2 CORINTHIANS 13
CAC This was the third time the apostle had intended to come to them but he had been hindered by their state. He was now making up his mind to come again but warns them of the consequences. He had certain misgivings that they had not, as we say, bottomed the thing. The apostle knew the Corinthians well and probably had a just estimate of how far the thing had gone. He expresses himself freely and, though thankful [p. 331] that they had taken low ground, he was not sure how far they had gone in self-judgment as to the root of the matter. There is such a thing as revival when there is not restoration. People may be freshened up in their souls when they are not fully restored. The whole company was not guilty in the same way, but they were all compromised; all were committed to it and that is the importance of the fellowship. We have not only to think of ourselves but we compromise the whole assembly of God when we do anything unworthy of God. We need to walk very softly; it would often check us if we thought of this. If all this had been allowed to go on it would have compromised the whole assembly. That is why the apostle is so anxious that there should be a new lump; if anything goes wrong it falsifies the character of the whole testimony. We find the apostle pressing that both as to carnality at Corinth and as to legality in Galatia. He says to both, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump”, 1 Corinthians 5: 6 and Galatians 5 9. The apostle had power to detect things and often we have not. He had insight into things; he could distinguish between power and speech. We are taken in by speech but the apostle was not. He would know the power. We should often feel very small if we came in contact with a man who could measure us up. I do not suppose the apostle would be a very welcome visitor in many a circle. There would be misgivings and we should be ready to say, as the elders did to Samuel, “Comest thou peaceably?” It is a solemn thing to have to do with the Lord. The apostle was invested with the Lord’s power and the Lord’s discernment, too. It is all blessing unless we are definitely committed to something that is not of the Lord and do not want to give it up. If saints want to be right they do not object to being searched: “Search me, O God”, Psalm 139: 23. We are not afraid of the searchings of God.
[p. 332] You get the two sides very strikingly brought before us here. Christ had spoken in grace through the apostle and if now he was speaking after another manner, it was the same Christ. It is very interesting to see that Christ is the evangelist.
Verse 3 shows that whatever the vessel or whatever the instrument may be it is only a vessel after all; it is Christ that enlightens us in what is of God. It is as the Lord speaks that we find ourselves in the light of God, and there is the sense in the soul that Christ has spoken to us, not merely the preacher though it may be that he has said right and blessed things. It is Christ that speaks in him. All this is after the manner of the cross. The cross gives no place to the flesh but reduces it to the weakness of death; that is, the weakness of the cross. The power of God is that which raised Christ. What a grand thing it would be to be on that line! The apostle was really in accord, in keeping, with the cross. That comes out very much in the first epistle; he was careful to preach in such a way that the word of the cross should not be emptied of meaning. If it is preached in the eloquence or wisdom of man it is emptied of meaning. Nothing is less preached than the cross in the religious world generally. The cross is the removal of man and not merely a work done to relieve him. I think the death of Christ is preached as the way of man’s benefit so that the culprit can go free; his debt is paid. There is a certain amount of relief in it but that is not the cross. That does not go very far. A truly exercised soul is more concerned about what he is than what he has done. Our first exercise is that I have been bad; the second step is that I want to be good; and the third is that I cannot be good. I seek the help of God to make me good and the more I seek it the more I find I fail. Even God cannot make me good; I am irreparably bad. I am not to be mended but ended.
[p. 333] Ques How is it we are so long in arriving at this?
CAC I think we are what the Yorkshire people call ‘slack set up’; we are careless and indifferent and not really in earnest; we do not let the light of God work in our consciences. Someone asked J.N.D. once why so few people got out of Romans 7. His answer was very simple, ‘Because so few get into it’. A man in Romans 7 would rather die than commit sin; he would be in a perfect agony about it. Now we are not like that, we are very slack. There might be something in a man’s nature, a strong natural tendency that would keep him in constant dependence; he could only go on as constantly committing himself to the Lord. We mix up the two sides, the experimental and the practical: one is that I am with God on the ground of Christ and the other is that I need the grace and the power of God all the way through. The first question is, How am I with God? Suppose a drunkard was converted, there is the same tendency in his flesh and there might be that tendency to the end of his days; he is really cast on the Lord as to it and nobody ever cast himself on the Lord and was forsaken. The Lord does not forsake us. It is humiliating to feel what you are, for this may occur even if you have known deliverance.
The weakness of the cross, the absolute weakness of man, is the weakness of death itself. In the cross there is no action of man at all; it is man reduced to his proper place in the sight of God. It is man seen in weakness and abandoned of God; the cross is a most terrible thing. Christ in this world is the crucified One; He is the Man who cannot take any part in the affairs of this world; He is a Man of another order altogether; He is God’s power in a resurrection world. The only way of power is the way of the cross. I do not think anything else is God’s power. You take a place of absolute nothingness here. The apostle speaks of being weak in Him (verse 4). It is very important [p. 334] how he puts it, that he takes the place of being weak in Him. It is just because he was in this place of absolute weakness that he spoke of God’s power. If I could be sure that all that is of the flesh in me was in weakness I should be sure of God’s power. That is seen in the way David met Goliath; the one thing that engrossed his soul was that the Philistine had defied the power of the living God and he went in that strength. I think it cost the apostle a good deal to learn all this; he had to be stripped. He was what we should call a man of parts, yet he reins in all his natural powers and was there in the weakness of the cross. He is trembling lest there should be anything of man and the result is that Christ is in these people; it was the voice of Christ that they heard.
Scripture is full of ground for faith but not for unbelief. People look in Scripture for grounds for their unbelief instead of for grounds for their faith (verse 5); it is not to see if they were converted or not but what they were to be concerned about was whether Christ had spoken through Paul. I do not think christianity ever calls upon us to look into our own hearts to see whether we are saved or not. People in that state of soul need to see that they are lost; if they came to that point they would not look in any more. He spoke in relation to Christ and not to establish his own case; he says, as it were, ‘If we be as reprobates, I want you to do what is right even if you think me a reprobate’. That is very fine, really beautiful. Their blessing was bound up with the recognition of what Paul was. As a matter of fact, they could not regard him as a reprobate if they were right, but he says, ‘I am content to be regarded as such if you are right’. You see such a pure unselfish care for God’s people in this beloved servant; it makes one ashamed of oneself. You cannot really touch the truth, it is inviolable; no effort of man can touch it, though they may divert from it. The truth is an abstract [p. 335] thing; it really subsists in Christ. It is like the sun shining; man in all his perverseness may try to shut it out but what can he do? He may keep it out of his heart but he cannot destroy it; he can build walls to shut out the sunshine but he cannot prevent it shining.
In verse 11 ‘perfected’ is rather an interesting word; it is the same as ‘mended’; it is the word used in connection with mending nets, the idea of repair. The apostle was wishing to bring them together so that their rents might be repaired. You see, they had been all torn so he says, ‘Be mended’. They were not outwardly divided but they had been very much divided into schools and parties, and the apostle was anxious to bring them all together so that they might be repaired; he is thinking of the testimony of God and he was anxious they should be at peace. If saints are at sixes and sevens there is no testimony for God. The apostle did not like to use severity. When you think of all that had engaged his attention with regard to them it is very lovely that he should now say, “Rejoice”.
Ques What would you say as to verse 12?
CAC I think it really means that you are put on friendly terms; you are not to stand off. It is a great thing to cultivate friendly relations with the saints; we are vitally connected with them; it is a great thing to be with each other as saints, being near to each other in interest and care. We ought to cultivate anything that helps this. If there is a little divergence there is often the inclination to stand off. It is not good natural feeling; it is not like people being friendly because they belong to the same club. If a brother walks disorderly you ought to behave towards him that he may be ashamed. I do not think you would salute him with a holy kiss.