|
About Jesus Steve Sweetman This Section - Chapters 12 and 13 Previous Section - Ch. 10 and 11 Paul’s
Visions And His Thorn (ch. 12
:1 - 10) Paul
shifts gears in his boasting, although he says “that there is nothing to
be gained” by such boasting. Still
he has this need to defend his ministry from the false apostles.
He now shifts his attention to visions and revelations that he has
had from the Lord. He says,,
“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up into the
third heaven”. It is clear by what he says later that the man he
speaking about is Paul himself, yet he has a hard time boasting of these
things and therefore his wording is in the third person.
Paul
does not elaborate on just what he means by the term “third heaven”.
There has been speculation over the years concerning the third
heaven, but suffice to say, it is a place where Jesus Himself is.
Later on Paul calls this third heaven “paradise”.
Jesus told the thief that was killed with Him that he would be in
paradise that very day. Therefore,
the third heaven is probably paradise.
We often call Heaven paradise.
When we die, we go to heaven, or paradise, but we won't stay there
forever. We will end up on the
new earth as seen at the end of the book of Revelation.
This
was quite an experience for Paul. He
says twice that he could not tell whether he was actually in his body or
out of his body when experiencing the third heaven.
Was this a very strong mental vision, or was it a vision where he
was actually there, in his human body, or maybe in a spiritual body.
Whatever the case, he could not really tell.
When
in paradise Paul heard “inexpressible things, things that man is not
permitted to tell”. Obviously
Paul does not tell us what he saw. He
is not permitted to do so. That
had to be very important to him. This
had to be a real motivating factor in him preaching the gospel.
Paul eludes to this event in Gal. 1 when he says that no man taught
him this gospel, but that he learned it directly from God.
So
Paul says that if he has to boast, he will boast about the man who saw
these things and his weaknesses. Once
again, Paul does not say that this man is him.
He refrains from actually saying that he is the man that he is
boasting about. Paul really
does not like boasting. He must have strongly felt the need to defend
himself or else he wouldn’t have. You
might wonder as I do, what Paul saw that he couldn't talk about, and if he
couldn't talk about it, why did Jesus talk to him about it in the first
place. Paul must have had lots
of self-control in order not to repeat everything he saw.
He might have been like Daniel in the Old Testament who was told to
seal up the rest of the vision until the end.
In
verse 6 Paul says that “even if I chose to speak, I would be a fool,
because I would be speaking the truth”.
Boasting, in Paul’s mind is simply foolishness, even if it is
boasting about the truth, which in Paul’s case was the truth.
Those who normally boast are insecure and feel the need to do so,
and usually their boasting is an overstating of the truth.
This is not the case with Paul. Paul
is cautious in his boasting because he does not want “people to think
more highly of them than they ought”.
You see the humility of Paul here.
You also see Paul’s strong sense of being factual and not
overstating anything, even if it is for his own benefit. In
verse 7 we clearly see that he in the man with the visions when he says,
“to keep me from being conceited because of these surpassing great
revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of satan,
to torment me”. It is
interesting that Paul views this thorn in the flesh as from satan.
Yet, when he says that this thorn was given to him, who actually
gave him this thorn in the flesh. I believe that God gave Paul this thorn.
God often uses the devil as a tool for His purposes.
This is quite ironic. Satan
believes that he is acting on his own accord by “tormenting” Paul, but
actually God is using him for his purpose.
Note
that this thorn was meant to torment Paul. As I have said earlier,
concerning the abundant life that we are to find in the Lord, it is
definitely not all material or physical blessings, at least not in
Paul’s case. I
wouldn't think that being tormented could be equated with the abundant
life I
am not sure that many other people in history have been given such a thorn
since few have received such great revelations, as Paul did.
Therefore, any trials or illnesses that we may have might not
necessarily be a thorn in our flesh. Paul
says that he prayed 3 times for this thorn to go away.
I ask, only 3 times? Yet
I imagine when Paul says that he prayed 3 times, these prayers were not
some small passing prayers. My
guess is that these were times of great intercession.
Paul actually uses the word “pleaded” with the Lord .
On three different occasions Paul “pleaded” with Jesus to take
this thorn away from him. The
only answer that came back was, “my grace is sufficient for you, for my
power is made perfect in weakness”.
This is a Godly principle which we can also apply in our own lives.
Sometimes God does not heal us, or give us what we want, knowing
that His power is made perfect in our weaknesses.
Our own strengths often get in the way of doing God's work.
We get proud of who we are and what we can do, and that does not
draw attention to Jesus. It
draws attention to us. We
should be like John the Baptist who said the "he must decrease, so
Jesus could increase. God
says that His “grace was sufficient” for Paul.
There are 2 definitions for the word grace.
One is “God’s unmerited favour”, as seen in salvation.
Two is, God’s ability, or power, that He gives us to live as we
should. It is the second
definition that is used in this passage. Paul
will boast about his weaknesses, because it is in these weaknesses that
Christ can be seen. Furthermore
Paul says that he delights in such things as hardships,
persecutions and difficulties. He
knows that in these times of trouble Christ can prove himself to him and
to the world around. Paul
closes this section by saying, “when
I am weak, I am strong”. When
Paul is weak, Jesus can be strong through Paul.
When we are strong in our own self, we only get in the way.
Paul’s
Concern For The Corinthians Paul
refers once again in verse 11 to “those ”super-apostles”.
He says that “I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to
it”. Because they did not
“commend” Paul, or recognize his authority in their church, he had to
defend himself along with his ministry because of their allegiance to
these “super-apostles”. He
calls himself nothing in verse 11 because he considers himself and
anything done in the flesh to be worth nothing.
Yet he calls these false apostles “super-apostles”, howbeit he
is speaking sarcastically. If
Paul considers himself nothing, in reality, he would consider these men
less than nothing. Paul
continues by telling the Corinthians “the things that mark an
apostle”, that is, make an apostle a true apostle. They are, “signs,
wonders and miracles”. This
may be interesting in light of the fact that many call themselves apostles
even to this day yet have no signs, wonders, or miracles in their
ministry. Are they really
apostles? Paul
says that these works of power were done by him in their midst “with
great perseverance”. It
appears that even though he had great miracles in his ministry, the
miracles alone did not make things easy for Paul, as you might expect.
You might think that if one did great miracles that everyone would
flock to you, listen and hear what you had to say.
Obviously this was not the case. It
just tells you, miracles don't always bring people to Jesus.
The Holy Spirit must be dealing with the person in his heart, or
nothing can bring him to Jesus. In
verse 13 Paul asked if the Corinthians “were inferior
to other churches”. The
answer is no. One difference between them and other churches was he did
not burden them by receiving any financial support.
Now Paul wonders if that was something he did wrong.
When
Paul says, “forgive me for this wrong”, he may not actually be
expressing a regret. I don’t
believe that Paul regretted not
receiving any financial support from these people.
These words are all part of his defense. He is using poetic license
to express a thought. To make
is point clear, he says things that he really doesn’t believe, which
they would know, to make his point stand out clearer to them.
To
further back up this point you can see what Paul says in the next verse
when he tells his readers that “he will now come and visit them for the
third time”, and still will not ask for financial support because he
does not want “their possessions, but them”.
Once again, you see the underlying reason why Paul is writing this
letter. He wants to
re-establish the good relationship he once had with these people. In
verse 14 Paul gives a practical illustration by saying that “children do
not have to save up for their parents, but the parents for the
children”. Paul considered
these people his children in the Lord, and therefore did not feel that
they should financially support him. Verse
15 expresses Paul’s most inner feelings for these people by saying, “
I will very gladly spend for you everything I have, and expend myself as
well. If I love you more, will
you love me less”? Paul
feels like a father whose children have deserted him, so he asks, the
question, “will you love me less”?
He says that he will give his life for these people, could they
possibly give any affection or love in return? This
is the verse that every perspective pastor should have burned into his
heart and mind. He should have
the attitude that he will expend all of himself for God's people.
He, like Jesus, will give himself away, to and for those the Lord
has called him to care for. This
is a must for every pastor, but I'm not sure this is the way if is.
Being a pastor is seen as being a career, not a calling for many
pastors.
Paul
calls himself “crafty”, and says that he caught “them by
trickery”. Was Paul really
crafty? Did he really use
trickery to catch them up on certain things?
No he didn’t, but those who opposed him most likely said that
this is what Paul was doing and they were beginning to believe it.
Paul is still using a type of “poetic
license”, that is, saying things about himself that were not true as if
they were. He was restating
what his accusers accused him of as if he really believed it.
Of course he didn’t believe these things, but wrote this way for
emphasis sake. Paul
says that both him and Titus did not exploit them.
They both acted in the “same way”, with a loving concern for
them. By saying this Paul made
them understand that he and his companions did not use trickery to
convince them of anything. Paul
was forthright and righteous in his behaviour towards them. In
verse 19 Paul says that everything they did was for their strengthening.
Over and over again Paul drives this point home to his readers.
Everything he does is for them, not for himself.
He has put them first in all things, yet with little or nothing in
return. All that Paul wants is
a good relationship with these people and to see them following Jesus as
they should be doing. On
an earlier occasion Paul expressed a fear and here he does again.
He is afraid that when he comes they will not be as he hopes they
will be. Then in turn he will
not be the way they hope him to be. He
will have to act boldly and correct them for the error of their ways,
something that neither of them really want. I
just get the feeling that Paul absolutely hates when he has to correct
people. I don't think he feels
comfortable at all in doing that, but if he had to, he surely would. It
was all part of the work of the Lord. In
verse 21 he expresses this fear by saying, “ I fear that there may be
quarrelling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip,
arrogance and disorder.” All these things had been part of the church
and Paul was sure hoping and praying that these things would be a thing of
the past, but he was not totally convinced that this would be the case.
This would result in him “being grieved” all over again.
Can you imagine being part of a church gathering where all of these
emotions are running out of control?
Sac to say, many modern churches today aren't much different than
this Corinthian church. Paul
really wants to find a “repentant” heart and lifestyle among those
“who had earlier sinned by indulging in sexual immorality”, most
likely a partial reference to the man sleeping with his father’s wife.
Once again, we see the importance of repentance.
You just can't get away from that word, no matter how hard you try.
Paul
repeats himself by saying that he is now planning to come to visit them
for the third time. He says
that when he arrives “every matter must be established by two or three
witnesses”. It therefore
appears that when he comes to Paul
said that when he visited them the second time he gave them ”a
warning”, and now in his letter he warns them again.
If he now comes to them this third time and finds no repentance he
“will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others”.
According
to verse 3 the Corinthians are “demanding (from Paul) that Christ is
speaking through him”. This would obviously hurt Paul deep in his heart.
His children in the Lord now question that Jesus is using him to
speak to them. They prefer to
hear the “super-apostles”, instead of their father in the Lord. To
prove that Christ is speaking through him Paul will deal firmly and
powerfully with the offenders, because He (Jesus) is not weak dealing with
them”. When it comes to
Jesus, “He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power”.
Jesus now sits on the throne of the universe as Lord of all things
an there is no hint of weakness in Him.
Yes, He died in weakness, but He now lives in strength. Paul
then tells the Corinthians that in one sense of the word he is weak, that
is weak in himself. Yet in
Christ he is very strong, and will demonstrate this strength when he comes
to see them. In
verse 5 Paul tells these people “to examine themselves to see if they
are in the faith”. Paul is
getting to the core of things. He
is not telling them to examine themselves to see if they are sinning.
He is telling them to
take a serious look at themselves to see if “they are in the faith”.
I interpret these word to mean “examine themselves to see if they
are really still trusting Jesus for their salvation”.
To me, and I know not to all, this suggests that it is possible to
lose your salvation. He
continues by saying “do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you –
unless you fail the test”. This
is interesting. Paul is
suggesting that there might be a chance that some have failed this self
examination, and as a result Christ has departed from them, and therefore
are not Christians. This tells
us that by throwing away ones faith, or trust in Jesus, you lose your
salvation. Yet if they pass
the self test, then Christ is in them.
They are true Christians, and therefore should act accordingly. In
verse 6 Paul hopes that they “will discover that they (Paul and his
companions) have not failed the test”.
Paul and his fellow workers are still followers of Jesus, even
though some of them may think differently. In
verse 7 Paul encourages them to not only pass the test, but to do what is
right. This would be an
allusion to the warning to repent and deal severely with those who still
refuse not to repent. As far as Paul is concerned, he “cannot do
anything against the truth”. He
will always pass the self examination, because he is committed to the
truth. Paul
says that their prayer is for “their perfection”, their growth in the
Lord into maturity, and if that takes hardship on his part that causes
weakness, then that is fine. They
could be strong and he could be weak as long as they were on the road to
perfection. We
should view the word perfection here as maturity, not as being perfect.
We will never be perfect n this life, but we certainly can reach a
measure of maturity in the Lord. Once
again Paul says that he is writing these harsh words to them so that when
he comes he will not have to be harsh “with the authority the Lord gave
him”. I believe deep down
inside Paul is a gentle and gracious man, full of loving
emotion. On the
exterior he has learned to be harsh or tough when he needs to be, but
really he would rather not be so harsh.
Final
Greetings (ch. 13:11 - 14) In
verse 11 Paul says “finally brothers, good-bye.
Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in
peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you”.
Paul is saying that if they want God to be in their collective
midst, then they have to live in peace and be of one mind, things they
weren’t presently doing. The
factions among them showed a lack of peace and a difference in their
thinking on many things. A
careful study of Romans 14 will show that Paul allows for differences in
thinking concerning secondary issues.
He even goes as far to say that everyone should be convinced in
their thinking on these secondary issues, even if they differ, but on the
primary doctrines of the gospel, we all should be united, or “of one
mind”. The Corinthians were
beginning to be of more than one mind on the core issues of the gospel.
Paul
closes his letter with an allusion to the Trinity by saying, “May the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of
the Holy Spirit be with you all”. Thus
ends the second letter to the Corinthians that is found in the Canon of
Scripture, a letter that shows Paul’s inner emotions and feelings more
than any other letter that we have. Such
emotions expressed in this letter range from sorrow, fear, doubt,
optimism, and joy. At
one point he even despaired of life, wishing he was dead.
Yet in all of these times of weakness, God’s power could be seen
in his life, and when his children in the Lord failed to see this, he was
greatly distressed. Yet his
feelings meant little to him. He
would rather see perfection and growth towards Christian maturity that he
so desired to see in these people. His
love for Jesus was seen by his love for God's people. If
you are ever feeling depressed and down, this is a good book to read,
study, and understand. Here is
one of the greatest Christians in history, as human as he was, he had both
good times and bad times. He
felt great at times and he felt very depressed at times.
Let us thank Jesus for the life of Paul.
He is an inspiration to us. all
|