2 CORINTHIANS 6 (SECOND READING)
2 CORINTHIANS 6 (SECOND READING)
CAC I suppose that a man in the good of the first ten verses of this chapter is entitled to have his mouth opened and his heart enlarged. I have thought it is a little like Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2: “My heart exulteth [p. 285] in Jehovah, my horn is lifted up in Jehovah; my mouth is opened wide over mine enemies; for I rejoice in thy salvation”. That is how she begins, and she finishes by saying, “He will give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed”. We were seeing how the saints are put in the place of Christ; they are set before God in all the acceptance of Christ, so that they get all their prayers answered as Christ did; they are put in the place of God’s Anointed in this world. Isaiah 49: 8, which speaks of Christ, is applied to the saints here in verse 2; the saints are as well-accepted as He was.
Ques Is it not a question of righteousness here that we are to be separate?
CAC Righteousness and salvation go together; we find that in the Old Testament. We shall only walk in paths of righteousness as we are walking in the day of salvation. The day of salvation here refers to saints, not to sinners.
Rem Thousands have been converted through this verse.
CAC Yes, that is so. You can drive a screw with a chisel, but it does not follow it is the right tool to use! It was a well-accepted time because there was a Person in this world praying who was perfectly delightful to God; it filled God’s heart with joy to hear and answer Him. Now the saints are in the perfect acceptance of Christ; they are a new creation and are set in reconciliation. God hears and answers their prayers; He delights to fill up their whole life here with His salvation. If we want an enlarged heart and an open mouth we must be on that line. What characterises the day of salvation is God helping a blessed Man in his pathway here (notice J.N.D.’s translation of Isaiah 49: 8). We are put in the same place so that we may pray and be answered; it is a day of salvation all along the line. It shows how completely the [p. 286] saints are identified with Christ. How important it is not to have too low thoughts of ourselves! If we think too highly of ourselves it is because we have too low thoughts. If God has made you a prince, do not pretend to be a beggar! People say, ‘God could not hear my unworthy prayer’. So they get nothing; we get what we expect. God has given us the place of Christ and if we do not take that place with God we are not receiving His grace properly. Suppose when the prodigal got into the house that he said, ‘I will not wear the best robe, I am all in rags, I cannot put it on, and I cannot have any of the fatted calf’. A great deal of what passes for humility is wretched pride; it was pride that made the prodigal want to say, “Make me as one of thy hired servants”.
No one had such a deep sense of what he was, the chief of sinners, as Paul had, and no one had such a blessed sense of acceptance in Christ. Grace makes you realise where you were, a beggar on the dunghill. Then, knowing our acceptance in Christ we have confidence in God that He will hear and give every help needed. Therefore our heart rejoices and is enlarged; that is what we find here as Paul expands in all the greatness of grace.
Rem There is always this confidence.
CAC Yes, and confidence that what comes out shall be Christ. It is not that we pray to get our circumstances changed but, as Paul said, that Christ should be magnified. He could say, ‘You are praying, and Jesus Christ is sending me down supplies of the Spirit and I want Him to be magnified; it is the only thing that matters, it is no matter if I get out of prison or not’.
Ques Why does the apostle quote from Old Testament scriptures? The Corinthians were gentiles.
CAC Every principle can be established from the Old Testament. How often in Romans Paul quotes from it! sixteen times he says, “It is written”. It was so [p. 287] important that the gentiles should be acquainted with God’s former ways; He had been telling out His mind and His ways in His word for four thousand years, and it was important that they should see it.
How anxious Paul was that they should be enlarged! He was enlarged himself and he wanted them to be also. He says that his heart was expanded; that is a good word for saints, it is the heart. They were straitened in their affections, not in Paul; he had given them the full gospel and they had seen the proper effect of it in him. I do not suppose any of us has ever seen a proper christian. Look at Paul here; he was a proper christian from the outset; he had the Son revealed in him and the word of reconciliation put in him. His life corresponded with what was within, so that people could not say, ‘Paul says one thing but he is quite different himself’. The truth was made good in the affections of a man. We have never seen Paul except as presented in Scripture but the Corinthians saw him come in and go out among them, and he says that they did not get a limited idea of christianity. He could say, ‘You are not straitened in me’. Christianity has been set before us in Paul; he says, ‘Now widen out!’ We ought to be exercised to be expanded. The divine intent was that Paul should be the model christian; we cannot read the epistles without seeing he was the pattern man. He says, ‘The best thing I could wish for you is to be like me!’ Then he exhorts Timothy to be a model of the believers. Paul never exhorted others to be what he was not himself; he was a model. He had a wonderful sense of grace; he was in the good of the ministry of the new covenant and the ministry of reconciliation, so he was expanded; there was nothing narrow about him. We want expanded hearts. ‘Yet oft we credit not, He freely gives as God’; a straitened heart does not credit God with giving; we have such poor little shrivelled hearts! The Lord said, “If thou knewest ... thou wouldest have asked ... and he would have given”, John 4: 10. We want our hearts expanded to know how freely God gives; we honour Him by confidence in Him.
Rem Paul said, “That in me, the first, Jesus Christ might display the whole long-suffering, for a delineation of those about to believe on him to life eternal”, 1 Timothy 1: 16.
CAC Yes, he is a pattern as a sinner, as a saint and as a servant. Then in connection with enlargement the truth of separation comes in. We want enlarging in the sense of grace, and if we are not separate we receive the grace of God in vain.
Rem There are great contrasts here, righteousness and lawlessness, light and darkness.
CAC Yes, and in Proverbs wisdom and folly are contrasted; it is a most important book to study. You could not fancy wisdom and folly yoked together! If saints do not separate from the unconverted the result is disastrous.
Rem Nothing is more powerful in testimony than separation.
CAC Yes, separation is the witness of the power of God. If christians only remembered what persons they are, not what they ought to be, they could not associate and be yoked with an unbeliever. We ought to remember we are believers and carry about the sense that we are a perfect contrast to the world; we have nothing in common with it morally. The world’s joys are not ours and its interests are not ours. We are in new covenant relationship, Christ has written in our hearts; we are beholding the glory of the Lord. If I make a companion of an unconverted man, how can we go on together? The things that are so precious to me, filling my heart with divine light, are actually repulsive to him. I am beholding [p. 289] the glory of the Lord, and he is beholding the glory of man. If people go on with an unequal yoke they have quite forgotten their proper place. We are quite different persons from anyone else and we ought to remember it.
Rem “Shall two walk together except they be agreed?” Amos 3: 3.
Rem Nothing brings God’s judgment so much as an unequal yoke. One has seen such miserable lives from marriage with the unconverted.
CAC The saddest cases I have ever known have been of that kind; the condition of things sometimes is so terrible that one can hardly find words to express it.
There is no spiritual prosperity if there is not a break in friendship with unconverted people; christians lose their joy and proper position if they go on with such friendships. There is a definite call to come out. God does not say, ‘Wait till they leave you’. People have said to me, ‘I cannot break away, my friend is so fond of me’. That will not do; God says, “Come out”.
Rem It is very important, too, not to be in partnership with the unconverted. One has known christians who had to suffer to give it up.
CAC I think we ought to test all our companionships by whether there is real desire after Christ; we ought not to make companions otherwise. It is right to be courteous to everybody, kind and ready to serve, not repellent, but here it is the idea of a yoke. If I make a friend of one who is not the Lord’s, it is a yoke, and if two are yoked together one cannot go any faster than the other. We are in Christ Jesus and in new creation. Now can you fancy a new creation person being yoked with an old creation person? It would be yoking together the ox and the ass, which is forbidden in Deuteronomy. There must be movement, you have to come out. You cannot, of course, break ties of relationship, but you have to be prepared to [p. 290] part company with such. The first division amongst brethren was between Abraham and Lot; one liked to live on the hill-top with God, and the other down on the plains, so it came to a division. It is better to part company than to go on with those in the world.
Then we should come out with dignity. When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they did not come out as a rabble; they went “arrayed” (five in a rank, see note) “out of the land of Egypt”, Exodus 13: 18 — six hundred thousand men marching in military order. That is how saints should separate, not rushing out anyhow! Look at Isaiah 52: 11 - 12: “Depart, depart, go out from thence, touch not what is unclean; go out of the midst of her, be ye clean, that bear the vessels of Jehovah. For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight; for Jehovah will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear-guard”. You go out in military triumph, you do not sneak out! One sometimes sees people sneak out, that is, they try to avoid their old companions. No, that will not do; tell them about it. I never had any trouble to get away from my unconverted companions; they used to go down a side street to avoid me! You go out with a high hand — “Jehovah will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear-guard”. What a vanguard and what a rearguard! You go out with a sense that God is before you, and behind you; you are not afraid of anybody, and you are not afraid of the consequences. You go out with dignity.
Rem God speaks of us as sons and daughters, lest we should fear suffering.
CAC Yes, this is parental care, not heavenly relationship. If we need extra care we shall get it. The daughters represent the weaker side; if there is special need, there will be special care; it is well to come under the grace of it. There was a special case when Phoebe was sent to Rome and Paul writes, “I commend to you Phoebe, our sister” — ‘You business people, help her in everything she has in hand!’ That is what I call parental care.
Rem We cannot count on parental care unless we are separate.
CAC That is an important point. We leave the resources of Egypt like the children of Israel, but then we find God. God could sustain them where there was no natural resource; they had bread from heaven and the rock to drink from; their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. When we come out we can come into and enjoy this wonderful reciprocity — “I will be their God, and they shall be to me a people”; God is delighting in His people and His people are delighting in Him.
Rem There is the persecution side.
CAC Undoubtedly, but it is all gain because you begin to prove for the first time that God is a reality. No young believer finds his feet till he has proved God for himself. It is a wonderful thing to find that God is as good as His word. You test Him and you will see. The Lord says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you”, Matthew 6: 33. If you are on that line you are set to prove how He can preserve and keep you; all these things are added to you, you have not lost anything, you have gained. J.B.S. used to say, ‘Peter said, We have left all and followed Thee. Yes, Peter, and you did very well by it!’ No christian makes any progress if he does not act on the principle of verse 17. Many of us can look back and see our spiritual start was when we made a move, however small; it might only be speaking to a companion. We all had links and we had to break them and come out, and [p. 292] we made no start till we did. “Ye are the temple of God”
— wonderful words! What is so blessed is that God dwells among His saints and walks among them. It is not that we ought to be, but that we are the temple of God. In Exodus He dwells among them and in Leviticus He walks among them.
Ques What is the thought of walking?
CAC It is God’s activities. The saints are the place of His rest and the place of His activities. God rests in the saints; He dwells there, He has a place of rest among His people:
‘Our God whom we have known,
Well known in Jesus’ love,
Rests in the blessing of His own
Before Himself above’. (72:1)
Then He walks (Leviticus 26: 12); His activities are there. If you want to see the activities of God you must look at the saints; He walks among His people. Suppose you see a saint coming out, that is God’s activity; it is God moving in a soul and that makes it so interesting. God says, “Come out”; it is I that have to move, but God moves in me.
Rem In verse 16 it is, “I will be their God”, and in verse 18 it is, “I will be to you for a Father”. It is all a Father’s care, as we prove in our experience.
CAC I am sure everyone who has tried it has proved it. The “Almighty” is a remarkable title. It is brought in as a special encouragement. He can do everything; nothing baffles Him, He is almighty. An old woman once said, ‘I have no resource now but the Almighty’, as if she were very badly off! We could not be better off if the Almighty is our Father. God is in His holy habitation and we are the shrine. God has His temple in the saints and has the most tender parental care over the weak, that is, the daughters. In Deuteronomy we read of three classes,
[p. 293] widows, fatherless and strangers, and there are ten different occasions mentioned where God makes special provision for them. Sometimes we feel we are in trying circumstances of a kind that no one has had before. Well, there is a special parental care; if a saint is in special need, he gets special care.
Paul lost everything when he was converted. His parents were wealthy people; they could afford to send him a long journey from Tarsus to Jerusalem to the finest university known. He sat at the feet of Gamaliel, a renowned doctor of law who, I suppose, would have been like the Regius Professor of Divinity! Yet Paul says, “On account of whom I have suffered the loss of all”. They might have said to him, ‘You must have felt that, Paul’. ‘Oh no’, he would say, ‘I count them to be filth’. Paul had proved what God could be to him.