WELCOME
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SILENCE
2nd Corinthians 1.8-
August 26th 2018
MEAT
Last week we ended at verse 7 where Paul said:
2nd Corinthians 1:7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
We talked all about suffering and consolation as a concept. Because we talked about suffering and consolation last week, let’s burn through the parts of our verses today that speak to this and glean the parts that speak otherwise. Now, I said when we began to study this book that I found the first few chapters to be difficult to read. The difficulty begins here. So be forewarned.
Paul begins by speaking about he and the apostles and says (at verse 8)
8 For we (the apostles and those traveling with them) would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
10 Who (speaking of God) delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
11 You (the recipients of this letter) also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
13 For we write none other things unto you, than what ye read or acknowledge; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end;
14 As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.
15 And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit;
16 And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judaea.
17 When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be “yea yea, and nay nay?”
18 But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.
20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
Alright, let’s work through these passages going back to verse 8-9 where Paul says:
8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
Paul has been criticized for not appearing in Corinth and it appears that here he takes a minute to explain why – they have been in tribulation.
So much so that he writes that
“But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
The word rendered “sentence” (apokrima) means, properly, “an answer, judicial response, or sentence” like we would understand a verdict or a judge delivering a sentencing upon us for a crime.
Apparently, Paul felt that he was condemned to die and the prospect seemed so certain that he adds:
that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
In other words, we had zero hope in ourselves or our ability to get others to help us that our only hope was going to be that God would raise us from the death we were condemned to experience.
Then, having spoken of God here, and mentioning that it was God who raises the dead, he adds at verse 10
10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
When Paul calls his sentence of death “So great a death” it appears that he was sentenced to some sort of painful death, like being torn apart by wild animals or perhaps crucifixion – we aren’t sure.
But whatever it was God delivered them “from so great a death” and then adds, “and doth deliver” (meaning He continues to deliver them from such sentences) and then adds, “in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us.”
From this we have biblical evidence that in the New Testament church God delivered them from absolutely certain death (in their minds) that He was still delivering them from death, and Paul adds that he believed God would continue to deliver them from the same.
Is it true today? It can be.
I am certain that all of us have been delivered from what seemed like a certain death by the hand of God – perhaps in most cases we don’t even realize it.
And I think we can also assume He continues to deliver most of us from deaths grip thereafter.
Perhaps we will be surprised at the number of times God has preserved our physical lives when all is revealed – and in gratitude we will humbly praise him.
I have a dear friend who is a police officer who has numerous examples of where God steps in a serves to protect him and citizens against eminent death. Some of the stories are truly otherworldly.
But at the same time, there are of course many instances where God does not seem to intervene, or stop both accident, injury and death.
This will also be the case with Paul.
How are we to look at this. We have a Bible that endorses the idea that God is capable of stepping in and miraculously altering dire, even impossible, circumstances.
And in faith we read these stories and suggest that they are the norm, the template for our Christian world-view.
I have to speak clearly and plainly here – I think to focus on this stance is a mistake – in both practice and in our understanding of God and how He operates in this world.
I think in Paul’s life the miracles were more pointed and apparent – for obvious reasons. They are the same reasons Jesus was able to escape the clutches of his enemies endlessly – until His time had come – as determined by God.
God’s will is done. We trust and pray in their vein. If His will coincides with ours we rejoice but often when His will does not we consider Him an absentee manager.
My suggestion is we see God in all things – and trust that He is in all things – whether they concur with our wishes or not.
I suggest that our prayers are always couched in the language of God helping us understand His will and ways, and not leaning to our own understanding – whether or not those ways are in accordance to ours or not.
Paul ultimately was put to death. So was John the Baptist and so was Jesus. Insufferable deaths all of them.
These factors must be taken into account because they evidence something for us.
I would also add one philosophical point to the idea of God saving and not. I do not believe for a moment that God can do anything. I believe that sometimes He is bound by the freewill of Man, other times by the constructs of opened doors to operate, sometimes to what is best all things considered.
I therefore reject the idea that people push about that says,
“God could have saved my child, taken my addiction, taken my mother without her suffering any pain.”
Not for me.
There are things in place, unknown to us, that were God to override them or break through them like a vice squad he would cease to be considered Good.
We cannot fathom the factors at play and so in the face of these things (plus a gillion more) our response is:
“I will trust in the Lord with all things – come what may.”
It is something that is VERY easy to preach and teach, and much much harder to actually do, but my job is to teach His Word and Ways and I am convinced of this stance at the present.
At verse 11 Paul adds another factor into this discussion, saying:
11 Ye also . . . helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
Now, the King James is a mouthful on this passage. But the other versions are not much better.
Nevertheless, the Oracle Bible puts it this way:
“you, also, laboring together in prayer for us, that the gift to us from many persons, may, by many, be acknowledged with thanksgiving for us.”
Tindal ties this passage to the verse before and suggests that what Paul is saying is
“we trust that yet hereafter God will deliver us by the help of your prayer for us.”
I like this view because I think that there is something to it.
The word rendered “helping together,” means “co-operating, aiding, assisting; and the idea is, that Paul felt that his trials might be turned to good account, and give occasion for thanksgiving all because of the prayers offered up by the believers on his behalf.
Believing that the bride-church was one, and that Christians should sympathize with one another, Paul shows a deep humility and tender regard for the Corinthians when he called on them to aid him by their prayers.
As an FYI, the phrase, “That for the gift bestowed upon us,” is really quite perplexing in the Greek but from the English the meaning seems plain:
The “gift” referred to seems to mean, “the favor shown to him in his rescue from such a sure death” and it was the result of their prayers, in this case, of many persons.
So, having explained my somewhat cynical view, I suggest that while God’s will WILL be done BECAUSE of all things considered, WE can help alter His will when we contribute to changing the circumstances existing at the moment.
Let me explain.
As said, I do not believe God can carte blanche do anything but that He is limited according to circumstances that we do not fully understand.
It seems that one of those circumstances, however it looks, is that there are certain avenues or roads that are closed to God unless human beings in this realm throw their hats into the ring to open the road-block.
And it seems that we are able to open the road blocks through prayer.
It appears that the road blocks are in place as a result of the Fall, and it requires the faithful prayers of the Saints to unchain these portals before God can work – in certain situations.
Now, just because Christians pray, and just because they unchain the portal does NOT mean God will work the way we want. We cannot make this mistake in our thinking – that because we prayed things would go our way.
But I am convinced that our prayers do serve to open portals in this fallen world wherein God, if He sees fit, can then access and operate if it suits all other factors.
In this case with Paul, he seems to clearly suggest that it was the prayers on his behalf, offered by the Saints particularly at Corinth, that enabled God to save Him from certain death.
Because I think freewill is so key to understanding how God works in and among us, I think our freewill to pray allows us to work in harmony with God in certain situations. And this is another reason Christian pray – to do all they can to assist God in doing what He may want to do – or may not.
12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
In 1st Corinthians, Paul had a reason to bemoan the saints behaviors and he went after them strongly. But here he speaks of rejoicing and puts it this way:
We have reason to rejoice by the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, and NOT with fleshly wisdom, but BY the grace of God, WE HAVE had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly, with you.
This verse is packed with important words so I want to go to the Greek and break them down.
For our rejoicing (kow-kay-sis = boasting)
is this, the testimony (mar-too-eon = evident)
of our conscience, (soon-ee-day-sis = co-perception)
that in simplicity (hap-lot-ace= singleness)
and godly sincerity, (I-lick-reen-ia = unobscurity)
not in fleshly (sarkikos = of flesh)
wisdom, (Sophia=wisdom of Man)
but by the grace (Khar-es = acceptable, beneficial flavorful gift) of God
we have had our conversation (Ana-spreph-o = tough word, means a lot of things in Greek, but behavior and talk are both acceptable)
in the world, (kosmos – the orderly arrangement)
and more abundantly (per-is-sot-er-os = superabundantly)
toward you.
So what Paul says here that “their conscience tells them that they were clear and sincere in what they shared with the world and especially with those who were reading his epistle. And that he did not resort to fleshly wisdom of man in the message but to the goodness of God in all they said.
Love this. Want to be like this and seek to follow Paul in this – when possible.
And I think the passage has great import to us today because we tend to get a little fleshly and world-wise in some of our attempts to share the faith with others.
We love the faith so much and what Jesus has done for us sometimes people will justify some really fleshly approaches to sharing it.
One of those approaches I want to mention, and which dovetails into part of our earlier conversation about prayer, is when we suggest to people that being a Christians means life gets better.
This is sort of a two-edged sword because if there wasn’t a benefit why would anyone receive it?
But the rewards are knowing Him – which means having access to a knowledge and power that is otherwise not accessible through the things of this world.
This spiritual life – this life eternal – is certainly abiding in us with power.
But we are kidding ourselves if we try and suggest that the Christian life lived and played out leads to happiness in this world.
The reason it really can’t – if lived in the self-sacrificial, agape loving way – it such a way requires personal sacrifice and death to our carnal wants. The demand simply cannot co-exist with happiness.
But it can certainly enhance joy.
The principles of the faith, established by its founder and our Lord and King are established in selflessness and therefore suffering.
To set such things aside, even in our day and in the last age, is untenable to the edicts of the faith – no matter how rational or reasonable we make them.
As with Christ, Christians cannot love the world and the things of the world; a Christian cannot serve God and Mammon – he will love the one and hate the other; a Christian will lay up treasures in heaven, will forgive 7 x 70, will take up her cross and follow Him, will die daily, will live to the spirit and not to the flesh, and on and on and on, ending with the fact that true Christians will sacrifice their very life as their King does for the well-being of others.
Now at verse 13 and 14 we are confronted with more difficult passages in the King James as Paul says:
13 For we write none other things unto you, than what ye read or acknowledge; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end;
14 As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.
I suggest that Paul is simply saying here that the things he has written to them other than what they have both read and acknowledged came from him – and he adds that he trusts that they will continue to acknowledge that his former epistle or epistles came from him.
Then he adds that he knows from some communication from them that they see Paul as a source of rejoicing Even, he adds, as they will be their (or his) source of rejoicing in “the day of the Lord Jesus,” meaning in the day that Jesus would return to save them.
Then he adds at 15
15 And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit;
Which appears to have Paul saying that in his previous visit to them it was based in the same confidence as that which he held for them currently.
And that in doing so – in coming to them before after his travels through Macedonia, they would be given another opportunity to engage with him, which is says here Paul believed would be a “second benefit” to them – or additional pleasure.
And it is hear where we enter into another set of passages that are confusing to me – and have been confusing in the King James translation since I can remember.
Let’s read them together. Verses 16-20.
So, at 15 he wrote:
15 And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit;
And then he gives some insight to his actual travel plans, saying
16 And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judaea.
Long story short, he was going to pass by them going into Macedonia, and then come back into Corinth after leaving Macedonia, and then his plan was to continue on from them into Judea – and his purpose for doing that was to take the collection he had gathered for the poor Saints from the Gentile churches.
Verse 17 he then adds
17 When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay?
When I made this decision and expressed this intention of travel and action,
Did I do it with lightness (the King James says, and taking the Greek term (ela-fria) it means, was I frivolous in my mind when I decided upon this course?
Paul had been charge with cowardice before, and now apparently with being careless in his planning, and so he is defending himself from these attacks.
By the interrogative form here in the text, he sharply denies that it was a purpose formed in a light and trifling manner.
Then he asks, “Do I purpose according to the flesh,” which is another way of saying, “Did I consider and gratify only my desires and wants in my decision making?”
And then he adds a line that he will play with in our remaining verses – much to my initial frustration, saying:
“That with me there should be yea, yea, and nay, nay!”
Of course, because of the obscurity of this line there has been a variety of interpretations regarding of this passage.
Because of the context preceding the passage it seems – SEEMS DOLLY, SEEMS – that Paul is not using yea, yea and nay nay in the way that Jesus did.
Instead he seems to be asking if his decisions were double-minded, that on one hand he was saying, Yes! Yes! And then with the same mouth, No! No!
But this is just one possible view. Another one says that Paul was denying that he was headstrong in his fleshly desires and expressed his determination do what he wanted to do with “Yea, yea’s and nay, nays.”
These types of lines in scripture drive me crazy – because we really can’t arrive at a definitive conclusion. We can believe we have come to an understanding but we know other followers of the King will differ – so we must tread lightly.
Right now, I am suggesting lightly that Paul was being accused of weakness and possessing an uncertain direction in his travels and he is stating that he was not of an imbalances character, saying “yea, yea” to some and “no, no” to others.
I base this stance on the content of the next verse – 18.
18 But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.
In other words in verse 18 Paul clearly denied having a yea yea, nay, nay attitude, and bringing God into the mix relative to his choices and actions, Paul says that his words (our words, he says, because he was assisted in providing them in writing by others) were NOT imbalanced, were not “yea, yea, and oh! Nay, nay.”
Paul, tied to and lead by God through His Spirit is saying that “He is faithful and true. He never deceives; never promises that which he does not perform. So true is it that I am not fickle and changing in my purposes.”
Verse 19 further supports my view of verse 17 even further as Paul now says:
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.
Paul has the opportunity to introduce Jesus in any way he wants here. He could appeal to some of the phrases and terms popular in our day to describe Him. But he calls Him, “THE SON OF GOD, JESUS CHRIST.”
Because of passages like this and many others, I tend to speak of believing in God the Father and in His Son Jesus Christ.
One is heavenly, the other is of the earth = both are God. But, if we think about it, to call Jesus Christ 1) the SON 2) of God says it all, doesn’t it?
And what does Paul say about Jesus Christ the Son of God? He says, relative to the yea, yea, nay, nay phrase:
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.
My goodness how I love this passage where Paul, having been accused of failing in his decisions to come to Corinth or not, says:
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.
Nothing held back relative to Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.
No nay. Never a nay. Only yea, yea, yea, yea, yea.
I would suggest a paradox here of sorts in our comprehension – on the one hand jesus Christ, I believe, represents a metonym for all that Jesus Christ is – His eternality as the Word of God, His being how God created all things, His being the Alpha and the Omega, the only human born of God, of a virgin, who lived in human perfection, who loved endlessly, taught His principles, offered himself up, suffered death, rose on the third day, appeared to many, ascended into heaven and returned to save His nascent church – I believe this is what Paul meant when he says, Jesus Christ. That was the Yea.
But I also think that saying Jesus Christ the Son of God in and of itself is a Yea. He captures it all, and there is no nay in Him. He Himself is our Yea. And those who are His say Yea to His very person, and name.
Those who are His, like Paul, do not say, yea to Him sometimes and nay to Him at others. He is our yea – our Yeah! The same yesterday, today, and forever.
All that he says is true; all the promises that he makes are firm; all his declarations are faithful. Paul may refer to the fact that the Lord Jesus when on earth was eminently characterized by TRUTH. Nothing was more striking than his veracity. He, called himself the truth,” as in, “I am the way, and THE TRUTH, and the life.” Therefore, yea.
He is called the faithful and true Witness in Revelation. Therefore, Yea.
All his life he was eminently distinguished for truth, from the simple to the sublime – Yea.
He never prevaricated; never had any mental reservation; never was deceived or undecided and therefore Paul, standing firm in Him – like you and I – say of Him Yea and NEVER nay. That last negative does NOT apply to Him.
It may apply to everything else in this world and human experience, but not to the Rock.
Recall Jesus own words to Pilate when He asked him if He was a king. Jesus said
“To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth,” and then he added some really important words we cannot forget: “Everyone that is of the truth heareth my words.”
It is obvious from the life of Paul that he felt that he was under sacred obligations to imitate him and always to evince the same inviolable fidelity to the King.
And therefore, in Him, we too are “yea.”
Paul concludes with some very clear words that shine such light on what God has done in and through His only Human Son, saying:
20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
To me we are able to see that throughout all of Human history God’s promises to human kind have been predicated and ultimately fulfilled entirely by and through His only human Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior, our God and Victorious King.
For all, all all the PROMISES of God in Him are yea! And then Paul adds, and in Him, Amen, with the addendum, unto the glory of God by us.
God does not promise and fail. He does not set out to do something and then fail or lose to the whims and ways of others. He does not operate by, “Oh, yeah, yeah” then, “No, no.”
It seems that this last line, “Unto the glory of God by us,” means that while God will has seen all things through by and through “the Yea,” (His Son), that His ultimate glory comes by and through those who choose to embrace all He has promised, all he has done, and have freely chosen to follow Him in faith.
All of it unto the Glory of God by us.
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