2 Corinthians 2: 12 to end of Chapter 3
Introduction:
In this letter to the church in Corinth Paul began by greeting the church, and by praying that Jesus would be kind to them and bless them with peace. He then went on to praise God, and to explain his apparently inconsistent behaviour. Inconsistent in the eyes of some in Corinth, possibly egged on by false teachers who have been preaching there.
Paul gives an account of the sufferings that he has faced; the fact that he just recently came extremely close to death. However, Paul tells the Corinthians that he stopped trusting in himself and places his trust in God.
Have we done that? Chapter 1 verse 9 have we stopped trusting in ourselves, and instead have we begun to trust God who raises the dead to life. Have we surrendered everything to Him so that he gets the glory, not us?
Well, Paul then went on to ask the Corinthian church to pray for him. They’ve been criticising him and he asks them to pray for him. Next time a brother or sister in Christ criticises you will you humbly ask them to pray for you?
Paul then explained that the change in his plans were for the benefit of the Corinthians themselves. Paul had promised to visit them but he has not turned up and they are not happy. However, Paul had good reason: He stayed away so that he would not be too hard on the church in Corinth. Paul the evangelist also had a pastor’s heart!
A friend quite rightly points out that in ministry I suffer from something of a split personality. God has called me first and foremost to be an evangelist, calling people to faith in Jesus, reaching the lost for him. However, God has also called me to be a pastor and that means that I am also very touchy feely, not wanting to upset people, wanting to make sure they’re OK. At times, the two callings do not sit together easily. Paul, I believe, shows some similar tension. He has a burning desire to evangelise the lost, but he cared very much about the state of the Corinthian Christians.
Paul goes on to ask the church to exercise Total Forgiveness towards repentant sinners in particular. Paul asked the Corinthians to outwit Satan by offering complete forgiveness to all repentant sinners, without exception.
…and so we arrive at 2 Corinthians 2:12- 3:18. It is a long piece of scripture to cover in one evening, but it has wonderful God given wisdom for us!
2 Corinthians 2
12 Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, 13 I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia.
Here we sense something of Paul’s dilemma. A wonderful door of opportunity stands open in the Lord and yet Paul has no peace of mind. First of all to the Corinthians who were feeling ‘miffed’ because Paul had not showed up, it’s clear that Paul was not being fickle! He had gone to Troas to preach. He was not flitting randomly from place to place, changing his plans ‘willy-nilly’. No, he went to Troas to preach. God had moved him.
Next time we get miffed when a Christian friend or a Christian leader snubs us or blanks us completely, because they have sniffed an evangelistic opportunity, let’s thank God that he moved them. [Troas was on the West coast of Asia Minor, now the Western coast of Turkey, and Troas was the place where Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16: 6 to 10). ]
A marvellous evangelistic opportunity was happening. Other translations put it like this: (NRSV) Paul’s “mind could not rest”, (CEV) Paul “was worried”, (Phillips) he “was on edge the whole time.”
Why: Two reasons:
1. He was supposed to meet up with Titus but he could not find him. (Paul’s pastoral heart!).
2. He knew about his promise to the Corinthians, and they were on his heart and in his prayers all the time. This letter leaves us in no doubt that Pastor Paul loved the Corinthian church.
Just in case anyone is smarting from my comment about friends or leaders who have snubbed us or blanked us completely due to an evangelistic opportunity, a question: Do we sometimes plough on with a project regardless, without any thought or concern for those people that the Lord has already given to us? It’s the Achilles heel of the evangelist, but Paul knows he cannot ignore the needs of his brothers and sisters who are already in Christ. Neither must we (neither must I) ignore them!
In the film ‘We Were Soldiers’ Mel Gibson is the tough battle hardened US Army Captain. He has a mission to complete, a mini great commission! However, before his men leave for Viet Nam he promises them and their families that he will be the first one to step on to enemy territory, and the last to step off it. He cannot promise that they will all return alive, but he promises that all 395 men will return, dead or alive. He has a mission, and he has plans, but he is always looking out for his men.
So too was Paul. He left Troas to search for Titus.
14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
So Paul was troubled in spirit, but now he changes gear! It’s a jolting change, a bit like reverse gear to 1st in a car, a bit like a change from playing a funeral dirge on the organ to a ’Worship Band’ song of high praise with no break in between!
Paul switches from anxiety to thanksgiving, and we can learn so much from this God-focused attitude of Paul. He’s down, he can’t keep his mind on the evangelistic work in hand because there are people on his mind and on his heart. However, Paul’s mood shifts, completely in line with a theme of God’s power overcoming human weakness.
Now, partly due to Paul’s sudden mood swing, some people have suggested that chapter 2 verse 14 through to chapter 7, verse 4 is a fragment of a different letter which has been inserted at some unknown later date. The problem with that theory is that there is absolutely no evidence that 2 Corinthians was ever circulated around the churches in any other format. Therefore, I believe that the theory is wrong.
Rather, Paul realises that although his mind keeps wandering, God alone claims the victory. God leads us in victory and thank God it is not dependant upon our ability, and it is not dependant upon our stability! Brothers and sisters I can blow so hot and cold. On the outside I may seem quite stable but on the inside there are times when I am up and down like a yoyo!
Praise God he gets the job done, not us! God leads us in victory, and it is not dependant upon our ability, and it is not dependant upon our stability!
15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.
It is possible that this imagery comes from Paul’s knowledge of what happened when the Roman army won a great victory. The army would return home in a great triumphant procession, with incense being burned, and captives from the enemy being paraded. The smell of the incense would be a smell of victory to the army, and the smell of death and defeat to the slaves. It is an attractive possibility, it is very helpful imagery, and it is one that I have heard preached, but it seems likely that Paul is developing a theme of new covenant gospel preaching.
In Proverbs 27: 9 we read this:
’Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one’s friend springs from his earnest counsel.’
A true friend brings godly wisdom, and it is like a pleasant aroma.
Friends, as we get to know God personally we let off an aroma around us. If we were to stand outside the door of the church building right now, our nostrils would be filled with the aroma of Indian food wafting over in our direction from the Noorani Indian Restaurant. On a Sunday morning after church it is my favourite place to be, and that gives away how I feel about the aroma! However, to some, particularly those who find spicy food a little uncomfortable, the aroma is (to them) a bad smell.
We are to God the aroma of Christ and these verses have a progressive, increasing meaning. Those who hear the gospel ‘smell the smell’ and they divide into two groups:
1. Those who live
2. Those who die
Paul is saying that there are two ways. One way leads to life (increasingly) and the other way leads to death (increasingly). C/f Jesus in Matthew 7: 13-14!
As we get to know God better, the aroma of Christ reaches those around us. No wonder Paul goes on to ask this question:
And who is equal to such a task?
(CEV) “No one really has what it takes to do this work.” We must have all felt like that about the work God calls us to do, whether it is the work of an evangelist, or the work of a teacher, an apostle, a pastor, or a prophet.
Apart from Jesus we can do nothing! Chapter 3 verse 5: We are not competent in ourselves to claim anything. “…our competence comes from God.” So, when we are helped by a Christian friend, or blessed by their prayers, or challenged by a sermon, it’s not the person that has blessed you. It’s God working in and through them. God has blessed you.
17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.
We must remember that Paul is not saying that a preacher should not be paid. Elsewhere in scripture it is clear that a preacher can and should be paid, but Paul is not talking about payment as such. He is talking about a group of teachers who have arrived in Corinth and have sold their teachings for profit. More than that, it is the fact that they are preaching in order to make a profit. Profit is their motive and money is their reason for preaching.
Friends, sometimes we can face some dangers, but we can be the problem! We must be careful not to gather around us Bible teachers who will tickle our ears, teaching us what we want to hear, or seeking out ‘Great speakers’.
No one has done this to me yet but I heard about the little boy who went up to the preacher at the end of the service and gave him a £5 note. The preacher said, “Thank you, but why are you giving it to me boy?” The reply, “Because my Dad says you are the poorest preacher he’s ever heard, that’s why!”
The fact is that a so-called ‘poor speaker’ such as Moses (often got tongue-tied and didn’t know what to say), or an unimpressive preacher such as Paul – they could well be the ones that God wants us to listen to!
2 Corinthians 3
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
It was common for a roving preacher to turn up at a church with letters of recommendation. They had preached elsewhere and shared bread and wine and the local church were glad to write a letter of recommendation, so that the preacher would be accepted by the church in the next town.
If only more preachers had such letters of recommendation.
Back in 1997 the Vicar at my church had left. We were waiting for a new one and so every so often we had a visiting preacher. None of us knew him and he preached a heretical sermon stating that all religions are equal, and that all religions lead to God, like the spokes on a bicycle all lead to the centre. Naturally, I was disturbed, but of course because he wore a ‘Collar’ (like I do as an Anglican minister!) some people thought he must be right, we must listen to him! It was awful, and it took weeks if not months to get it out of our system.
Paul needs no letter of introduction because the lives of those he has ministered to are, in effect, a living, walking letter, or epistle. Paul can point to changed lives; a spiritual record of changed hearts.
During Paul’s previous visits, the spirit of the living God changed the hearts of the Christians in Corinth. As Paul let off the aroma of Christ, and as he invested himself in the lives of the Corinthians, they were changed. Therefore he needs no letter of introduction in order to be able to preach to them.
Some folk say that Paul is arrogant. I don’t believe that to be the case, and he writes that …
4 Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Paul is confident; but only through Christ before God. This is not self-confidence, and it is not self-competence (both of those are deadly). It is confidence in God and competence from God.
The false teachers who had been preaching in Corinth were self-confident. They had a professional competence which was not guided by the Holy Spirit.
To the ears of many Paul is about to utter blasphemy.
“…the letter kills but the Spirit gives life.”
The agreement between God and the Christian is not an external code. Many Christians struggle with that, because obeying rules and regulations is a part of life. The agreement between God and the Christian is about an internal power; the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. Whereas the letter kills, the Spirit gives life.
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
Paul is about to call the Mosaic covenant ‘old’. Judaism then and now disagrees with this fiercely, as do sections of the church. In error, some churches claim that there are two roads to salvation, one is through Jesus for the Christian, and the other is through obedience to the Mosaic Law even if a Jew rejects Jesus during this life. It is a view that is sadly mistaken, because Paul is clear in Romans that salvation is only through Jesus, first for the Jew and then for the gentile.
Paul’s opponents in Corinth were elevating the Mosaic Law too highly. You can almost hear them saying, “Guys, Paul has taken you too far, but we will get you back on track. Here are our letters of commendation and praise from another church who found our ministry helpful. The Law of Moses is the route and path of discipleship for the Christian life.
What do we do when old ways die hard?
I have a friend who tells me that when the Minister at his church left, one or two key figures immediately began to reverse all of the God-inspired changes that had happened whilst the old minister was there. They wanted to get back to the old way of doing things. They wanted to get back to a so-called good and proper way; real church! It was awful!
What do we do when old ways die hard?
Paul does not knock it! He applauds it! However, he points forward to a more glorious way, the way of the Spirit.
The ministry of the Law brought death. How do we know that we are sinners? We read the Ten Commandments and we very quickly know it, and the Law prescribes death for the sinner.
As Moses carried the Tablets of stone down from the mountain, I wonder what Moses thought?
You shall not commit murder! Moses was guilty. He was a law breaker and deserved death. The law reflects a righteous and holy God and so it is glorious.
However, the Law condemns and finds us guilty.
Friends the Mosaic covenant dispensed death, but the new covenant dispenses the Holy Spirit. Thank God for his Spirit at work in us!
A few years later Paul wrote this: Romans 3: 19-20.
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
The glorious ministry of the law produces a guilty verdict, but the even more glorious ministry that brings righteousness is a ministry that declares us innocent. Praise God!
The Holy Spirit fills us with the knowledge of being declared innocent. Do you know that you are declared innocent? How good is that?
I have stuffed up big time in so many ways, I have broken so many laws, I am guilty and sick, but the ministry of the Holy Spirit declares me innocent.
Do you love to see a full moon on a clear night? I don’t know about you but when I see a full moon it looks beautiful. The surface of the moon is clear and bright and I can think of times when I’ve been lying in my bed and it has seemed almost like daybreak.
When the Sun comes out the moon goes pale. It looks grey and pale, and the sun is bright, dazzling and glorious. The moon is still there but the brightness and warmth of the sun takes centre stage. (I came across this illustration on the internet somewhere, I cannot remember exactly where, but to the person who authored it, thank you very much!)
So it is with the work of the Holy Spirit. No longer are we trying to obey commandments in order to comply with a law. Filled with the Spirit, we are delighted to seek to keep the commandments out of love and response to their author. The difference is stark.
Someone once said that ‘when the sun has risen the lamps cease to be of use’.
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
We’re moving into the last lap now but there is still potentially a lot to come.
Paul is now answering two criticisms:
1. An accusation of professional arrogance
2. Lack of success amongst his own people.
He denies neither!
Professional arrogance: Well, the New Covenant minister is to be ‘bold’ but the CEV says: “This wonderful hope makes us feel like speaking freely.”
Friends, God asks us to speak in a ‘frank’, ‘open’ manner. When we have opportunity, let’s pray that God will enable our speech not to be veiled but to be open, clear, up-front, and bold.
Paul has Christian hope. Do we have it? Christian hope is where there is no doubt about the outcome, unlike when England play football or the Church of England synod meets.
Our hope is steadfast and sure!
In 2: 13 to 17 Paul is providing a commentary on Exodus 34: 29 to 35.
In verse 13 when Paul speaks of a radiance which fades he is not just thinking of Moses face. He is also thinking about Moses ministry which eventually, after Christ must also fade in comparison to the ministry of the Spirit.
Paul moves on to answer the second criticism. It is true that he has not had much success amongst his own people. For those of you who have families where you’re a Christian & in a minority you’ll know how much Paul yearned for his people to know Jesus.
The problem was that the Israelites thought (wrongly) that Moses’ law and ministry would be forever glorious, eternal, life-giving, world without end, Amen.
Israel itself has a heart which is veiled, but praise God for stories which we hear from Neil and Fran Cohen in Jerusalem. Praise God that thousands of Jews worship Jesus as Messiah. However, most do not. Their hearts are veiled and we will speak the word of God to people this week and their hearts will be veiled and we will be the stench of death to them.
On the other hand we will speak to some and we will be the fragrance of life. Can you remember the person who first shared Jesus with you, and was the fragrance of life to you?
Paul finally goes on to use Moses as a figure to be emulated. Moses took off the veil! Whenever an individual turns to the Lord of heaven and earth, like Moses turned to speak to God, in Jesus the veil gets removed; and Paul writes in such a way as to suggest that it is the action of both God and the repentant person, similar to Jeremiah 24:7.
“I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”
The hearts of many are veiled, but personal responses happen. I was aware of people responding to the word this morning. Praise God!
Friends, you are FREE! The freedom Paul speaks of in verse 17 is freedom from death, freedom from sin, freedom from law and freedom from condemnation.
[Romans 8:1-2, Romans 6:8 and 22, Galatians 5:1-3]
As gospel preachers do their job of reflecting God’s glory to those around them transformation occurs. Friends you are not the people I first knew. I can tangibly see a difference in all of you that I know. You are constantly being changed to become more like Jesus.
I’ve heard it said that after 30 years of marriage most men and women end up looking like each other and sounding like each other. OK so it’s an exaggeration but I can think of strong Christ-centred marriages where that is so true. They love one another so they become like one another, and it is the same with us and Jesus. We love him and we are becoming more like him.
Amen!
