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Synopsis of the Books of the Bible
John Nelson Darby
1800-1882
2 CORINTHIANS
Chapter 1
The apostle writes the second Epistle to the Corinthians under the
influence of the consolations of Christ-consolations experienced when the
troubles which came upon him in Asia were at their height; and renewed at
the moment when he wrote his letter, by the good news which Titus had
brought him from Corinth-consolations which (now that he is happy about
them) he imparts to the Corinthians; who, by grace, had been their source
in the last instance.
The first letter had awakened their conscience, and had re-established the
fear of God in their heart, and integrity in their walk. The sorrowing
heart of the apostle was revived by hearing this good news. The state of
the Corinthians had cast him down and a little removed from his heart the
feelings produced by the consolations with which Jesus filled it during his
trials at Ephesus. How various and complicated are the exercises of him who
serves Christ and cares for souls! The spiritual restoration of the
Corinthians, by dissipating Paul's anguish, had renewed the joy of these
consolations, which the tidings of their misconduct had interrupted. He
afterwards returns to this subject of his sufferings at Ephesus; and
develops, in a remarkable way, the power of the life by which he lived in
Christ.
He addresses all the saints of that country, as well as those in the city
of Corinth, which was its capital; and, being led by the Holy Ghost to
write according to the real sentiments which that Spirit produced in him,
he at once places himself in the midst of the consolations which flowed
into his heart, in order to acknowledge in them the God who poured them
into his tried and exercised spirit.
Nothing more touching than the work of the Spirit in the apostle's heart.
The mixture of gratitude and worship towards God, of joy in the
consolations of Christ, and of affection for those on whose account he now
rejoiced, has a beauty entirely inimitable by the mind of man. Its
simplicity and its truth do but enhance the excellence and exalted
character of this divine work in a human heart. "Blessed be God, even the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all
comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to
comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we
ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in
us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be
afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in
the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; or whether we be
comforted it is for your consolation and salvation." Blessing God for the
consolations which he had received, content to suffer, because his
participation in suffering encouraged the faith of the Corinthians who
suffered, by shewing them the path ordained of God for the most excellent,
he pours into their hearts the consolation of his own, as soon as comfort
comes to him from God. His first thought (and it is always so with one who
realises his dependence on God, and who abides in his presence-see Genesis
24) is to bless God, and to acknowledge Him as the source of all
consolation. The Christ, whom he has found both in the sufferings and in
the consolation, turns his heart immediately to the beloved members of His
body.
Mark at once the perversity of man's heart and the patience of God. In the
midst of sufferings for the sake of Christ, they could take part in the sin
that dishonoured His name-a sin unknown among the Gentiles. In spite of
this sin God would not deprive them of the testimony, which those
sufferings gave them, of the truth of their Christianity-sufferings which
assured the apostle that the Corinthians would enjoy the consolations of
Christ, which accompanied sufferings for His sake. It is beautiful to see
how grace lays hold of the good, in order to conclude that the evil will
surely be corrected, instead of discrediting the good because of the evil.
Paul was near Christ-the source of strength.
He continues by presenting, experimentally, the doctrine of the power of
life in Christ,
which had its development and its strength in death to all that is
temporal, to all that links us with the old creation, to mortal life
itself. He then touches upon almost every subject that had occupied him in
the first epistle, but with an unburdened heart, although with a firmness
that desired their good, and the glory of God, let it cost himself what
sorrow it might.
Observe here the admirable connection between the personal circumstances of
God's labourers, and the work to which they are called, and even the
circumstances of that work. The first epistle had produced that salutary
effect on the Corinthians to which the apostle, under the guidance of the
Holy Spirit, had destined it. Their conscience had been awakened, and they
had become zealous against the evil in proportion to the depth of their
fall. This is always the effect of the work of the Spirit, when the
conscience of the Christian who has fallen is really touched. The apostle's
heart can open with joy to their complete and sincere obedience. Meanwhile
he had himself passed through terrible trials, so that he had despaired of
life; and he had been able through grace to realise the power of that life
in Christ which gained the victory over death, and could pour abundantly
into the hearts of the Corinthians the consolations of that life, which
were to raise them up again. There is a God who conducts all things in the
service of His saints-the sorrow through which they pass, as all the rest.
Observe, also, that he does not need to begin by reminding the Corinthians,
as he had done in the first epistle, of their calling and their privileges
as sanctified in Christ. He breaks out in thanksgiving to the God of all
consolation. Holiness is brought forward when it is practically wanting
among the saints. If they are walking in holiness, they enjoy God, and they
speak of Him. The way in which the various parts of the work of God are
linked together, in and by means of the apostle, is seen in the expressions
that flow from his grateful heart. God comforts him in his sufferings; and
the consolation is such that it is suited to comfort others, in whatsoever
affliction it may be; for it is God Himself who is the consolation, by
pouring into the heart His love and His communion, as it is enjoyed in
Christ.
If afflicted, it was for the comfort of others by the sight of similar
afflictions in those who were honoured of God, and the consciousness of
unison in the same blessed cause, and relationship with God (the heart
being touched and brought back to these affections by this means). If
comforted, it was to comfort others with the consolations that he himself
enjoyed in affliction. And the afflictions of the Corinthians were a
testimony to him that, however great their moral weakness had been, they
had part in those consolations which he enjoyed himself, and which he knew
to be so deep, so real, which he knew to be of God, and a token of His
favour. Precious bonds of grace! And how true it is in our little measure,
that the sufferings of those who labour re-animate on the one hand love
towards them, and on the other re-assure the labourer as to the sincerity
of the objects of his christian affection, by presenting them anew to him
in the love of Christ. The affliction of the apostle had helped him in
writing to the Corinthians with the grief that was suitable to their
condition; but what faith was that which occupied itself with such energy
and such entire forgetfulness of self about the sad state of others, amid
such circumstances as then surrounded the apostle! His strength was in
Christ.
His heart expands towards the Corinthians. We see that his affections flow
freely-a thing of great value. He reckons on the interest they will take in
the account of his sufferings; he is sure that they will rejoice in what
God has given him, even as he rejoices in them as the fruit of his labours,
and that they will acknowledge what he is; and he is content to be a debtor
to their prayers with regard to the gifts displayed in himself, so that his
success in the gospel was to them as a personal interest of their own. He
could truly demand their prayers, for his course had been run in unmingled
sincerity, and especially among them. This leads him to explain to them the
motives of his movements, of which he had not spoken to them before,
referring these movements to his own plans and motives, subject to the
Lord. He is always master (under Christ) of his movements; but he can now
speak freely of that which had decided him, which the Corinthians were not
before in a state to know. He wishes to satisfy them, to explain things to
them, so as to demonstrate his perfect love for them; and, at the same
time, to maintain his entire liberty in Christ, and not make himself
responsible to them for what he did. He was their servant in affliction,
but free to be so, because he was amenable only to Christ, although he
satisfied their conscience (because he served Christ) if their conscience
was upright.
His own conscience however was clear; and he only wrote to them that which
they knew and acknowledged, and, as he trusted, would acknowledge to the
end; so that they should rejoice in him, as he in them.
Chapter 2
But had there been any lightness in his decisions, since, as he now
informed them, he had intended to visit them on his way to Macedonia (where
he was at the moment of writing this letter), and then a second time on his
return from that country? In no wise; they were not intentions lightly
formed, according to the flesh, and then abandoned. It was his affection,
it was to spare them. He could not bear the idea of going with a rod to
those whom he loved. Observe in what manner, although shewing his affection
and tenderness, he maintains his authority; and they needed the exercise of
this authority. And while reminding them of his authority, he displays all
his tenderness. They were not Cretans, perhaps, whom it was necessary to
rebuke sharply; but there was a laxity of. morals which required delicacy
and care lest they should become restive, but also authority and a bridle,
lest, in giving them liberty, they should fall into all sorts of bad ways.
But he turns immediately to the certainty which was in Christ, the basis of
all his own. He would not press too much upon the chord he had touched at
the beginning. He lets his authority be known as that which might have been
exercised, and he does not employ it. The groundwork of Christianity was
needed, in order to put their souls into a condition to judge themselves
healthily. They were quite disposed, through the intrigues of false
teachers and their habit of schools of philosophy, to separate from the
apostle, and, in spirit, from Christ. He brings them back to the
foundation, to the sure doctrine that was common to all those that had
laboured among them at the beginning. He would give Satan no occasion to
detach them from him (see chap 2:11).
He establishes therefore the great principles of christian joy and
assurance. I do not speak of the blood, the only source of peace of
conscience before God as a judge, but of the manner in which we are placed
by the power of God in His presence, in the position and state into which
that power introduces us according to the counsels of His grace. Simple
certainty was in Christ, according to that which had been said. It was not
first Yea, and then Nay: the yea remained always yea-a principle of immense
importance, but for the establishment of which there was needed the power
and the firmness and even perfection, and the wisdom, of God; for to assure
and make stedfast that which was not wise and perfect would certainly not
have been worthy of Him.
It will be seen that the question was, whether Paul had lightly changed his
purpose. He says that he had not; but he leaves the thought of that which
concerned him personally to speak of that which pre-occupied his
thoughts-of Christ; and to him, in fact, to live was Christ. But there was
a difficulty to solve, when the immutability of God's promises was the
question. It is that we are not in a state to profit by that which was
immutable on account of our weakness and inconstancy. He solves this
difficulty by setting forth the mighty operations of God in grace.
There are two points therefore:-the establishment of all the promises in
Christ, and the enjoyment, by us, of the effect of these promises. The
thing is, as we have seen, not merely to say, to promise, something; but
not to change one's intentions, not to depart from what was said, but to
keep one's word. Now there had been promises. God had made promises,
whether to Abraham unconditionally, or to Israel at Sinai under the
condition of obedience. But in Christ there was, not promises, but the Amen
to God's promises, the verity and realisation of them. Whatever promises
there had been on God's part, the Yea was in Him, and the Amen in Him. God
has established-deposited, so to speak-the fulfilment of all His promises
in the Person of Christ. Life, glory, righteousness, pardon, the gift of
the Spirit, all is in Him; it is in Him that all is we-Yea and Amen. We
cannot have the effect of any promise whatsoever out of Him. But this is
not all: we, believers, are the objects of these counsels of God. They are
to the glory of God by us.
But, in the first place, the glory of God is that of Him whoever glorifies
Himself in His ways of sovereign grace towards us; for it is in these ways
that He unfolds and displays what He is. The Yea and Amen therefore of the
promises of God, the accomplishment and the realisation of the promises of
God, for His glory by us, are in Christ.
But how can we participate in it, if all is Christ and in Christ? It is
here that the Holy Ghost presents the second part of the ways of grace. We
are in Christ, and we are in Him not according to the instability of the
will of man, and the weakness that characterises him in his transitory and
changeable works. He who was firmly established us in Christ is God
Himself. The accomplishment of all the promises is in Him. Under the law,
and under conditions the fulfilment of which depended on the stability of
man, the effect of the promise was never attained; the thing promised
eluded the pursuit of man, because man needed to be in a state capable of
attaining it by righteousness, and he was not in that state; the
accomplishment of the promise therefore was always suspended; it would have
its effect if-but the "if" was not accomplished, and the Yea and Amen did
not come. But all that God has promised is in Christ. The second part is
the "by us," and how far we enjoy it. We are firmly established by God in
Christ, in whom all the promises subsist, so that we securely possess in
Him all that is promised us. But we do not enjoy it as that which subsists
in our own hands.
But, further, God Himself has anointed us. We have by Jesus received the
Holy Ghost. God has taken care that we should understand by the Spirit that
which is freely given us in Christ. But the Spirit is given to us,
according to the counsels of God, for other things than understanding
merely His gifts in Christ. He who has received Him is sealed. God has
marked him with His seal, even as He marked Christ with His seal when He
anointed Him after His baptism by John. Moreover the Spirit becomes the
earnest, in our own hearts, of that which we shall fully possess hereafter
in Christ. We understand the things that are given us in the glory; we are
marked by the seal of God to enjoy them; we have the earnest of them in our
hearts-our affections are engaged by them. Established in Christ, we have
the Holy Ghost, who seals us when we believe, to bring us into the
enjoyment, even while here below, of that which is in Christ.
Having again spoken of the care which manifested his affection for them, he
expresses his conviction that that which had pained him had pained them
also; and this was demonstrated by the way in which they had treated the
transgressor. He exhorts them to receive again and comfort the poor guilty
one, who was in danger of being entirely overwhelmed by the discipline that
had been exercised towards him by the mass of the Christians; adding, that
if the Christians forgave him his fault, he forgave it likewise. He would
not that Satan should get any advantage through this case to bring in
dissension between himself and the Corinthians; for Paul well knew what the
enemy aimed at, the object with which he made use of this affair.
This gives him occasion to shew how much he had them always in his heart.
Coming to Troas for the gospel, and a wide door being opened to him,
nevertheless he could not remain there, because he had not found Titus; and
he left Troas and continued his journey into Macedonia. It will be
remembered that, instead of passing by the western shores of the
Archipelago, in order to visit Macedonia, taking Corinth on his way, and
then returning by the same route, the apostle had sent Titus with his first
letter, and had gone by way of Asia Minor, or the eastern coast of the sea,
which led him to Troas, where Titus was to meet him. But not finding him at
Troas, and being uneasy with regard to the Corinthians, he could not be
satisfied with there being a work to be done at Troas, but journeyed on to
meet Titus and repaired to Macedonia. There he found him, as we shall see
presently. But this thought of having left Troas affected him, for in fact
it is a serious thing, and painful to the heart, to miss an opportunity of
preaching Christ, and the more so when people are disposed to receive Him,
or at least to hear of Him. To have left Troas was indeed a proof of his
affection for the Corinthians; and the apostle recalls the circumstance as
a strong demonstration of that affection. He comforts himself for having
missed this work of evangelisation by the thought that after all God led
him as in triumph (not "caused him to triumph"). The gospel which he
carried with him, the testimony of Christ, was like the perfume caused by
burning aromatic drugs in triumphal processions-a token of death to some of
the captives, of life to others. And this perfume of the gospel was pure in
his hands. The apostle was not like some who adulterated the wine they
furnished; he laboured in christian integrity before God.
Chapter 3
These words give rise to an exposition of the gospel in contrast with the
law, which the false teachers mixed up with the gospel. He gives this
exposition with the most touching appeal to the heart of the Corinthians,
who had been converted through his means. Did he begin speaking of his
ministry to commend himself anew, or did he need, as others, letters of
commendation to them or from them? They were his letters of commendation,
the striking proof of the power of his ministry, a proof which he carried
always in his heart, ready to bring it forward on every occasion. He can
say this now, being happy in their obedience. And why did they serve as a
letter in his favour? Because in their faith they were the living
expression of his doctrine. They were Christ's letter of commendation,
which, by means of his ministry, had been written on the fleshy tables of
the heart by the power of the Holy Ghost, as the law had been graven on
tables of stone by God Himself.
This was Paul's confidence with regard to his ministry; his competency came
from God for the ministry of the new covenant, not of the letter (not even
the letter of this covenant, any more than the letter of anything else) but
of the Spirit, the true force of the purpose of God, as the Spirit gave it.
For the letter kills, as a rule imposed on man; the Spirit quickens, as the
power of God in grace-the purpose of God communicated to the heart of man
by the power of God, who imparted it to him that he might enjoy it. Now the
subject of this ministry brought out the difference between it and the
ministry of the law yet more strongly. The law, graven on stones, had been
introduced with glory, although it was a thing that was to pass away as a
means of relation between God and men. It was a ministry of death, for they
were only to live by keeping it. Nor could it be otherwise ordered than on
this principle. A law was to be kept; but man being already a sinner by
nature and by will, having desires which the law forbade, that law could
only be death to him-it was a ministry of death. It was a ministry of
condemnation because the authority of God came in to give to the law the
sanction of condemnation against every soul that should break it. It was a
ministry of death and of condemnation because man was a sinner.
And observe, here, that to mingle grace with the law changes nothing in its
effect, except to aggravate the penalty that results from it by aggravating
the guilt of him who violated the law, inasmuch as he violated it in spite
of the goodness and the grace. For it was still the law, and man was called
to satisfy the responsibility under which the law placed him. "The soul
that sinneth," said Jehovah to Moses, "will I blot out of my book." The
figure used by the apostle shews that he is speaking of the second descent
of Moses from Mount Sinai, when he had heard the name of Jehovah
proclaimed, merciful and gracious. The face of Moses did not shine the
first time that he came down: he broke the tables before he went into the
camp. The second time God made all His goodness pass before him, and the
face of Moses reflected the glory which he had seen, partial as it may have
been. But Israel could not bear this reflection; for how can it be borne,
when it must judge the secrets of the heart after all? For, though grace
had been shewn in sparing on Moses' intercession, the exigency of the law
was still maintained, and every one was to suffer the consequences of his
own disobedience. Thus the character of the law prevented Israel from
understanding even the glory which was in the ordinances, as a figure of
that which was better and permanent; and the whole system ordained by the
hand of Moses was veiled to their eyes, and the people fell under the
letter, even in that part of the law which was a testimony of things to be
spoken afterwards. It was according to the wisdom of God that it should be
so; for in this way all the effect of the law, as brought to bear on the
heart and conscience of man, has been fully developed.
There are many Christians who make a law of Christ Himself, and in thinking
of His love as a fresh motive to oblige them to love Him, think of it only
as an obligation, a very great increase to the measure of the obligation
which lies upon them, an obligation which they feel bound to satisfy. That
is to say, they are still under the law, and consequently under
condemnation.
But the ministry which the apostle fulfilled was not this; it was the
ministry of righteousness and of the Spirit, not as requiring righteousness
in order to stand before God, but as revealing it. Christ was this
righteousness, made such on God's part for us; and we are made the
righteousness of God in Him. The gospel proclaimed righteousness on God's
part, instead of requiring it from man according to the law. Now the Holy
Ghost could be the seal of that righteousness. He could come down upon the
man Christ, because He was perfectly approved of God; He was righteous-the
righteous One. He came down upon us, because we are made the righteousness
of God in Christ. Thus it was the ministry of the Spirit; His power wrought
in it. He was bestowed when that which it announced was received by faith;
and with the Spirit they also received understanding of the mind and
purposes of God, as they were revealed in the Person of a glorified Christ,
in whom the righteousness of God was revealed and subsisted eternally
before Him.
Thus the apostle unites, in the self-same thought, the mind of God in the
word according to the Spirit, the glory of Christ who had been hidden in it
under the letter, and the Holy Ghost Himself, who gave its force, revealed
that glory, and, by dwelling and working in the believer, enables him to
enjoy it. Thus, where the Spirit was, there was liberty; they were no
longer under the yoke of the law, of the fear of death, and of
condemnation. They were in Christ before God, in peace before Him,
according to perfect love and that favour which is better than life, even
as it shone upon Christ, without a veil, according to the grace which
reigns by righteousness. When it is said, "Now the Lord is that spirit,"
allusion is made to verse 6; verses 7-16 is a parenthesis. Christ glorified
is the true thought of the Spirit which God had previously hidden under
figures. And here is the practical result: they beheld the Lord with open
(that is, with unveiled) face; they were able to do it. The glory of the
face of Moses judged the thoughts and intents of the hearts, causing terror
by threatening the disobedient and the sinner with death and condemnation.
Who could stand in the presence of God? But the glory of the face of Jesus,
a man on high, is the proof that all the sins of those who behold it are
blotted out; for He who is there bore them all before He ascended, and He
needed to put them all away in order to enter into that glory. We
contemplate that glory by the Spirit, who has been given us in virtue of
Christ's having ascended into it. He did not say, "I will go up;
peradventure I shall make atonement." He made the atonement and went up.
Therefore we gaze upon it with joy, we love to behold it: each ray that we
see is the proof that in the eyes of God our sins are no more. Christ has
been made sin for us; He is in the glory. Now, in thus beholding the glory
with affection, with intelligence, taking delight in it, we are changed
into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the power of the Holy
Ghost, who enables us to realise and to enjoy these things; and in this is
christian progress. Thus the assembly too becomes the epistle of Christ.
The allusion made at the same time to the Jews at the end of the
parenthesis, where the apostle makes a comparison between the two systems,
is most touching. The veil, he says, is taken away in Christ. Nothing is
now veiled. The glorious substance is accomplished. The veil is on the
heart of the Jews, when they read the Old Testament. Now every time that
Moses entered into the tabernacle to speak to God, or to hear Him, he took
off his veil. Thus, says the apostle, when Israel shall turn to the Lord,
the veil shall be taken away.
There is but one more remark to be made. "The things that remain"
are the subject the gospel treats of, not the ministry which announces
it-the glory of the Person of Jesus Christ, the substance of that which the
Jewish ordinances represented only in figure.
The apostle returns to the subject of his ministry in connection with his
sufferings, shewing that this doctrine of a Christ victorious over death,
truly received into the heart, makes us victorious over all fear of death,
and over all the sufferings that are linked with the earthen vessel in
which this treasure is carried.
Chapter 4
Having received this ministry of righteousness and of the Spirit, the
foundation of which was Christ glorified beheld with open face, he not only
used great boldness of speech, but his zeal was not abated, nor his faith
enfeebled by difficulties. Moreover, with the courage which through grace
was imparted to him by this doctrine, he held back nothing, weakened
nothing of this glory; he did not corrupt the doctrine; he manifested it in
all the purity and brightness in which he had received it. It was the word
of God; such as he had received it, so they received it from him, the
unaltered word of God; the apostle thus approving himself, commending
himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God. All could not say
this. The glory of the Lord Jesus was set forth by Paul's preaching in all
the clearness and brightness of its revelation to himself. If, therefore,
the good news which he proclaimed was hidden, it was not as in the case of
Moses; not only was the glory of the Lord fully revealed with open face in
Christ, it was also manifested without a veil in the pure preaching of the
apostle. This is the link established between the glory accomplished in the
Person of Christ, as the result of the work of redemption, and the ministry
which, by the power of the Holy Ghost acting in the instrument chosen of
the Lord, proclaimed this glory to the world, and made men responsible for
the reception of the truth-responsible for submission to this glorious
Christ, who announced Himself in grace from heaven, as having established
righteousness for the sinner, and as inviting him to come freely and enjoy
the love and the blessing of God.
Now there was no other means of coming to God. To set up any other would be
to put aside and declare imperfect and insufficient that which Christ had
done, and that which Christ was, and to produce something better than He.
But this was not possible: for that which he announced was the
manifestation of the glory of God in the Person of the Son, in connection
with the revelation of perfect love, and of the making good perfect and
divine righteousness; so that the pure light was the happy abode of those
who by this means entered into it. There could not be anything more, unless
there was something more than God in the fulness of His grace and of His
perfection. If then this revelation was hidden, it was in the case of those
who were lost, whose minds were blinded by the god of this world, lest the
light of the good news of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God,
should shine into their hearts.
This is translated "glorious gospel." But we have seen that the fact of
Christ's being in glory, the glory of God being seen in His face, was the
special subject of the preceding chapter. To that the apostle here alludes
as characterising the gospel which he preached. It was the proof of the sin
Christ had borne being utterly put away, of victory over death, of the
introduction of man into the presence of God in glory according to God's
eternal counsels of love. It was withal the full display of the divine
glory in man according to grace, which the Holy Ghost takes to shew to us
in order to form us after the same likeness. It was the glorious
ministration of righteousness, and of the Spirit, which opened the free way
for man to God, even into the holiest, in entire liberty.
When Christ was thus proclaimed, there was either the joyful acceptance of
the good news, submission of heart to the gospel, or else the blinding of
Satan. For Paul did not preach himself (which others did not fail to do)
but Jesus Christ the Lord, and himself their servant for Jesus' sake.
Because in fact (and this is another important principle) the shining forth
of this gospel of the glory of Christ is the work of God's power-of the
same God who, by His word alone, caused the light instantaneously to shine
out of the midst of darkness. He had shone into the apostle's heart to give
forth the light of the knowledge of His own glory in the face of Jesus
Christ. The gospel shone forth by a divine operation similar to that which
had, in the beginning, caused the light to shine out of darkness by a
single word. The heart of the apostle was the vessel, the lamp, in which
this light had been kindled to shine in the midst of the world before the
eyes of men. It was the revelation of the glory which shone in the Person
of Christ by the power of the Spirit of God in the heart of the apostle, in
order that this glory should shine out in the gospel before the world. It
was the power of God which wrought in it, in the same manner as when light
was caused by the word "Let there be light! and there was light." But the
treasure of this revelation of the glory was deposited, in earthen vessels,
in order that power which wrought in it should be of God alone, and not
that of the instruments. In all, the weakness of the instrument shewed
itself in the trying circumstances which God, for this very purpose (among
others), made the testimony pass through. Nevertheless the power of God was
manifested in it so much the more evidently, from the vessel's shewing its
weakness in the difficulties that beset its path. The testimony was
rendered, the work was done, the result was produced, even when man broke
down and found himself without resource in presence of the opposition
raised up against truth.
Afflicted by the tribulation, this was the vessel's part; not straitened,
for God was with the vessel. Without means of escape, that was the vessel;
yet not without resource, for God was with it. Persecuted, that was the
vessel; not forsaken, for God was with it. Cast down, that was the vessel;
but not destroyed, for God was with it. Always bearing about in his body
the dying
of the Lord Jesus (made like Him, in that the man as such was reduced to
nothing), in order that the life of Jesus, which death could not touch,
which has triumphed over death, should be manifested in his body, mortal as
it was. The more the natural man was annihilated, the more was it evident
that a power was there which was not of man. This was the principle, but it
was morally realised in the heart by faith. As the Lord's servant, Paul
realised in his heart the death of all that was human life, in order that
the power might be purely of God through Jesus risen. But besides this, God
made him realise these things by the circumstances through which he had to
pass; for, as living in this world, he was always delivered unto death for
Jesus' sake, in order that the life of Jesus might be manifested in his
mortal flesh. Thus death wrought in the apostle; what was merely of man, of
nature and natural life, disappeared, in order that life in Christ,
developing itself in him on the part of God and by His power, should work
in the Corinthians by his means. What a ministry! A thorough trial of the
human heart, a glorious calling, for a man to be thus assimilated to
Christ, to be the vessel of the power of His pure life, and by means of an
entire self-renunciation, even that of life itself, to be morally like unto
Jesus. What a position by grace! What a conformity to Christ! And yet in a
way in which it passed through man's heart to reach man's heart (which
indeed is of the essence of Christianity itself), not surely by man's
strength, but God's made good in man's weakness.
<61472F:33>226 Therefore it was that the apostle could use the language of
the Spirit of Christ in the Psalms, "I believed, and therefore have I
spoken." That is to say, 'At whatever cost, in spite of everything, of all
the danger, all the opposition, I have spoken for God, I have borne my
testimony. I have had confidence enough in God to bear testimony to Him and
to His truth, whatever the consequences might be, even if I had died in
doing it.' That is, the apostle said, 'I have acted as Christ Himself did,
because I know that He who raised up Jesus would do the same for me, and
would present me, together with you, before His face in that same glory in
which Christ is now in heaven, and for my testimony to which, I have
suffered death like Him.' We must clearly distinguish here between Christ's
sufferings for righteousness and for His work of love, and His sufferings
for sin. The former it is our privilege to share with Him; in the latter He
is alone.
<61472F:34>The apostle said, "will present me with you," for, he adds,
according to the heart and mind of Christ towards His own, "all things are
for your sakes, that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of
many, redound to the glory of God." And therefore it was that he did not
allow himself to be discouraged; but on the contrary, if the outward man
perished, the inward man was renewed day by day. For the light affliction,
which was but for a moment (for such he esteemed it in view of the glory-it
was but the temporary affliction of this poor dying body), worked out for
him an eternal weight of glory which was beyond all the most exalted
expression of human thought or language. And this renewing took place; and
he was not disheartened come whatmight, in that he looked not at the
things that are seen, which are temporal, but at the things that are not
seen, which are eternal. Thus the power of the divine life, with all its
consequences, was developed in his soul by faith. He knew the result of
everything on God's part.
<61472F:35>It was not only that there were things invisible and glorious.
Christians had their part in them. We know, the apostle says in their name,
that if this earthly house (passing away as it is) were destroyed-and it
had very nearly been the case with himself-we have a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Precious certainty! He
knew it. Christians know it as a part of their faith. We know
-a certainty which caused this glory, which he knew to be his, to be a real
and practical hope in the heart by the power of the Holy Ghost-a reality
present by faith. He saw this glory as that which belonged to him, with
which he was to be invested. And therefore also he groaned in his
tabernacle, not (as so many do) because the desires of his flesh could not
be fulfilled; and because satisfaction of heart cannot be found for man,
even when those desires are fulfilled; nor because he was uncertain whether
he was accepted, and the glory his or not; but because the body was a
hindrance, tending to depress the divine life, to deprive him of the full
enjoyment of that glory which the new life saw and desired, and which Paul
saw and admired as his own. It was a burden, this earthly human nature; it
was no distress to him that he could not satisfy its desires; his distress
was to find himself still in this mortal nature, because he saw something
better.
Not however that he desired to be unclothed, for he saw in Christ glorified
a power of life capable of swallowing up and annihilating every trace of
mortality; for the fact that Christ was on high in the glory was the result
of this power, and at the same time the manifestation of the heavenly
portion that belonged to them that were His. Therefore the apostle desired,
not to be unclothed but clothed upon, and that that which was mortal in him
should be absorbed by life, that the mortality that characterised his
earthly human nature should disappear before the power of life which he saw
in Jesus, and which was his life. That power was such that there was no
need to die. And this was not a hope which had no other foundation than the
desire awakened by a view of the glory might produce: God had formed
Christians for this very thing. He who was a Christian was formed for this,
and not for anything else. It was God Himself who had formed him for
this-this glory, in which Christ, the last Adam, was at the right hand of
God. Precious assurance! Happy confidence in the grace and the mighty work
of God! Ineffable joy to be able to attribute all to God Himself, to be
thus certified of His love, to glorify Him as the God of love-our
Benefactor, to know that it was His work, and that we rest upon a finished
work-the work of God. It is not here resting upon a work done for us; but
the blessed consciousness that God has wrought us for this: we are His
workmanship.
Nevertheless something else was necessary to our enjoying this, since we
are not yet glorified in fact; and God has given it-the earnest of the
Spirit.
Thus, we have the glory before us, we are wrought for it by God Himself,
and we have the earnest of the Spirit till we are there, and know that
Christ has so entirely overcome death that, if the time were come, we
should be transformed into glory without dying at all. Mortality would be
swallowed up of life. This is our portion through grace in the last Adam,
through the power of life in which Christ was raised.
But next the apostle will treat of the effect as to the natural portion of
the first fallen man, death and judgment; for the testimony here is very
complete.
Chapter 5
What then is the effect of the possession of life in Christ as applied to
death and judgment, the two natural objects of men's fears, the fruit of
sin? If our bodies are not yet transformed; and if that which is mortal is
not yet swallowed up, we are equally full of confidence, because, being
formed for glory, and Christ (who has manifested the victorious power that
opened the path of heaven to Him) being our life, if we should leave this
tabernacle and be absent from the body before we are clothed upon with the
glory, this life remains untouched; it has already in Jesus triumphed over
all these effects of the power of death. We should be present with the
Lord; for we walk by faith, not by the sight of these excellent things.
Therefore we prefer to be absent from the body, and to be present with the
Lord. For this reason we seek to be well-pleasing to Him, whether we are
found absent from this body, or present in this body, when Christ shall
come to take us to Himself and make us share His glory.
And this leads on to the second point-judgment. For we must all be
manifested before the tribunal of Christ, in order that each may receive
according to that which he shall have done in the body, be it good or evil.
A happy and precious thought, after all, solemn as it may be; for, if we
have really understood grace, if we are standing in grace, if we know what
God is, all love for us, all light for us, we shall like to be in the full
light. It is a blessed deliverance to be in it. It is a burden, an
encumbrance, to have anything concealed, and although we have had much sin
in us that no one knows (perhaps even some that we have committed, and
which it would be no profit for any one to know), it is a comfort-if we
know the perfect love of God-that all should be in perfect light since He
is there. This is the case by faith and for faith, wherever there is solid
peace: we are before God as He is, and as we are-all sin in ourselves alas!
except so far as He has wrought in us by quickening us; and He is all love
in this light in which we are placed; for God is light, and He reveals
Himself. Without the knowledge of grace, we fear the light: it cannot be
otherwise. But knowing grace, knowing that sin has been put away as regards
the glory of God, and that the offence is no longer before His eyes, we
like to be in the light, it is joy to us, it is that which the heart needs,
without which it cannot be satisfied, when there is the life of the new
man. Its nature is to love the light, to love purity in all that perfection
which does not admit the evil of darkness, which shuts out all that is not
itself. Now to be thus in the light, and to be manifested, is the same
thing, for the light makes everything manifest.
We are in the light by faith when the conscience is in the presence of God.
We shall be according to the perfection of that light when we appear before
the tribunal of Christ. I have said that it is a solemn thing-and so it is,
for everything is judged according to that light; but it is that which the
heart loves, because-thanks to our God!-we are light in Christ.
But there is more than this. When the Christian is thus manifested, he is
already glorified, and, perfectly like Christ, has then no remains of the
evil nature in which he sinned. And he now can look back at all the way God
has led him in grace, helped, lifted up, kept from falling, not withdrawn
His eyes from the righteous. He knows as he is known. What a tale of grace
and mercy! If I look back now, my sins do not rest on my conscience; though
I have horror of them, they are put away behind God's back. I am the
righteousness of God in Christ, but what a sense of love and patience, and
goodness and grace! How much more perfect then, when all is before me!
Surely there is great gain as to light and love, in giving an account of
ourselves to God; and not a trace remains of the evil in us. We are like
Christ. If a person fears to have all out thus before God, I do not believe
he is free in soul as to righteousness-being the righteousness of God in
Christ, not fully in the light. And we have not to be judged for anything:
Christ has put it all away.
But there is another idea in the passage-retribution. The apostle does not
speak of judgment on persons, because the saints are included, and Christ
has stood in their place for all that regards the judgment of their
persons: "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ." They do
not come into judgment. But they shall be manifested before His tribunal,
and receive that which they have done in the body. The good deserves
nothing: they received that by which they have wrought what is good-grace
produced it in them; nevertheless they shall receive its reward. What they
have done is counted as their own act. If, by neglecting grace and the
witness of the Spirit in them, the fruits which He would have produced have
been turned aside, they will bear the consequences. It is not that, in this
case, God will have forsaken them; it is not that the Holy Ghost will not
act in them with regard to the condition they are in; but it will be in
their conscience that He acts, judging the flesh which has prevented the
man's bearing the natural fruit of His presence and operation in the new
man. So that the Holy Ghost will have done all that is necessary with
respect to their state of heart; and the perfect counsel of God with regard
to the person will have been accomplished, His patience manifested, His
wisdom, His ways in governing, the care which He deigns to take of each one
individually in His most condescending love. Each one will have his place,
as it was prepared for him of the Father. But the natural fruit of the
presence and operation of the Holy Ghost in a soul which has (or, according
to the advantages it has enjoyed, ought to have had) a certain measure of
light, will not have been produced. It will be seen what it was that
prevented. It will judge, according to the judgment of God, all that was
good and evil in itself, with a solemn reverence for that which God is, and
a fervent adoration on account of what He has been for us. The perfect
light will be appreciated; the ways of God known and understood in all
their perfection, by the application of the perfect light to the whole
course of our life and of His dealings with us, in which we shall
thoroughly recognise that love-perfect, sovereign above all things-has
reigned, with ineffable grace.
Thus the majesty of God will have been maintained by His judgment, at the
same time that the perfection and tenderness of His dealings will be the
eternal recollection of our souls. Light without cloud or darkness will be
understood in its own perfection. To understand it is to be in it and to
enjoy it. And light is God Himself. How wonderful to be thus manifested!
What love is that which in its perfect wisdom, in its marvellous ways
overruling all evil, could bring such beings as we are to enjoy this
unclouded light-beings knowing good and evil (the natural prerogative of
those only of whom God can say "one of us"), under the yoke of the evil
which they knew, and driven out by a bad conscience from the presence of
God, to whom that knowledge belonged, having testimony enough in their
conscience as to the judgment of God, to make them avoid Him and be
miserable, but nothing to draw them to Him who alone could find a remedy!
What love and holy wisdom which could bring such to the source of good, of
pure happiness, in whom the power of good repels absolutely the evil which
it judges!
With regard to the unrighteous, at the judgment-day they will have to
answer personally for their sins, under a responsibility which rests
entirely on themselves.
However great the happiness of being in the perfect light (and this
happiness is complete and divine in its character), it is on the side of
conscience that the subject is here presented. God maintains His majesty by
the judgment which He executes, as it is written, "The Lord is known by the
judgment that he executeth": there, in His government of the world; here,
final, eternal, and personal judgment. And, for my part, I believe that it
is very profitable for the soul to have the judgment of God present to our
minds, and the sense of the unchangeable majesty of God maintained in the
conscience by this means. If we were not under grace, it would be-it ought
to be-insupportable; but the maintenance of this sentiment does not
contradict grace. It is indeed only under grace that it can be maintained
in its truth; for who otherwise could bear the thought, for an instant, of
receiving that which he had done in the body? None but he who is completely
blinded.
But the authority, the holy authority of God, which asserts itself in
judgment, forms a part of our relationship with Him; the maintenance of
this sentiment, associated with the full enjoyment of grace, a part of our
holy spiritual affections. It is the fear of the Lord. It is in this sense,
that "Happy is he who feareth always." If this weakens the conviction that
the love of God rests fully, eternally, upon us, then we get off the only
possible ground of any relation whatever with God, unless perdition could
be so called. But, in the sweet and peaceful atmosphere of grace,
conscience maintains its rights and its authority against the subtle
encroachments of the flesh, through the sense of God's judgment, in virtue
of a holiness which cannot be separated from the character of God without
denying that there is a God: for if there is a God, He is holy. This
sentiment engages the heart of the accepted believer, to endeavour to
please the Lord in every way; and, in the sense of how solemn a thing it is
for a sinner to appear before God, the love that necessarily accompanies it
in a believer's heart urges him to persuade men with a view to their
salvation, while maintaining his own conscience in the light. And he who is
now walking in the light, whose conscience reflects that light, will not
fear it in the day when it shall appear in its glory. We must be
manifested; but, walking in the light in the sense of the fear of God,
realising His judgment of evil, we are already manifested to God: nothing
hinders the sweet and assured flow of His love. Accordingly the walk of
such a one justifies itself in the end to the consciences of others; one is
manifested as walking in the light.
These are therefore the two great practical principles of the ministry: to
walk in the light, in the sense of God's solemn judgment for every one;
and, the conscience being thus pure in the light, the sense of the judgment
(which in this case cannot trouble the soul for itself, or obscure its view
of the love of God) impels the heart to seek in love those who are in
danger of this judgment. This connects itself with the doctrine of Christ,
the Saviour, through His death upon the cross; and the love of Christ
constrains us, because we see that, if one died for all, it is that all
were dead. This was the universal condition of souls. The apostle seeks
them in order that they may live unto God by Christ. But this goes farther.
First, as regards fallen man's lot, death is gain. The saint, if absent
from the body, is present with the Lord. As to judgment, he owns the
solemnity of it, but it does not make him tremble. He is in Christ-will be
like Christ; and Christ, before whom he is to appear, has put away all the
sins he had to be judged for. The effect is the sanctifying one of bringing
him fully manifested into the presence of God now. But it stimulates his
love as to others, nor is it only by fear of judgment to come for them;
Christ's love constrains him-love manifested in death. But this proves more
than the acts of sin which bring judgment: Christ died because all were
dead. The Spirit of God goes to the source and spring of their whole
condition, their state, not merely the fruits of an evil nature-all were
dead. We find the same important instruction in John 5:24, "He that
heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into judgment [that which applies to sins], but is passed
from death unto life"; he has come out of the whole state and condition, as
an already lost one, into another and different one in Christ. This is a
very important aspect of the truth. And the distinction, largely developed
in Romans, is found in many passages.
The work of manifestation before God in the light is already true, in so
far as we have realised the light. Cannot I, being now in peace, look back
at what I was before conversion, and at all my failures since my
conversion, humbled but adoring the grace of God in all He has done for me,
but without a thought of fear, or imputation of sin? Does not this awaken a
very deep sense of all that God is in holy grace and love, in unbounded
patience towards me, both keeping and helping and restoring? Such will be
the case perfectly when we are manifested, when we shall know as we are
known.
That this point may be still more clear, for it is an important one, let me
add some further observations here. What we find in this passage is the
perfect manifestation of all that a person is and has been before a throne
characterised by judgment, without judgment as to the person in question
being guilty. No doubt when the wicked receives the things done in the
body, he is condemned. But it is not said "judged" here, because all then
must be condemned. But this manifestation is exactly what brings all
morally before the heart, when it is capable of judging evil for itself:
were it under judgment, it could not. Freed from all fear, and in the
perfect light and with the comfort of perfect love (for where we have the
conscience of sin, and of its not being imputed, we have the sense, though
in a humbling way, of perfect love), and at the same time the sense of
authority and divine government fully made good in the soul, all is judged
by the soul itself as God judges it, and communion with Himself entered
into. This is exceedingly precious.
We have to remember that, at our appearing before the judgment-seat of
Christ, we are already glorified. Christ has come Himself in perfect love
to fetch us; and has changed our vile body according to the resemblance of
His glorious body. We are glorified and like Christ before the judgment
takes place. And mark the effect on Paul. Does the thought of being
manifested awaken anxiety or dread? Not the least. He realises all the
solemnity of such a process. He knows the terror of the Lord; he has it
before his eyes; and what is the consequence? He sets about to persuade
others who are in need of it.
There are, so to speak, two parts in God's nature and character: His
righteousness, which judges everything; and His perfect love. These are one
for us in Christ, ours in Christ. If indeed we realise what God is, both
will have their place: but the believer in Christ is the righteousness
which God, from His very nature, must have before Him on His throne, if we
are to be with Him and enjoy Him. But the Christ, in the judgment-seat,
before whom we are, is our righteousness. He judges by the righteousness
which He is; but we are that righteousness, the righteousness of God in
Him. Hence this point can raise no question in the soul, will make us adore
such grace, but can raise no question, only enhance the sense we have of
grace ourselves, make us understand it, as suited to man as he is, and feel
the solemn and awful consequences of not having part in it, since there is
such a judgment. Hence that other and indeed essential part of the divine
nature, love, will work in us towards others; and, knowing the terror of
the Lord, we shall persuade men. Thus Paul (it is conscience in view of
that most solemn moment) possessed the righteousness which he saw in the
Judge, for that which judged was His righteousness; but then he
consequently seeks others earnestly, according to the work which had thus
brought him near to God, to which he then turns (v. 13, 14). But this view
of judgment and our complete manifestation in that day, has a present
effect on the saint according to its own nature. He realises it by faith.
He is manifested. He does not fear being manifested. It will unfold all
God's past ways towards him when he is in glory; but he is manifested now
to God, his conscience exercised in the light. It has thus a present
sanctifying power.
Observe here the assemblage of powerful motives, of pre-eminently important
principles; contradictory in appearance, but which, to a soul which walks
in light, instead of clashing and destroying each other, unite to give its
complete and thoroughly furnished character to the christian minister and
ministry.
First of all, the glory, in such a power of life, that he who realises it
does not desire death, because he sees in the power of life in Christ that
which can absorb whatever in him is mortal, and he sees it with the
certainty of enjoying it-such a consciousness of possessing this life (God
having formed him for it, and given him the earnest of the Spirit), that
death if it arrive to him is but a happy absence from the body in order to
be present with the Lord.
Now the thought of ascending to Christ gives the desire of being acceptable
to Him, and presents Him (the second motive or principle that gives a form
to this ministry) as the Judge who will render to every one that which he
has done. The solemn thought of how much this judgment is to be feared
takes possession of the apostle's heart. What a difference between this
thought and the "building of God," for which he was waiting with certainty!
Nevertheless this thought does not alarm him; but, in the solemn sense of
the reality of that judgment, it impels him to persuade others.
But here a third principle comes in, the love of Christ with reference to
the condition of those whom Paul sought to persuade. Since this love of
Christ's shews itself in His death, there is in it the witness that all
were already dead and lost.
Thus we have here set before us glory, with the personal certainty of
enjoying it, and death become the means of being present with the Lord; the
tribunal of Christ, and the necessity of being manifested before it; and
the love of Christ in His death, all being already dead. How are such
diverse principles as these to be reconciled and arranged in the heart? It
is that the apostle was manifested to God. Hence the thought of being
manifested before the tribunal produced, along with the present
sanctification, no other effect on him than that of solemnity, for he was
not to come into judgment; but it became an urgent motive for preaching to
others, according to the love which Christ had manifested in His death. The
idea of the tribunal did not in the least weaken his certainty of glory.
His soul, in the full light of God, reflected what was in that light,
namely, the glory of Christ ascended on high as man. And the love of this
same Jesus was strengthened in its active operation in him by the sense of
the tribunal which awaits all men.
What a marvellous combination of motives we find in this passage, to form a
ministry characterised by the development of all that in which God reveals
Himself, and by which He acts on the heart and conscience of man! And it is
in a pure conscience that these things can have their force together. If
the conscience were not pure, the tribunal would obscure the glory, at
least as belonging to oneself, and weaken the sense of His love. At any
rate one would be occupied with self in connection with these things, and
ought to be so. But when pure before God, it only sees a tribunal which
excites no sense of personal uneasiness, and therefore has all its true
moral effect, as an additional motive for seriousness in our walk, and a
solemn energy in the appeal which the known love of Jesus impels it to
address to man.
As to how far our own relations with God enter into the service which we
have to render to others, the apostle adds another thing that characterised
his walk, and that was the result of the death and resurrection of Christ.
He lived in an entirely new sphere, in a new creation, which had left
behind, as in another world, all that belonged to a natural existence in
the flesh here below. The proof that Christ had died for all proved that
all were dead; and that He died for all in order that those who live should
live no longer to themselves but to Him who died for them and rose again.
They are in connection with this new order of things in which Christ exists
as risen. Death is on everything else. Everything is shut up under death.
If I live, I live in a new order of things, in a new creation, of which
Christ is the type and the head. Christ, so far as in connection with this
world below, is dead. He might have been known as the Messiah, living on
the earth, and in connection with promises made to men living on the earth
in the flesh. The apostle no longer knew Him thus. In fact Christ, as
bearing that character, was dead; and now, being risen, He has taken a new
and a heavenly character.
Therefore if any one is in Christ, he belongs to this new creation, he is
of the new creation. He belongs no more at all to the former; the old
things have passed away; all things are I become new. The system is not the
fruit of human nature and of sin, like all that surrounds us here below,
according to the I flesh. Already, looked at as a system existing morally
before God, in this new creation, all things are of God. All that is found
in it is of God, of Him who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ.
We live in an order of things, a world, a new creation, entirely of God. We
are there in peace, because God, who is its centre and its source, has
reconciled us to Himself. We enjoy it, because we are new creatures in
Christ; and everything in this new world is of Him, and corresponds with
that new nature. He had also committed to the apostle a ministry of
reconciliation, according to the order of things into which he had been
himself introduced. Being reconciled, and knowing it by the revelation of
God who had accomplished it for him, he proclaimed a reconciliation, the
effect of which he was enjoying .
All this flowed from an immense and all-powerful truth. God was in Christ.
But then, in order that others might have a part with him, and the apostle
be the minister of this, it was also necessary that Christ should be made
sin for us. One of these truths presents the character in which God has
drawn nigh to us, the other, the efficacy of that which has been wrought
for the believer.
Here is the first of these truths, in connection with the apostle's
ministry, which form the subject of these chapters. God was in Christ (that
is to say, when Christ was on earth). The day of judgment had not been
waited for. God had come down in love into the world alienated from Him.
Such was Christ. Three things were connected with and characterised this
great and essential truth: reconciling the world, not imputing
transgression, and putting the word of reconciliation into the apostle. As
the result of this third consequence of the incarnation, the apostle
assumes the character of ambassador for Christ, as though God exhorted by
his means, he besought men, in the name of Christ, to be reconciled to God.
But such an embassy supposed the absence of Christ; His ambassador acted in
His stead. It was in fact based upon another truth of immeasurable
importance, namely, that God had made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,
in order that we should be made the righteousness of God in Him. This was
the true way to reconcile us, and that entirely, to God, according to the
perfection of God fully revealed. For He had set His love upon us where we
were, giving His Son, who was without spot or motion or principle of sin;
and making Him (for He offered Himself to accomplish the will of God) sin
for us, in order to make us in Him-who in that condition had perfectly
glorified Him-the expression of His divine righteousness, before the
heavenly principalities through all eternity; to make us His delight, as
regards righteousness; "that we should be the righteousness of God in him."
Man has no righteousness for God: God has made the saints, in Jesus, His
righteousness. It is in us that this divine righteousness is seen fully
verified-of course in Christ first, in setting Him at His right hand, and
in us as in Him. Marvellous truth! which, if its results in us cause
thanksgiving and praise to resound when looking at Jesus, silences the
heart, and bows it down in adoration, astonished at the sight of His
wonderful acts in grace.
Chapter 6
Paul had said that God exhorted by his means. In chapter 6 the affection of
the apostle carries on by the Spirit this divine work, beseeching the
Corinthians that it might not be in vain in their case that this grace had
been brought to them. For it was the acceptable time, the day of salvation.
The apostle had spoken of the great principles of his ministry, and of its
origin. He reminds the Corinthians of the way in which he had exercised it
in the varied circumstances through which he had been led. The cardinal
point of his service is that he was the minister of God, that he
represented Him in his service. This rendered two things needful: first,
that he should be in all things without reproach; and then that he should
maintain this character of God's minister, and the exercise of his
ministry, through all the opposition, and in all the circumstances through
which the enmity of man's heart, and the cunning even of Satan, could make
him pass. Everywhere and in all things he avoided, by his conduct, all real
occasion of being reproached, in order that no one should have room to
blame the ministry. He approved himself in all things as a minister of God,
worthily representing Him in whose name he spoke to men; and that with a
patience, and in the midst of persecution and contradiction of sinners,
which shewed an inward energy, a sense of obligation to God, and a
dependence on Him, which the realisation of His presence and of our duty to
Him can alone maintain. It was a quality which reigned through all the
circumstances of which the apostle speaks, and had dominion over them.
Thus he shewed himself to be the minister of God in everything which could
test him; in pureness, in kindness, in love; as a vessel of power; whether
disgraced or applauded; unknown to the world, and known and eminent;
outwardly trodden under foot of man and chastened, inwardly victorious and
joyful, enriching others, and in possession of all things. Here ends his
description of the sources, the character, the victory over circumstances,
of a ministry which displayed the power of God in a vessel of weakness,
whose best portion was death.
The restoration of the Corinthians to a moral state befitting the gospel,
associated with the circumstances through which he had just been passing,
had allowed him to open his heart to them. Pre-occupied till now with his
subject of the glorious Christ, who, having accomplished redemption, sent
him as the messenger of the grace to which that redemption had given free
course, and having spoken with a free heart of all that was comprised in
his ministry, he returns with affection to his beloved Corinthians, shewing
that it was with them that he had all this openness, this enlargement of
heart. "My mouth is open unto you, O Corinthians," he says, "my heart is
enlarged; ye are not straitened in me, but in your own affections." As a
recompense for the affections that overflowed from his heart towards them,
he only asks for the enlargement of their own hearts.
He spoke as to his children. But he avails himself of this tender
relationship to exhort the Corinthians to maintain the place in which God
had set them: "Be not in the same yoke with unbelievers." Having a hold
upon their affections, and rejoicing deeply before God in the grace which
had restored them to right sentiments, his heart is free to give way, as
though beside himself, to the joy that belonged to him in Christ glorified:
and, with a sober mind after all when his dear children in the faith were
in question,
he seeks to detach them from all that recognised the flesh, or implied that
a relationship which recognised it were possible for a Christian-from
everything that denied the position of a man who has his life and his
interests in the new creation, of which Christ is the Head in glory. An
angel can serve God in this world: little would it concern him in what way,
provided that way was God's; but to associate himself with its interests,
as forming a part of it, to ally himself with those who are governed by the
motives that influence the men of this world, so that a common conduct
would shew that the one and the other acted according to the principles
that form its character, would be, to those heavenly beings, to lose their
position and their character. The Christian, whose portion is the glory of
Christ-who has his world, his life, his true associations, there where
Christ has entered in-should not either; nor can he, as a Christian, put
himself under the same yoke with those who can have only worldly motives,
to draw the chariot of life in a path common to both.
What communion is there between Christ and Belial; between light and
darkness; faith and unbelief; the temple of God and idols? Christians are
the temple of the living God who dwells and walks among them. He is a God
to them; they are a people to Him. Therefore must they come out from all
fellowship with the worldly, and be separate from them. As Christians, they
must stand apart, for they are the temple of God. God dwells among them and
walks there, and He is their God. They are therefore to come out from the
world and be separate, and God will own them, and will be to them in
relationship of a Father with sons and daughters who are dear to Him.
This, observe, is the special relationship which God assumes with us. The
two preceding revelations of God with men are named here, and He takes a
third. To Abraham He revealed Himself as Almighty; to Israel as Jehovah or
Lord. Here the Lord Almighty declares that He will be a Father to His own,
to His sons and daughters. We come out from among the worldly, for it is
just that (not physically out of the world, but while in it), in order to
enter into the relationship of sons and daughters to the Almighty God:
otherwise we cannot practically realise this relationship. God will not
have worldlings in relation with Himself as sons and daughters; they have
not entered into this position with regard to Him. Nor will He recognise
those who remain identified with the world, as having this position; for
the world has rejected His Son, and the friendship of the world is enmity
against God: and he who is the friend of the world is the enemy of God. It
is not being His child in a practical sense. God says therefore, "Come out
from among them, and be separate, and ye shall be to me for sons and
daughters." Remember that it is not a question of coming out of the
world-it is while we are in it-but of coming out from among the worldly, to
enter into the relationship of sons and daughters, in order to be to Him
for sons and daughters, to be owned of Him in this relationship.
But it is not only that from which we are separated to be in this position
of sons and daughters that engages the apostle's attention, but the
legitimate consequences of such promises. Sons and daughters of the Lord
God Almighty, holiness becomes us. It is not only that we are to be
separate from the world; but, in relationship with God, to cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit: holiness in the
outward walk, and that which is quite as important with regard to our
relationship to God, purity of thought. For, although man does not see the
thoughts, the flow of the Spirit is stopped in the heart. There is not
enlargement of heart in communion with God, It is much if His presence is
felt, His relationship to us realised; grace is known, but God scarcely at
all, in the way in which He makes Himself gradually known in communion.
CHAPTERS 7&8
The apostle returns to his own relationships with the Corinthians-relations
formed by the word of his ministry. And now having laid open what this
ministry really was, he seeks to prevent the bonds being broken, which had
been formed by this ministry between the Corinthians and himself through
the power of the Holy Ghost.
"Receive us: we have wronged no one"-he is anxious not to wound the
feelings of these restored ones, who found themselves again in their old
affection for the apostle, and thus in their true relation with God. "I do
not say this to condemn you," he adds; "for I have said before that ye are
in my heart to die and live with you. My boldness is great towards you,
great is my glorying of you. I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding
joyful in all my tribulation." He is not now unfolding the principles of
the ministry, but the heart of a minister, all that he had felt with regard
to the state of the Corinthians. When he had arrived in Macedonia (whither,
it will be remembered, he had gone without visiting Corinth), after he had
left Troas, because he did not find Titus there, who was to bring him the
answer to his first letter to the Corinthians-when he was come into
Macedonia, his flesh had no rest there either; he was troubled on every
side: without were fightings, within were fears. There however God, who
comforts those who are cast down, comforted him by the arrival of Titus,
for whom he had waited with so much anxiety; and not only by his coming,
but by the good news he brought from Corinth. His joy went beyond all his
sorrow, for his heart was to die and live with them. He saw the moral
fruits of the operation of the Spirit, their desire, their tears, their
zeal with regard to the apostle; and his heart turns again to them in order
to bind up, by the expression of his affection, all the wounds (needful as
they were) which his first letter might have made in their hearts.
Nothing more touching than the conflict in his heart between the necessity
he had felt, on account of their previous state, to write to them with
severity, and in some sort with a cold authority, and the affections which,
now that the effect had been produced, dictated almost an apology for the
grief he might have caused them. If, he says, I made you sorry by the
letter, I do not repent: even though he might have repented and had done so
for a moment. For he saw that the letter had grieved them, were it but for
a season. But now he rejoiced, not that they had been made sorry, but that
they had sorrowed unto repentance. What solicitude! What a heart for the
good of the saints! If they had a fervent mind towards him, assuredly he
had given them the occasion and the motive. No rest till he had tidings:
nothing, not open doors, nor distress, could remove his anxiety. He regrets
perhaps having written the letter, fearing that he had alienated the hearts
of the Corinthians; and now, still pained at the thought of having grieved
them, he rejoices, not at having grieved them, but because their godly
sorrow had wrought repentance.
He writes a letter according to the energy of the Holy Ghost. Left to the
affections of his heart, we see him, in this respect, below the level of
the energy of inspiration which had dictated that letter which the
spiritual were to acknowledge as the commandments of the Lord; his heart
trembles at the thought of its consequences, when he receives no tidings.
It is very interesting to see the difference between the individuality of
the apostle and inspiration. In the first letter we remarked the
distinction which he makes between that which he said as the result of his
experience, and the commandments of the Lord communicated through him. Here
we find the difference in the experience itself. He forgets the character
of his epistle for a moment, and, given up to his affections, he fears to
have lost the Corinthians by the effort he had made to reclaim them. The
form of the expression he uses shews that it was but for a moment that this
sentiment took possession of his heart. But the fact that he had it plainly
shews the difference between Paul the individual and Paul the inspired
writer.
Now he is satisfied. The expression of this deep interest which he feels
for them is a part of his ministry, and valuable instruction for us, to
shew the way in which the heart enters into the exercise of this ministry,
the flexibility of this mighty energy of love, in order to win and bend
hearts by the opportune expression of that which is passing in our own: an
expression which will assuredly take place when the occasion makes it right
and natural, if the heart is filled with affection; for a strong affection
likes to make itself known to its object, if possible, according to the
truth of that affection. There is a grief of heart which consumes it, but a
heart that feels godly sorrow is on the way to repentance.
Greatness of heart does not readily talk about feelings, because it
thinks of others, not of itself. But it is not afraid, when occasion
arises, to do so; because it thinks of others, and has a depth of purpose
in its affections, which is behind all this movement of them. And
Christianity gives greatness of heart. And besides, from its nature, it is
confiding, and this wins, and gives unsought, influence this greatness of
heart does not seek, for it is unselfish. His true relationship for their
good the apostle did maintain.
The apostle then sets forth the fruits of this godly sorrow, the zeal
against sin it had produced, the heart's holy rejection of all association
with sin. Now also that they had morally separated themselves, he separates
those who were not guilty from those who were so. He will no longer
confound them together. They had confounded themselves together morally by
walking at ease with those who were in sin. By putting away the sin they
were now outside the evil: and the apostle shews that it was with a view to
their good, because he was devoted to them, that he had written to testify
the loving occupation of his thoughts about them, and to put to the test
their love for him before God. Sad as their walk had been, he had assured
Titus, when encouraging him to go to Corinth, that he would certainly find
hearts there that would respond to this appeal of apostolic affection. He
had not been disappointed, and as he had declared the truth among them,
that which he had said of them to Titus was found true also, and the
affections of Titus himself were strongly awakened when he saw it.
Chapter 9
In the next chapter the apostle (being on his way to Judea) exhorts the
Corinthians to prepare relief for the poor of Israel; sending Titus that
all might be ready as of a willing mind-a disposition of which he had
spoken on his journey as existing among these Christians, so that others
had been stirred up to give likewise. And now, while reckoning upon their
goodwill, and knowing that they had begun a year before. he would run no
risk of finding that facts gave the lie to what he had said of them. Not
that he would burden the Corinthians and ease those of Judea, but that the
rich should provide for the need of the poor brethren, in order that none
should be in want. Every one, if his will were in it, should be accepted of
God according to his ability. He loved a cheerful giver. Only they should
reap according as they sowed. Titus, happy at the result of his first
visit, and attached to the Corinthians, was ready to go again and gather
this fruit also for their own blessing. With him went the messengers of the
other churches, charged with the collection made among them for the same
purpose-a brother known to all the churches, and another of approved
diligence, stimulated by Paul's confidence in the Corinthians. The apostle
would not take charge of the money without having companions whose charge
it should also be, avoiding all possibility of reproach in affairs of this
kind, taking care that everything should be honest before men as well as
before God. Nevertheless he did not speak by commandment in all this, but
on account of the zeal of other churches, and to prove the sincerity of
their love.
It will be remembered that it was this collection which occasioned all that
happened to Paul at Jerusalem-that which put an end to his ministry,
stopped him on his way into Spain, and perhaps other places; and which, on
the other hand, gave occasion to write the epistles to the Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and, it may be, to the Hebrews. How
little we know the bearing of the circumstances we enter upon, happy that
we are led by Him who knows the end from the beginning, and who makes all
things work for good to those who love Him!
In closing those exhortations to give according to their ability, he
commends them to the rich goodness of God, who was able to make them abound
in all things, so that they should be in circumstances to multiply their
good works, enriched to all bountifulness, so as to produce in others (by
means of the apostle's services in this respect) thanksgiving unto God.
For, he adds, the happy effect of your practical charity, exercised in the
name of Christ, would not only supply the want of the saints (through his
administration of the collection made at Corinth) but abound also in
thanksgiving to God; for, those who received it blessed God that their
benefactors had been brought to confess the name of Christ, and to act with
this practical liberality to them and to all. And this thought stirred them
up to pray with fervent desire for those who provided in this way for their
need, because of the grace of God manifested in them. Thus the bonds of
eternal charity were strengthened on both sides, and glory redounded to
God. Thanks be to God, says the apostle, for His unspeakable gift; for
whatsoever may be the fruits of grace, we have the proof and the power in
that which God has given. Here ends the matter of the epistle properly so
called.
Chapter 10
The apostle returns to the subject which pre-occupied him-his connections
with the Corinthians, and the truth of his apostleship, which was
questioned by those who seduced them, throwing contempt on his person. He
was weak, they said, when present, and his speech contemptible, though bold
when absent (his letters being boastful, but his bodily presence
contemptible). "I beseech you," says the apostle, "by the meekness and
gentleness of Christ [shewing thus the true character of his own meekness
and humility when among them], not to compel me to be bold among you, as I
think of being with regard to some who pretend that I walk after the
flesh." The strength of the war that he waged against evil was founded on
spiritual weapons, with which he brought down all that exalted itself
against the knowledge of God. This is the principle on which he acted, to
seek to bring to obedience all who hearkened to God, and then severity to
all disobedience, when once obedience should be fully established, and
those who would hearken were restored to order. Precious principle! the
power and the guidance of the Spirit acting in full, and with all patience,
to restore to order, and to a walk worthy of God; carrying the
remonstrances of grace to the utmost, until all those who would hearken to
them and willingly obey God were restored; and then to assert divine
authority in judgment and discipline, with the weight which was added to
the apostolic action by the conscience and common action of all those who
had been brought back to obedience.
Observe, that the apostle refers to his personal authority as an apostle;
but that he uses it in patience (for he possessed it for the purpose of
edification and not for destruction) in order to bring back to obedience
and uprightness all those who would hearken; and thus, preserving christian
unity in holiness, he clothes the apostolic authority with the power of the
universal conscience of the assembly, guided by the Spirit, so far as there
was a conscience at work.
He then declares that such as he is in his letters, such shall they find
him when he is present; and he contrasts the conduct of those who took
advantage of his labours, beguiling a people who had already become
Christians, in order to stir them up against him, with his own conduct in
going where Christ had not yet been known, seeking to bring souls to the
knowledge of a Saviour of whom they were ignorant. Also he hoped that, when
he visited the Corinthians, his ministry would be enlarged among them by
their increase of faith, in order that he might go on beyond them to
evangelise regions that still lay in darkness. But he who gloried, let him
glory in the Lord.
Chapter 11
In chapter 11, jealous with regard to his beloved Corinthians with a godly
jealousy, he carries yet further his arguments relating to false teachers.
He asks the faithful in Corinth to bear with him a little, while he acts
like a fool in speaking of himself. He had espoused them as a chaste virgin
to Christ, and he feared lest any should corrupt their minds, leading them
away from the simplicity that is in Him. If the Corinthians had received
another Christ from the teachers lately come among them, or another Spirit,
or another gospel, they might well bear with what these teachers did. But
certainly the apostle had not been a whit behind in his instructions, even
if they compared him with the most renowned of the apostles. Had he wronged
them by receiving nothing at their hands (as these new teachers boasted of
doing), and in taking money from other assemblies, and never being a burden
to them?-a subject for boasting, of which no one should deprive him in the
regions of Achaia. Had he refused to take anything from them because he
loved them not? God knew-No; it was to deprive the false teachers of a
means of commending themselves to them by labouring gratuitously among
them, while the apostle received money. He would deprive them of this
boast, for they were false apostles. As Satan transformed himself into an
angel of light, so his instruments made themselves ministers of
righteousness. But again let them bear with him while he spoke as a fool in
speaking of himself. If these ministers of Satan accredited themselves as
Jews, as of the ancient religion of God, consecrated by its antiquity and
its traditions, he could do as much, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and
possessing all the titles to glory of which they boasted. And if it was a
question of christian service-to speak as a fool-certainly the comparison
would not fail to shew where the devotedness had been. Here in fact God has
allowed this invasion of the apostle's work by these wretched judaising men
(calling themselves Christians) to be the means of acquainting us with
something of the indefatigable labours of the apostle, carried on in a
thousand circumstances of which we have no account. In the Acts God has
given us the history of the establishment of the assembly in the great
principles on which it was founded, and the phases through which it passed
on coming out of Judaism. The apostle will have his own reward in the
kingdom of glory, not by speaking of it among men. Nevertheless it is
profitable for our faith to have some knowledge of christian devotedness,
as it was manifested in the life of the apostle. The folly of the
Corinthians has been the means of furnishing us with a little glimpse of
it.
Troubles and dangers without, incessant anxieties within, a courage that
quailed before no peril, a love for poor sinners and for the assembly that
nothing chilled-these few lines sketch the picture of a life of such
absolute devotedness that it touches the coldest heart; it makes us fee]
all our selfishness, and bend the knee before Him who was the living source
of the blessed apostle's devotedness, before Him whose glory inspired it.
Chapter 12
Nevertheless, though forced to speak of himself, the apostle would glory
only in his infirmities. But he is, as it were, outside his natural work.
His past life unfolds before his eyes. The Corinthians obliged him to think
of things which he had left behind. After having ended his account, and
declared that he would glory in his infirmities alone, there was one
circumstance that recurred to him. Nothing can be more natural, more
simple, than all these communications. Must he glory? It is but
unprofitable. He would come to that of which a man-as in the flesh-could
not glory. It was the sovereign power of God, in which the man had no part.
It was a man in Christ of whom he spoke-such a one had been caught up to
the third heaven, to paradise; in the body, or out of the body, he knew
not. The body had no part in it. Of such a one he would glory.
That which exalted him on the earth he would put aside. That which took him
up to heaven-that which gave him a portion there-that which he was "in
Christ"-was his glory, the joy of his heart, the portion in which he
readily would glory. Happy being! whose portion in Christ was such that, in
thinking of it, he is content to forget all that could exalt him as man; as
he says elsewhere as to his hope, "that I may win Christ." The man, the
body, had no share in a power, to taste of which he had to be caught up
into heaven; but of such a one he would glory. There, where God and His
glory are everything, separated from his body as to any consciousness of
being in it, he heard things which men in the body were not capable of
entering into, and which it was not fitting that a mortal man should
declare, which the mode of being of a man in the body could not admit.
These things had made the deepest impression on the apostle; they
strengthened him for the ministry; but he could not introduce them into the
manner of understanding and communicating which belongs to man's condition
here below.
But many practical lessons are connected with this marvellous favour shewn
to the apostle. I say, marvellous; for in truth one feels what a ministry
must his have been, whose strength, and whose way of seeing and judging,
were drawn from such a position. What an extraordinary mission was that of
this apostle! But he had it in an earthen vessel. Nothing amends the flesh.
Once come back into the consciousness of his human existence on earth, the
apostle's flesh would have taken advantage of the favour he had enjoyed to
exalt him in his own eyes, to say, 'None have been in the third heaven but
thou, Paul.' To be near God in the glory, as out of the body, does not puff
up. All is Christ, and Christ is all: self is forgotten. To have been there
is another thing. The presence of God makes us feel our nothingness. The
flesh can avail itself of our having been in it, when we are no longer
there. Alas! what is man? But God is watchful; in His grace He provided for
the danger of His poor servant. To have taken him up to a fourth heaven-so
to speak-would only have increased the danger. There is no way of amending
the flesh; the presence of God silences it. It will boast of it as soon as
it is no longer there. To walk safely, it must be held in check, such as it
is. We have to reckon it dead; but it often requires to be bridled, that
the heart be not drawn away from God by its means, and that it may neither
impede our walk nor spoil our testimony. Paul received a thorn in the
flesh, lest he should be puffed up on account of the abundant revelations
which he had received. We know, by the epistle to the Galatians, that it
was something which tended to make him contemptible in his preaching: a
very intelligible counterpoise to these remarkable revelations.
God left this task to Satan, as He used him for the humiliation of Job.
Whatever graces may be bestowed on us, we must go through the ordinary
exercises of personal faith, in which the heart only walks safely when the
flesh is bridled, and so practically nullified, that we are not conscious
of it as active in us when we wish to be wholly given to God, and to think
of Him and with Him according to our measure.
Three times (like the Lord with reference to the cup He was to drink) the
apostle asks Him that the thorn may be taken away; but the divine life is
fashioned in the putting off of self, and-imperfect as we are-this putting
off as to practice that which, as to truth, if we look at our standing in
Christ, we have put off, is wrought by our being made conscious of the
humiliating unsuitableness of this flesh, which we like to gratify, to the
presence of God and the service to which we are called. Happy for us when
it is by way of prevention, and not by the humiliation of a fall, as was
the case with Peter! The difference is plain. There it was self-confidence
mingled with self-will in spite of the Lord's warnings. Here, though still
the flesh, the occasion was the revelations which had been made to Paul. If
we learn the tendency of the flesh in the presence of God, we come out of
it humble, and we escape humiliation. But in general (and we may say in
some respects with all) we have to experience the revelations that lift us
up to God, whatever their measure may be, and we have to experience what
the vessel is in which it is contained, by the pain it gives us through the
sense of what it is-I do not say through falls.
God, in His government, knows how to unite suffering for Christ, and the
discipline in the flesh, in the same circumstance; and this explains
Hebrews 12:1-11. The apostle preached: if he was despised in his preaching
it was truly for the Lord that he suffered; nevertheless the same thing
disciplined the flesh, and prevented the apostle priding himself on the
revelations he enjoyed, and the consequent power with which he unfolded the
truth. In the presence of God, in the third heaven, he truly felt that man
was nothing, and Christ everything. He must acquire the practical
experience of the same thing below. The flesh must be annulled, where it is
not a nullity, by the experimental sense of the evil which is in it, and
must thus become consciously a nullity in the personal experience of that
which it is. For what was the flesh of Paul-which only hindered him morally
in his work, by drawing him away from God-except a troublesome companion in
his work? The suppression of the flesh felt and judged was a most
profitable exercise of the heart.
Observe here the blessed position of the apostle, as caught up into the
third heaven. He could glory in such a one, because self was entirely lost
in the things with which he was in relation He did not merely glory in the
things, neither does he say "in myself." Self was completely lost sight of
in the enjoyment of things that were unutterable by the man when he
returned into the consciousness of self. He would glory in such a one; but
in himself, looked at in flesh, he would not glory, save in his
infirmities. On the other hand, is it not humiliating to think that he who
had enjoyed such exaltation should have to go through the painful
experience of what the flesh is, wicked, despicable, and selfish?
Observe also the difference between Christ and any man whatsoever. Christ
could be on the mount in glory with Moses, and be owned as His Son by the
Father Himself; and He can be on the plain in the presence of Satan and of
the multitude; but, although the scenes are different, He is alike perfect
in each. We find admirable affections in the apostles, and especially in
Paul; we find works, as Jesus said, greater than His own; we find exercises
of heart, and astonishing heights by grace; in a word we see a marvellous
power developed by the Holy Ghost in this extraordinary servant of the
Lord; but we do not find the evenness that was in Christ. He was the Son of
man who was in heaven. Such as Paul arechords on which God strikes and on
which He produces a wondrous music; but Christ is all the music itself.
Finally, observe that the humiliation needed to reduce the rebellious flesh
to its nothingness is used by Christ to display His power in it. Thus
humbled, we learn our dependence. All that is of us, all that constitutes
self, is a hindrance; the infirmity is that in which it is put down, laid
low, in which weakness is realised. The power of Christ is perfected in it.
It is a general principle; humanly speaking, the cross was weakness. Death
is the opposite of the strength of man. Nevertheless it is in it that the
strength of Christ revealed itself. In it He accomplished His glorious work
of salvation.
It is not sin in the flesh that is the subject here when infirmity is
spoken of, but what is contrary to the strength of man. Christ never leant
on human strength for a moment; He lived by the Father, who had sent Him.
The power of the Holy Ghost alone was displayed in Him. Paul needed to have
the flesh reduced to weakness, in order that there might not be in it the
motion of sin which was natural to it. When the flesh was reduced to its
true nothingness as far as good is concerned, and in a manifest way, then
Christ could display His strength in it. That strength had its true
character. Remark it well: that is always its character-strength made
perfect in infirmity. The blessed apostle could glory in a man in Christ
above, enjoying all this beatitude, these marvellous things which shut out
self, so much were they above all we are. While enjoying them, he was not
conscious of the existence of his body. When he was again conscious of it,
that which he had heard could not be translated into those communications
which had the body for their instrument, and human ears as the means of
intelligence. He gloried in that man in Christ above. Here below he only
gloried in Christ Himself, and in that infirmity which gave occasion for
the power of Christ to rest on him, and which was the demonstration that
this power was that of Christ, that Christ made him the vessel of its
manifestation. But this nevertheless was realised by painful experiences.
The first was the man in Christ, the second the power of Christ resting on
the man. For the first the man as to flesh is nothing; as to the second it
is judged and put down-turned to weakness, that we may learn, and Christ's
power may be manifested. There is an impulse, an ineffable source of
ministry on high. Strength comes in, on the humiliation of man as he is in
this world, when the man is reduced to nothingness-his true value in divine
things-and Christ unfolds in him that strength which could not associate
itself with the strength of man, nor depend on it in any way whatsoever. If
the instrument was weak, as they alleged, the power which had wrought must
have been-not its power, but that of Christ.
Thus, as at the beginning of the epistle we had the true characteristics of
the ministry in connection with the objects that gave it that character, so
we have here its practical strength, and the source of that strength, in
connection with the vessel in which the testimony was deposited, the way in
which this ministry was exercised by bringing a mortal man into connection
with the ineffable sources from which it flowed, and with the living,
present, active energy of Christ, so that the man should be capable of it,
and yet that he should not accomplish it in his own carnal strength-a thing
moreover impossible in itself.
Thus the apostle gloried in his sufferings and his infirmities. He had been
obliged to speak as a fool; they who ought themselves to have proclaimed
the excellence of his ministry had forced him to do it. It was among them
that all the most striking proofs of an apostolic ministry had been given.
If in anything they had been behind other churches with regard to proofs of
his apostleship, it was in their not having contributed anything to his
maintenance. He was coming again. This proof would still be wanting. He
would spend himself for them, as a kind father; even although the more he
loved, the less he should be loved. Would they say that he had kept up
appearances by taking nothing himself, but that he knew how to indemnify
himself by using Titus in order to receive from them? It was no such thing.
They well knew that Titus had walked among them in the same spirit as the
apostle. Sad work, when one who is above these wretched motives and ways of
judging and estimating things, and full of these divine and glorious
motives of Christ, is obliged to come down to those which occupy the
selfish hearts of the people with whom he has to do-hearts that are on a
level with the motives which animate and govern the world that surrounds
them! But love must bear all things and must think for others, if one
cannot think with them, not they with oneself.
Is it then that the apostle took the Corinthians for judges of his conduct?
He spoke before God in Christ; and only feared lest, when he came, he
should find many of those who professed the name of Christ like the world
of iniquity that surrounded them; and that he should be humbled amongst
them, and have to bewail many who had already sinned and had not repented
of their misdeeds.
For the third time he was coming. Everything should be proved by the
testimony of two or three witnesses; and this time he would not spare. The
apostle says, "This is the third time I am coming"; yet he adds, "as if I
were present the second time, and being absent now." This is, because he
had been there once, was to have gone there on his way to Macedonia, was
coming a second time, but did not on account of the state the Corinthians
were in; but this third time he was coming, and he had told them
beforehand; and he said beforehand, as if he had gone the second time,
although now absent, that if he came again he would not spare.
He then puts an end to the question about his ministry by presenting an
idea which ought to confound them utterly. If Christ had not spoken by him,
Christ did not dwell in them. If Christ was in them, He must have spoken by
the apostle, for he had been the means of their conversion. "Since," he
says, "ye seek a proof that Christ speaketh in me, examine yourselves,
whether ye be in the faith. Do ye not know yourselves, that Christ dwelleth
in you, unless ye be reprobates?" and that they did not at all think. This
was quite upsetting them, and turning their foolish and stupid opposition,
their unbecoming contempt of the apostle, to their own confusion. What
folly to allow themselves to be led away by a thought which, no doubt,
exalted them in their own eyes; but which, by calling in question the
apostleship of Paul, necessarily overturned, at the same time, their own
Christianity!
>From "which to you-ward is not weak" to the end of verse 4 is a
parenthesis, referring to the character of his ministry, according to the
principles brought forward in the previous chapter: weakness, and that
which tended to contempt, on the side of man; power on God's part: even as
Christ was crucified in weakness and was raised again by divine power. If
the apostle himself was weak, it was in Christ; and he lived in Him, by the
power of God, towards the Corinthians. Whatever might be the case with
them, he trusted they should know that he was not reprobate; and he only
prayed to God that they should do no evil, not in order that he should not
be reprobate (that is, worthless in his ministry, for here he is speaking
of ministry), but that they might do good even if he were reprobate. For he
could do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. He was not master of
the Corinthians for his own interest, but was content to be weak that they
might be strong; for what he desired was their perfection. But he wrote,
being absent, as he had said, in order that when present he might not be
obliged to act with severity, according to the authority which the Lord had
given him for edification, and not for destruction.
He had written what his heart, filled and guided by the Holy Ghost,
impelled him to say; he had poured it all out; and now, wearied, so to
speak, with the effort, he closes the epistle with a few brief
sentences:-"Rejoice, be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live
in peace." Happen what might, it was this which he desired for them; and
that the God of love and of peace should be with them. He rests in this
wish, exhorting them to salute one another with affection, as all the
saints, including himself, saluted them; praying that the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost,
might be with them all.
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