There they will receive comfort from others who have made the same journey. I remember a poem that goes something like this:

Have you had a kindness shown, pass it on.

It wasn’t made for you alone.

Let it travel through the years; let it dry another’s tears.

Until in heaven the deed appears, pass it on.

I know you’re shocked that I might know a poem. When you regain control, we’ll move onto verse 9.

1:9 “Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God.”

I’m sure you have wondered why God has allowed you to go through tough times in your life. Paul suggests that one reason is that it strengthens your faith. He doesn’t cause bad things to happen, but he obviously allows them. I’m reminded of the passage in Romans 8:28 that says that God can make “all things work together for good.” In other words, God can bring good out of a bad situation. Of course, the good may not be in our lifetime, nor will the good be made known to us. Did Job ever learn why he suffered so much? As we’re told, the just shall live by faith.

1:12 “Our consciences testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God.”

Paul is defending his motive here. Some in Corinth may have implied evil motives on the part of Paul, or have “read between the lines” and become suspicious of Paul. He goes on to say in v 13 that his writing is clear and simple, anyone can understand it. In other words, “Don’t read more into what I am saying.”

1:21 “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

This is one of the passages which supports the idea that if we are really saved, we cannot lose your salvation. In other words, “once saved, always saved.” Those who “fall away” were never saved in the first place. Those who endure to the end demonstrate that they were saved. I John 1:19-20 says, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”

This is a subject of controversy in many churches. I always say that one’s understanding is not a “condition of fellowship or test of orthodoxy.” Many good Christians disagree on this subject and we shouldn’t allow it to divide us.

1:24 “Not that we lord it over your faith . . . .”

Paul was not a dictator, with a leadership style that overpowers others, as is seen in many cults. Jesus said that church leaders would not lead in a heavy handed manner (Matt 20:25). 

2:6 “The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 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.”

Do you remember the guy in I Cor who was living immorally with his father’s wife and Paul told the church that he should be expelled? Well, Paul is saying that it’s time to welcome him back. It is very important that when someone is disciplined that he isn’t destroyed in the process, making it impossible for him to ever feel comfortable coming back to the church. Disciplining out of jealousy, hate or other negative motive will guarantee that he would never return.

4:17 “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”

The perspective that we take is all important. I’m reminded of the two little children, both sitting on large piles of horse manure. One child is crying in disgust with the odor and mess. The other child is laughing, tossing handfuls of manure into the air. What’s the difference? The second child says, “With all this horse manure here, there must be a pony.” Paul advises us to look far beyond our troubles of today to what He has in store for us for eternity.

5:8 “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

In Phil 1:21 Paul wrote, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose. I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.”

In both of these passages Paul appears to “prefer” death to living; being with the Lord than remaining here. Maybe having to deal with the Corinthian church let him to this preference. Paul didn’t appear to have any fear of death. I doubt that if he were living today he would not avail himself to all of the modern medical technology to keep him alive.

6:14 “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.”

Now this passage has been used to teach that Christians should not marry non-Christians (see also I Cor 7:39). Though this is true, it is not the subject of this passage. Consider what “being yoked together” meant. Two animals, yoked together, must travel in the same direction and at the same speed with no way of separating. I suggest that this passage can refer to such things as a Christian going into business with a non-believer without a “buy out” clause which says that if one person wants out, the partner has to buy him out. Imagine two people start a business and one person wants to short-change the customer and cheat on their taxes? Or, what if one wants to sell something that the Christian might think is wrong? 

2:17 “Come out from them and be separate.”

Paul is not speaking of isolation from the world. He is speaking of isolation from evil influences. Paul is loosely quoting from Isa 52:11 which refers to departure from Babylon and her pagan idolatry. How can we be salt and light to the world if we are not in the world, but not of the world?