Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Paul's Severe Letter to Corinthians
(From Forerunner Commentary)
|
Matthew 24:21-22
The Bible is full of stories of kings, some good but most evil, which again speaks to the need for a divine Kingdom not corrupted by the human heart's sickness. Yet God's Word also shows that, even under the worst leaders, the righteous wait on God because they know those leaders could not be in their positions without His permission. He said as much when He humbled Nebuchadnezzar. And because the righteous trust in God's sovereignty, they understand that trying to change the leader is tantamount to attempting to overrule God. This does not preclude evaluating the leader's actions. Indeed, we must assess them to recognize when we must obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29). But Proverbs 24:21 warns against associating with those who agitate against the established order God has seen fit to allow at least, if not directly install. Nobody steals elections from Him. It is doubtful that any of us will take to the streets, yet we can give the appearance of associating with “those given to change” through what we post, like, tweet or re-tweet, and share. It is easy to give the impression online that we are among those given to a change in government. However, we are called as ambassadors—representatives—for Jesus Christ, the King who will end all factions when the Father says it is time. When we believe the gospel of the Kingdom, we endure the politics of physical nations but do not get caught up in them because they are not where our hope or confidence lies. So, we may cry for the beloved country, and rightfully so, even as Jesus lamented over Jerusalem. But He mourned because of her moral state and rejection of God, not because the Pharisees had more power than the Sadducees or vice versa. He was and is above factions. Similarly, the crisis in this nation is moral, developed over generations of turning from God. The spirit of this world has infected all politicians. Some may offer better Band Aids™ than others, but any real solution must come from above. That is what the gospel of the Kingdom teaches. We know this intellectually, but sometimes we forget that the “R” after somebody's name does not stand for “Righteous.” Instead, it means that he or she has identified with a political faction. However, Galatians 5:20 calls factions and party spirit “works of the flesh.” Similarly, American conservatism is not the same as biblical morality. There may be an overlap, and we can be grateful that some are trying to conserve what this nation has stood for. Yet American conservatism, as preferable as it may be to the alternatives in various areas, cannot save us. Only the words and way of God lead to life. An ideology of sound principles mixed with humanism will ultimately fail. Spiritual strength comes from meditating on the genuine truth of God rather than a human derivative that may well ensnare us in the world's party spirit. In dealing with the spiritually immature church members in Corinth, Paul highlights their practice of identifying with and rallying behind spiritual leaders. He writes: . . . for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? (I Corinthians 3:3-4) If Paul identifies this as carnality when it is done regarding godly men—apostles in the church—how much more carnal is it to side with one carnal leader (or candidate) against another? Our identity comes from belonging to and following Jesus Christ, not picking sides among the factions of the day. During the recent election, many commentators opined that it was the most important election of our generation. Others said the same thing about the previous election. And the one before that. They will surely make the same pronouncement about the next one. Every few years, the country is roiled by elections corrupted by deception, selfish ambition, and pragmatism on all sides because that is what carnal human nature does. This is precisely why God must intervene and establish His Kingdom on earth.
David C. Grabbe
Implications of the Gospel of the Kingdom
|
|
2 Corinthians 6:11
Understanding II Corinthians as a whole requires knowledge of the often-strained relationship between the apostle Paul and the church in Corinth. The city was a crossroads of the pagan Mediterranean culture of the day, and every kind of philosophy, religion, and activity was available there. Thus, the people who responded to Paul's evangelism, mostly Gentiles, had to unlearn a great deal of worldliness—to put it lightly. They often went to extremes and were easily convinced one way or another. If we did not know that the apostle Paul's “thorn in the flesh” (II Corinthians 12:7-10) was an actual bodily ailment, the Corinthian church would have been a good candidate for it! Many Corinthians appear not to have had a good opinion of Paul, especially when they compared him to Peter and Apollos (I Corinthians 1:12; 3:4). He was not to their stature, they thought, not as bold and powerful as Peter or as eloquent and dynamic as Apollos (II Corinthians 10:10). They suspected him of impure motives, and his demanding, corrective style (as they saw it) often rubbed them the wrong way. Besides, he said things that confused and constrained them, though he also spoke about freedom, and perhaps he was just a mite too intellectual for them. In addition, he had written to them of his plan to spend some time with them (see I Corinthians 16:5-7), but due to a crisis in the Corinthian congregation (see II Corinthians 12:21; 13:2), he changed his plans, deciding that the crisis warranted an emergency visit, a year earlier than planned. But that visit was a painful disaster, a source of “sorrow” (II Corinthians 2:1-2) because, when Paul sought to correct the situation, it led to the “contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults” mentioned in II Corinthians 12:20. He made plans to visit them twice more before returning to Judea (see II Corinthians 1:15-16). After returning to Ephesus, however, he changed his mind about his plans (reverting to his original one) and sent them another epistle (lost to history), which has come to be known in scholarly circles as the “Severe Letter” (see II Corinthians 2:3-4; 7:8-12). He seems to have decided another face-to-face visit would cause further grief, and a letter would be less confrontational. But his new plan backfired on him, as the Corinthians were offended by his vacillation, thinking him “fleshly” (see II Corinthians 1:12, 17), that is, carnal, not spiritually minded. Even so—wonder of wonders!—they responded positively to his correction in the “Severe Letter” and repented (see II Corinthians 7:7-16). Finally, also undermining Paul's reputation, a group of false apostles, probably of a Jewish bent, had infiltrated the Corinthian church (see II Corinthians 2:17-3:2; 5:11-13; 10:12-12:13). They accused him of peddling God's Word and commending himself, and they claimed he was not an apostle at all. These false teachers had shattered the Corinthians' confidence in Paul and his teaching. Such is the setting of Paul's exclamation in II Corinthians 6:11. His solution to his problems with the Corinthian members was to be completely open with them about everything. He would hold nothing back. In Greek, the sentence reads more literally, “Our mouth has been opened to you, Corinthians; our heart has been opened to you!” He lays his thinking and emotions bare to their scrutiny, telling them plainly, hoping they would see he had dealt with them genuinely and righteously. He loves them and wants to help them “come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). He has done everything for their spiritual good. In the next verses, he tells them he has not restrained his affection for them, as they probably thought he did not love them. But he does not hold back that their attitude toward him restricted them, stating that they needed to reciprocate, to be open with him (II Corinthians 6:13). In essence, he says, “For my part, I've cleared the air and spoken the truth. Now you do the same.” We can take it as a lesson in interpersonal relations: Honesty and openness, with humility, are the best policy. But how hard it is to do!
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
|
|
 |
The Berean: Daily Verse and Comment
Sign up for the Berean: Daily Verse and Comment, and have Biblical truth delivered to your inbox. This daily newsletter provides a starting point for personal study, and gives valuable insight into the verses that make up the Word of God. See what over 150,000 subscribers are already receiving each day.
Email Address:
|
We respect your privacy. Your email address will not be sold, distributed, rented, or in any way given out to a third party. We have nothing to sell. You may easily unsubscribe at any time. |
|
|
