Picture: Corinth Accepts Paul’s Counsel 4TC 166.1
This chapter is based on Second Corinthians.
A “deep concern for all the churches,” and particularly for the church at Corinth, rested heavily on Paul’s heart. He had hoped to meet Titus at Troas and learn from him how the Corinthian believers had accepted his counsel and reproof, but he was disappointed. “My mind could not rest,” he wrote, “because I did not find my brother Titus there” (NRSV). So he left Troas and crossed over to Macedonia, where he met Timothy at Philippi. 4TC 166.2
At times feelings of deep sadness swept over Paul’s heart. He was afraid that the church at Corinth might misunderstand his counsel and warnings to them. Later he wrote, “We were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus.” 4TC 166.3
This faithful messenger brought the cheering news that a wonderful change had taken place among the Corinthian believers. Many had accepted the instruction in Paul’s letter and had repented. Their lives were no longer a stain on Christianity. 4TC 167.1
Filled with joy, Paul sent another letter, expressing his gladness of heart: “Even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it.” He had sometimes regretted that he had written so severely. “I rejoice,” he continued, “not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. ... For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted.” Then repentance that divine grace produces will lead people to confess and forsake their sin. 4TC 167.2
Paul had been carrying a heavy burden on his heart for the churches. False teachers had been urging their own doctrines in place of gospel truth. The discouragements that surrounded Paul are revealed in the words, “We were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.” 4TC 167.3
But now one cause of anxiety was gone. Paul broke into rejoicing: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ... Our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.” 4TC 167.4
Paul gave God all the praise for their reconversion and transformation of heart and life: “Thanks be to God,” he exclaimed, “who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” In those days a victorious general might return from war with a parade of captives. He would appoint incense bearers, and as the army marched triumphantly home, the fragrant odor was an aroma of death to the captives condemned to die, showing that they were nearing the time of their execution. But to the prisoners whose lives were to be spared, it was an aroma of life—it showed that their freedom was near. 4TC 167.5
Paul now felt that Satan was not going to triumph in Corinth. He and his fellow workers would celebrate their victory by going out with new zeal to spread the fragrance of the gospel like incense throughout the world. To those who would accept Christ, the message would be an aroma of life, but to those who would persist in unbelief, an aroma of death. 4TC 168.1
Realizing the overwhelming size of the work, Paul exclaimed, “Who is sufficient for these things?” Who is able to preach Christ in such a way that His enemies will have no valid reason to despise the messenger or the message? Only faithfulness in preaching the Word, united with a pure, consistent life, can make the efforts of ministers acceptable to God. 4TC 168.2
There were those who had accused Paul of promoting himself in his earlier letter. “Do we begin again to commend ourselves?” he asked. “Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?” Believers moving to a new place often carried letters of recommendation from the church, but the founders of these churches did not need any such recommendation. The Corinthian believers, whom he had led from idol worship to the gospel, were themselves all the recommendation Paul needed. Their reformed lives bore eloquent testimony to his work and authority as a minister of Christ. 4TC 168.3
“You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.” 4TC 168.4
The conversion of sinners and their godly living through the truth is the strongest proof a minister can have that God has called him. The evidence of his apostleship is written on the hearts of those converted, and their renewed lives testify to it. A minister is greatly strengthened by these evidences of his ministry. 4TC 168.5
Though today there are many preachers, there is a great lack of capable, holy ministers who are filled with the love found in Christ’s heart. The fruits many Christians bear are pride, self-confidence, love of the world, and fault-finding. Their lives offer sad testimony to the character of the ministerial labor that “converted” them. 4TC 169.1
A Christian can have no greater honor than to be accepted by God as a minister of the gospel. But those whom the Lord blesses with power and success recognize their complete dependence on Him. They have no power of their own. With Paul they say, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant.” True ministers realize that they have a relationship to the church and to the world similar to what Christ had. They work untiringly to lead sinners to a nobler, higher life. They lift up Jesus as the sinner’s only hope. Their hearers know that they have drawn close to God in fervent, effective prayer. The Holy Spirit has rested on them. Their hearts have felt the vital, heavenly fire. When they present the love of God, people’s hearts are broken, and many are led to ask, “What must I do to be saved?” 4TC 169.2
“For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 4TC 169.3
In this way Paul praised the grace and mercy of God. He and his fellow workers had been kept through affliction and danger. They had not held back truth in order to make their teaching attractive. And they had brought their own conduct into harmony with their teaching, so that truth might recommend itself to everyone’s conscience. 4TC 169.4
“We have this treasure in earthen vessels,” the apostle continued, “that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” God did not intend to proclaim His truth through sinless angels. He has placed priceless treasure in earthen vessels, human beings. Through them His glory is to shine out. They are to meet the sinful and the needy and lead them to the cross. 4TC 169.5
Paul showed that no selfish motives had prompted him to choose the service of Christ. “We are hard pressed on every side,” he wrote, “yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” 4TC 170.1
As Christ’s messengers he and his fellow workers were constantly in danger. “We who live,” he wrote, “are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” Through poverty and toil, these ministers were accepting a death like Christ’s, but what was leading to death in them was bringing life to the Corinthians. In view of this, Jesus’ followers were not to increase the burdens and difficulties of the workers. 4TC 170.2
Nothing could tempt Paul to conceal the conviction of his soul. He would not buy wealth or pleasure by conforming to the world’s opinions. Though he was in constant danger of being killed for his faith, he was not intimidated. He knew that Jesus who had died and risen again would raise him from the grave and present him to the Father. 4TC 170.3
The apostles did not preach the gospel to exalt themselves. The hope of saving lost people kept them from stopping their efforts because of danger or suffering. 4TC 170.4
“Therefore we do not lose heart,” Paul wrote. “Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” Though his physical strength was declining, yet he declared the gospel without flinching. This hero of the cross pushed forward in the conflict. “We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 4TC 170.5
The apostle appealed to his fellow believers in Corinth to consider again the matchless love of their Redeemer: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” You know the height from which He stooped, the depth of humiliation to which He descended. There was no rest for Him between the throne and the cross. Paul lingered over point after point, so that those who read his letter could comprehend how much the Savior had sacrificed for us. 4TC 171.1
The apostle recounted Christ’s path to reach the depths of humiliation. Paul was convinced that if his readers could comprehend the amazing sacrifice made by the Majesty of heaven, they would banish all selfishness from their lives. The Son of God had humbled Himself as a servant, becoming obedient unto death, “even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8), so that He could lift fallen humanity from its degraded condition. 4TC 171.2
When we study the divine character in the light of the cross, we see mercy and forgiveness blended with fairness and justice. We see at the throne One who bears in His hands and feet and side the marks of the suffering He endured to reconcile us to God. We see a Father receiving us to Himself through the merits of His Son. In the light reflected from the cross, the cloud of vengeance that threatened misery and despair reveals the writing of God: Repentant, believing heart, live! I have paid a ransom. 4TC 171.3
In contemplating Christ, we linger on the shore of a love that is beyond measuring. We tell of it, but language fails us. “In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10, NRSV). 4TC 171.4
It was on earth that the love of God was revealed through Christ. It is on earth that His children are to reflect this love through blameless lives. 4TC 171.5
