Daily Devotions

2 Corinthians 11 - The Fool Evidently his critics have mockingly commended the Corinthians for ‘putting up with that fool Paul’. Paul is deeply hurt by this, hence the ironical quote, ‘You gladly put up with fools’. At one level Paul is referring to himself, while at a deeper level, if they only knew it, to the visiting missionaries. For, using the same verb, he remarked of the Corinthians’ reception of the new people that they put up with them easily enough. In these verses Paul gives three reasons why the Corinthians should ‘put up with him’. First, as apostle and evangelist he feels divine jealousy for the Corinthians at this time of spiritual danger for them (verses 2–3). Secondly, the Corinthians are vulnerable to falling away from Christ through their interest in an untrue gospel (verse 4). Thirdly, Paul states that he is in no way inferior to these ‘super-apostles’ (verse 5). It was, therefore, very important that the Corinthians should ‘bear with’ Paul. Barrett writes tha...

2 Corinthians 10 - Humility People with humility don't think less of themselves - they just think of themselves less. Humility, or holding power loosely for the sake of others, is sadly lacking in today's world. Without it, many people fail to develop their true leadership potential and miss out on genuine fulfilment in their lives and their relationships. Humility was despised by many philosophers and leaders in the ancient world. But the whole attitude of ancient culture toward humility changed after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. In this part of 2 Corinthians Paul turns to answer the biting criticisms of the new ministers and their supporters within the Corinthian church. It is clear from what is written that Paul, his ministry and his doctrines were under wholesale attack. For his part he viewed with the utmost seriousness the presence of these ‘apostles’ among the Corinthians. It is not too much to say that Paul’s very apostolic relationships with the Co...

2 Corinthians 9 - The key to generosity God’s grace towards us reproduces his graciousness within us. Since God’s grace towards us is infinite and not measured out, we who receive it are to show generosity without measurement or calculation. We are not under compulsion. Thus ours is to be a ready, not a reluctant, response. God loves a cheerful giver (verse 7) because he is himself a cheerful giver. Nevertheless, Paul is not encouraging us to be either casual or impulsive givers. Each person should give what he has decided in his heart to give (verse 7). Inward resolve is to be followed by decisive and cheerful giving. What are my motives for donating money for Christian purposes? Various faulty motives may inspire us to give generously, but only a real appreciation of God’s grace to us can prompt us to give ‘cheerfully’. Paul certainly knew the tight-fisted Corinthians. Clearly they were in his mind as he wrote "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly" (verse ...

2 Corinthians 8 - The generosity of Jesus One of my favourite verses (2 Cor 8:9) shows us the heart of what Jesus has done for us: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." This text, surely one of Paul’s most powerful, teaches that Jesus’ personal existence did not begin with his birth in Bethlehem in the last years of Herod the Great. The words he was rich indicate an unlimited pre-existence, while the words he became poor speak of his entry into the stream of history at a particular time and place. Paul’s letter to the Philippians contains a good explanation of the phrase he was rich. There he states that Jesus was (in his pre-existence) ‘in very nature God,’ and that he possessed ‘equality with God’. In other words, Jesus was, in his essential being, all that God was. In this way Jesus ‘was rich’, eternally so. The words he became poor, which relate to ...

2 Corinthians 8:1-5 The generous Macedonians Paul expressed deep appreciation for the Christians of Macedonia. The Thessalonians had undergone persecution, yet from them the gospel had echoed forth into the length and breadth of the Greek mainland, and beyond. In writing to one church, the Corinthians, Paul rather pointedly refers to the actions of other Christians, the Macedonians. They were so poor (verse 2) that Paul did not expect them to share in the collection arrangements. In response to the gospel they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us (verse 5). It is not Paul but they who have raised the matter. They have begged for the privilege (grace) of sharing in this service (or ministry) to the saints (verse 4). Some of Paul’s most penetrating insights are expressed in passing, as here when he describes the heart of Christian commitment as they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us. In response to the gospel we are, indeed, to ‘give’ ourselves to the Lord ...

2 Corinthians 7:5:16 - Comfort Prior to his ‘long digression’ about the ministry of the new covenant (2:14–7:4) Paul had appealed to the Corinthians to ‘forgive and comfort’ an offending member. Writing from Macedonia, Paul takes up the thread of his travel narrative which had been broken in Troas (2:12–13). He explains how relieved and thankful he had been to have finally heard of the Corinthians’ support of him in their attitude to the offender. It would appear that Titus was the bearer of both good and bad news. On the one hand he told Paul that the disciplinary matter had been resolved satisfactorily, and that, while the Corinthians’ support of the collection was disappointing, it could perhaps still be retrieved. On the other hand, however, Titus would have informed the apostle of the strengthening grip of the Judaizers on the Corinthian church and of the increasingly personal attacks which were being directed at Paul. Paul now reveals what he had previously hinted at. The reas...

2 Corinthians 6:11–7:4 - Paul’s appeal Paul concludes this section, appropriately, with a twofold appeal to the Corinthians—to be reconciled to him and to separate themselves from over-close involvement with ‘unbelievers’. As the one through whom they had spiritually come to birth, Paul saw himself as their father. It is as their spiritual father that he now speaks to them affectionately (verse 13). And yet the love which he had shown has been neither received nor reciprocated. So wide is the affection of the apostle that the Corinthians are present within his heart, so narrow the heart of the Corinthians that they have almost no place for him. Yet the newcomers who bring a false Christ and who take advantage of the Corinthians there is a warm welcome. Paul then breaks off this personal appeal (which he resumes in 7:2) to digress about separation from paganism. Paul did not, in most circumstances, disallow the eating at home of food previously offered to the idol before being...

2 Corinthians 6:1-12 - Now is the time Paul introduces an element of urgency in order to prompt the erring Corinthians to mend their ways speedily. Quoting the prophet Isaiah, Paul emphasises that now is the time of God’s favour when God will hear them, now is the day of salvation when God will help them. Once a person and a congregation have accepted the gospel it has become the now-time - the day of salvation has dawned. We may suppose, therefore, that Paul would have sounded this urgent note both in his initial appeal at the point of conversion as well as in his pastoral exhortation to wayward believers. The writer to the Hebrews makes a similar appeal: ‘Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.’ Furnish writes that ‘for Paul, the day of salvation heralded by the gospel is also a day of decision for those who are addressed by it, and the claim, as well as the gift, is renewed every day that the believers...

2 Corinthians 5:20-6:1 - Ambassadors for Christ There are two take home messages Paul want to reinforce in this part of the letter: be reconciled to God (5:20) and (do) not … receive God’s grace in vain (6:1). The first is embedded in a passage which sets out Paul’s message in an expansive way. The second appears to be directed to those who have already received the grace of God but who are in danger of having ‘received it in vain’. Later in the letter he will warn them about giving up their ‘sincere and pure devotion to Christ’ (11:3). If they continue to pay attention to a watered-down message, then the grace of God in Christ as expressed in the true gospel will indeed have been ‘in vain’. Paul’s words, therefore, represent a call both to the church in Corinth and to each member to return to the first principles of the gospel. Paul uses two striking word-pictures to convey what is involved in this ministry: ambassador and fellow-worker. All believers are involved in the ministry o...

2 Corinthians 5:11-21 - Reconciliation Forgiveness and reconciliation are at the heart of the gospel. The fruit of forgiveness through Christ’s life-giving death is reconciliation with God and with others. What can we do to foster reconciliation in our community? We come then to the most comprehensive and wonderful statement about the death of Christ made by the apostle Paul. There are two closely related reasons for this, both connected to the challenge of the intruding ministers to the gospel taught by him to the Corinthians. First, the apostle has shown how the new covenant of Christ and the Spirit is God’s powerful provision for man in his most profound experience of weakness. Having written at some length about dying and death, he now shows how the new covenant provides for the third element in the grim triad, alienation from God due to sin. As such these words belong to and are the climax of the whole section on apostolic ministry (2:14–7:1), the reference to ‘ministry of ...

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 - Life and death How do you cope with setbacks which make you lose heart? How fundamental is the life to come to your everyday thinking? The process of dying, just described in chapter 4, now reaches its end in death. It may seem that this age, which is passing away, has claimed yet another victim. Death is a futility, calling into question everything a person has done, hoped for or suffered. Funerals are sad and often bewildering occasions, especially for those who do not enjoy the Christian hope. Far from being romantic and glamourising death, as believers sometimes do, Paul is realistic and sober. Just as the process of wasting away is a harsh reality of our existence, so too is the end of the process, the destruction of the ‘earthly tent’. The effect of Paul’s dark realism about dying and death, however, is to show up the contrasting brightness of the all-surpassing power of God. For just as the power of God is at work within dying man, so too the power...

2 Corinthians 4:7-18 - Power in Weakness In what he now writes Paul touches on some of the harsh realities of human existence—suffering and physical decay (4:7–18), death (5:1–9) and judgment (5:10–21). These are universal realities no-one can evade, which is perhaps the reason that this part of the letter has struck such deep responses in Paul’s readers. But in consistently writing we … our, is not Paul speaking about his own suffering and death, not those of people in general? While he is referring to himself (and his apostolic circle) in 4:8–15 it seems he moves beyond that in 4:16–5:10 to make universal statements. Comments about his personal difficulties and death (verses 8–12) refer back to the ‘sentence of death’ (1:8–10) he believed himself to be under. These have apparently stimulated Paul to make theological statements about the destiny of all believers. It is interesting to ask why Paul should have raised these matters immediately after the section in which he declared t...

2 Corinthians 4:1-6 - Setting forth the Truth plainly The bitter conflict in Corinth between Paul and his opponents now comes into clearer focus. Earlier he referred to them as the ‘many’ who ‘peddle the word of God for profit’ and as ‘some’ who have brought ‘letters of recommendation’ to the Corinthians (2:17; 3:1). Now we discover the nature of the criticisms they have made against him. Although Paul was deeply hurt by these accusations, he does not abandon his ministry or his ties with the Corinthians, as a lesser person may have done. Many people crumble in the face of adversity. For Paul, however, the new situation appears to have stirred him to greater efforts - the letter itself is evidence of that. In his defence Paul claims to have executed his ministry with utmost care. He has in no way altered the Christian message (to make it say what he wants it to say) or manipulated his hearers (to make them do what he wants them to do). He, the faithful messenger of God, has accurat...

2 Corinthians 3:7-18 - A Glorious New Covenant In opposing the ministry of his opponents’ ‘back-to-Moses’ programme, Paul is soon involved in wide-ranging contrasts between old and new covenants. If the old leads to condemnation and death, the new leads to righteousness and life. The old covenant was temporary and is now abolished - the new is permanent and will continue without end. Above all the new covenant mediates the Spirit of God to our lives, transforming them into the likeness of Christ. Paul uses Exodus 33-35 to further contrast the ministries of the new and old covenants so as to demonstrate the superiority of the former. Paul’s primary purpose is to highlight the glorious character of the ministry with which he has been entrusted and so explain why, despite so many difficulties, he does not lose heart. Paul recognises that the old covenant was accompanied by splendour, but he argues that the new covenant is accompanied by far greater splendour. The ministry of the old...

2 Corinthians 3:1-6 - Equipped How does God equip his people for his mission? Paul here answers criticism of his failure to produce letters of recommendation when he came to Corinth. The criticisms probably came from the false apostles and were voiced in the attack on Paul. Paul responds by saying that it was absurd that letters of recommendation should have been required of him in Corinth, because the very existence of the church in Corinth was testimony to the validity of his ministry. Paul had been entrusted by Christ to write a ‘living letter’ upon the hearts of the Corinthian believers. By the grace of God, the letter commended the very ministry by which it was produced.  While there are some circumstances in which a faithful ministry is not rewarded by apparent results, such observations should not be used to excuse ineffective ministries in other circumstances. Normally, it is appropriate for our ministries to be judged by their results. Paul shows that his competence ...

2 Corinthians 2:12-17 - The Aroma of Christ God opened the door of opportunity at Troas. Paul's zeal for the gospel brought him to Troas, but his passionate concern for the Corinthians kept him from staying there, despite the opportunities for preaching the gospel which now existed.  While Paul regarded all believers as ‘brothers’, some like Titus enjoyed a special relationship with him. He will refer to him as ‘my partner and fellow worker’ in his labours among the Corinthians (chapter 8). God had given Titus, like Paul, a deep and affectionate concern for the Corinthians.  Loyal Christian friends are treasure beyond price - Titus is an admirable model. By a sustained one-to-one fellowship Paul was able to multiply his ministry through these able fellow workers. The word triumphal is critical in this section. It may be that the new teachers in Corinth presented themselves as sweeping all before them as they triumphantly captured the Gentile churches for Moses...

2 Corinthians 2:5-11 - Forgiveness The significant matter Paul speaks of, whatever it was, had been the cause of spiritual suffering for the whole Corinthian congregation and doubtless also for Paul, deny it though he may. Traditionally, this person has been identified as the incestuous man of 1 Corinthians 5. However, an equally valid reading is that this man was the ringleader of the group who had thwarted Paul’s authority on his second “painful visit”. What is the apostolic method of dealing with difficult customers or the openly immoral? So often the responsibility falls on the unfortunate pastor, so that it becomes a two-way power struggle between the offender and him. Here, however, the majority conveyed to the person what was probably the verdict of withdrawal from fellowship from him. His policy has borne fruit; as a result of his letter the Corinthian church as a whole has dealt with the matter. The members have apparently come to realise that the offender has not on...

2 Corinthians 1:12-2:4 - Motives Paul begins by defending his integrity in general. In all his contact with the Corinthians he had acted in holiness and sincerity, not according to worldly wisdom but according to God’s grace. A ministry according to God’s grace is one which relies upon the power of God for its effectiveness. He expresses the hope that the Corinthians would come to recognise that he and his colleagues were people of integrity whom they could boast of just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus. Paul looked forward to rejoicing on the last day in what God had done in the lives of his converts, and he hoped that in the present they might feel they could boast of what God was doing in him. Paul goes on to justify the changes he made in his travel plans. Paul draws his readers’ attention to the nature of the message he preached to them.  There is not arbitrary breaking of promises as far as God is concerned. And, Paul implies, just as God is faithful in ...

2 Corinthians 1:1-11 - Comfort In his opening greeting to a church in which his apostolic authority had been called into question, Paul describes himself as an apostle of Christ. For Paul, an apostle was one who had seen the risen Lord, had been entrusted with the gospel by him, and in whose gospel ministry the grace of God was evident. It was on the Damascus road that Christ had commissioned Paul to be an apostle, and that commission was backed by the will of God. Those greeted are described as the church of God in Corinth, reflecting the fact that churches are not just assemblies of like–minded individuals with a religious bent, but communities which belong to God and enjoy a special relationship with him.  Those greeted include all the saints throughout Achaia, showing that "saints" means that all believers are God’s special possession - it is not some elite spiritual title.  Upon all these Christians Paul invokes grace and peace. By grace he means God’s care or help ...

2 Corinthians - Introduction This second letter of Paul to the Corinthians seems to have been written very soon after 1 Corinthians. However, much took place in the interim period. Paul visited Corinth initially for 18 months (Acts 18). Then he wrote them two letters. The first was not preserved (but it is referred to in 1 Corinthians 5) and the second was the book of 1 Corinthians. Paul then had another “painful visit” to them, during which he was severely shunned (2 Cor 1:23-2:4). Instead of planning a third visit, he sent the ‘severe letter’ (again, not preserved, but some think that this was the book of 1 Corinthians). He then waited anxiously from Titus to find out how that letter was received (2 Cor 2:9, 13). Would the Corinthians reject God’s messenger? When Paul receives the great news that God’s Spirit is alive in the Corinthians (2 Cor 7:5-9), he pens the book of 2 Corinthians. In chapters 1-7, he defends and re-establishes his apostolic authority; in chapters 8-9, he calls...

1 Corinthians 15:51-58 - Resurrection (Part 7) Paul explains finishes his letter saying that he is revealing a mystery. Previously he has used this word to describe the open secret of the gospel, revealed by the Spirit to the apostles and prophets. Here he suggests strongly that what he is saying has been unveiled to him by special revelation. Is the content part of what he obliquely refers to in 2 Corinthians 12:1–4? However sealed his lips have been about the full content of such revelations, he now feels constrained to divulge something of what will take place at the last day. He again uses the picture of sleep to describe the condition of those who die as Christians. The word sleep seems most naturally to describe a state of unconsciousness: i.e. at death Christians fall asleep in Christ and their next conscious experience is being woken to see Jesus at ‘the general resurrection on the last day’. The moment of death marks a person’s transition from time into eternity. ‘The last ...

1 Corinthians 15:35-50 - Resurrection (Part 6) The glorious future to which Paul has been referring earlier in the chapter is virtually beyond all human understanding, let alone description. Faced with such an immense hope, mortal men can resort only to very basic questions: ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’. Paul answers this very understandable question in the ensuing verses: through them all runs one fundamental principle: "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God". These physical bodies of ours simply are incapable of coping with the glory of God. If we are going to be resurrected in Christ, we need also to be transformed into his likeness. Yet, however radical and total such a transformation must inevitably be, due to the vulnerability of our present bodies, there is nevertheless a clear continuity between Christians now and Christians then: ‘we shall be raised’, not destroyed and reincarnated in a different existence altogether. ...

1 Corinthians 15:29-34 - Resurrection (Part 4) Today there are still many who deny that there is such a thing as resurrection from the dead, and particularly dismiss the historical reality of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. But we need to ask: With what presuppositions do they come to the evidence? What kind of God are they presenting? Do they believe in the assurance of sins forgiven? Is there any firm expectation of life beyond death? Can they say, with Tertullian, ‘Our people die well’?  Our beliefs about the resurrection are incredibly practical because they change the way we behave now.  Three very different consequences crowded into Paul’s thoughts on this issue: the first strange and almost unidentifiable, the second linked with the harsh realities of his own ministry, and the third with the daily behaviour of the Christians at Corinth.  1. It seems that, on at least one occasion, the Corinthians had held a baptism service on behalf of the dead....

1 Corinthians 15:20-28 - Resurrection (Part 4) We can almost hear the sigh of relief as well as the cry of confidence with which Paul declares: "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead". This "but" must rank with the great ‘buts’ of the Bible. Here Paul is saying that a whole new age has dawned with the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead: he is the first fruits of an immense harvest, consisting of all those who are in Christ and who belong to Christ. The word translated first fruits is echoed by the language of Colossians: ‘He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead.’ If Christ was raised from the dead, it is clear that all those who, through the grace of God, are now in Christ will also be raised from the dead. Indeed, elsewhere Paul sees this union as so complete and real that, in spiritual terms, those in Christ have already been raised. Yet this reality has still the limitations inherent in the mortality of our present physical bodies...

1 Corinthians 15:12-19 - Resurrection (Part 3) If the gospel proclaimed to the Corinthians revolved around these crucial facts, culminating in the resurrection of Jesus, and if through this gospel their lives had been completely redirected and transformed, it was inconceivable that anyone should have asserted that there is no resurrection of the dead. If resurrection does not exist in any shape or form, then the consequences to Christian faith and discipleship are devastating. It is important, with Paul, to push people to see the logic of their beliefs, whether those beliefs are orthodox or heretical. Many Christians have never applied their faith either to their ordinary thinking or to their daily behaviour. Likewise, those who deviate from biblical truth must face up to the implications of what they assert and deny. This is what Paul does in verses 13–19. To deny resurrection is to strip the Christian message of seven essentials. i. ‘Christ has not been raised’ (v. 13, 16) If ther...

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 - Resurrection (Part 2) In these verses Paul summarises the basic content of the gospel which he had proclaimed to the Corinthians from the beginning. However much he unfolds further insights as he develops the theme of resurrection, it is important to note that here he is repeating the facts, not adding to them. When there is doubt in people’s minds about certain theological issues, it is easy to conclude that these fundamental facts are either insufficient or untrustworthy. Paul entertains no such ideas: he reminds the Corinthians of the gospel which they heard him preach and which they received. When we recollect that 1 Corinthians was written in the early fifties, we can see that these facts at the heart of the gospel-message concerning the resurrection of Jesus go back to within twenty years of the actual events. We are, therefore, as close as we can possibly come to eyewitness accounts of what took place in Jerusalem in those days. Paul has no hesitation i...