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2nd Corinthians 7:1-11
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January 6th 2019
So, we left off finishing chapter 6 and move into 7 today.
Let’s read where Paul says:
2Co 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
2 Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.
3 I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you.
4 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.
5 For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.
6 Nevertheless God, that comfort those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;
7 And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.
8 For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
Now, it seems to me that the first verse of this chapter properly belongs to the previous chapter because it is an exhortation connected to the previous information.
Chapter six, if you recall from last week, was Paul asking the believers what righteousness had with unrighteousness, Christ with Belial, and the rest.
So verse one obviously is referring to that content when it says:
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
After inviting the Corinthians to receive him (which he also does in chapter 6) the remainder of the chapter (verse 4-15) is all about the joy Paul had when he meets up with Titus who informs him that they obeyed his advice on how to handle a man who got involved with his father’s wife (which we read about in 1st Corinthians).
So let’s hit our verse by verse, getting through eleven verses today.
1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
What promises? As I said this passage should have been included at the end of chapter 6 and the promises given there are found in verse 17-18 where Paul wrote:
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you (promise),
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (Two more promises)
This concept has been weighing heavily on me of late. Because of my view that everything has been done by God through Christ on our behalf, and the only thing that remains is what we want to do with these gifts, this end game has really become apparent to me.
We note what Paul says in chapter 6, and then reiterates here in the first verse of chapter 7:
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
And then verse one of our study today:
1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
I want to talk about this a bit but first make note of a few things:
DO you notice who Paul places the onus of cleaning up the act on? The individual, right? Listen to the verbiage again:
17 Wherefore come out from among them (that sounds like a choice, doesn’t it?), and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, (again, do this and I will do that, the passage seems to clearly suggest).
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Then listen to verse one of chapter 7 again:
1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves (what? Let US cleanse OURSELVES) from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
When Jesus stood over Jerusalem he cried the famous line:
Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalme, how often I would have gathered you together as a hen fgatheres her chicks – but YOU WERE NOT WILLING.
In this age of fulfillment, I see that for the last 2000 years we have all lived in a realm of constant, total and complete choice on how we will live our lives. Everyone of us – Christian and not.
On the two-laned highway that runs between God and Man, I am convinced – utterly and absolutely convinced that due to the finished work of God in Christ, all human beings are the authors of their eternities, working out their own salvation with fear and trembling, and when I say salvation, I mean their eternal existences beginning here and extending our forevermore.
I am similarly convinced that every walk and way and choice is accepted by God as the choice of the individual, and that once all things are considered, all will receive a resurrected body commensurate to the lives people chose to live.
These are the SONS OF MEN. God blessed them on earth and allowed them to be who they are. But they were not all the Sons of God.
In the halls of non-Sons and Daughters of God lay the entirety of human experiences – from the most banal and dark to the most elevated and light – and all of them will result in an eternity of unknown quantity.
This is a given as there have been an estimated 107 billion souls who have ever lived.
In His wisdom, provision and love for the world God gave us His Only begotten son to save us.
But over the course of the past 2000 years, I submit to you that out of the vast masses, there are those who, following Paul’s general descriptions here, chose – decided – to pursue God in the spirit of His Son (not in the perfection of) and have proven themselves Sons and Daughters.
Romans 8:14-19 Paul writes
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
2Co 6:17-18 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Galatians 4:5-6 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Philippians 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Hebrews 12:5-8 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
1st John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Revelation 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
Let me go to the Board for a minute:
Some choose God through religious expression; some their occupation, wealth, fame, academia, homes, travel, wine women and song. Some sport, some politics, some the pleasures, some the pains. And all of it is acceptable in this Kingdom fulfilled. But there is one priority that demands certain responses and choices to be made on the part of those who choose it – and it’s the priority to be a Son or Daughter of God with the choice being evidenced by their actions from the heart, for Him and others.
For those who choose this way and choose it as their life’s priority everything that they want to enjoy or pursue in their physical life is governed by and according to the Spirit. But for Sons and Daughters, what is chosen is always couched in the primary light of, “I am a Son or Daughter of God. And as such there are principles to which I CHOOSE to adhere – I choose to – adhere and/or to avoid.
These principles include the choice to
be led by the Spirit of God (these are the sons of God).
And of course we know that to be lead by the Spirit of God means that the Fruit of the Spirit is with us manifesting its presence in us – with fruit of love, peace, joy, temperance, longsuffering.
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear.
Ours is a frightful nature in a world of frightful circumstances. We worry about our safety and the safety and health of our families, about putting two cents together to pay the bills, about all sorts of things that press in on us every day . . .
I have slowly learned over the decades to better trust God – I mean, if or since we are sons and daughters, who else would we trust and why wouldn’t we trust Him fully. Fully. To meet our every need and want and when He doesn’t He has a really good reason for it – and in this we must trust.
I think one of the most important reasons to avoid fear is because in the presence of it we cannot love, as John the Beloved admits – “perfect love casts out fear.”
“but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”
that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Where Jesus was God’s only begotten Son or child those who place their faith in Him are adopted into the family of God and become as much as Son or daughter as the Son himself.
Therein lies one key purpose for His work of reconciliation as Hebrews 2:10 says:
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
I think we can also say, hard as this is for some to embrace or believe, but that
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
In this the Children of God know, by the Spirit, that they are His. I know this by the Spirit and by faith, but my knowledge of it is far from perfect.
But we are told here that the Sons and Daughters know that God is their father and that they have been adopted and become children or Sons of God.
Again, there are Sons of Man and there are Sons of God.
I refuse to see myself or live my life as a mere Son of Man. No way. Its far too short sighted.
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Herein lies the big one – and it is big because it is, in my estimation, a choice – this suffering because it comes by way of looking to God for our solace rather than to the things of the world.
That is a HUGE decision because the world certainly offers immediate solace, comfort, and response to our needs, doesn’t it.
A daughter or son of God goes to their papa and wait on Him, his love and care, and His solutions.
So very hard at times. It is the suffering of our flesh. The suffering of others and their rude impositions – in essence, it is the suffering that Christ suffered, even though He had His own will along the way.
For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Which seems to mean that in and with patience, the sons and daughters of God wait for the manifestation of the Son or Daughter nature to present itself.
The Second Corinthians passages say, relative to the Sons and daughters of God:
“come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,”
When scripture speaks of these things – like coming out from the world and not touching the “unclean thing,” I suggest that it is speaking of what we do by the Spirit in us and not be compulsion or the power of the flesh.
In other words, we are not talking about religion here – we are talking about the natural outcome of a person being led of the Spirit – because when this is the cast it is an all together natural thing for a person to distance themselves from the ways of the fallen world.
As we discussed last week and then again today, God says that when a person chooses to come out of her and to not touch the unclean thing, God will receive them (as His sons and daughters).
I would suggest that this is the natural result of being a son or daughter of God and not something that must happen before someone is received as one.
Then God says
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
And then again
God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
I think its really important to realize that when we are the Sons and daughters of God He is literally our Father, our Papa, and we have and possess this undeniable, irreplaceable relationship with the Grand Creator and God of all things!
It is really quite the remarkable concept when we think about it – God becoming the actual Father of us? I mean, we get that he created us. We get that He has the power to give and take life, to bless and curse – but to be the sons and daughters of the eternal God?
What on earth could POSSIBLY mean more? And yet for a mess of potage we tend to make EVERYTHING more meaningful.
And then we read one that really sinks in for me –
“That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God,”
And we’ll add
“without rebuke”
And then
“in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.”
Oh, man – how I want to assume these things in my person – to be blameless, harmless, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.
It’s a goal, and I’m not kidding. I want to become harmless – because it is just not my nature. My nature is to be harmful, and only by the grace of God have I been able to mature in this area.
The Greek terms translated:
Blameless
Harmless
And without rebuke are three A words
Amemptos – blameless
Akeraios – harmless
Amometos – without rebuke
In the end they all mean innocent, without blame – and there is no way possible for human beings to reach this place on their own – so we know that we rely on Him and His Spirit to get us there, in time, and according to His will and ways.
among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Taking it up a notch, this passage tells us that Sons and Daughter are not only blameless and harnless and without guilt, they also shine as lights in the world.
What does that mean?
It means in a world of dark selfishness, and division, and returning evil with evil and on and on and on, God’s Sons and Daughters embody many if not all of the the Beautitudes:
They are poor in spirit
They mourn
They are meek
They hunger and thirst after righteousness
They are merciful
They are pure in Heart
They are peacemakers
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.
These are the cities that are set on a hill which cannot be hid.
Then we come to a list of five lines that all relate to each other as Paul says to the Sons and Daughters:
despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,
nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
The Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons;
if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Bottom line, if or since God is our actual father who has adopted us, we can expect Him to chastise us.
That is what loving fathers who care for their children do. They allow them to suffer loss, and challenges, and difficulties, and set-backs – pruning and cutting back so as to make us more fruitful.
As humans this is not enjoyable nor desired – but his cutting us back is so vital to our personal growth – and He knows it. So He does or allows it. And just when we think we’ve arrived and have no need of pruning – out come the hedge clippers.
Daughters and sons of God, we read, because they are daughters and sons. . .
“the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”
What would the world want with someone who has nothing in common with it? Not much. So the true sons and daughters remain in obscurity, silently enduring and serving and loving those within their limited circle of influence. The world does not know sons any more than it knew, knows or receives the SON.
Two more – Paul wrote
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
In other words, as Sons and daughters we are not sure what we will be in the hereafter. We don’t know. Paul tells the Sons in His day that they would know when they would see Him as He is.
And I would believe the same exists for us today; that at our death, seeing Him as He is we too will know what we will be from that moment on through our resurrection. But until then, we walk in hope.
Finally, in the Book of Revelation, we read
He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
And so the goal is for all who are His Sons and Daughters to overcome -the Greek word being Nikeo (which we learned last week is where we get Nike from) and it simply means those who have the victory, God will cause him or here to inherit all things, and He would be their God and they would be His Son.
Wild, difficult, worthwhile ride.
Additionally, we know that Sons and Daughters of God would, “Trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not to our own understanding”
That they would seek to do the will of God over all other things.
That they would love Him (and others) over the self, the flesh.
That they would forever seek to die to flesh and live according to the Spirit.
That they would live, knowing that, “all that it in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are not of the Father but are of this world,” and to approach our allegiance and devotion to such things accordingly.
That they would choose to walk humbly before God, and possess a broken heart and contrite spirit. And that they would strive to show mercy and compassion and forgiveness to all.
Worth it. Nothing more valuable in heaven and earth. If you care, seek it out. If you don’t, that’s your choice. But the path and way has been paved and made available to all.
The point is Sons and Daughters choose to be His Sons and Daughters over everything else and make this position the preeminent priority of their existences. This choice is not rewarded in this world typically, nor does it promise anything here (except maybe suffering and alienation) but the choice is made to make Him and His Kingdom our focus.
I will treat all men of every walk with love and respect as His Son. But I honor and pay great tribute to those who have made the choice to live for Him and little else on earth.
Thank you for your bravery, courage, and dedication in the name of our King.
So, to verse 1 where Paul writes:
2Co 7:1 Having therefore these promises (mentioned in chapter 6), dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
“Let us cleanse ourselves. Let us purify ourselves.”
The word translated cleanse is kataridzo and when people came to Jesus to be made clean of sin and disease, this was the term used.
It is interesting but Paul was not afraid to bring into view the agency of Christians themselves in the work of spiritual maturation, sanctification and sacrifices to God. There IS a two way street.
But I must reiterate that the work people do is to allow God to work and labor – they are not doing the labors in their own strength – they are choosing to allow Him to operate.
So, while a two way street, the human contribution is to take their will and ways and step out of the way so God can grow them.
I am convinced that this is the contextual meaning of cleansing oneself and we can make this stance on the basis that if men could do it themselves there would be no need of a Savior, His Spirit, or any of the elements of the Good News.
In light of these promises lets cleanse ourselves “from all filthiness of the flesh.”
The noun here used (moloosmos) does not occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. The verb occurs in 1st Corinthians 8:7; Revelation 3:4 and 14:4 and it means to stain (therefore to defile, pollute, as a garment; and the word here used means a soiling, hence defilement, pollution, and refers to the defiling and corrupting influence of fleshly desires and carnal appetites).
These things obviously are inconsistent with the God and His character and toward the temple of the Holy Ghost.
But the interesting thing about this passage is that Paul instructs them to cleanse themselves of all stains in the flesh AND in the Spirit.
The terms soul and spirit are used interchangeably in scripture, even though they are two completely different terms.
It seems that Paul is talking about the Soul here – the mind, will and emotions of a person needing to be cleansed and right, and not the Spirit – but he says Spirit, and because of this, there is some debate on whether the soul and spirit are the same thing in a person.
We know that Jesus (in Matrthew 15:19) speaks of “evil thoughts,” that proceed out of the heart, and that pollute the man.
In all probably Paul is addressing all the sins and passions which thrive and abide in the mind or soul and are not necessarily expressed in the flesh itself, like revenge, pride, avarice, ambition, lies, etc.
We call them the sins of the heart and since God judges the heart, these defilements might be more dangerous than those of the flesh because they are more easily concealed.
Paul ends verse one with
“perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
And it is something we will open up with next week!
Questions/Comments
