2 Corinthians Part 6 (Not without the Spirit)

“For the love of Christ controls us” (ch5 v14)

What follows is a presentation of the Pauline gospel and a gospel appeal. This gospel message is integral to the intertwined themes of this letter, namely the afflictions of the apostles and Paul’s trouble with some of the Corinthians, because it is probably at the root of both problems.

“One has died for all; therefore all have died”.
This statement is based on the proposition which runs through Galatians, that the Christian has died “together with Christ”. The universalists will want to lay claim to that “all”, but I believe the claim is limited to those willing to identify with Christ in his death. Then they are also “raised together with Christ”. Since he died and was raised for the benefit of others, those who share in his resurrection should in the same way.be living their lives for him and not for themselves. It is part of the self-identification.

It follows (v17) that if anyone is “in Christ” he is a “new creation” (compare Galatians ch6 v15). The old life has passed away, as the old world will pass away, and the new life has come. All this comes from God, who has given us apostles the task of presenting this message to the world, a task which he calls “a ministry of reconciliation”.

This does not mean that they achieve the true reconciliation by themselves. The true reconciliation (v19) is the fact that God was, in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not exercising his right to count trespasses and make judgement. The method of reconciliation is explained in v21; “for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin”. This is what is meant by “having become a curse for us” (Galatians ch3 v13). That is, Christ identified with us in our sin, and died on the Cross in that identification. This made it possible for us, in turn, to be identified with his obedience and his risen life, “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”.

The function of the apostles is to present the message of reconciliation, acting as ambassadors and spokesmen for Christ. Performing this duty, he now appeals to the Corinthians to be themselves reconciled with God. He urges them not to “accept the grace of God in vain” (ch6 v1). Implying that they have accepted the grace of God once already and are in danger of throwing it away. In fact this is exactly the same case as the Galatians, about whom he had to complain that he had given birth to “the Christ in you” previously, and now he was having to do the work all over again (Galatians ch4 v19).

He quotes Isaiah about God helping his people “on the day of salvation”, and tells them that their day of salvation is “now”, and should not be allowed to pass by (compare Hebrews ch4). From there, I think, we go straight to v11; “Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians, our heart is wide”, and he urges them to respond to him in the same way, by trusting in his message about the grace of God. His appeal is interrupted by the intrusive extract beginning in v14, and is resumed in ch7 v2 with a repetition of “open your hearts to us”.

He denies that the apostles have corrupted anyone or taken advantage of anyone, but quickly adds that he is not condemning those who have made such charges (accusers can be so sensitive to criticism). He repeats that the Corinthians are in the hearts of the apostles, to live together and die together.
“I have great confidence in you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. With all our afflictions I am overjoyed.” This declaration enables him to change the subject back to the newsletter theme which opened the letter.

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I omitted ch5 v16 because it interrupted the course of the gospel presentation, though this declaration might be regarded as a consequence of the gospel. Paul says that he regards no man KATA SARKA, which means “according to the flesh”. He no longer regards even Christ in that way. This is the distinction which we found in 1 Corinthians, between “according to the flesh” and “according to the Spirit”. The RSV translates “from a human point of view”, but in many ways “without the Spirit” would be a more helpful paraphrase. The verse does not seem to fit into its present context. It could easily form part of a controversy, such as, for example, about the necessity or otherwise of “letters of recommendation”.

There are two more sections in the next chapter which also seem “out of place”, breaking into Paul’s gospel appeal to the Corinthians.

In ch6 vv3-10, we find a more extended version of “how the apostles conduct themselves under affliction”, as already seen in ch4 vv7-12 and 1 Corinthians ch4 vv8-13. Possibly taken and preserved from another discussion of the same kind. They experience “great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labours, times of watching, and hunger. Yet they aim to commend themselves as servants of God, giving no cause for fault-finding, acting with purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God. Their chief weapon is their righteousness, whether “on the right hand or the left”; that is, whether they are held in good repute or the opposite. Their reputation is that they are imposters, unknown people, approaching death, victims of punishment, sorrowful, and impoverished. On the contrary, the truth is that they are true people, well-known in their work, surviving unscathed and full of spiritual life, joyful, and so rich in their own way that they own everything and can make others wealthy.

In 1 Corinthians ch5 vv9-13, Paul refers back to a previous letter (“I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral men”), and goes on to explain what he meant. We seem to have a copy of this famous advice, extracted and inserted into the current letter as ch6 vv14-18.
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Whenever a Christian person is thinking of marrying a non-Christian, somebody is bound to quote “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers” from v14. But the following words show that the “yoke” in question is not specifically the marriage yoke. That’s why Paul had to explain that he was talking about Christian fellowship, not about business or civic life.

Believers have nothing in common with unbelievers in the same way that there is no common ground between light and darkness, between righteousness and iniquity, between Christ and Belial, or between the temple of God and a house of idols. For we, as a Christian community ARE the temple of God (as he told them in 1 Corinthians ch3 v16), in the sense that the Spirit of God is resident among us. In support of this argument, he quotes Od Testament promises that God will live among his people, and adds the warning to “come out of” Babylon.

The above is a reason for cleansing ourselves in every way, especially if detaching unbelievers from the community is regarded as a branch of cleansing. Hence the associated thought in ch7 v1;
“Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God”.

I do not agree that believers and unbelievers are as dissimilar as light and darkness. For example, I personally believe JC was a bleeding heart space traveler, and likely part of a civilization that had rules about mingling with the primitive riff raff. But I still believe in an ultimate creator, just not that Christ was the flesh incarnate of this entity or force I prefer to call creator.
I still believe in raising children in a proper family with love and a firm disciplinary standard. I also believe in fiscal conservatism. I do not like people who victimize the vulnerable such as people who assault old folks or murder babies. I believe in treating this Earth with respect and living in balance as best as possible. That means being a responsible human and doing everything possible within reason to limit our negative impacts, such as recycling, not wasting water, composting, growing some of my own food and more of course.

Many of these beliefs are shared by believers in Christ as God. So you see, while I may have a different perspective, and do not neccesarily believe the version of the True Believers, we clearly share some common ground so as to make the assertion that believers and unbelievers are as dark and light is not entirely accurate or honest.