2 Corinthians 1:12-22

Letter writing is becoming a dying art among today's technologically savvy children.  According to a survey, more than a quarter of seven to 14-year-olds have not written a letter in the last year, and one in ten has never written one.  Children are less likely to write letters as they get older.  There is also a gender gap.  Girls are more likely than boys to put pen to paper.  In the last week alone, half of these youngsters have written an email or a message on a social networking site but not a written letter.  Many youngsters are leaving primary school unable to set out a letter.  About half of 11-year-olds are unsure of the right layout.[1]

In the day Paul lived, letters were the main way people got to speak with one another over long distances.  It was over letters written that Paul was struggling in his relationship with the Corinthians Christians. 

The word was for the Corinthians, Paul was their double minded man, unable to stick at a plan.  It’s hard to see clearly when we’re the ones in the gun being personally attacked.  Ever been called insincere?  Ever been told you were unwise?  Ever been accused of saying “yes”  and muttering a “no” under your breath?  Paul was, as we read in 2 Corinthians 1:12-14:

12  Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.  13 For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, 14 as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Here’s the situation.  When the churches of Corinth and Ephesus were stable Paul wrote about a plan to withdraw from ministry to the Aegean Sea region starting a new mission in Spain.  After writing the first Corinthians, trouble brewed and Paul was forced to make a painful visit, doing all he could.  He had to leave again saying he would return again before he headed off to Macedonia. 

What happened was since his painful visit, his plans changed.  He went straight to Macedonia instead.  For the Corinthians, Paul was breaking his word, saying one thing doing another, well aware of the painful trouble they were in as a church.  At the time he got word back from the Corinthians accusing him of a lack of love, an insincerity, for them a double mindedness. Paul was in grave difficulty in Ephesus.  He was embroiled in the centre of a riot against him, rushed by the mob at the local amphitheatre, with Demetrius the silver smith inciting violence.  Death threats and riots all because Paul was sharing the God News of hope in Jesus.

Verses 15-17:

15 Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. 16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”? 

The million dollar question is, why do certain things bring about good or ill responses?  When someone offends me, will I forgive or be filled with rage?  Where will I take my refuge?  In Christ or some other escape.  Is there a source for courage or am I instead running to despair?  You know, the angry words we speak or the steps we take to exact revenge on someone sometimes reveal more about us than they do the other person. 

The Corinthian Christians were showing a lack of seeing what was going on for Paul – a lack of loving concern for him.  He was fighting for his life.  All they could care about was he hadn’t visited them yet.  Paul’s response to all their hate and complaints and accusations is a candid self disclosure to act relationally, to before God assess himself in the mirror of God’s truth, humbly setting Christ before him.

In verses 12-14 there’s one word that sort of stands out of place

The word is boast.  It has an ugly un-Christian almost ring about it.  Some of the people who’d come to Corinth and were part of the group stirring up this trouble were boasting about their credentials and experiences to legitimize their mission.  They were boasting the same way the world does.

Paul instead, wants to boast about his weakness, of trusting the Lord and God’s grace and mercy.  What we catch here is Paul taking the words of these troublemakers and throwing them back at them to assess their lives before Jesus and the arrogance of their hearts.

Look up, see God is faithful to his promises.

Verses 18-20

18  But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.”  19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.”  20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

There is no ambiguity about Jesus.  He is the “yes” of God.  From God’s side, as well as ours, everything is focused upon Jesus.  In and through Jesus we find him to be the AMEN of God. 

God speaks to us in Christ and we who have received the message speak back to God through Christ[2]

Paul invites us to ask “how will I have a candid conversation with God?”, asking him to build up in us a fruitfulness of humility and grace; to see the living transaction of turning to God in need of joy and genuine gratitude to the living God, to develop an intelligent love for others and a wise lifestyle in our own lives.

God misses nothing.  As we live in a consequence laden world, are we aware of the grace and mercy of God to us, particularly in Jesus.  One way to identify that is to ask what has God shown you most recently,  that humbled you to be softer in the way you have spoken to someone who hurt you deeply.  Or in the face of temptation, what fruit of Jesus helped you to not give in, instead you were aware of being carried by the grace of Christ, because God is loyal to his people, as we read in verses 21-22:

21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us,  22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Paul reminds us that everything is revelatory, including blessings.  These good or bad situations always reveal to us our master.  Standing firm in Christ warns us to expect we will be sinned against, expect that you will be wronged.  God never minimizes the temptation we face.  Our lives are to be a work of progressive sanctification, looking more to Jesus so that we can look more like Jesus.

God is tough minded when we return evil for evil.

Lets pray…

kkk