Daily Reader for Day 349: 2 Corinthians 12 - 13


by Dave Moore

At the end of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians a few things are clear: circumstances in Corinth are such that Paul feels the need to continue defending his status as an apostle; he continues to push back against charges of enriching himself; and he is dismayed that the Corinthians still have not repented of their “impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality.”

Much has been written about the composition of 2 Corinthians.  Some deduce that this is really a compilation of letters that Paul wrote to Corinth – that this is Paul’s side of a correspondence of which the Corinthian side has been lost.  The text itself neither demands nor denies this conclusion, but it is more than mere intellectual curiosity: Paul appears to be inundated with information from his “children” in Corinth, and very little of it has been pleasing. 

When you hear Paul’s frustration today, remember what they heard in his first letter:

“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified… If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise… For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power… You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body… For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known… Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.  Do everything in love.”

And recall what he’s written already in this letter: “In Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God… We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God… We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed… Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!... Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality… ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’ For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.”

These letters – the second one especially – are often raw and emotional.  They are also totally within the range of Biblical expectations:  they draw on historical and eternal themes to instruct the local and personal, just like we saw in the law, prophets, and writings.  Consider where Paul has been, what he has seen, what he has sacrificed, and what he has offered to this church.  How should he respond? 

Our verse for this week is Deuteronomy 6:5: You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

2 Corinthians 12 and 13.  Now let’s read it!

2 Corinthians 12 - 13

12:1 I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses—though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!

Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?

Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved. For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.

13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them—since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

(ESV)


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