2 CORINTHIANS 2
CAC This is one of the most interesting and attractive chapters in this epistle; not because we get any unfolding of doctrine in it, but because we see so blessedly the working of divine affections in the heart of the apostle. We may learn Christ by observing the spirit and ways of His servant.
F You see tenderness and consideration on his part for others.
CAC Yes, the warmth, the tenderness and the delicacy of divine affection in the heart of a man is very beautiful: it is a precious unfolding of the sensibilities of Christ. Paul was animated by the Spirit of Christ. There had been many grievous disorders at Corinth, and the [p. 209] apostle was not willing to go back till all these had been removed. He did not stay away in a judicial spirit — as if he said, ‘You are so bad that I cannot come’ — but he stayed away in the spirit of love: he would not go till every occasion of grief had been removed. In a sense he had been obliged to grieve the Corinthians by what he wrote in the first epistle, but he was anxious that all that should be got rid of before he came, so that there should be nothing to hinder the common joy of himself and the saints at Corinth; he wanted to come in unhindered joy. He could tell them now what a sorrow it was to him to write the first letter; he did not tell them that when he wrote it. “Many tears” (verse 4), what an exhibition of the sensibilities of Christ! His heart was broken about their state. The proper christian state is that we are all ministers of joy to one another. Paul looked to have joy in the saints (verse 3); he would not come to have grief from them. What marks this chapter is the working of the Spirit of Christ to draw saints together when they had been divergent: the Corinthians and Paul had not been of one mind. There was great divergence in the first epistle but now we see them in accord, there are no jarring notes.
M Luke starts with joy and ends with it. What is joy the outcome of?
CAC It is the outcome of abiding in divine love. The Lord could speak of “My joy” — He kept the Father’s commandments and abode in His love. He did the Father’s will in everything; there was nothing in the blessed Lord to hinder the fulness of His joy in the Father’s love. If the flesh is not allowed and divine love is working, there is nothing to hinder joy. It is part of the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace — that is the order.
The apostle had to write very severe things to the saints at Corinth, but he had not written that they might be grieved but that they might know the love he had very [p. 210] abundantly towards them. It was the action of love on his part, and we may say on theirs too, because it was the divine nature in them that responded to the first epistle. It is very encouraging to see how God can recover even when there is a very sad state of things among His people. It did not take years and years to recover the Corinthians. Now they were in such accord with the apostle that what grieved him grieved them. In the first epistle they had not grieved; he had had to say, “I have already judged”, and, “Ye are puffed up” (1 Corinthians 5: 2), but now they are brought into line. There had been such a working of God in them that instead of being puffed up there was the deepest self-judgment, and even the one who had been such a distress was in such repentance that there was a fear of his being swallowed up with grief! What a blessed thing to see that the one of whom Paul had said, “Remove the wicked person” was now in danger, by Satan getting an advantage, of being plunged into too much sorrow! It is beautiful to see the tender grace of Christ that, directly the man was broken, there was an open hand to show love to him: directly the barrier is down the love of Christ can flow freely. Barriers are always on our side, never on His. We see this all through Scripture. As soon as Isaiah said, “Woe unto me! for I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips”, then flew one of the seraphim with the coal from the altar (Isaiah 6:6). As soon as the prodigal said, “I have sinned”, the Father ran to meet him; as soon as David said, “I have sinned against Jehovah”, Nathan said, “Jehovah has also put away thy sin”, 2 Samuel 12: 13. There was no long waiting. The Spirit of Christ would give us right sensibilities, so that we should know when it is the time to rebuke and when to assure a person of our love: there is a time for everything. The Corinthians had been tested as to whether they were in the Spirit of Christ — “To this [p. 211] end also I have written, that I might know, by putting you to the test, if as to everything ye are obedient”. There is no more sure sign of the Spirit of Christ than obedience; He was the obedient One!
F Paul is regaining confidence in them.
CAC Very much so! They had answered to the test and, if we do, all is well. Look at the beautiful unfoldings of ministry that follow in this epistle: the new covenant, reconciliation, new creation. Now with the spirit of obedience it can all be opened up. “If ye be willing and hearken, ye shall eat the good of the land”, Isaiah 1: 19. If we are obedient there is nothing to hinder the blessed ministration of Christ by the Spirit.
F In what way were they marked by obedience?
CAC They had been exercised by the first epistle, and it wrought in them and produced self-judgment so that they obeyed the commandment of the Lord; they cleared themselves of many things. The spirit of obedience marked them; they were brought into line with the apostle. Satan had been working to get a breach between the apostle and the Corinthians, but they are brought into perfect harmony. In the first epistle he calls them to judge as he did, and now he calls on them to forgive. “To whom ye forgive anything, I also”. What he did they did and what they did he did. All is in accord, and it results in the Person of Christ coming into evidence. What a most remarkable statement it is in verse 10! “It is for your sakes in the person of Christ”. There was only one Person to be in evidence, though many individuals. Paul was in Macedonia and there was a large company at Corinth, but only one Person was to be in evidence, and that the Person of Christ. So there was to be the same spirit of forgiveness in Paul and in the Corinthians, and that was the Spirit of Christ. This is the way to get rid of all differences and disagreements — many individuals and [p. 212] one Person. In the world they say, So many people and so many minds; we say, So many people and one mind. The only Person to be in evidence is the Person of Christ. Sometimes each of us wants his own way. Suppose we all got on our knees and desired that only one Person was to be in evidence, and that Person Christ! What a difference it would make! It takes all the saints to set forth the Person of Christ. Paul wanted the Corinthians to set forth the one Person. Satan is against that; all his doings are to bring some other person into evidence, not Christ, and if he can succeed he has gained his point. The only way we can hold the ground for God in face of Satan is by every brother and every sister being exercised that only one Person should be in evidence, and that one Christ.
By the grace of God, there was to be only one Person in evidence; each, whether Paul or the Corinthians, was to present Christ. Satan had tried to make the Corinthians have a different judgment from Paul; if he had succeeded there would have been more persons in evidence than one. If you and I do not agree we bring two persons into evidence, but if we both walk and act and think in the Spirit of Christ there is only one Person in evidence.
There would be no divisions if there was only one mind among us. When the Corinthians allowed the Spirit of Christ to control them they were brought together, and there was only one Person in evidence. If it is otherwise we are not pleasing to God. A chapter like this is worthy of a great deal of meditation. We ought to seek to learn Christ and the way the Spirit of Christ works; this is the only way He works.
Then we find that the apostle could not go on with his work at Troas: “I had no rest”. He was so concerned about the Corinthians that he could not go on preaching, and that was the Spirit of Christ. This is very remarkable; it did not look like being led in triumph! He had to [p. 213] go off to Macedonia so that he might be a little nearer, and so that he could hear a week or two sooner how they were getting on. He went to meet Titus; he crossed the sea and travelled a considerable distance. It was the Spirit of Christ; it was the yearning of the heart of Christ over these beloved children. They had been in a bad state and he was yearning over them in the utmost tenderness, and God was over all leading him in triumph. The apostle had been brought very low. He speaks of God who comforts us in all our tribulation; and just at the time when he was low and could not go on with his work as an evangelist, God was bringing out Christ in him and leading him in triumph — not by his preaching, but by his sufferings. The natural man would have said that Paul did not triumph, that he ought to have had more courage and gone on with his work; but God was bringing out Christ in him. Christ was having a triumph, not Paul! What a triumph for Christ to have a man who so yearned over saints that he could not go on with his work. What a triumph to have such a man in this world who had the same love as Christ, not the same amount but the same character of love. The love of Christ never fails; He loves to the end, so there was a sweet odour of Christ about the apostle. Some would not believe, and it was an odour of death to them, but still a sweet odour of Christ to God; and to believers it was an odour of life. When it was not a question of preaching it was still a sweet odour of Christ. Paul said, as it were, ‘I am chained to His chariot wheels, Christ is having a triumph, I am a poor captive gracing His triumph!’ When a Roman general came back victorious to Rome from foreign lands, they awarded him a triumph; he drove through the streets with the great men he had captured chained to his chariot wheels. God was showing in Paul the graces, the perfections, the sweet odour of Christ whether it was in service or suffering.
[p. 214] M Is that only the apostle? Do we see it in our day?
CAC Well, we certainly see it in Scripture, and the Spirit of Christ has not changed. I think we see it come out in many ways — the spirit of meekness, obedience, grace. This is a chapter we should pray over; it shows the sweet odour of Christ; we see it in Paul and in the Corinthians, and God is looking to have it from us. “Who is sufficient for these things?”. In the next chapter Paul tells us, “Our competency is of God” (verse 5). “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ”, Paul could say. God was putting him through many exercises, but His object was to bring out Christ in him; his sorrows about the Corinthians were used to bring out Christ. We think of triumph when all goes swimmingly, but very often the saints are put through trying circumstances and exhibit a spirit of meekness and of dependence on God. Well, that is Christ coming out; it is God leading them in triumph in the Christ. When we have least sense of triumph, God sees the greatest.
What a contrast the last verse of the chapter is! Many “make a trade of the word of God”, handling divine things for their own advantage. It is like a dark shaded background of the picture which showed the beautiful Spirit of Christ. Many in the apostle’s time were adulterating, spoiling the word of God; we are not “as the many”, he says. We should have thought that in the early days there might have crept in one or two black sheep, but the apostle says, “many”. It is people borrowing from others and retailing the word of God, getting it from wholesale dealers and selling it cheap as if it were their own! We need to beware of this, of getting divine things second-hand! A little bit of our own is better than what we can get second-hand. The danger is that we have an idea in our heads and think we have the reality, but nothing is any use till we make it our own. If we are [p. 215] trafficking in truth, getting ideas and terms and phrases from others and not getting the truth for ourselves, it is most reprehensible. What we need is to get things for ourselves, not second-hand; we ought to pray about this when truth is ministered, and say, ‘O God, make me to know it in my soul, make it good in me’. What is spoken of here shows the dark background against which the Spirit of Christ is seen in such lustre.