Category: Uncategorized

 

Paul ends his second letter to the Corinthian congregation with a warning: to examine themselves and correct themselves as instructed throughout the letter.

 

In this sermon we discuss the first half of Chapter 12, with the second half to be discussed with Chapter 13 next month.

Paul, in the first half of Chapter 12, continues with his “boasting” by speaking of visions and revelations of the Lord. Admittedly, a bold claim in itself, Paul seems to counteract this “boasting” by moving on to the issue of the thorn in the flesh to “harass” him to keep him from becoming conceited.

 

In this Chapter we delve into Paul’s Sufferings and the challenge to his authority by the “Super Apostles” of Corinth.

Having established the issue in the previous chapter – namely, that his authority is from Christ, and he will use his authority if required – he now goes into the realm of what he calls ‘foolishness’ in Chapter 11 to establish his point.

The reason that he calls it foolishness is because to him, it is distasteful to have to make comparisons, and to boast about these sorts of things. The Corinthians however, in making such a big issue of challenging his authority, have forced him into a position where now he has to remind them of the things he has done for them, and all the evidences that he has in his favour demonstrating that his authority comes from Christ.

 

Paul did not like to boast or exercise his authority leading some in the Church of Corinth to believe that he had none. He had been patient with them, always seeking to teach and guide them: for building them up and not for destroying. To their own shame, they had sought to take advantage of what they perceived as weakness in Paul.

They had made the mistake of conflating Paul’s meekness and gentleness with weakness. These last few chapters then are Paul’s final warning to them: he is coming, and he is coming with authority.

 

Today we will continue with the topic begun in Chapter 8 last month, that is, the Church collection. It is to be noted that Chapter 9 cannot be separated from Chapter 8. Imagine them as one continuous text as Paul flows back and forth between exhortation, doctrine, and logistics (as he does throughout this whole letter).

Chapter 8 ends with the matter of Titus being sent ahead of Paul. Chapter 9 beings with the same train of thought.

 

We have looked at the first 7 chapters of 2 Corinthians, seeking Paul’s overall efforts at reconciling with the church there. A lot of his focus has been on pointing out the fact that his sufferings for Christ should not be something for them to be ashamed of, but rather, to be proud of, as he was in fact proud of.

In Chapter 8 and 9, Paul moves into a more clearly defined topic of the church collection. From Chapter 10 onward, he deals more directly with the problem of the super apostles in the congregation. We’ll see that Paul is dealing here with the matter of a special collection for the saints, which was over and above a standard collection.

 

Today we will delve deeper into 2Corinthians chapter 7. Aside from verse 1 (which really belong at the end of Chapter 6), all of Chapter 7 reads as one single thought with two main ideas:

1. 1. 1. 1. Paul’s anxiety over his poor relationship with the Corinthians during his travels;
         2. Paul’s joy at their repentance (or at least, of most of them).

Chapter 7 is one of the most personal sections of the letter of second Corinthians, which on the whole is a very personal letter anyway. We can get more insight into Paul as a person, how his zeal for God led him to have such strong concerns for the people around him.

We can also get some other interesting teachings out of this chapter: the importance of godly sorrow: something that takes humility (not self-pity, as in the case of Judas), but an acknowledgment of wrong-doing and a true desire to amend ones’ ways.

 

With 2,000 years of hindsight, it is easy for us to overlook the importance of the things Paul says in chapter 6 and the previous chapters.

Paul was writing 2Corinthians around 50AD. The Greeks and Romans did not view religion in the sense that the Jews regarded it. It did not have the same strength of requirements for moral purity and holiness. It was generally about doing the necessary, basic sacrifices, attend the festivals, but otherwise you live your life according to the local customs.

There certainly was not even a hint that one might be persecuted for his religion. They didn’t have teachings and doctrines such as we take for granted. There is no doctrine of Zeus or Apollo. There were different schools of philosophy with their own ideas about right living which rose and fell in popularity.

So in this context, what Paul says in Chapter 6 is really amazing:

1. 1. 1. 1. He is citing ancient Jewish scripture and claiming it is fulfilled prophesy;
         2. He is showing them that this religion is not about going through the motions, but rather that it is very real and serious and the persecution is not a joke;
         3. The call to live a holy life must be taken seriously. The flippant way the Greeks and Romans treated religion was not to be continued. Christianity is ‘all or nothing.’