2 Corinthians

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In his commentary on 2 Corinthians Garland points out “a series of contrasts between the present affliction and the eternal glory that follows” in 4:16-5:9.

outward man / inner man
wasting away / being renewed
slight / beyond measure
momentary / eternal
affliction / glory
what can be seen / what cannot be seen
tentlike house / building from God
earthly / heavenly
destroyed / eternal
stripped naked / clothed
mortality / life
preparation, the guarantee of the Holy Spirit / not yet
sight / faith
at home in the body / away from the Lord

I would like to try to highlight these things within the passage. The specific colors have no meaning. They are just alternated to show the pairs hopefully without too much confusion.

2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10 (NIV)
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

5:1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

2 Corinthians

I’ve never fully grasped this verse as I have it memorized in the NIV:
2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

In 2 Corinthians 3:6-18 Paul gives a commentary on Exodus 32-34. While the face of Moses needed to be veiled to protect the people from the overpowering radiance of His glory, we are able to to see the glory of God through the gospel of Jesus without the need of a veil. The word reflect can also be translated as behold or contemplate. We become like the one we look at. God’s image can be seen through Christ (John 14:9). Instead of looking through a veil, we are able to see clearly as though looking at a mirror.

2 Corinthians

On the surface, Paul can appear to be brash, defensive and prideful in his letters.

While he does rebuke the Corinthians for egregious sins and misconstruing the gospel message, he is actually very tactful in the way he goes about it when reading his letters as a whole. He starts his letters with thanksgiving for them and the gifts they have. He talks about how much he loves them and how they are fellow workers and brothers and sisters in Christ. He rebukes or admonishes them and then encourages them. He is often very concerned and even anxious of how stern his letters may seem. (2 Corinthians 2:4)

As mentioned in previous posts, Paul is defending the use of God’s power through Paul’s weakness, contrary to what the Corinthians thought a minister of Christ should be. Garland says, “The Corinthians have therefore failed to see God’s power at work in Paul’s suffering, which suggests that they have failed to grasp the full meaning of the cross.”

Paul uses the word commend often in 2 Corinthians. We may understand this word to mean boasting.

2 Corinthians 3:1
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?

2 Corinthians 4:2
But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.

2 Corinthians 6:4
but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,

Garland says, “‘Commendation’ needs to be understood in the context of friendship and recommendation in the ancient world. Paul does not use self-commendation in a negative sense to mean self-applause. Marshall* shows that it refers to a recognized way of establishing friendships:

…self-commendation was an accepted and common convention which differs little from written commendation by third parties. praise or complimentary phraseology is a traditional though not essential element of both third party and self-commendation and was acceptable if done inoffensively; even extravagant praise by a recommender was acceptable, especially if the recommended proved himself to be worthy of it.

Self-commendation is therefore equivalent to self-introduction.”

Just to touch on boasting–this is also not always negative if it is boasting in the Lord. This was established in the Old Testament:
Jeremiah 9:24
“but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”

For me, these things help me to understand Paul and his letters much differently.

*Marshall, Enmity in Corinth, 266-67

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 1:9
Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

Our human nature wants us to place our confidence on our own strength and intellect rather than on God.

Calvin says, “We are not brought to real submission until we have been laid low by the crushing hand of God.”

Garland says, “When things are at their worst and all human resources are exhausted, then one is most receptive to learning about the power of God.” And, “God’s power is made perfect in the weakness of the cross of his Son, and that divine pattern of working in the world continues in the cruciform ministry of his apostle.”

Dr. Roger Spradlin says, “Most Christians, want the product of Paul’s life (his maturity), but not the process of his life (the suffering).”

We need to also allow God to work in our loved ones lives in this way. We should certainly pray for healing and deliverance. But we should also pray for (true) comfort, patience, perseverance, and that they would seek God in their suffering and allow Him to glorify Himself in whatever way He sees fit.

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 is very familiar to me and was mentioned a couple of posts ago. But verse 5 is one that has slipped by me that really stuck out this time.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

In Garland’s commentary on 2 Corinthians he says, “In describing his sufferings in Christ, Paul pictures a balance sheet of two columns: sufferings of Christ versus comfort through Christ. Ministering in this evil age brings him a surplus of suffering that becomes almost unbearable. But the consolation column also shows a surplus, and it more than balances the suffering.” (ultimately Romans 8:18)

What are sufferings in Christ? Garland says it is in part our being baptized into His death (Romans 6:3), share in His sufferings to also share in His glory (Romans 8:17) and being like Him in His death (Philippians 3:10-11).

If we are to be Christ-like, we will also, like Him deny ourselves, take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23), be poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3) and receive God’s strength through weakness which is a thoroughly counter-cultural view.

Garland quotes Hanson:

…because Christians do not merely imitate, follow or feel inspired by Christ, but actually live in him, are part of him, dwell supernaturally in a new world where the air they breathe is his Spirit, then for them henceforward suffering accepted in Christ must bring comfort, death accepted in Christ must bring life, weakness accepted in Christ must bring strength, foolishness accepted in Christ must bring wisdom.

2 Corinthians

Hanson* cites S. Weil that Christianity did not profess to cure suffering but did profess to use it.

Christianity faces it [suffering] by making suffering the means by which healing and rescue were brought to the world, and the very stock-in-trade and accustomed diet of Christians, yet to Christians suffering is not a deliberately contrived instrument for atonement as it is to the Indian fanatic who tortures himself in order to gain the peace of detachment, but and evil force in the world which yet by Christ’s atonement can be used for redemption and healing, even in the individual’s personal life.

Garland says, “This conviction helps explain why Paul never tried to explain the problem of suffering as many try to do today, he did not welcome it, but he never asked why bad things happen to good people… he embraces it.”

Many in Corinth doubted Paul’s ability to minister because of his own weaknesses and suffering. Why would God use someone so weak in speech and physical features? Why would God bless him with the ministry of the Gospel and also cause him so many tribulations on his travels? In 2 Corinthians Paul spends much of the letter explaining how God makes His power more obvious through these weaknesses, which is completely contrary to the Corinthian’s perspective, especially when compared to the super-apostles. (2 Corinthians 11:5)

*Hanson, II Corinthians, 34.

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 1:3-4
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 affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

In his commentary on 2 Corinthians Garland says, “For us, the word ‘comfort’ may connote emotional relief and a sense of well-being, physical ease, satisfaction, and freedom from pain and anxiety. Many in our culture worship at the cult of comfort in a self-centered search for ease, but it lasts for only a moment and never fully satisfies. Watson* comments that the word ‘comfort’ ‘has gone soft’ in modern English. In the time of Wycliffe the word was ‘closely connected with its root, the Latin fortis, which means brave, strong, courageous.’”

Paul here is talking about encouragement, strengthening, exhortation and help.

*N. Watson, The second Epistle to the Corinthians, Epworth Commentaries (London: Epworth, 1993) 3.

I’ve been reading a Psalm a day since the beginning of the month (easy to keep track of which Psalm I’m on–at least for a month) and highly recommend it. Since I’ve been concentrating so much on the New Testament it’s nice to get a dose of the OT everyday.

But if you want to read a Psalm now and then and would like something in a certain category, they are divided up here according to the book How To Read the Bible For All Its Worth.

Try a few thanksgiving Psalms for Thanksgiving.

Book 1: Ps. 1-41; Book 2: Ps. 42-72; Book 3: Ps. 73-89; Book 4: Ps. 90-106; Book 5: Ps. 107-150

Laments

• Individual-3; 22; 31; 39; 42; 57; 71; 88; 120; 139; 142
• Corporate-12;44;80;94;137

Thanksgiving

• Community-65; 67; 75; 107; 124; 136
• Individual-18; 30; 32; 34; 40; 66; 92; 116; 118; 138

Praise
God as:

• Creator-8; 19; 104; 148
• Protector and benefactor of Israel-66; 100; 111; 114; 149
• Lord of history-33; 103; 113; 117; 145-147

Celebration and Affirmation

• 2; 18; 20; 21; 24; 29; 45; 46; 47; 48; 50; 72; 76; 81; 84; 87; 89; 93; 95-99; 101; 110; 122; 132; 144

Wisdom

• 36; 37; 49; 73; 112; 127; 128; 133

Trust

• 11; 16; 23; 27; 62; 63; 91; 121; 125; 131

CAMPONTHIS has a nice post on Pride and Humility with some quotes and lots of Scripture. It’s a fairly quick read and going through the Scripture is invaluable.

I will add one more quote:

The utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison. It was through Pride that the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

–C.S. Lewis, quoted in The International Dictionary of Thoughts, 584

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 16:20
All the brothers and sisters send greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
(NRSV)

In Garland’s commentary on 1 Corinthians he says, “The kiss is more than an extension of social custom, since it is identified as ‘holy.’ It was a distinctive practice that served as a sign of mutual fellowship among persons of mixed social background, nationality, race, and gender who are joined together as a new family in Christ.”

This reminded me of a blog post I came across:

Why You Should Hug In Church

Related Scripture:
Romans 16:16, 1 Corinthians 16:20, 2 Corinthians 13:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:26

Someone was once saying that a preacher on the radio was saying that we shouldn’t be saying, “If it’s Your will” when we pray because we’re not having confidence in what we’re praying, or something to that effect.

I said that it’s Scriptural to say that because of a couple of passages/verses:

James 4:13-15
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” TNIV

1 John 5:14
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. TNIV

However I’ve rethought my reasoning. The James passage isn’t talking about prayer, it’s talking about plans, predicting the future etc. Proverbs 16:9 says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” So while I think it’s Scriptural to say, “I’ll be doing … God willing”, the James passage doesn’t support saying, “If it’s Your will” when praying.

The 1 John passage is talking about God answering according to His will, not necessarily how we should pray. Matthew 21:22 says, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” But this needs to be balanced with 1 John 5:14 as mentioned above.

So when is is appropriate to say, “If it’s Your will?” I’m not trying to teach here. I’m just writing what my thinking is at the moment. Please feel free to comment.

If we are praying something that we know is Scriptural, it would almost be disrespectful to to add the if. For example–praying for growth in knowledge, wisdom (James 1:5-8) etc. If we are praying for miraculous healing, a certain material item etc. it may be respectful and reverent to say if it’s Your will. Some would say that shows a lack of confidence. I’m not sure if we could judge right or wrong either way.

As far as asking for something we know might or might not be in His will, it’s fine to ask and to be persistent as the parables of the woman in front of the judge and the man knocking on his neighbor’s door asking for food for a guest. If we should know the answer is no, then should we stop asking.

Paul pleaded with God three times for the thorn in his side to be taken away. God gave him a definitive answer, ‘But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”‘ (2 Corinthians 12:9)

We don’t always know what to pray and the Spirit helps us in our weakness (Romans 8:26-27). Thomas Schreiner in his commentary on Romans says that since the totality of God’s will is hidden from us, the Spirit fills this lack by interceding for us. The Spirit searches our hearts which long for God’s will, searches even the depths of God (1 Corinthians 2:10) and intercedes for us according to God’s will with groans that our words can’t express.

I think it’s very important when praying for someone to always pray for things that you know are in God’s will according to Scripture along with any requests they may have or things you think they should have that may or may not be a part of God’s plan. For example if you pray only for healing and that isn’t a part of God’s plan, you’re not really doing them any good. But if you pray for comfort, perseverance, hope, strength etc. along with healing, you know you will be participating in glorifying God in their situation whatever the outcome.

If nothing else this shows a couple of different methods of scholarship.

What God Has Joined by David Instone-Brewer in Christianity Today

Response:
Tragically Widening the Grounds of Legitimate Divorce by John Piper

Related Scripture:
Malachi 2:13-16, Matthew 5:32, Matthew 19:9-11, Mark 10:11-12, Luke 16:18, Romans 7:2, 1 Corinthians 7:15

Romans

Paul quotes the Old Testament more in Romans that in any of his other letters.

Two things come to mind:

1) The Old Testament is important to Paul and should be important to us. He says in Romans 15:4 “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.” This was written before there was a New Testament but after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. Jesus says in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

2) Paul knew the Old Testament. Paul most likely wrote Romans when he was in Corinth so it wasn’t one of the prison letters (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon). At that time he may have had his books and parchments and may not have had to quote everything from memory. But at the time he wouldn’t have had a concordance or a computer to search for the Scripture he wanted to quote. He knew it well enough to find everything he needed and I would guess he had much of it memorized.

While writing the prison letters he may not have had anything written down and have in fact have to have quoted from memory. 2 Timothy 4:13, “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.”

I believe a large part of knowing Scripture is memorizing Scripture. In case you need Scripture to support that, here are a few:

• Joshua 1:8
• Psalm 1:2
• Psalm 119:11
• Proverbs 7:1
• Romans 15:4
• 2 Timothy 3:16-17
• James 1:25

Romans

So many in the church today believe that once you pray the sinner’s prayer, you’re in and that’s about all there is to it except for going to church and maybe having a quiet time.

Thomas Schreiner in his Romans commentary says, “…preaching the gospel for Paul involved more than initial conversion. His goal as an apostle was to bring about the obedience of faith, which as 1:1-7 shows is part and parcel of the gospel community. Paul often insists that perseverance to the end is necessary for salvation (e.g. Rom. 8:13; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; 1 Cor. 15:1-2; Gal. 5:21; Gal. 6:8-9; Col. 1:21-23).”

Related Scripture:
Romans 11:22, 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, Galatians 5:2-4, Philippians 2:12

Romans

I’m finally ready to start writing about what I’ve been learning. I’m currently going through 1 Corinthians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament)but want to backtrack and try to write about some things from reading Romans and Romans (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) by Thomas Schreiner.

The first thing that struck me is that according to Schreiner, “The ultimate reason for a mission to the Gentiles was not the salvation of the Gentiles but the proclamation of the name of Jesus Christ.”

That can be tied in with what Garland says in his commentary on 1 Corinthians. He quotes Litfin (1994: 261) outlining five steps of persuasion in Greco-Roman rhetoric (which would be very common in Corinth): (1) attention, (2) comprehension, (3) yielding, (4) retention, and (5) action.

Galand says Paul left the third step, yielding, to the persuasion of the Spirit.

To the Corinthians Paul preached Christ crucified which was foolishness to the Corinthians. (1 Cor. 1:18-25) With no art of persuasion in preaching how else could they believe except through the Holy Spirit? It’s only through the Holy Spirit that we are baptized and saved, not through persuasion and intellectual knowledge.

Here is a great quote from John MacArthur:

The decision of yielding, surrendering and then acting, is between the hearer and God, not between the hearer and the preacher. It is the Holy Spirit’s work.Preaching is proclaiming saving truth, sanctifying truth, and strengthening truth from Scripture, the rest is up to the Holy Spirit. So Paul says, I was entrusted with the proclamation. That’s all that I can do. All I can do is to get their attention and bring comprehension. The message is the Scripture, and since the message is the Scripture, beloved, it should be patently obvious to everyone that the proper kind of preaching should be “expository preaching.” That is the only legitimate way to be true to the divine message.

You know as well as I know that I could manipulate people with stories. I mean, you could tell a tear-jerking story and effect emotional trauma on people. You can move people with things other than the Scriptures, but you are working on their feelings and not on their mind. The message is Scripture. And if the message is Scripture and the preacher is to preach the message he has to preach the Scripture; and preaching the Scripture means you must exposit the Word.

This found at Reformed Geek. Follow the link and discussion for more.

Why Study The Bible?

Also:

Understand the priority the Bible gives to the Bible – especially reading it. The Kings of Israel were required to read the Law closely enough to make their own hand-written copy (Deut 17:18-20). This makes sense, after all how can one lead a people by something he has never read? Paul also writes to Timothy and tells him to think over what he writes (2 Tim 2:7). This implies he has read Paul’s words and should do so over and over again. If the Bible is God’s Word, then we should we make our life’s goal to know it inside and out. We should knows its every nook and cranny, the famous passages and the obscure ones. For to know well God’s Word is to know well the Author of the Word.

From: Are Christians Still a People of the Book?

1 Timothy 4:13
Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

Welcome to Jeff’s Scripture Zealot blog.

Please see the About page to learn more about what this blog is about. I’m sure I mentioned the word about too many times but that’s how it goes.