2 Corinthians ~ Part 8

 Note: To examine the graphics in this series, click on them for a pop-up version.

 As I emphasized in my previous posts, we are delving into the profound significance of Sha’ul’s Letters to the Corinthians, a crucial cornerstone of our faith. This significance is not to be taken lightly but to be deeply understood and appreciated, invoking a sense of the weight of this text’s importance in our faith. We must grasp the depth of its meaning and its impact on our spiritual journey.

We continue to examine the topic Regarding Sha’ul’s Ministry, which covers 2 Corinthians 2:14 to 9:15.

Take time to reflect on the reconciliation and the new life offered through Yeshua. Practice gratitude for your new identity in Him and share this gratitude with your family. Cultivate an atmosphere of forgiveness and grace in your home, reflecting the love and reconciliation you have received from God.

Ministry of Reconciliation

 ¹⁶ So, from now on, we do not look at anyone from a worldly viewpoint. Even if we once regarded the Messiah from a worldly viewpoint, we do so no longer.

 From a worldly viewpoint, the phrase is a good rendering of the Greek text (lit. “according to the flesh”). There are always two conflicting perspectives on a situation: the natural versus the divine. A natural view of Yeshua led to His crucifixion and Sha’ul’s persecution of Yeshua’s followers. After the light of divine revelation broke in on Sha’ul on the Damascus road, he could no longer know Him this way (Acts 9).

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is united with the Messiah, he is a new creation—the old has passed; look, what has come is fresh and new!

If anyone is united with the Messiah, he is a new creation. This verse is sometimes adduced to show that Jewish Believers are no longer Jewish—because the old has passed. But Sha’ul is not talking about whether Messianic Jews are Jewish. He is talking about the fact that Believers are now reconciled with God. Their old, unreconciled, sinful lives have passed into history. However, they remain human beings with characteristics and associations; they do not become abstract entities divorced from their past.

¹⁸ And it is all from God, who through the Messiah has reconciled us to Himself and has given us the work of that reconciliation, ¹⁹ which is that God in the Messiah was reconciling mankind to Himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors of the Messiah; in effect, God is making his appeal through us. What we do is appeal on behalf of the Messiah, “Be reconciled to God! ²¹ God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might fully share in God’s righteousness.”

What Yeshua did, God did. Yeshua’s death mainly affected the world, that is, human sinners (rather than evil supernatural beings for whom no divine provision for reconciliation has been made). Yeshua’s death upholds God’s righteousness. Our sins were placed on the One who did not know sin. In return, the righteousness of God is credited to all who put their trust in Him. The message of reconciliation is known to others only when ambassadors for Yeshua spread it. The Great Commission is the responsibility of reconciled human beings, not angels (Mattityahu 28:18–20).

6 ¹ As God’s fellow-workers we also urge you not to receive His grace and then do nothing with it. ² For He says,

“At the acceptable time, I heard you;

in the day of salvation, I helped you.”

We … urge you not to receive His grace and then do nothing with it (literally, “to receive his grace in vain”), that is, and then not live for him (2 Corinthians 5:15). Thus begin the first notes of a new theme, heard in our next post in 2 Corinthians 13b, “open wide your hearts,” the significance of which blossoms in the charity appeal of chapters 8–9. In line with this, v. 2 not only says what Sha’ul, imitating God, has done but is also an exhortation to the Corinthians to hear and help.

Submission Where Application

³ We try not to put obstacles in anyone’s path so that no one can find fault with the work we do.

The phrase put obstacles in anyone’s path refers to Sha’ul’s character and actions, which were open to observation. The ministry of reconciliation was worth all the hardship Sha’ul endured. The list in verses 4–13 is not self-commendation (like the false teachers; 3:1) but reflects a survey of Sha’ul’s actions as God’s appointed minister, demonstrating the character and source of his ministry.

 ⁴ On the contrary, we try to commend ourselves in every way as workers for God by continually enduring troubles, hardships, calamities, ⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, overwork, and lack of sleep and food.

The Book of Acts, which we have been studying in this series, recounts specific instances of Sha’ul’s suffering, including physically painful experiences. From a human perspective, these were useless unless the Gospel was true.

⁶ We commend ourselves by our purity, knowledge, patience, and kindness; by the Ruach HaKodesh; by the genuineness of love ⁷ and truthfulness of speech; and by God’s power. We commend ourselves through our use of righteous weapons, whether for pressing our cause or defending it;

This part of the list focuses on character traits and spiritual realities perceived only with the eye of faith. We will spend some time on righteous weapons when we explore Ephesians 6:10-20.

⁸ through being honored and dishonored, praised and blamed, considered deceptive and sincere, ⁹ unknown and famous. And we commend ourselves as God’s workers headed for death, yet look! we’re alive! as punished, yet not killed; ¹⁰ as having reason to be sad, yet always filled with joy; as poor, yet making many people rich; as having nothing, yet having everything!

The paradox of genuine Messianic ministry is nowhere better stated than in these verses. Sha’ul noted nine contrasts between frail humanity and the evidence of God’s power.

Call for Full Acceptance

 ¹¹ Dear friends in Corinth! We have spoken frankly to you; we have opened our hearts wide. ¹² Any constraint you feel has not been imposed by us, but by your own inner selves. ¹³ So, just to be “fair” (I am using the language of children), open wide your hearts too. ^[1]

 Sha’ul’s life and teaching were an open book. He had no hidden agenda. Sha’ul perceived the relationship problem to lie with the Corinthians. The false teachers had strangled the Corinthians’ love for Sha’ul. He yearned for them to be as open and loving toward him as he had been with them—like a father toward wayward children.

In our next post, we will continue to examine Sha’ul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. Stay tuned for more insights and revelations.

Click here for the PDF version.

^[1] 2 Corinthians 5:16-6:13.