The Second Epistle to the Corinthians

Turning back to the beginning of the First Epistle for comparison with the Second, we note how much wider it is in the scope of its address, taking in “all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord”; thus, it embraces the entire Christian profession in the whole world. The divine reason for this breadth of address is not difficult to see: much of the sad departure from God’s written Word that is now found in Christendom was already in essence at Corinth, and stands exposed and condemned in the First Epistle. But many nowadays do not appear to read the Bible with earnest desire to learn from it, else would they not give up what it condemns?

The Second Epistle, its address limited to “the Assembly of God which is in Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia,” differs much in character from the First. The Corinthians had, in considerable measure, judged themselves on account of the various things brought to their attention by the First Epistle, and Paul was now filled with comfort of which he must tell not them only, but also all the Christians in that country of which Corinth was a large and important city.

The second verse brings before us the changeless love and favor of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ for us who have heard and heeded the Word of God: grace and peace without measure.

Verses 3-5. The apostle’s heart overflows in praise to God.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassions and God of all encouragement. Who encourages us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to encourage those who are in any tribulation whatever, through the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged of God; because even as the sufferings of the Christ abound toward us, so through the Christ does our encouragement also abound.” (N.T.)

Verse 3 in the better translation quoted from and Eph. 1:3 and 1 Peter 1:3, are alike in their opening words —”Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” but in 2 Cor. 1:3, the outburst of praise is on account of encouragement in trial; in Eph. 1:3, it is in acknowledgment of every spiritual blessing bestowed, and in 1 Peter 1:3 it is in view of His great mercy to the Jews who believed. So it is that the Christian’s heart is drawn out in praise as he passes through the world, recognizing the hand of God in the very circumstances of his life; or as he surveys the many sided grace that has given us so rich a portion for time and eternity; or again, as he considers the depth of divine mercy meted out to poor sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles, without measure and free.

The title of “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” leads our thoughts to John 20:17, where the risen Lord communicated to Mary Magdalene a message to carry to those whom He could now call His brethren, saying,

“I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.” As another has said.

“Christ stands in two relationships with God, His Father. He is a perfect man before His God, and He is a Son with His Father. We are to share both these relationships.” God “is the God of Christ, when Christ is looked at as man; the Father of Christ, when Christ is looked at as the Son of His Love. In the first character the nature of God is revealed; in the second we see the intimate relationship which we enjoy to Him who bears this character of Father, and that according to the excellence of Christ’s own relationship to Him.”

This line of truth is prominent in the Epistle to the Ephesians.

It is God so known through our Lord Jesus- as His God and Father- Himself having once passed through this world as a man, that fills the heart of the apostle. Moreover as Father He is the Father of compassions; as God He is the God of all encouragement- fit names to be applied to Him who makes Himself known- better known- in the circumstances of trial often found in a believer’s life.

Then the practical working of this divinely given encouragement or cheer, in trial is,

“That we may be able to encourage those who are in any tribulation whatever, through the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged of God.”

This is what should be the common experience of God’s children, but there was suffering out of the ordinary in the path of this devoted servant, and it is in view of this that he can add,

“Because, even as the sufferings of the Christ abound toward us, so through the Christ does our encouragement also abound.”

It was given to Paul to know suffering as no one else who came after him on account of the revelation of God in the gospel, he being the special witness-bearer to it, as he says in Col. 1:24,

“Now, I rejoice in sufferings for you, and I fill up that which is behind of the tribulations of Christ in my flesh, for His body which is the assembly, of which I became minister.”

Verses 6, 7. The apostle thinks of his tribulations as well as his encouragement, as for the encouragement and salvation’ of the Corinthian believers, wrought in the endurance of the same sufferings as he, “Knowing,” as he says, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so ye shall also be of the encouragement.”

The believers at Corinth suffered for Christ’s sake; it could not have been otherwise at that time, even though they were going on badly; in due season they would find encouragement that Paul had been given, having put away the sin so dishonoring to the Lord which was a hindrance to their blessing.

Verses 8-11. That the Acts do not record all of the apostle’s persecutions and sufferings is evident both from chapter 11:23-27, and from verse 8 now before us. The brief word about having fought with (human) beasts at Ephesus in 1 Cor. 15:32, joined with verse 8 gives us all we know of how near death Paul was at Ephesus some time before the end of his stay there, of which Acts 19 tells. It may have resulted from Satanic rage over the effect of the preaching as in Acts 19:18-20.

It was not God’s way of dealing with His servant to spare him in some miraculous way from suffering, and He allowed him to get into such a position that he despaired even of living. But, as he says, (verse 9)

“We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.”

Verses 10, 11. God had delivered Paul from so great a death, and continued to deliver him; in Him he confided that He would also yet deliver. In the eleventh verse the apostle refers to the part in prayer that all the saints had in the gift toward himself, i.e., the sparing of his life that he might continue in service as Christ’s apostle-the gift thus becoming the subject of the thanksgiving of many for him.

In verse 12 no doubt the saints at Corinth were particularly in view, for they had much to learn and to unlearn in attaining ways suitable in a Christian. These were Paul’s ways in Christ, not his by nature; what he had been he speaks of in 1 Tim. 1:13 (“who before was a blasphemer, and persecutor, and an insolent, overbearing man.”) (N. T.) But the twelfth verse was written at the Holy Spirit’s direction for the Corinthians, and many others beside them, even for Christians today; it shows the character all the Lord’s servants should have, and surely all of us may learn from this verse.

In verse 13 the sense in English is made clearer by substituting “what ye well know and recognize” for the words in the middle of the verse. Truth they had heard when the apostle was among them was what he was continuing to press upon them.

Verse 14. They had acknowledged or recognized Paul “in part” that he was their boast; this partial thing was to their shame, for God had used him in bringing them out of heathen darkness into the light of His truth; but the apostle only says, “even as ye also are our boast in the day of the Lord Jesus”; he is thinking of the day in glory when the saints as the trophies of God’s grace will be displayed; when we are with and like our Lord.

Verses 15-18. Paul had purposed to go from Ephesus directly across the Aegean Sea to Corinth, and thence northward through Greece or along its coast to Macedonia; from there he would have returned to Corinth to start on his expected journey toward Judea. Because of the bad state in the Corinthian Assembly he did not go to them, but instead wrote his First Epistle, sending it by Titus. Was his decision not to go to Corinth a token that his word could not be depended upon? Some would have thought so, but it was not true; Paul however turns to the certainty there is in Christ, according to the preaching, (verse 19).

Verse 20. All the promises of God, whatever they are, and to whomsoever uttered, in Christ they are yea and amen; believers are the objects of these counsels of God; they are to His glory by us. How can this be? The answer is indicated in verses 21 and 22.

The doer of the work is God. He has established us in Christ; then we are secure for eternity; He has anointed us, given us energy of communion with His revealed mind (1 John 2:20-27). He has, moreover, sealed us (Eph. 1:13 and 4:30), having completely delivered us from Satan’s slavery, made us His children by the new birth, washed us from our sins, and condemned sin in the flesh; and finally He has given the earnest or pledge of the Spirit in our hearts — the pledge of the inheritance we have in and with Christ. What a wonderful place of blessing, both now and for eternity, the child of God is given!

Verses 23, 24. The apostle begins to explain why he had not come to Corinth; he hoped that their consciences would be reached by means of a letter, rather than himself to go there with a rod. It was not that he ruled over their faith, but was a fellow-workman of their joy; by faith they stood.

2 Corinthians 2

Danger of Controversies

There is danger when controversies arise through Satan’s attacks upon the truth, of forgetting the need of souls- of being so occupied with the enemy, as to overlook the necessity of diligent and persistent ministrations of Christ to sustain and nourish souls, and thus enable them to repel the enemy’s assaults. God’s people cannot be fed, built up, with controversies-a warning word for the present moment.

The apostle continues in this chapter to explain to the Corinthian saints why he had not gone to them a second time. They ought to have understood it from the First Epistle, fourth chapter, and verses 18-21 particularly. In the first chapter of this Epistle he has told them that it was not a changeable mind in him that led to his staying away, but to spare them; for if he had gone to Corinth while they were in the state he had learned was true of them, he must indeed have dealt with them severely in the exercise of the authority the Lord had given him.

Verse 1. But Paul had determined this with himself that he would not come again to them in grief, and instead of going there he had written, was now writing a second time, hoping that they would judge thoroughly the sin that had crept in among themselves, that then he might again meet them face to face without grief.

Verse 2. If by his letter he gave them grief about their sinful ways, that very state of self-judgment produced in them would gladden the apostle; so (verse 3) he wrote, that, coming a second time he might not have grief from those with whom he ought to have joy, for he now trusted in them all, that his joy was that of them all. If they were subject to God, they would share the apostle’s thoughts in what concerned Him. Now they had shown this, in measure, for they had put away the wicked person spoken of in the 5th chapter of the First Epistle.

Verse 4. So with confidence reestablished in part in his beloved Corinthians, Paul can now open his heart and tell them that the First Epistle was written out of much tribulation and distress of heart, with many tears; “not,” he says, “that ye may be grieved, but that ye may know the love which I have very abundantly toward you.”

Paul has been called the “pattern servant” of the Lord in the present interval of grace; if there were many like him in our times, could we not look for much blessing among God’s people? We long to see much more Paul-likeness or better still, Christ-likeness, among those who seek to care for the sheep and lambs of the flock of God.

Servant of Christ, do you know much of distress of heart and tears on account of the present state of the Church? Ministry which has such a background is what is needed at this moment, and is sure to carry with it the Lord’s blessing (See Psa. 126:5, 6).

In verses 5 to 11, the apostle refers to the believer who had fallen into sin (1St Epistle, chapter 5):

“But if any one has grieved, he has grieved, not me, but in part (that I may not overcharge you) all of you” (verse 5, N. T.).

He would have overcharged the saints at Corinth if he had said, “You are all bad,” but they had had their consciences aroused, and judged the sin that had been going on among themselves.

The discipline of the assembly, and the man’s own conscience being awakened, had produced the needed effect in him; he abhorred his sin; the deepest sorrow was now his. The Word of God by the apostle is therefore, “Sufficient to such a one is this rebuke which has been inflicted by the many (the body at large)”; they should now show grace, or forgive and encourage him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with excessive grief. Therefore the apostle exhorts the gathered saints to assure him of their love, receiving him back to their number.

This was a happy outcome of assembly discipline; would that there were such a result in every case! But, alas! what do we sometimes see as we look around among the gathered saints today, and reflect upon the same course pursued by some who in years past were likewise subjected to assembly discipline, and were never restored? Instead of grief, and far from being swallowed up with overmuch sorrow on account of un-discerned self, because of which they had become an easy prey of the devil, some have nursed a grievance, and sat in judgment on the saints who, with sorrow of heart, dealt with them in discipline under the Lord’s authority; it has even been the case that some under discipline have sought to draw away the disciples after themselves. Will such ways have the Lord’s commendation in the coming day of rewards when the course of each of us is reviewed?

Paul wrote (verse 9) that he might know, by putting the saints at Corinth to the test, if as to everything they were obedient.

“But to whom ye forgive anything, I also; for I also, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it is for your sakes in the person of Christ; that we might not have Satan get an advantage against us, for we are not ignorant of his thoughts” (verses 10, 11 N. T.).

The assembly at Corinth was responsible to act in restoring the repentant one, and the apostle adds his word as joining with them; “in the person of Christ” is as though He were personally present to give His authority to the act. Satan would separate the saints from Paul, if he could; would make a division between them and the apostle; this is work at which he has proved himself a master, turning as many as he can of God’s people away from the truth of His Word.

When Paul, after writing the First Epistle to the Corinthians at Ephesus, and sending it with Titus, left that city, and came to the seaport town of Troas, from which he had first crossed over to Macedonia (Acts 16:8-11). There he now proceeded to make the gospel known, and a door was opened to him in the Lord; he should therefore, we may think, have remained at Troas, but he was so anxious about the effect his letter, correcting so many faults, and requiring the exclusion of a sinning saint, had produced at Corinth, that he had no rest in his spirit. Perhaps it was too soon to expect Titus back from his long journey to the Greek city; nevertheless Paul bade the Christians at Troas adieu and crossed the Aegean Sea to Macedonia. It was, perhaps, at Philippi, or at Thessalonica or Berea, that Titus, bearing good news from Corinth, met the apostle.

Of the meeting with Titus he says nothing. If he had failed in leaving the work at Troas in his concern over the Corinthian assembly, God had wrought for His own glory, so that Paul could say, as a willing captive in His train,

“But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in the Christ, and makes manifest the odor of His knowledge through us in every place” (verse 14, N. T.).

In verses 14 to 16 the apostle uses the figure of a triumphal parade such as the Romans used to celebrate the victorious conclusion of a military expedition, when the captured enemies formed part of the procession, and aromatic drugs were burned. Some of the captives would afterward be put to death. Paul looks at himself as the instrument whereby the sweet savor, or odor, of Christ was made known. To the saved, the odor was from life unto life; to those that perish, the odor was from death unto death. So is it with the gospel.

Verse 17. If in the 16th verse the apostle’s expression, Who is sufficient for these things? shows how he felt the responsibility he carried, to make known the riches of Christ, in the closing verse of the chapter he could testify in his own behalf. Not as the many did he corrupt, or adulterate the Word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, before God, he spoke in Christ. We can thank the Lord that He had in Paul a faithful servant, and long for many more like him.

2 Corinthians 3:1-7

The division of the books of the Bible into chapters and verses, as is well known, is of human origin; and though it is a great convenience in referring to passages, it is faulty, sometimes in the division into verses, much more frequently in the arrangement by chapters. It is plain, for instance, that the third chapter’s beginning is a continuation of the subject which was before the inspired writer at the close of the second chapter; and they should be read together.

The low spiritual state of the Corinthian saints called for the language the apostle uses. That is why he speaks in his own behalf, of the character of his service for God, in the last verse of chapter 2, and continues (verses 1-3): Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or do we need, as some, commendatory letters to you, or from you? Ye are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read (or well known) of all men, ye being manifested that ye are Christ’s epistle, ministered by us; written, not with ink, but the Spirit of the living God; not on stone tables, but on fleshy tables of the heart.

Letters of commendation are much needed when saints go where they are not personally known, but so very much was the assembly at Corinth the result of Paul’s labor for Christ in that place, that he could say to them, Ye are our epistle, our letter of commendation. “Written in our hearts,” tells of his affection for them. And if Paul’s, they were Christ’s epistle, ministered by the apostle, but written by the Spirit of the living God on fleshy tables of the heart.

This every gathering of God’s saints is, and every individual saint- every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ — Christ’s letter of commendation to an unbelieving world. The world of that day took knowledge of the Assembly of God at Corinth; they saw something of the result of the gospel of God’s grace in human hearts, something of Christ in those Corinthians. So, to the unbelieving world of today, having no regard for God or His Christ, and ignorant of His truth, you, dear young Christian, are in the position of recommending the Savior. May they see nothing in you but what recommends Him!

The reference to tables of stone in the third verse directs our thoughts to the tables or tablets of the law given to Moses (Exodus 24:12; 31:18; 32:19; 34:1, 4, 28; 40:20). And what a contrast this suggests! The law was a series of demands upon man which he could not meet; instead of it, we have Christ engraved on every believer’s heart by the Holy Spirit.

Verses 4, 5: “And such trust (or confidence) have we through Christ towards God; not that we are sufficient (competent) of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency (competency) is of God.” The apostle refers to his work, his ministry; but in principle it is true of all the children of God, of every one who trusts in Jesus. We have confidence through Him toward God, because of the place of acceptance and of divine favor into which we have been brought.

Guarding against any thought of self-confidence or self-sufficiency, the apostle adds, “not that we are competent of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our competency is of God.”

Happy is that Christian, who is enabled by divine grace to find his all in God; in Him and His Word he rests, drawing from that high and inexhaustible source for every need.

In another place (Phil. 3:3), after warning those to whom he wrote against dangers in the believer’s associations, the apostle adds, summarizing in a few words what a Christian is,

“For we are the circumcision, which worship God by the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”

May this characterization of the new man be true of you, dear young Christian, in the daily practice of your life!

Verse 6. Paul was made by God an able or competent minister of the new testament; he was fitted to serve, having learned the lesson of verse 5. The new covenant, for it is really that here, not “testament,” as the translators have generally made it, is referred to several times in the New Testament (See Heb. 7:22; 8 and 9; 10:16; 12:24 and 13:20, Matt. 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; Rom. 11:27; 1 Cor. 11:25). The same Greek word serves for both covenant and testament or will, and in Heb. 9:16 and 17 it is used in the latter sense. The new covenant is promised to Israel in Jer. 31:31-33, and Ezek. 16:60-62, and it will be theirs in the millennium.

The blood of the new covenant is, of course, the shed blood of Christ; His death is the basis of all God’s dealings in grace with man. We who now believe, are getting the blessings of the future covenant with Israel, without its being made with us.

How could Paul be a minister of the new covenant before it is made? The reason is plain; the foundation on which it will stand has been laid, and the grace it provides was offered to the Jews at the beginning of the Church’s history, but they would not have it, so we have the ministry of it now. We are under no covenant, but Israel was under that given at Mount Sinai, in the observance of which they failed completely.

Under the new covenant, the remnant of Israel brought through the judgments foretold in the prophetic Scriptures, will have the knowledge of God, and of the forgiveness of their sins; they will have His laws in their hearts and in their minds. What a change that promises from the unbelieving Israel of today!

Paul’s ministry was “not of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” The letter is as far as the natural man sees- a law given, whose requirements he must keep or suffer the penalty; the mind of God- the purpose of God-is made known to faith by the quickening Spirit through the written Word.

Verses 7 to 16 form a parenthesis, the seventeenth verse joining on to what is said in the sixth; in this parenthesis the law given by Moses is contrasted with the gospel. The law was the “ministry of death” (verse 7), and the “ministry of condemnation” (verse 9); a ministry of death, because they who were under it were promised life only as they kept the law in all its requirements; but having a sinful nature, with its own desires and a will contrary to God, the law held out only death to all; it was a ministry of condemnation, because the law condemned every soul that continued not in all things written in it (Gal. 3:10; Deut. 27:26).

The law began with glory, so that the children of Israel could not fix their eyes on the face of Moses on account of the glory of his face, a glory which is annulled. The reference is to Ex. 34:29-35 when Moses the second time came down from the mountain of the law with tablets of stone containing the ten commandments. There is no mention of Moses’ face shining with reflected glory when he came down the first time from the presence of God (Ex. 32:15-30). Then he had the law alone, but the second time Moses was able to communicate to the people along with the law that God is “merciful and gracious... keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that law mingled with grace, and it was this that was introduced with glory, God having given Moses a glimpse of His glory in connection with His promise of mercy for sinning Israel.

The children of Israel, however, could not bear to look on Moses’ face when he came down from Sinai, reflecting as it did some of the glory of God, nor were they able to understand the divine purpose in the giving of the law, or to apprehend the spiritual meaning of the system which Moses was directed to establish among them whereby relationship with God might be maintained. The letter of the law condemned those to whom it was given; further than that they understood very little, except as individual faith grasped the purpose of God to bless for His name’s sake.

2 Corinthians 3:8-18

The apostle has asked, “But if the ministry of death, in letters graven in stones, began with glory... how shall not rather the ministry of the Spirit subsist in glory? And he continues — “For if the ministry of condemnation be glory, much rather the ministry of righteousness abounds in glory. For also that which was glorified is not glorified in this respect, on account of the surpassing glory. For if that annulled was introduced with glory, much rather that which abides, subsists in glory” (verses 7-11, “New Translation” of J. N. Darby).

Is it not strange that so many Christians look upon the gospel as a sort of supplement to the Ten Commandments, and the system of law given through Moses, when the Scriptures, here and elsewhere (notably in the Epistle to the Galatians) set them in complete contrast? The system which Moses communicated was, as we have seen, the ministry of death and the ministry of condemnation; the gospel proclaimed since the cross of Christ is the ministry of the Spirit and the ministry of righteousness, eternal in its fruits; subsisting in glory; abounding in glory, a glory that surpasses the glory of the first covenant.

The gospel- you will find that the word in Rom. 1, verses 1, 9, 15 and 16, is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, because it is His presence and work which give character to the gospel. He has come to make God known through Christ. See verses 7-11 of John 16, the Acts (a preferable title for which, would be The Acts of the Holy Spirit, instead of The Acts of the Apostles) and Rom. 8; many other passages might be profitably examined.

The gospel is the ministry of righteousness, because Christ is the righteousness of the believer (Rom. 3:20-26). The law only condemned, but God is now giving righteousness; His own righteousness is upon all them that believe.

How great, how marvelous is the grace of God! O, that our souls may have an ever-deepening sense of this altogether unmerited favor of the Savior God! His own beloved Son has died, the just One for the unjust; our sins’ judgment fell upon Him to the utmost. Think of those two utterances from the central cross:

“My God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Matt. 27:46, and

“It is finished!” John 19:30.

The first, as He was bearing our sins; the second, when the judgment of them was past.

Now, justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. He has ascended in manhood to the very presence of God and is coming soon to claim all who have trusted in Him, that they may be with Him and share His glory. Meanwhile the Holy Spirit has come down to abide in and with believers; by Him we are baptized into one body, of which Christ is the Head; we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, who is the earnest of our inheritance. And so, left here for a season in the word, but possessing a sure and certain hope, the very thought of which moves the Christian’s heart with longing desire, we are the epistle of Christ, written in our hearts by the Spirit of the living God. If the glory of God shone out in the giving of a mingled law and grace in the introduction of the first covenant with Israel, how much more is the present unfolding of His grace glorious!

Verses 12, 13. Having therefore such hope, the apostle uses much boldness or openness of speech, and not as Moses put a veil on his own face, so that the children of Israel should not fix their eyes on the end of that to be done away or annulled. What a contrast is here again set before us! The law condemned, and the sons of Israel, except where faith wrought in them, saw nothing in the sacrifices that pointed on (as we know they did) to the substitutional death of Christ. Nor was it the time for God to appear in grace; the law must continue to pronounce against sin.

Verses 14-16. But their thoughts have been darkened (literally, hardened), for unto this day the same veil remains in reading the old covenant, unremoved, which in Christ is annulled. But unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil lies upon their heart. But when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Israel should have relied upon the promises of God to the fathers of the nation; should have turned in heart and conscience at the message of their prophets, and should have gone to Him in deep conviction of sin, feeling that there was no escape for them from judgment to the full unless He should show mercy to the confessed sinner. But as a nation (not speaking of individuals, for God has always wrought in grace) they never did these things; they never have; the veil is still on their heart. When as a nation they shall turn to the Lord, the veil will be taken away; that day is coming, ever drawing nearer; but it will not be brought in by the preaching of the gospel, we have believed.

The young Christian will find it very profitable to study in connection with what we have been considering, the ninth, tenth and eleventh chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, wherein the Holy Spirit has explained the state of the Jews, of Israel. Two quotations from that portion of God’s word must suffice here:

“But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that Stumbling Stone; as it is written, Behold I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense; and whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.” Rom. 9:31-33.

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” Rom. 11:25-27.

In verse 16 the long parenthesis of verses 7-16 (not noted as a parenthesis in the King James translation) comes to an end, and the inspired writer begins again where he had paused at the close of the sixth verse. The apostle had contrasted “the letter” and the Spirit; the first killing, the second giving life. The letter of the Word of God pronounces man’s condemnation, but to the opened heart the Spirit of God brings not only light, but life, through the same word of truth.

In verse 17, then, verses 7 and 16 are connected; the Lord, to Whom Israel shall turn, is the Spirit who gives life. As another has expressed it,

“The revelation of the Lord is in the present power of the Spirit of God”; and again,

“Thus the apostle unites in the selfsame thought, the mind of God in the Word according to the Spirit; the glory of Christ who had been hidden in the Word under the letter; and the Holy Ghost Himself who gave its force, revealed that glory, and by dwelling and working in the believer enables him to enjoy it.”

And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. This it is into which the believer is brought; all fear is removed; so we sometimes sing,

“Death and judgment are behind us;

Grace and glory are before.”

Verse 18 in the “New Translation” is, “But we all, looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit.”

“As in a glass” is left out, not being found in the best copies from which translations are made. “Changed” becomes “Transformed” to better express the meaning of the word in the original Greek, which has been made almost without alteration into an English word, “metamorphosed.” Four times only in the Scriptures is this Greek word used- twice in reference to the Lord when on the mount of transfiguration (Matt. 17:2, Mark 9:2), and twice (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18), telling of a change which should be going on in every true believer on earth, producing in each one a likeness to Christ.

O, let us endeavor with purpose of heart, to give joy to Him in the practical working out of these Scriptures in our lives!

2 Corinthians 4:1-14

The ministry of the glorified Christ, committed to Paul as to no other of the apostles, filled his heart and formed his life. In this once wicked man, persecutor of Christians to death (Acts 22:4), we now see the “chosen vessel” of Acts 9:15, 16; the chief of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15) has become the pattern servant. Thus in verse 1 he speaks of mercy received or shown him, the mercy of God; and in a deep sense of that mercy, he applied himself to the service of his Master.

“We are not as many, which corrupt the Word of God; but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ,” Paul wrote in chapter 2 (17); and continuing to pen words which the Holy Spirit supplied, he in the second verse of our chapter tells more of the character of his ministry,

“But (we) have renounced (or, as more accurately expressed in the New Translation, have rejected) the hidden things of shame (see the margin of your Bible); not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”

Thus the Word of God, exactly as it was communicated to the apostle Paul, has been delivered to us by him in the writing of his epistles. How thankful we should be, and surely we are, to God for this!

Now this manifestation of the truth which had been given to Paul, commended him to every one’s conscience in the sight of God. Deep down in every human breast there is a little monitor that, notwithstanding the passing of fifty-nine centuries and an increasing tide of evil, still persists. It was at the fall of Adam that man received a conscience (Gen. 3). It tells the wrongdoer of his guilt, though its voice may in many be very faint; but it requires the all-powerful Word of God to bring the sinner to a true sense of his sins to see his profound need of a Savior. So the small, still voice of the conscience may be at work, telling the possessor of it that there is reality in the preacher’s message, in the message borne by a tract; that there is a God, and some day he must meet Him in regard to his sins.

“But,” continues the apostle, “if our gospel be hid (literally, veiled), it is hid (veiled) in them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light (radiance) of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (verses 3, 4).

This is most solemn. Here is the gospel of the glory of Christ Jesus, the Savior of sinners, revealed in the world; it is exactly what everyone should wholeheartedly and without reservation accept and believe to the saving of his soul; yet many, as it surely appears, are unmoved by the thought of it; they continue as though God had not spoken, had provided no way of salvation from impending, eternal judgment; as though the cross of Christ and the promised day of doom for the lost were but idle tales.

The explanation is at hand: If the gospel be hid, it is hid to those who are lost, in whom the god of this world -Satan, man’s ancient and relentless enemy has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving so that the radiancy of the glad tidings should not shine forth for them.

How is it with you, dear reader, as your eyes fall upon these pages? Is the gospel anything personal to you? Not all who call themselves Christians are true. Have your eyes been opened to see the truth of the word in Rom. 3, that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God? And has your heart been opened to receive Christ as your personal Savior, like Lydia, the seller of purple, in Acts 16:14? If your answer be an unqualified Yes, then you are not in the dangerous darkness and blinding of Satan of which verses 3 and 4 speak.

Verse 5. Christ was the apostle’s theme; he did not preach to exalt himself, but the person and work of his Savior and Lord. Paul and his companions were servants for Jesus’ sake of those who owned Him as their Savior. One cannot read much in the Epistles without being impressed by the various titles given God’s beloved Son; they are indeed many, and by prayerfully noting in what connection a title or name is used, we may learn with profit to our souls.

“Jesus,” is of course His name as Man: “... and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins,” was the angel’s word to Joseph, Mary’s husband, in Matt. 1:21. It is only in this chapter that the Second Epistle to the Corinthians gives that name; see verses 5, 10, 11 and 14. Does it not, in each case, bring before us Himself as the God-Man who trod this earth in lowliest grace? The apostle desired to be like Him in his own path of service.

“Because it is the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine, Who has shone in our hearts for the shining forth (or radiancy) of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (Verse 6, N. T.)

By the example of the divine act from the first of the six days in Gen. 1, here referred to, we are shown what a work of God’s power is the causing of the light of His truth to shine into darkened human hearts. The apostle, we may suppose, was thinking too, of that unforgettable meeting on the road to Damascus of which he told King Agrippa in Acts 26:12-18. It was then that God had shone in Paul’s heart to give forth the light of the knowledge of His own glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

Salvation is indeed a work of divine power in the soul. It is not attained by human effort, but by the word of God being received. “Being born again”, as says the apostle Peter in his First Epistle, chapter 1:23,

“Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever.”

The light of God shines into the soul as into a vessel, a lamp, that it may shine out, and this treasure, this light of the knowledge of the glory in the face of Jesus Christ, is, as we are reminded in the seventh verse, in earthen vessels, that the excellency, or surpassingness, of the power may be of God, and not from us. The vessel is as nothing, compared with the light it has, to be shining out for others that are lost to see.

In a marked degree the light shone out from Paul, the earthen vessel, and to keep him in a true sense of his dependence upon God, he must be in uncommon measure a sufferer for Christ. As another has said,

“The vessel is made nothing of, but it is sustained by another power, which is neither the treasure, nor the vessel, and so the man is dependent.”

“Everyway afflicted, but not straitened; seeing no apparent issue, but our way not entirely shut up; persecuted, but not abandoned; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying, or putting to death, of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body; for we who live are always delivered unto death on account of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh; so that death works in us, but life in you. And having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I have believed, therefore have I spoken, we also believe, therefore also we speak; knowing that He who has raised the Lord Jesus, shall raise us also with Jesus, and shall present us with you” (Verses 8-14, N.T.).

These verses tell something of the life of the apostle Paul; no easy path was his as he toiled for his Master in the glad tidings of salvation for perishing sinners. Seeking to make Him known, he went into the darkened lands of paganism, and met there the reproach that only the name of Christ could bring upon him.

2 Corinthians 4:8-18

Verses 8 to 14, with which we concluded last month, may well engage our attention further. “Every way afflicted, but not straitened,” tells much in few words.

In the 10th chapter, verses 4 to 10, we learn something of Paul’s afflictions, and more in the 11Th chapter, verses 23 to 28; in verse 16 of our chapter the apostle gives us a yet deeper insight into his path when he refers to the possibility of the outward man being consumed—so near to death was he, often. Yet he could say, “but not straitened,”—not deprived in the least of his unfailing resource in God; not limited in his path of service for the Lord by the circumstances through which he was passing.

“Seeing no apparent issue, but our way not entirely shut up.” An instance of this kind was at Corinth itself, when Paul first went there (Acts 18:4-6), but no doubt there were many of them in the apostle’s life of devotion to the Lord.

Verse 9. “Persecuted but not abandoned; cast down but not destroyed.” We have an example of this in chapter l, verses 8-10, of this Epistle, where Paul was in Roman Asia (probably Ephesus), and pressed by bitter persecutors “out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life; but we had (he says) the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead, Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver.”

Verse 10. “Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.”

This pattern servant did not, and would not forget what the world had done to his divine Master; he chose to be identified before it with that Master, taking His path of rejection as his own, in order that what should be seen, should be the life, not of even a devoted follower, but of Jesus. Thus the light (verse 6) that had shone in Paul’s heart was shining forth—the radiancy of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; the treasure (verse 7) being in an earthen vessel, that the surpassingness of the power might be of God, and not from the vessel.

Verse 11. “For we who live are always delivered unto death on account of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”

It was God’s appointment for the apostle; far removed indeed from the assumed position of many who have claimed, and are today claiming apostolic succession and worldly grandeur.

Verse 12. “So that death works in us, but life in you.”

Toiling for the One who loved him brought the apostle into the world’s scorn and rejection; into suffering and sorrow, into danger even of death; and this was in the very purposes of God for the spiritual blessing of His servant in order that through the manifestation of the life of Jesus in him, the saints should be strengthened and advance in the Christian life.

In verse 13 the reference is to Psalm 116:10. “I believe, therefore have I spoken.” The same spirit of faith filled the apostle as was in the writer of the psalm. “We also believe; therefore also we speak; knowing that He who has raised the Lord Jesus, shall raise us also with Jesus, and shall present us with you” (verse 14, JND). What a secure, what a happy portion and prospect is ours by faith! We know on the authority of God’s infallible Word that consequent upon the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, will be our raising, as it is said, with (not simply by) Jesus. Indeed here it is looked upon as one act of divine power taking in both Jesus and ourselves who believe.

Paul might well have written, “shall present you with us,” considering the low spiritual state of the Corinthians to whom he wrote, but grace led to the other form, “us with you.”

Verse 15. “For all things are for your sakes, that the grace abounding through the many may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God” (JND). All that he has been speaking of, the trials and dangers of his path, connected as we have seen with the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of His Son caused to shine into Paul’s heart that it might shine out for blessing to many,—all were for their sakes. It was not only that the apostle was delivered from death from day to day, but that God’s grace reaching out to many through his ministry should cause thanksgiving to abound.

Verses 16-18. “Wherefore we faint not; but if indeed our outward man is consumed, yet the inward is renewed day by day. For our momentary and light (literally, the momentary lightness of our) affliction works for us in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen are for a time, but those that are not seen eternal” (JND).

The apostle has viewed the path of devotedness to Christ in which he was found, and in the light of the coming glory he belittles the difficulties and dangers, the loss of earthly ease and comfort, of honor that he might have gained in this passing scene; he will press on toward the goal.

Christ filled his heart; may He fill yours, dear young Christian, in equal measure!

2 Corinthians 5:1-8

In the fourth chapter the apostle has shown the character of trials which accompanied him in his path of service; and his willing acceptance of them; always, as he wrote, bearing about in his body the putting to death of Jesus—the world’s rejection of his Master, even to death, being brought in these trials constantly before him as he trod in that Master’s footsteps.

Then, if death should become the Christian’s portion,—and of course it has with Paul and the great majority of believers; if our earthly tabernacle house should thus be destroyed, we know that we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. The apostle writes here with an “if” because the Christian has no certainty of death. “We shall not all sleep” (1 Cor. 15:51), and “we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord,” in 1 Thessalonians 4:15, tell of the Christian’s hope of the Lord’s soon coming; the moment of the resurrection we believe to be now very near.

The Christian’s body as it now is, is compared to a tent or tabernacle, and so subject to decay; in its future state, it is a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, our dwelling place to be. As to this, we have the language of inspiration for faith’s appropriation, “we know.”

Verse 2. In this present tent-house we groan, earnestly desiring to have put on our house from heaven. The apostle expresses more than his own ardent wish; it is the longing of every right-minded Christian. We have, by God’s favor, been formed into new creatures in Christ Jesus; formed for heaven; and what has been communicated to us in the Word of God (revealed to us by His Spirit), makes us feel the limitations of the present body; we desire the glorified body, that, no longer hindered, we may enjoy to the full all that has been secured to us.

Verse 3. “If indeed, being also clothed, we shall not be found naked” (JND). Nakedness was the condition of Adam when a sinner before God, for his fig-leaf apron brought him no acceptance with God (Gen. 3:7-10).

All must appear before the judgment seat of Christ (verse 10), and there will be only two classes there—the saved and the lost; the “clothed” and the “naked.”

“For indeed we who are in the tabernacle groan, being burdened; while yet (or though meanwhile) we do not wish to be unclothed, but clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now He that has wrought us for this very thing is God, Who also has given to us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore, (we are) always confident, and know that while present in the body, we are absent from the Lord (for we walk by faith, not by sight); we are confident I say, and pleased rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord” (verses 4-8, JND).

This is one of the few passages in God’s Word that tell of the state of the saint who dies before the Lord comes. Luke 16:22 is the first New Testament scripture in which it is referred to, being the Lord’s words for Jewish ears concerning the state after death,

“And it came to pass that the poor man died and that he was carried away by the angels into the bosom of Abraham. And the rich man also died and was buried. And in hades lifting up his eyes, being in torments, he sees Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”

The rich man’s plea that Lazarus be sent to bring him the smallest measure of temporary relief from his suffering, Abraham answered with,

“Child, recollect that thou hast fully received thy good things in thy lifetime, and Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted here, and thou art in suffering. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm is fixed, so that those who desire to pass hence to you cannot, nor do they who (desire to cross) from there, pass over unto us.” (Luke 16:22-23,25-26, JND)

Luke 23:42,43 tells of that crucified thief who opened his mouth to speak in behalf of the holy sufferer on the central cross, and the answer he received: “And he said to Jesus, Remember me, (Lord) when Thou comest in Thy kingdom. And Jesus said to him, Verily, I say to thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” (JND)

Taking the passages in order, we come next to 1 Corinthians 15, where the believing dead are referred to as having fallen asleep, a term used by the Lord with reference to Lazarus of Bethany in John 11, and found again in 1 Thessalonians 4. It is evident that it is the believer’s body that is referred to in these passages, for nowhere in the Bible is there a hint that the spirit or soul sleep.

2 Corinthians 5 (this chapter) is next. Verses 6 and 8 in the New Translation of J. N. Darby have been already quoted: “Therefore (we are) always confident, and know that while present in the body we are absent from the Lord.” “We are confident, I say, and pleased rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.”

Philippians 1:21-23 follows:

“For for me to live is Christ, and to die gain; but if to live in flesh (is my lot) this is for me worth the while; and what I shall choose I cannot tell. But I am pressed by both, having the desire for departure and being with Christ, for it is very much better.”

A few other scriptures might be cited, but these may suffice to show that God has not left His children to conjecture about what happens to a Christian when taken away in death, or the intermediate state in which he is while waiting for the Lord’s coming for the living saints and to raise the bodies of those gone before.

“We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed, in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Cor. 15:51-52, JND

The dead in Christ are in a far happier state than we who live. The trials that oft beset them in life are forever gone; sorrow is no more; the old nature which often troubled them is no longer with them, and they sin no more. For a little while they are absent from the body, but they are present with the Lord, enjoying His presence with nothing to hinder any more. Memory is theirs, we can see from Luke 16, and all the qualities of the new nature are of course in action.

Our chapter in 2 Corinthians assures us of the heavenly body we believers shall each have; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 tells us when we shall possess it. Meanwhile, if we should be called upon to pass through death, the body sleeps; we are then “unclothed,” because all the heavenly saints are, together, in one moment, to receive the new body; that will be at the resurrection morning now fast approaching. None of the saints have the heavenly body yet. May we each live in the prospect of the Lord’s coming.

Verse 5. He that has wrought us for this is God, and He has given us not only His infallible Word to tell us of what He will do for us, but also the Holy Spirit has been given as an “earnest” or advance payment. Yes, God the Holy Spirit is here, dwelling in every child of God who knows peace with Him; never to leave us, but to guard and guide us until the end of the way.

So, verse 6, the believer is entitled to say, “we are always confident.” We walk by faith, not by sight. We can only say this in truth concerning ourselves as we are living on Christ, our heavenly food. A child of God can be very unlike one, if he feeds the old nature within, finding, or trying to find, happiness in worldly things; that is, walking by sight, not by faith.

O, let us find our true happiness in a walk with God, keeping His Word constantly in our heart and mind; the Word of God and prayer must be our daily, our constant resort if such a life is to be ours.

2 Corinthians 5:10-13

This knowledge of which we have been speaking, that everything we have done in the body, whether good or bad, is to pass under review at the judgment seat of Christ is meant by God to have a sobering and solemnizing effect in our souls. We can see from our chapter that it was a reality to the apostle, whose life was a constant savor of Christ.

The Christian has three enemies: the world, the flesh (the old nature) and the devil, and if allowed, they will ruin his testimony and all through his life, rob him of happiness. What makes young Christians and old Christians alike an easy prey for these enemies, is neglect of the Word of God, and prayer.

From God’s Word we may learn much that is needed in taking our way through the present scene, and mind and heart and conscience, become exercised in increasing desire to be subject to Him in all things; through prayer we learn our dependence upon Him. It is “the word of His grace” that, joined with prayer, is able to build up the believer and to give him an inheritance among all those that are sanctified (Acts 20:32).

From the Word of God we learn that although before we were saved we were darkness, now we are light in the Lord, and should walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8), and that “if we walk in the light as He (God) is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). From the same blessed Book we draw a word of warning against growing careless, once we are saved,

“For the Word of God is quick (or living) and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do.” Hebrews 4:12-13.

Nothing now is hid from Him, though much may, with success, be veiled from our neighbors, or our brethren; and at the judgment seat of Christ He will “bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.” 1 Corinthians 4:5.

“Then,” as the last quoted verse concludes, “shall every man have praise of God”; He will praise what is worthy of praise in His children.

May thoughts of that approaching day lead us who are Christ’s to much more guardedness in our lives, that in them there may be that which will be found to His glory in the day of the giving of rewards! Must we not own with shame that we have attempted to excuse ourselves perhaps ten thousand times for things in which the old nature, instead of the new, was active? perhaps it was a hasty word that should never have been said, or an unworthy thought; or the choosing to stay at home on meeting night because of the weather or the distance, but really a measure of indifference to the claims of Christ. The list need not be enlarged; your own heart will tell you more.

No doubt all of us are familiar with the passage in Galatians 6:7-9,

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

These then are days of sowing; there is reaping here too, but the Christian’s reaping will appear in full measure at the judgment seat of Christ.

“Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.” John 15:8. These were the Lord’s words, uttered just before His cross. He was speaking of that which is deeper than work for Him, i.e., communion with Him, the source from which springs all that in us gives joy to His heart. May we each seek to know more of communion with the Father and the Son!

With wonder and a deepened sense of divine grace, we shall at the judgment seat of Christ, see our lives as we have never before. The ways of God will be known and understood in all their perfection, as another has said, by the application of the perfect light to the whole course of our life, and of His dealings with us, in which we shall thoroughly recognize that love - perfect, sovereign above all things—has reigned, with ineffable grace.

The majesty of God will have been maintained by His judgment at the same time that the perfection and tenderness of His dealings will be the eternal recollection of our souls. The same writer continues,

“How wonderful to be thus manifested! What love is that which in its perfect wisdom, in its marvelous ways overruling all evil, could bring such beings as we are to enjoy this unclouded light!”

There will be no dissatisfaction with the place we shall each hold in glory. We shall see others in higher stations than ourselves, because of greater devotion to the Lord, and we shall be happy in seeing them so rewarded, for the old nature and its fruit of sin, will be gone forever in the scene to which we are going. Praise and adoration to God because of His grace and mercy will fill every heart to the full.

Verse 11. “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men, but have been manifested to God, and I hope also that we have been (or are) manifested in your consciences.” (JND)

The Christian knows, from what he has learned of the holiness of God, how solemn it will be for a sinner to appear before Him. When we pass before that judgment seat we are already glorified, and like Christ; we shall be before Him in love; our sins and the old nature gone.

Now, the knowledge of the judgment, as it must fall upon the sinner, moves the Christian to seek to persuade those who are in danger of that judgment.

We have been manifested to God; we have no fear of the manifestation to come; it will reveal to us all of His ways in love and in grace and mercy, to us from beginning to end. These thoughts exercise our consciences. The apostle adds, in love to his dear Corinthians, that he hopes that he is manifested in their consciences; such was his desire, for he was Christ’s servant for them, seeking their blessing for Christ’s sake. The state of the Corinthians was, as we have seen, better than when Paul wrote his First Epistle, but their restoration to a right state before the Lord, was not complete.

Verse 12. The apostle will not again commend himself to them by appealing to their consciences, but instead gives the saints at Corinth occasion of boast in his behalf where some boasted in countenance and not in heart. For whether he was beside himself (as some were ready to say of Paul, because on occasion his spirit was enraptured with thoughts of God’s grace in Christ) it was not excitement or folly, but the result of occupation with a subject so glorious. If he were criticized as inconsistent because he passed from these occasions of rapture to speak and write soberly in instructing the Corinthians in ways pleasing to God, it was for their cause, for them (verse 13).

2 Corinthians 5:14-21

The apostle continues telling what underlay his service for Christ—the principles which indeed necessarily underlie true and intelligent service for the Heavenly One. He has said, in verse 11,

“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men,” having in his soul a deep sense of the character of God’s judgment of sin, though without fear for himself, for it was his habit to walk in the light. But now he names a more compelling motive in his life of service than the thought of impending and overwhelming judgment upon the lost—the love of Christ, that matchless love that led God’s beloved and only Son from God’s fullest glory, down to Calvary’s depth of woe, there giving His life that sinners might live.

Verse 14: “For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if One died for all, then were all dead.”

One indeed has died for all; He gave Himself a ransom for all, as it is said in 1 Timothy 2:6. That could not have been unless all was over with man. There was no possibility of improving the human race or any of its members, for all were spiritually in a state of death.

Paul could say to the believers at Ephesus (Ephesians 2:1, etc.),

“You were dead in trespasses and sins. ... But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved).” One has said,

“I do not know anything on the world’s side of Christ’s grave, except this, that they are all dead in sins.” And another,

“Thus the apostle sees death come in for all, and judgment awaiting men as such; and because this was the fact for all, Christ died for all. Promises avail not, nor the kingdom; so complete is man’s ruin. Else a living Messiah would have sufficed. But no, only a Saviour that died could meet the case.”

Verse 15: “And that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again.”

All were dead, and out of the number, some live by reason of Christ’s death; they have not been left in the state in which they were by nature. Henceforth they are to live to Him who died for them and rose again.

The young Christian will notice that the Scriptures never say, as some mistakenly do, that Christ died for the sins of all; He did not. We may notice the language of Hebrews 9:28:

“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” And in Romans 3:22,

“... righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe;” free to all for the taking, but only theirs who believe.

The value of the death of Christ is such that none need be lost; all may be saved by putting their trust in Him; but the solemn fact is that all do not come to Him; they do not want salvation since it can only be obtained in that way, God’s way.

Verse 16. “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh; yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more.”

A great change has taken place in the believer’s life, though he may not realize its extent at first. Let us take note of this change as we see it in the apostle Paul. Writing to the Philippians (chapter 3) he speaks of having no confidence in the flesh—in the old self, though in himself by nature, and apart from the work of God in his soul, there had been much to boast of. But, he says,

“What things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ.”

Worldly honor, riches, all that the world esteems highly, now meant nothing, and less than nothing to him. To these Corinthians he has said (chapter 4, verse 5),

“For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.”

“Christ after the flesh” (verse 16) refers to Himself as living on the earth. He might have taken the place that was His, of being Israel’s Messiah, but He has passed through death; the world has never seen Him since He died on the cross. Another scene has claimed Him, and if Paul had ever known Him as in connection with the present scene, in Whom all the promises centered, henceforth in that way he knew Him no more. As now known, He was the One who died for him, and rose again.

Verses 17, 18. “So if any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new, and all things are of the God who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and given to us the ministry of that reconciliation” (JND).

We, believers, are in Christ, are part of a new creation; the world we have left behind us, is in a state of death in God’s sight. For us, the old things to which we were attached have passed away; all things have become new and all of God, the God Who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ.

How wonderfully, and how completely, God has provided for His children, even for the feeblest and the least intelligent of them. And we see that all this is ours now, before we reach our heavenly home. May we know, and desire to know yet more, in a practical way the place we have been brought into through God’s grace.

Verse 19. “How that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not reckoning to them their offenses; and putting in us the word of that reconciliation” (JND).

A ministry of reconciliation had been given to Paul to make known. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, that world from its beginning had turned a deaf ear to His messengers, and at length, had taken His Son and crucified Him. What marvelous condescension, what unexampled favor to those that were rebels at heart and in action. Further, He was not reckoning to them their offenses. The proclamation was of mercy, where judgment was due.

Verses 20, 21. “We are ambassadors therefore for Christ, God as it were beseeching by us, we intreat for Christ, Be reconciled. Him who knew not sin He has made sin for us, that we might become God’s righteousness in Him” (JND).

The apostle was then Christ’s ambassador in the world, as the Lord had said of him at the time of his conversion (Acts 9:15):

“He is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel; for I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

As no other man, Paul was the ambassador of his Master. God, as it were, beseeching by him, he intreated for Christ, Be reconciled.

But wonderful as God’s grace has been seen to be in the verses we have been reading, a greater depth than this is revealed in verse 21:

“Him who knew not sin, He has made sin for us,” laying for us His unsparing judgment of sin on Him. So we read in the prophetic statement of Isaiah 53:6,

“The Lord (Jehovah) hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Without this there is no salvation). And more, in the purposes of divine grace: “that we might become God’s righteousness in Him.”

It is only here in this passage that believers are said to become righteousness of God in Christ. This is seen first in Christ in virtue of His work risen, ascended, glorified; and now in us as associated with Him. Marvelous, God’s grace is; who can measure it? Who tell its worth?

2 Corinthians 6:1-13

The apostle in the last verses of the fifth chapter spoke of the word of the gospel he carried to the world,—the ministry of reconciliation. He now (verse 1) addresses the careless believers and mere professors of the name of Christ at Corinth. The two words in italics, “with Him” (added by the translators), may be omitted, for it is as “fellow workmen”, or “jointly laboring” (in God’s service) that Paul, associating others with himself in the work as he constantly did, turns to the Corinthians to whom the Epistle is addressed, beseeching them that they receive not the grace of God in vain.

Those there in whom there was faith needed to be aroused to a walk much more according to the mind of God than was their habit, and they who only professed Christianity must be reminded that lip profession, baptism and attendance at meetings—things good, in themselves,—are valueless before God, without the reception of the message of His salvation into the heart by way of the conscience.

The parenthetic quotation in the second verse is from Isaiah 49:8; there the reference is to the blessing to be brought to man after Christ’s rejection by the Jews.

“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation,” says the Holy Spirit by the Apostle. The time of the promised blessing has arrived, and it must be taken advantage of.

Since the word of the gospel was first published, many millions of human beings have lived and died—gone into eternity, either saved or lost; either as believers, let us say; or unconcerned about their souls; either heeding or ignoring God’s “now is the day of salvation.”

In which of the two classes are you who read these lines, passing on quickly on life’s short journey?

Verse 3. Led by the Spirit of God, Paul writes now of the way he carried on his ministry, the conduct which marked his course as the Lord’s servant, His ambassador; conduct which befitted one to whom it was given in a special way to represent the risen and ascended Christ. Appropriately he begins,

“Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed.”

This surely is a suited motto for every one who essays to serve Christ! One to be remembered and made effective upon all occasions and in all circumstances.

Verses 4, 5. The apostle continues:

“But in everything commending ourselves as God’s ministers, in much endurance, in afflictions, in necessities, in straits, in stripes, in prisons, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings ... ”

The path he trod was that of his Master; in it we see nothing of self-display, nothing of making for himself a place of honor or distinction; no avoidance of trial, whether the circumstances arose from the enmity of Satan, the opposition of ignorant men to the light of God’s truth, or a low spiritual state among the believers.

Verses 6, 7. “ ... In pureness, in knowledge, in long suffering, in kindness, in the Holy Ghost, in love unfeigned, in the word of truth, in the power of God, through the arms of righteousness on the right hand and left..”

We are sensibly led deeper into the ways of the beloved apostle as he had been taught of God. A common worldly saying is,

“Practice what you preach;” that is exactly what Paul did, and it ought to be a distinguishing mark of every one who would serve the Lord.

“In the Holy Ghost” would be under His guidance and direction, not necessarily with power displayed; “in the power of God” brings in power, and this is by the Holy Ghost.

“The arms of righteousness” were Paul’s, not the righteousness of God conferred upon believers, but uprightness of conduct.

Verses 8-10. “ ... through glory and dishonor; through evil report and good report; as deceivers and true; as unknown and well-known; as dying and behold, we live; as disciplined and not put to death; as grieved, but always rejoicing; as poor, but enriching many; as having nothing and possessing all things.” Whether held in honor or the reverse, Paul kept on his course with unaltered purpose.

To his beloved Philippians (chapter 1:20-21) he wrote, “according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” And to the elders of the Church or assembly at Ephesus who came to him at Miletus (Acts 20) Paul said,

“Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. ... And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”

Never since, we are persuaded, has the Lord had so devoted a servant as Paul.

In verse 11, the Apostle turns again to the saints at Corinth in the warmth of an affection born of God. As we noticed in the first two chapters, the Corinthians had judged themselves on account of their ways as set before them in the First Epistle, and Paul had now much liberty in writing to them.

“Our mouth is opened to you, Corinthians, our heart is expanded. Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your affections; but for an answering recompense (I speak as to children) let your heart also expand itself” (JND).

There was ample room in Paul’s heart for these saints; not in equal measure was there room in their affections for him. He sought it now from them, and at the same time would exhort them regarding their associations.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18

“Be not diversely yoked with unbelievers, for what participation is there between righteousness and lawlessness? or what fellowship of light with darkness? and what consent of Christ with Beliar? or what part for a believer along with an unbeliever? and what agreement of God’s temple with idols? for ye are the living God’s temple, according as God has said, I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be to Me a people.

“Wherefore come out from the midst of them, and be separated, saith the Lord, and touch not what is unclean, and I will receive you; and I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to Me for sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (JND).

Important as these instructions for the children of God were in the day in which they were written, they are as important and as binding in our time. There was the open worship of idols then; but these rules for the Christian cover a far wider range, taking in all the associations we may have in the world.

“Be not diversely yoked with unbelievers” suggests a reference to Deut. 22:10, “Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together,” but a different kind of yoke is in view here. It is a brief statement of great weight, the force of which every Christian must feel, and it calls for separation from the world, in every form and measure.

Perhaps the thought comes to me that I can do much good in association with those who are not believers. Opportunities for service for Christ are there which (I think) I could not have in a narrower path. Besides, I can be an example there to the unsaved, which may (I hope) result in their accepting Christ. What shall be the answer in such a case? There is but one to which I should give heed; it comes from God Himself, and is plainly written in His Word, commanding my obedience: Be not yoked with unbelievers. All other answers to the question, no matter how attractive in appearance, proceed from the believer’s enemy, the devil, though he may make use of a Christian to deliver it to me.

It is God’s desire, for their blessing, to have His children entirely separate in their association from the world. If we look no further than within the five preceding chapters of this Epistle, we may form an estimate of what we are to Him.

In chapter 1, we are saints, anointed and sealed and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

In chapter 3, we are the epistle of Christ, written with the Spirit of the living God, and with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.

In chapter 4, God hath shined in our hearts for the shining forth of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

In the fifth chapter we are wrought by God for the heavenly body we shall each possess, and in that connection the earnest of the Spirit has been given; the love of Christ constraining us, we judge that we, once morally dead toward God, but now living, should live, not to ourselves, but to Him who died for us and rose again; accordingly, henceforth, we know no one after the flesh; being in Christ we are a new creation, old things are passed away, all things are become new, and all of God who hath reconciled us to Himself; He hath made Him sin for us,—He who knew no sin, that we might be made righteousness of God in Him.

In the well-known and precious passage at the close of Matthew 11, young Christians will remember that there is more than the invitation to the sinner, with a promise made good upon acceptance; an invitation, and a promise to the believer follows:

“Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (verses 28-30).

With Christ’s yoke taken, how, in faithfulness to Him, can I take also the yoke of the world? It has been truly said,

“Where Christ is not before the heart, the world in one form or another, fails not to ensnare, fair excuses which cover unholy alliances escape detection, and His honor somehow is ere long compromised ... If blessed with Christ for eternity, you cannot, without sin, have relations with the world.”

May God preserve the writer and the reader from such dishonor to Himself and His Son!

The admirable completeness of the Word of God may be noticed, in connection with a Christian’s marriage, in this chapter and in 1 Corinthians 7:10-16. Here in 2 Corinthians 6, the marriage of a believer to an unbeliever is forbidden by the very language of verses 14 and following, while in 1 Corinthians 7 there are specific instructions for those already married, where the partner is unsaved.

Looking at verses 14, and onward in detail, we see how opposed are the principles, motives, interests and ways of the child of God to those of the world. First, the principles of the one and the other come before us:

“For what participation is there between righteousness and lawlessness? or what fellowship of light with darkness?”

Believers are made righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21), and they are light in the Lord (Ephesians 5:8).

Verse 15. “And what consent of Christ with Beliar? or what part for a believer along with an unbeliever?”

Here the characteristic heads are viewed, and the followers. The word Belial occurs 16 times in the Old Testament, and means simply wickedness,—“sons of wickedness,” for example; but here alone in the New Testament it is Beliar, evidently referring to Satan. Impossible that there could be anything in common between Christ, and the prince of this world! Then what part is there for a believer along with an unbeliever? Should it not be plain to any believer that he (or she) can not, as another has said, as a Christian put himself or herself “under the same yoke with those who have only worldly motives, to draw the chariot of life in a path common to both?”

Verse 16. Though idolatry is not practiced now in civilized lands in the measure or in the same way as in the apostle’s day, it continues to exist in subtle form, and will break out again in due time and in full character. In 1 Corinthians 6:19, the believer’s body is declared to be the temple of God; here collectively believers are His temple. What carefulness should then characterize our thoughts, our words, our actions!

At least three Old Testament Scriptures are referred to in verse 16—Exodus 29:45, Leviticus 26:12 and Ezekiel 37:27; the promise as to Israel in its fullness remains to be carried out, but for us it has been true from the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

Verse 17 is a command to every believer mixed up with the world. “The unclean” in the apostle’s day meant the heathen world, today, it is more, including the great system which Satan has built up around men to make them content without the true knowledge of God; such is the world as the Christian knows it.

Coming out from among the worldly, we hear the words of welcome, of special regard,

“I will receive you (verse 18), and I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to Me for sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” “Father” is the name of special relationship which God assumes with us. To Abraham He had made Himself known as Almighty; to Israel He was Jehovah, or Lord; to us He is the Lord Almighty, and moreover our Father.

The chapter division here is plainly wrong; the first verse of chapter 7 attaches itself to the close of chapter 6.

“Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in God’s fear.” What is your response to this, dear Christian reader?

2 Corinthians 7

With divinely given wisdom, the apostle has written in the first part of this epistle to the Corinthian saints concerning the ministry committed to him,—by means of which ministry they had been brought out of nature’s darkness,—and he has called upon them to separate from all that was contrary to the position in which they stood before God. Now he proceeds in tender love with the restoration of the former happy relations between himself and them which Satan had sought to destroy.

With clear conscience, and in the energy of the affection he bore the saints at Corinth, Paul writes,

“Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man. I speak not this to condemn you, for I have said before that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you” (verses 2-3).

The form of the last expression shows that the apostle was not thinking of life here, so much as of death—of suffering martyrdom, which was to be his portion, and might be theirs, because of faithfulness to Christ.

“Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you; I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.” (verse 4.)

These expressions came from the encouragement which Titus had brought him from Corinth upon their meeting in Macedonia, to which he had briefly alluded in chapter 2:13. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians had taken them to task on many subjects, among them the case of the fifth chapter of the man living in sin. How had they received his letter? That had given him great concern, as he goes on to say, while at the same time he was enduring persecution for Christ’s sake.

“For indeed, when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way; without combats, within fears. But He who encourages those that are brought low, even God, encouraged us by the coming of Titus; and not by his coming only, but also through the encouragement with which he was encouraged as to you; relating to us your ardent desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I the more rejoiced. For if also I grieved you in the letter, I do not regret it, if even I have regretted it; for I see that that letter, if even it were only for a time, grieved you” (verses 5-8, JND).

This passage shows the difference between the apostle’s writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and his individuality coming out as here, where his heart’s affections are displayed. Just for a moment he had feared that he had lost the Corinthians by the very effort he had made to recover them. Let us consider for a moment the unwearied love Paul bore to these Corinthians, his care for them in the face of much that might have estranged him permanently. In chapter 12:15 he says to them,

“And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.”

This was not natural affection, but of God, fruit of the new nature possessed by every child of God, but seen in uncommon measure in the apostle Paul.

“Everyone that loveth Him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of Him.” 1 John 5:1.

“Now I rejoice, not that ye have been grieved, but that ye have been grieved to repentance; for ye have been grieved according to God, that in nothing ye might be injured by us. For grief according to God, works repentance to salvation, never to be regretted, but the grief of the world works death” (verses 9-10, JND).

The word “repentance” in Scripture, used in connection with a sinner or a saint, stands for thorough, unsparing self judgment, applied, as another has said, “to all that I am, and to all that I have done.” This is most important. The cause of much unhappiness among God’s children is neglect of this elementary truth set forth in Matthew 7:3-5; Romans 14:22; 1 Corinthians 10:12, and 11:28; Ephesians 4:20-24, and Colossians 3:5-7, but indicated on page after page of the Epistles, so that the Christian has only to open his Bible to discern from its precepts the great need for the fullest judgment of self before God.

“The grief of the world worketh death” has an example in Judas Iscariot, the betrayer (Matthew 27:3-5), but the truth of it abounds in the world.

Verses 11, 12. “For, behold, this same thing, your being grieved according to God, how much diligence it wrought in you, but what excusing of yourselves, but what indignation, but what fear, but what ardent desire, but what zeal, but what vengeance; in every way ye have proved yourselves to be pure in the matter. So then, if also I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of him that injured, nor for the sake of him that was injured, but for the sake of our diligent zeal for you being manifested to you before God. For this reason we have been encouraged” (JND).

It would be well to turn back to 1 Corinthians 5, and read what the apostle there so solemnly laid before the Corinthian believers. The words of inspiration left no alternative but to deal at once and according to God with the person characterized as wicked. He must be removed from amongst themselves; the old leaven must be purged out, that the assembly might be a new lump. They had been puffed up, instead of mourning.

No instructions had been given them how to deal with evil when it might be found among them, but the gathered saints should have been before God about this case as soon as it came to light. Now that they had the apostle’s directions, to refuse or neglect to act upon them, would be to forfeit all title to be counted an assembly of God. And so of course it is today, although the Church of God is outwardly in ruins, because His word stands, and shall stand in spite of human failure.

Verses 13-16. “And we the rather rejoiced in our encouragement more abundantly by reason of the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. Because if I boasted to him anything about you, I have not been put to shame; but as we have spoken to you all things in truth, so also our boasting to Titus has been the truth, and his affections are more abundantly towards you, calling to mind the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him. I rejoice that in everything I am confident as to you” (JND).

Thus we are given to see the happy ending of this matter which might have had a very different close, but for the obedience of the saints to what we know to be the Word of God, given through the apostle.

2 Corinthians 8

“But we make known to you, brethren, the grace of God bestowed in the Assemblies of Macedonia, that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty has abounded to the riches of their free hearted liberality. For according to their power I bear witness, and beyond their power, they were willing of their own accord, begging of us with much entreaty to give effect to the grace and fellowship of the service which was to be rendered to the saints. And not according as we hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord, and to us by God’s will” (verses 1-5, JND).

Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea,—these were the Assemblies of which we know in what another writer has called “the long desolated and impoverished district” of Macedonia. And there was not only deep poverty, but at this time too, a great trial of affliction, the nature of which is not stated. In such a scene, the grace of God was bestowed in such fashion that we read of “the abundance of their joy” abounding to “the riches of their free hearted liberality.”

What was the occasion for this fine liberality? There were saints in Judea suffering from poverty, and the knowledge of it had gone out where the gospel had spread, with such effect that the apostle had given to the Assemblies in Macedonia and at Corinth, directions for a collection, as we read in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, and now a year perhaps later he was seeking to stir to action the well-to-do saints at the rich and populous city of Corinth. But first he must tell them of what had occurred in the north among the poor when he was there.

“According to their power” and “beyond their power” these Christians rescued from the slavery of Satan were “willing of their own accord,” and begged the apostle and his traveling companions “with much entreaty” to “give effect to the grace and fellowship” (no doubt it was tendered in the form of money or its equivalent, but in God’s reckoning it was grace and fellowship) of the service to be rendered to the saints in far away Jerusalem.

Then does the apostle add, “And not according as we hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord, and to us by God’s will.” What evidence we have here of a deep and precious work of God! Though in deep poverty and in great trial, these very pressing and painful circumstances were regarded by the Macedonian saints as though they did not exist, while they looked past them all to the Lord, and gave themselves to Him, and to the apostle by the will of God.

What an example is here, for all who love the Lord! O, for more of a heart like these dear saints of long ago, to subordinate our own circumstances to the will of God without any reserve whatever! What an enviable record they have left behind them in the Book of God! Nor are they alone there, for without going outside of the Epistles, we find in 1 Corinthians 16 the house of Stephanas, who devoted themselves, or as it may be read, appointed themselves, to the saints for service. And let us not forget, there is a word directly for us on this subject in Romans 12, and a shorter one in Galatians 6:2, and another in Philippians 2:4; and many more.

“So that we begged Titus that, according as he had before begun, so he would also complete as to you this grace also; but even as ye abound in every way, in faith and word and knowledge, and all diligence, and in love from you to us, that ye may abound in this grace also. I do not speak as commanding it, but through the zeal of others, and proving the genuineness of your love. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sakes He being rich became poor, in order that ye by His poverty might be enriched” (verses 6-9, JND).

We may well ponder these words of divine wisdom and tender regard with which the apostle endeavored to reach the hearts of the Corinthian saints on behalf of the poor and needy. Turning to 1 Timothy 6:17-19 we read,

“Enjoin on those rich in the present age not to be highminded, nor to trust on the uncertainty of riches, but in the God who affords us all things richly for our enjoyment; to do good, to be rich in good works, to be liberal in distributing, disposed to communicate of their substance, laying by for themselves a good foundation for the future, that they may lay hold on what is really life.” (JND)

So the opinion of the apostle is given; it was profitable for the Corinthian saints who began before, not only to do, but also to be willing, a year ago. Now, let them complete the doing of it. At the present time the Corinthians’ abundance would be for Macedonian need; in God’s ways and in due time Macedonian abundance would be for Corinthian need, for God would see that there would be an equality, as in the wilderness when the children of Israel were fed with manna.

Titus had gone to Corinth (verse 17) and with him two other brothers were sent (verses 19 and 22) to take the responsibility of bringing the gifts of the Assemblies to Jerusalem, in order that no blame might be attached to the apostle.

2 Corinthians 9

The apostle is in this chapter continuing to press upon the saints at Corinth the subject he began to deal with in the twenty-four verses last before us. A little while later we find him at Miletus, delivering a farewell exhortation to the elders of the assembly at Ephesus, for every word of which we give thanks to God. What he had written about to Corinth was still on his heart as we see from what he said at the close:

“I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support” (or come in aid of) “the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:33-35).

It was superfluous for the apostle to write to the believers at Corinth concerning the ministration which is for the saints (verse 1) because they were taught of God to love one another (1 Thessalonians 4:9). Paul could say, too, of them that he knew their readiness, which he boasted of them to Macedonians, that Achaia (southern Greece, wherein Corinth lies) was prepared since a year ago; and the zeal reported of the Corinthian saints had stimulated the mass, or body of the brethren.

Nevertheless, as he proceeds to say in verses 3 and following, he had sent the three brothers mentioned in verses 16-24 of chapter 8 in order to make sure that the promised gift for the poor saints at Jerusalem should be ready when he arrived at Corinth.

“But I have sent the brethren in order that our boasting about you may not be made void in this respect, in order that, as I have said, ye may be prepared; lest haply, if Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we, that we say not ye, may be put to shame in this confidence.

“I thought it necessary therefore to beg the brethren that they would come to you and complete beforehand your fore-announced blessing, that this may be ready thus as blessing, and not as got out of you. But this (is true), he that sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that sows in (the spirit of) blessing shall reap also in blessing; each according as he is purposed in his heart, not grievingly, or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (verses 3-7, New Translation of J. N. Darby).

Here is a fresh example of God’s interest in His people. Had you thought of His interest in the money and time you devote to giving for His people’s needs, and for His work? He that sows with a lean hand shall reap after the same kind, and he who sows in the spirit of blessing shall reap also in blessing; God says it, and tells us that He loves a cheerful giver.

Further, the size of the giving is to be, “each according as he is purposed in his heart, not grievingly, or of necessity.” No thought is here of tithing, a rule laid down for Israel, but not for the Christian! That legal system was not designed for those who rejoice in Christ Jesus, the risen, glorified Saviour. What is the portion of my income that I should give to the Lord? The answer is in the verses we have been reading—read, and prayed over; guidance waited for and when learned, acted upon. “But God is able to make every gracious gift (or benefit) abound toward you, that having in every way always all-sufficiency, ye may abound to every good work; according as it is written he has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness remains forever. Now He that supplies seed to the sower and bread for eating shall supply and make abundant your sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness, enriched in every way unto all free-hearted liberality which works through us thanksgiving to God” (verses 8-11, JND).

God is able! So our thoughts are directed toward Him. And His desire for us is plain—that having in every way always all-sufficiency (with Him to lean upon) we may abound to every good work. Young Christian, and Christian no longer young, have we been missing God’s blessing in neglecting to give for His cause, under His guidance?

The quotation in verse 9 is from Psalm 112:9 where the subject is man blessed in the kingdom bye and bye, when the Lord Jesus will reign over this earth, but it is quoted because it has a present application.

You will notice that verse 10 is not a prayer to God, as it appears in the ordinary English text, but is a positive statement of what He does and will do: “Now He that supplies seed to the sower and bread for eating shall supply and make abundant your sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness, enriched in every way unto all free-hearted liberality.” Thus will He add His blessing to every child of His whose “sowing” is under His approval.

“Because the ministration of this service is not only filling up the measure of what is lacking to the saints, but also abounding by many thanksgivings to God; they glorifying God through the proof of this ministration by reason of your subjection by profession to the glad tidings of the Christ, and your free-hearted liberality in communicating toward them and toward all; and in their supplication for you full of ardent desire for you on account of the exceeding grace of God (which is) upon you.” (verses 12-14, JND)

The apostle in these verses is anticipating the results of the warmhearted giving when the gift should reach the needy saints in Jerusalem. Filling up the measure of what was lacking, many thanksgivings to God, and the prayers of those saints to God for the Gentile believers who had opened their pocketbooks for them, Paul foresees, but a greater gift fills his eyes: “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!” (verse 15). The gift of His beloved Son it is, of course, that is in view. Our little giving’s for the needy are as nothing in comparison with the gift of the Son of His love, that we poor rebel sinners might live through Him.

2 Corinthians 10

Rebellion against divinely given authority in the Church or Assembly of God, which the spiritual believer sees on every hand, is not a modern development. It existed at Corinth as we shall see.

“But I myself, Paul, entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of the Christ, who as to appearance (when present) am mean (weak, or not authoritative; making nothing of himself) among you, but absent am bold toward you; but I beseech that present I may not be bold with the confidence with which I think to be daring toward some who think of us as walking according to flesh. For, walking in flesh we do not war according to flesh.

“For the arms of our warfare (are) not fleshly, but powerful according to God to the overthrow of strongholds; overthrowing reasonings and every high thing that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God, and leading captive every thought into the obedience of the Christ; and having in readiness to avenge all disobedience when your obedience shall have been fulfilled” (verses 1-6, JND).

Enemies were at Corinth, who had crept into the assembly; enemies of Christ, they had succeeded in turning some of the saints against Paul, as part of their scheme to rob them of the truth of God. Very probably they were Jews, for from the unbelieving among them, came most of the opposition to the gospel.

Paul’s answer to the charge of inconsistency or cowardice—weak, when present, bold by letter when absent—was to beseech the Corinthians by the meekness and gentleness of Christ (powerful weapons, indeed, if there were a work of God in the souls of those addressed!) that they should not compel him to deal sharply when he should come again to them. We may be sure that the meekness and gentleness of Christ characterized the apostle when he was at Corinth, and wherever he went.

The weapons of his warfare were not those of man, but powerful according to God to the overthrow of strongholds. By them reasonings and every high thing that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God are overthrown; every thought is led captive into the obedience of Christ. What were these weapons? The power and the guidance of the Holy Spirit acting in all patience, to bring to obedience every saint who gave ear to God. Thus the Word of God operated in human hearts and minds, and when the work of grace was done, obedience was fully established, God was glorified and souls were blessed.

Happy would it be if all bowed to God; there perhaps would become manifest an unbroken state in some; for these persistently disobedient ones, the authority given of God must be exercised in discipline.

Verse 7. The apostle asks, Do you look at what concerns appearance? He is referring to what was said about him (verse 1). And then he adds, If any man trust to himself, or has confidence in himself, that he is Christ’s, let him think this again in himself, that even as he is of Christ, so also are we. They should have had that in their thoughts, but a saint of God walking out of communion is not wise.

Verse 8. Paul says little of the authority the Lord had given him; it was for building up, not for overthrowing. In the First Epistle, chapter 4, verses 18-21, however, he speaks of the possibility of his coming with a rod; and in the Second Epistle, chapter 13, verses 1-3, he declares that he will not spare the evildoers when he comes; in 1 Corinthians 5:3-4, he has, he says, judged as present with the gathered saints, to deliver to Satan the wicked person there spoken of, for the destruction of the flesh. Then in Acts 13:6-11 The incident of Elymas the sorcerer, blinded by the apostle, is recorded.

Verses 9-11. He had no thought of frightening the Corinthians by letters—and Paul repeats what his detractors had said of him:

“His letters are weighty and strong, but his presence in the body weak, and his speech naught” (JND); and, he adds:

“Let such an one think this, that such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such also in deed, when we are present.”

In verses 12 and following, the apostle contrasts with his own, the conduct of those troublemakers who in his absence were seeking to commend themselves (and measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, were not intelligent). They had thought to take advantage of Paul’s labors among the Corinthians, and a measure of success must have been theirs, for Satan has traps for the unwary. Paul, as he points out in verses 13 and 14, had gone, according to the measure which God had apportioned to him, where Christ had been unknown, even to Corinth, seeking to bring to them the gospel of their salvation.

And, he hoped, with their faith increasing, when he came again to Corinth, his ministry would be enlarged among them in order that he might go on beyond their city and district to more distant lands where all were still in the darkness and ignorance of God that had marked the Corinthians who now believed.

“But he that glorieth (boasts) let him glory in the Lord. For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.”

So the apostle concludes his comment on those would-be, and unworthy leaders who were seeking to commend themselves in his absence.

2 Corinthians 11

“Would that ye would bear with me in a little folly; but indeed bear with me, For I am jealous as to you with a jealousy (which is) of God; for I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craft (so) your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ” (verses 1-3 JnD).

It was “folly” to Paul to speak of himself, even as a servant of Christ, but he was compelled to do it here, because the truth of Christ was at stake. The Corinthian saints had not discerned the Satanic character of the teaching that had been allowed an entrance among them in the apostle’s absence; to dishonor Christ, and corrupt the Church or assembly of God was their aim, and as a direct way to accomplish this, the false leaders were attacking Paul.

All through both of his letters to the saints at Corinth, one purpose is evident; to correct the things in their lives that stood in the way of likeness to Christ. Perhaps they had not thought of the letters in that light until they came to verse 2,

“For I am jealous as to you with a jealousy which is of God; for I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ.”

Nor was it for the Corinthians only that the apostle wrote these impressive words with the pen of the Holy Spirit; it was for others too, so that we, believers in the twentieth century, may also be exercised in our souls to the end that we shall put away every thought, every habit, every word, every association unsuitable in one with such a high destiny.

Christian reader, this is addressed to you; may it, in view of the difficult times in which we are living, find and retain a large place in your heart.

The apostle’s reference to the serpent, and Eve, in the third verse is, of course, to the third chapter of Genesis where Satan so easily deceived the unsuspecting bride of Adam, that she believed the fair appearing enemy who cunningly led her to distrust and disobey God, to Whom she owed everything. This enemy, Satan, is our enemy and has lost none of his cunning; can he corrupt the thoughts of young (and old) Christians from simplicity as to Christ, from what a faithful heart would retain in simplicity, as taught in the truth? O, yes! there is no safety apart from holding fast to the truth of God’s Word, being always watchful against the wiles of the devil.

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” Col. 2:6-7.

Verses 4, 5. If the Corinthians had received another Christ from the teachers who had been received among them, or if they had received another Spirit, or another gospel, not what Paul had made known to them, they might well bear with it. But these teachers had nothing new, only to decry Paul, and praise the twelve in their ignorance of God’s ways.

“For I reckon that in nothing I am behind those who are in surpassing degree apostles,” is his answer. He had not failed in setting forth among them, all that was needed for their instruction, and they had felt its power.

Verse 6. “But if (I am) a simple person in speech, yet not in knowledge, but in everything making (the truth) manifest in all things to you” (JND). To the worldly-minded Corinthians, there was in Paul, we conclude, a lack of the fine polished style of a Greek orator, and for this he offers no word of apology, nor was it needed. Need it be said that to tickle the ear with attractive sounds after the manner of man, has no place in the work of God?

In verse 7, the apostle asks if he had committed sin, abasing himself that they might be exalted, because he announced the gospel of God to them without charge. No doubt this was offensive to those who loved display, but Paul, guided by wisdom from above, in Corinth would receive nothing from those to whom he ministered Christ. (Read in this connection Acts 18, verses 1-11).

“I spoiled other assemblies, receiving hire for ministry toward you, and being present with you and lacking, I did not lazily burden anyone (for the brethren, who came from Macedonia supplied what I lacked), and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will keep myself. The truth of Christ is in me, that this boasting shall not be stopped as to me in the regions of Achaia” (Verses 8-10, JND).

In 1 Corinthians 9, the right of the Lord’s servants to the support in natural things of those to whom they minister spiritual things, is made altogether plain, though Paul, there as here, declared that he had not used that right. In so acting he was cutting off “the opportunity of those wishing for an opportunity” that wherein they boasted, they should be found even as he; the false teachers lately come in at Corinth, had no advantage of the Lord’s servant in this respect, that he, long before they had labored there, receiving nothing for his work.

It was time now to speak without reserve about these teachers, and (verse 13) Paul did so; such were false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And, he adds, “It is not wonderful, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (verses 14-15, JND). Solemn word!

But again Paul asks, as at the beginning of the chapter, to be borne with while he speaks as a fool, in speaking of himself.

“What I speak, I do not speak according to the Lord, but as in folly, in this confidence of boasting” (verse 17). It was not possible to tell of the ministry of Christ which he bore, without speaking about himself and his service.

“Since many boast according to flesh, I also will boast. For ye bear fools readily, being wise. For ye bear if anyone bring you into bondage; if anyone devour (you), if anyone get (your money), if anyone exalt himself, if anyone beat you on the face” (verses 18-20, JND). This then was the character and the behavior of the false teachers, when once established in the Corinthian assembly. Nor would it be difficult to find in our own times, such a situation as this, where man has been allowed to take the place of the Spirit of God, and the light of God’s truth has been dimmed by human imposition.

As to dishonor, says the apostle, I speak as though we had been weak. His course, taken in subjection to his Master, was the opposite of that of these self-exalting men. But if anyone is bold, or daring (he speaks in folly), he also is daring. Were they Hebrews? He also. Were they Israelites? He also. Were they seed of Abraham? He also. All that they could claim as being of the ancient people of God, was equally true of Paul. But this was low ground indeed to him. He turns to something vastly higher.

Were these men (really ministers of Satan), ministers of Christ? The apostle has been saying, “I speak in folly,” so far was he from his wishes in speaking of himself; now he says, “I speak as being beside myself”—as wandering away from a right mind; his own heart, as another has said, did not allow him to say, “I above measure so” (verse 23, JND) without judging the expression, though forced to use it for these foolish Corinthians.

And at this point Paul begins an account, not of his miracles, nor of the number of souls converted to God by his preaching, or aught else which might have served to exalt himself, but of his labor and suffering for Christ which we never should have learned of, had it not been for the low spiritual state of the Corinthians. What a pattern of Christian devotedness we trace in the apostle’s reluctantly given account! Never, we may be sure, has another servant of Christ equaled Paul’s measure of devotion through suffering.

Concluding his brief statement of suffering and care, the apostle says,

“If it is needful to boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus knows—He who is blessed forever—that I do not lie” (verses 30-31, JND).

The inspired account was complete, save to tell an incident which occurred near the beginning of Paul’s ministry, recorded in Acts 9:23-25; it was a circumstance in which there was nothing that could reflect glory upon himself; there was no heroism in being lowered over a wall in a basket.

All that we have been reading is inspiration; all the language is chosen of God; it was far from Paul’s desire to speak of himself and his ministry, but the bad state of those to whom he wrote, made it necessary, and he calls it folly, though all true, and needful, and for our profit, too.

2 Corinthians 12:1-9

“Well, it is not of profit to me to boast, for I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord” (verse 1, JND). Driven by the attacks at Corinth upon his ministry into giving an account (ever so brief!) of what the service of Christ had included for him in persecution, in hardship and in care, Paul turns to another subject connected with his apostleship: that of visions and revelations of the Lord.

“I knew a man in Christ” (it is an inaccurate rendering, and should read, “I know a man in Christ”) “above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I can not tell; or whether out of the body I can not tell; God knoweth”).

Paul was himself the man of whom he wrote: the man in Christ. “In Christ” left no room for human boasting.

Turn back with me to the fifth chapter, and read again verses 14 to 18, including,

“Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature” (or, it is a new creation).

“Of such an one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory,” the apostle says, in the fifth verse.

This event in his life, of which Paul is telling: when did it occur? It appears, from as reliable chronology as can be found, to have been when he was at Antioch, or not long before that, during his stay at Tarsus (see Acts 11, verses 25-26); soon after this, came the apostle’s first journey with the gospel under the call of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:1-4).

“Such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man, (whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth); how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words” (or things said) “which it is not lawful for a man” (not allowed to man) “to utter.”

How great was the favor shown to Paul, thus to be caught up to scenes of divine glory! Must it not have been, in part, to prepare him for the path of suffering that was to be his as the apostle to the Gentiles?

The expression, “the third heaven”, found here only, was a Jewish term for heaven itself as beyond the atmosphere, beyond the stars. In the fourth verse it is “paradise,” twice mentioned elsewhere in the Scriptures.

To the dying thief in Luke 23:43 the dying Saviour said, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.”

And in Revelation 2:7, in the letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus:

“To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”

Another has referred to these passages as relating to heaven, “the capital of God’s dominion where He has the garden of His delights.”

It was there where blessedness is that Paul heard things he could not utter.

The Scriptures in many passages very preciously bring heaven before the children of God. It is the place, first of all, where God dwells (Psa. 2:4, 11:4, 103:19 and 123:1); from which He looks down upon the earth (Psa. 33:13), there His blessed Son was from eternity—in the beginning with God (John 1:1-2), and laying aside His glory (Phil. 2) He came down from heaven (John 6:38) to endure the death of the cross. In resurrection, and in the act of blessing those He had drawn to Himself, He was parted from them and carried up into heaven (Luke 24:50-51).

We, believers, await the nearing moment when the Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we who are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:16-17). Meanwhile if we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, but it is better far to be absent from the body, present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6-8), the present portion of believers who die. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, the first man, we shall bear the image of the heavenly One, the Lord Himself (1 Cor. 15:42-50).

And, if not in heaven yet, though we shall soon be, we rejoice that our names are written there (Luke 10:20); through the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven (1 Peter 1:12) we have received the gospel of our salvation, and are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Who is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession (Eph. 1:13-14).

We are not promised many earthly blessings, as Israel was, but we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (or, in the heavenlies) in Christ (Eph. 1:3).

The angels of God are in heaven (Matt. 22:30), but as ministering spirits, they are sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation (Heb. 1:14; and see Acts 27:23-24; 8:26; 12:6-11).

By nature the children of wrath even as others, we have learned from God’s Word (Eph. 2:3-7) that He, rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace we are saved), and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Paul in our chapter mentioned only one revelation; in Ephesians 3:1-7; 1 Thessalonians 4:15, and 1 Corinthians 11:23 others are referred to, and the turning event of his life is related in Acts 9:3-8, 22:6-11 and 26:12-18. But the circumstances of what he relates in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 were altogether different, in that, the apostle was caught up to scenes of glory, and heard what he could not pass on to others.

Paul would boast of the man in Christ; to be near God in the glory, as out of the body, does not puff up, as another has said. All is Christ, and Christ is all; self is forgotten. Of Paul, the man, he would not boast, unless in his weaknesses (verse 5),

“For if I shall desire to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth; but I forbear, lest any one should think as to me above what he sees me (to be), or whatever he may hear of me” (verse 6, JND).

“And that I might not be exalted by the exceeding greatness of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn for the flesh, a messenger of Satan, that he might buffet me, that I might not be exalted. For this I thrice besought the Lord that it might depart from me. And He said to me, My grace suffices, for (My) power is perfected in weakness” (verses 7-9, JND).

The “flesh”, the old nature, is the same in an apostle, as in the weakest believer. In the language of another, “Nothing amends the flesh. Once come back into the consciousness of his human existence on earth, the apostle’s flesh would have taken advantage of the favor he had enjoyed to exalt him in his own eyes, to say, ‘None have been in the third heaven but thou, Paul’.

“But God is watchful; in His grace, He provided for the danger of His poor servant. To have taken him up to a fourth heaven—so to speak—would only have increased the danger. There is no way of amending the flesh; the presence of God silences it. It will boast of it as soon as it is no longer there. To walk safely, it must be held in check, such as it is. We have to reckon it dead; but it often requires to be bridled, that the heart be not drawn away from God by its means, and that it may neither impede our walk, nor spoil our testimony.

“Finally, observe, that the humiliation needed to reduce the rebellious flesh to its nothingness, is used by Christ to display His power in it. Thus humbled, we learn our dependence. All that is of us, all that constitutes self, is a hindrance; the infirmity is that in which it is put down, laid low, in which weakness is realized. The power of Christ is perfected in it.

“Paul needed to have the flesh reduced to weakness, in order that there might not be in it the motion of sin which was natural to it. When the flesh was reduced to its true nothingness, as far as good is concerned, and in a manifest way, then Christ could display His strength in it.” (Synopsis of the Books of the Bible; 2 Corinthians. J. N. Darby).

What was the “thorn” given to Paul? Scripture does not say.

2 Corinthians 12:8-21

Three times Paul besought the Lord that the “thorn” might depart from him; his action reminds us of the Lord’s thrice-uttered prayer in the garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26:36-47), just before His betrayal. In the Lord’s prayer we see the fullest submission, as before Him was the awful suffering of Calvary, climaxed by His being forsaken of God (Luke 22:41-45; Heb. 5:7-8).

The trial about which the apostle had prayed—the thorn in his flesh for whose removal he asked, must have been something that he felt might interfere with his preaching.

“But ye know that in weakness of the flesh I announced the glad tidings to you at the first; and my temptation, which was in my flesh, ye did not slight nor reject with contempt; but ye received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What then was your blessedness? for I bear you witness that, if possible, plucking out your own eyes ye would have given them to me.” (JND)

We have such bad hearts that when God does not give what we ask for in prayer, the heart being much set upon having its desire, we may even rebel against the unsearchable wisdom that says “No!” to our desire. It was not so with the apostle; let it never be so with us who rejoice in the same precious Saviour and Lord.

“And He said to me, My grace suffices thee; for My power is perfected in weakness” (verse 9, JND). No accidental circumstance was the “thorn,” but part of the purpose of the Lord for the good of His servant, and for our blessing, if we are able and willing to learn by the trials of other saints. The grace of the Lord Jesus is enough to fill the believer’s heart with rapture. Most of the epistles close with the desire that that grace be with those addressed, and we may with profit turn to many Scriptures which tell of this wondrous theme; among them are 2 Cor. 8:9; Phil. 1:19-26; 2:1-11; 3:7-14; Col. 1:9-27; 2 Tim. 2:1.

“Most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of the Christ may dwell upon me. Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in straits, for Christ; for when I am weak then I am powerful.” (verses 9-10, JND).

“Most gladly”—this is not the language of disappointment, but rather of one who has learned his Master’s will, and delights in it. And thoroughly had the lesson been learned. Paul’s weaknesses or infirmities (what was contrary to the strength of men, like his being lowered in a basket over the wall of Damascus) he would boast in, in order that the power of Him whom he served might dwell upon him.

Christian, cannot you and I learn deeply for ourselves here, as we pause to think of this pattern saint in circumstances which made nothing of self; of his applying day by day in himself the lesson he had learned in the matter of his thorn? O that much more of Christ and correspondingly less of self shall henceforth be seen in us in our ways and conversation! Little do most of us know practically of what the apostle in verse 10, wrote, summing up the frequent experiences of his path as “weaknesses,” “insults,” “necessities,” “persecutions,” “straits,” for Christ; concerning all of which he could say that he took pleasure in them, for, said he, “when I am weak, then I am powerful.” Blessed man!

What an insight into the life of the apostle we have gained through the forced testimony from his pen that these chapters have contained!

“I have become a fool; ye have compelled me; for I ought to have been commended by you; for I have been nothing behind those who were in surpassing degree apostles, if also I am nothing. The signs indeed of the apostle were wrought among you in all endurance, signs and wonders, and works of power” (verses 11-12, JND). There had been ample proof of an apostolic ministry during Paul’s years at Corinth, but if saints of God do not walk as becomes saints, that most blessed ministry of Christ will be without its proper effect.

“For in what is it that ye have been inferior to the other assemblies, unless that I myself have not been in laziness a charge upon you? Forgive me this injury. Behold, this third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be in laziness a charge, for I do not seek yours, but you, for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. Now I shall most gladly spend and be utterly spent for your souls, if even in abundantly loving you I should be less loved” (verses 13-15, JND).

Thus the affections of the new nature in the apostle continued to flow, and would continue, with undiminished service for these saints whose worldly ways had given him much grief. Their low spiritual state appears again in the verses that follow. Paul, they said, did not himself burden them, but being crafty he took them by guile, so that through Titus or others, he might profit from the Corinthians. The charge was utterly false (verses 16-18).

“Ye have long been supposing” (or ye have of old supposed) “that we excuse ourselves to you; we speak before God in Christ, and all things, beloved, for your building up. For I fear lest perhaps coming I find you not such as I wish, and that I be found by you such as ye do not wish; lest (there might be) strifes, jealousies, angers, contentions, evil speakings, whisperings, puffings up, disturbances; lest my God should humble me as to you when I come again, and that I shall grieve over many of those who have sinned before, and have not repented as to the uncleanness and fornication and licentiousness which they have practiced” (verses 19-21, JND).

With this solemn foreboding, the chapter closes, and the Epistle draws near to its end. Unsparingly sin had been dealt with in the First Epistle, and many had humbled themselves as a result, but a deep work remained to be done, and the Lord’s servant warned those who had sinned before, and had not repented. There must be no compromise with sin where Christ is owned as Lord and Saviour.

2 Corinthians 13

The “third time,” verse 1, refers to Paul’s purpose of going to Corinth; when he had gone there the first time, the Holy Spirit had wrought in much power for God in the salvation of souls; and when the First Epistle was written the apostle gave the Corinthians the assurance that he was coming a second time (chapter 16), but he delayed his going, and tells why in chapters 1 and 2 of the Second Epistle. Therefore he says “This third time I am coming to you,” for Paul was now, or shortly would be, on the way to Corinth.

He had remained away to spare them (chapter 1:23) that their consciences should be given full opportunity for exercise after the First Epistle had been delivered; much self-judgment had indeed followed, but the Second Epistle shows that a further work was needed. What then was the effect of the Second Epistle, and of Paul’s second visit to Corinth? The Scriptures are silent as to this, but eternity will reveal it. Acts 20:1-3 gives but the barest mention of the apostle’s journey.

He “departed for to go into Macedonia. And when he had gone over those parts and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece, and there abode three months, and when the Jews laid wait for him as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia.”

Corinth is not even named, but much of the three months in Greece may well have been spent in that city, and with God’s rich blessing attending.

“In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word (or matter) be established.”

This principle we find in the Old Testament, but for difficulties and discipline in the Assembly (or Church) of God, we have it in Matthew 18:16 from the Lord.

“I have declared beforehand, and I say beforehand as present the second time, and now absent, to those that have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare. Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me (who is not weak toward you, but is powerful among you, for if indeed He has been crucified in weakness yet He lives by God’s power; for indeed we are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by God’s power toward you); examine your own selves if ye be in the faith; prove your own selves! Do you not recognize yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed ye be reprobates? Now I hope that ye will know that we are not reprobates” (verses 3-6, JND).

Since the Corinthians sought a proof of Christ’s speaking in him, the apostle invites them to examine themselves if they were in the faith; to prove their own selves; did they not recognize that Jesus Christ was in them, unless indeed they were reprobates? To us it seems beyond belief that these objects of God’s grace, snatched from the pit of heathenism, and brought into the light and joy of the truth of the gospel, could be persuaded to distrust the apostle through whom this immeasurable blessing had come to them. But Satan is ever active, and the old nature is in every one of us; our safety from a wrong path lies in a walk of communion with the Lord, which is inseparable from prayer and the spiritual food supplied by the Word of God.

“Crucified in weakness” (not through weakness as in the ordinary translation) refers to the principle on which it took place.

Foretold in Genesis 3:15 (thou shalt bruise—or crush—His heel) Psalm 22; Psalm 69; Isaiah 53; Zechariah 12:10; 13:6-7 and many other Old Testament scriptures, with striking types of a suffering Redeemer, such as Joseph and David afford in their lives, by no other way could redemption be accomplished.

“Yet He lives by God’s power” tells God’s answer to the cross of Christ; divine power came in to raise Him up, though truly death had now no claim on Christ. And we, though weak in Him, shall live with Him by God’s power toward even those erring believers at Corinth. It is a question of the power of God, in contrast to the “weakness” of the One who died for poor lost sinners.

A reprobate is one cast out as good for nothing. The apostle had no doubt that the believers at Corinth were not such, and they would be far from admitting it as true of themselves. They were Christ’s, and they knew it by the indwelling Holy Spirit.

We can but admire the very gracious way of the apostle in dealing with his beloved, but very troublesome, Corinthians in the closing verses of the Epistle. How entirely opposite to an exhibition of impatience we have here, though Paul’s spirit must have been deeply tried.

“Now I hope that ye will know that we are not reprobates. But we pray to God that ye may do nothing evil; not that we may appear approved, but that ye may do what is right, and we be as reprobates.”

“For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. For we rejoice when we may be weak, and ye may be powerful. But this also we pray for your perfecting. On this account I write these things being absent, that being present I may not use severity according to the authority which the Lord has given me for building up and not for overthrowing.”

“For the rest, brethren, rejoice; be perfected; be encouraged; be of one mind; be at peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Salute one another with a holy kiss. All the saints salute you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all” (verses 6-14, JND).