A Study Guide for the Book of Second Corinthians

Bible study articles that explain clearly every verse in 2 Corinthians. Insight, commentary and A Bible Study in EasyEnglish ( word vocabulary) on the Book of 2 Corinthians Go to chapter: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 study guide .
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He should be forgiven and comforted. Otherwise he would be swallowed up in an excess of grief. They should affirm their love toward him. Paul was fond of Titus. He refers to him as "mine own son after the common faith" Titus 1: The fact that Paul could find no rest in his spirit because of the absence of Titus reveals that this greatly used servant of Christ had a deep concern for other people. The incense of Christ being offered to God among those who were being saved and those who were perishing.

We believe Paul meant that death and life are matters that only God can decide. When we, in sincerity, walk in the Presence of Christ in the world, all mankind is brought into judgment before God. Those who reject Christ, die; those who receive Christ, live. We are not competent to make such decisions.

Our responsibility extends only as far as presenting Christ. The rest is the responsibility of the Father in Heaven. He was preaching and teaching in sincerity what God was giving him. He was speaking in Christ in the sight of God. Do we need a letter of recommendation to you? Do we need a letter of recommendation from you? Such is the nature of the new covenant.

It cannot be written on stone, on parchment, on paper. The Spirit of God is the "ink. The new covenant cannot be contained in letters and words. The new covenant is Christ and is ministered by the Holy Spirit. The new covenant is the forming of Christ within the saint, which is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is customary to refer to the section of the Bible from Matthew to Revelation as the "New Testament. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament are the inspired Word of God, and we are to give heed to everything that is written therein. But the New Testament writings are not the new testament, the new covenant.

As we have stated, the New Testament is the inspired Word of God, written by men who themselves were having the new testament created within them. The four Gospels are four separate accounts of the Person and ministry of Christ. The Book of Acts is a history of the early missionary activity.

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The Epistles are letters of explanation and direction to the young churches. The Book of Revelation is a prophetic vision. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more Hebrews 8: Was then that which is good made death unto me?

But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful Romans 7: Mount Sinai shook with the Presence of God. The trumpet of the Lord sounded through the wilderness. There were thunder and lightning. The fire and the smoke caused the mountain to resemble a furnace. The Israelites witnessed the majesty of God Almighty. He wore a veil for the remainder of his days because the people could not bear to look at him.

He removed the veil only when he went into the Most Holy Place to speak with God. If such glory accompanied the giving of the Ten Commandments, a ministry of death that was destined to pass away, what undoubtedly is true of the new covenant—the ministry of the Spirit of God written on the human heart? The glory of the ministry of life surpasses to such a extent the glory of the ministry of death that the demonstration of the Glory of God on Mount Sinai is not found to be glorious at all.

The ministry of death was temporary, having been superseded by a better covenant. The ministry of life is eternal. The thought here seems to emphasize the fact that the old covenant was incomplete and temporary. It was a "veiled" covenant, the purpose of which was to bring us to a fuller revelation of Christ. Christ is the permanent fullness of the Divine Glory which, prior to the establishing of the new covenant, had been veiled and not permanently established. The liberty of the new covenant, the liberty to serve God as we should, the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Because of the error of our day we must add that the liberty of the children of God is not freedom from the eternal moral law of God but freedom from the Levitical statutes. We are free from Moses that we may be married—married to Christ.

Chuck Smith :: Study Guide for 2 Corinthians

Marriage to Christ is a far stricter law and government than ever could be true of the Law of Moses. We have been set free also from the obligation to sin. But we must choose to serve righteousness. If we do not choose to serve righteousness we return to servitude to sin. There is no middle ground. If we return to servitude to sin, God will judge the sin, and the result is spiritual death.

In the mirror of the Holy Spirit. As we behold the Presence and working of the Holy Spirit in ourselves and in other people we are witnessing the Glory of Christ. Every time we see the Glory of Christ in the Holy Spirit we are transformed into the image of what we are beholding. The new covenant is the dwelling of Christ in us according to our faith. It is, "Christ in you, the hope of glory. We do not want to come short of that glory. Christ dwells in us through the Holy Spirit. This is not all. We ourselves are being transformed. The vessel that contains the Lord is being remade through contact with Him, making it a sanctified vessel.

As we are transformed we are able to receive a greater portion of Christ. The greater portion transforms us to a greater extent. The process of conversion to His Person continues, from glory to increasing glory—perhaps for eternity. We are being created the Glory of the Lord. We forge ahead each day through the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit, the transforming Agent of the new covenant, proceeding from one state of glory to the next.

The goal is complete, perfect union with the Father through Christ, and complete, perfect conformity to the image of God. Why did Paul not faint nor lose heart as a result of the multitude of persecutions and tribulations that came upon him? So they will be unable to behold the radiance of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ, who is the image of God. In what vessel are we holding this treasure, the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Christ? Again we have theme suffering and comfort; death and resurrection we encountered first in Chapter One— that of ministry from the cross, strength from weakness, life from death, the Glory of God proceeding from our flesh and blood inabilities and perplexities.

Paul was beginning to understand that the tribulations that came upon him continually were accomplishing a Divine purpose. Trouble, afflictions, perplexity, persecution—especially from the Jews, being struck down by people and circumstances. Notice that these pains and problems were not coming on Paul as a judgment on his sins or to purge him from fleshly behavior.

Paul was a helpless, suffering human being. In your estimation, how many people of the world have been saved, strengthened, or otherwise affected for good through the letters of the Apostle Paul? We have mentioned the trouble, afflictions, perplexity, persecution, being struck down. These are the sufferings of Christ. Here, in the fourth chapter of II Corinthians, we see the crucifixion and resurrection worked out in daily life. Every one who suffers with Christ reigns with Christ.

The power by which Christ rules is that of eternal, indestructible, resurrection life, the life that proceeds only from crucifixion with Christ. When we are older in the Lord the same union enables us to bring resurrection life to other people. Finally, we perceive as the goal of our life the removal of all self-centeredness and the gaining of the perfect knowledge of Christ, of the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.

Because such suffering provides the opportunity for the eternal, indestructible, resurrection life of Jesus to raise them up. When we become powerless to act, the Lord must assume control if something is to be done. We always have the sentence of death in ourselves such that we do not trust our own strength or wisdom but in trust God who raises the dead. God who raised the Lord Jesus will raise Paul also with Jesus and will present him with the saints in Corinth before His holy Presence. Why were the things that were happening taking place, especially the tribulations that were coming upon Paul?

The grace of God that was raising up Paul was spreading out to many people. Therefore many people would be praying for Paul and giving thanks for his deliverance, bringing an abundance of glory to God. Tribulation, when we permit it to bring forth the Life of Jesus in us, produces a weight of glory. The weight of glory is the "house which is from heaven" of the next chapter. The house from Heaven is the robe of righteousness and glory that will clothe our resurrected body when the Lord appears from Heaven.

The robe of righteousness consists of the "things done in his body," of II Corinthians 5: Each of us was brought forth in iniquity and conceived in sin Psalms We began life as a self-centered, lawless individual. The great question of life is, "O wretched man that I am! To this end we have been predestined. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be changed into the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers Romans 8: We were born with a blemished personality.

The program of redemption is designed to remove the blemishes and present us before the Father in the image of Christ. Let us take, for an example, the personality blemish we term impatience. In the Kingdom of God, patience is a very important attribute of personality. The Lord Jesus is a patient Person. Satan, and those who follow him, are impatient, demanding and seizing by force whatever they desire. God may have put strong desires and ambitions in us.

As we seek to obtain and fulfill our desires many hindrances arise. At this point we have a choice. We can force our way through to the objective, breaking the laws of God in the meantime; or we can go to the Lord in prayer, seeking His help and comfort, and the patience of Christ, until the Lord brings to pass what we desire. We are perplexed and struck down by circumstances but the eternal Life of the Lord Jesus raises us up. We keep on pressing forward in the Lord, and we keep on being frustrated in terms of our hopes and desires. Our original "robe," our adamic nature with its impatience, is torn down and passes away.

At some point, God rewards us by giving us the Divine patience of Christ. It is not a shaping of our adamic soul but the substitution of Divine patience for our natural ability or inability to be patient. The attributes of personality we desire are all in Christ.

Introduction to 2 Corinthians | leondumoulin.nl

God is ready to add these to us as soon as we prove worthy of them. We prove worthy of them by doing what God has commanded to the best of our ability. Divine patience is a reward that is given to us because we have learned to lean on the Lord, obeying Him in all matters as we are able. In fact, the ability to lean on the Lord is a gift from Heaven which we are to pray for.

The robe of righteousness from Heaven is a change in personality, which may be given to us now in part, and shall be given to us in its fullness when the Lord returns. It is a "house from heaven. When we are robed in righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God, all the glory and blessing of the Kingdom of God will become ours because we are righteous, holy, and obedient.

The robe of righteousness finally includes the glorified body, the house from Heaven. In this life we must learn to fear, love, and trust the Lord. We must acquire the habit of leaning on Him for every detail of thought, word, and action. We must obey Him in all matters. We shall be tested! If we are willing and obedient to learn the lessons life in the world is designed to teach, God will transform our personality, removing our old adamic robe and giving us a new robe of righteousness—in part now, and in fullness at the coming of the Lord.

And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments.

And the angel of the Lord stood by. And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.

Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: It was not the guilt of Joshua that passed from him, it was the filthy garments of iniquity. This passage is not speaking of the forgiveness of sins but of that which is possible only under the new covenant—the actual removal of the sin itself. The Lord did not require of Joshua that he remove his iniquity by himself, because only God can do that.

Then the "Branch" is mentioned. The Branch is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Branch is emphasized because the "change of raiment" speaks of the righteous Nature of Christ, which God brings forth in us. The "fair mitre" [turban] portrays the mind of Christ which is given to the faithful saint. The ministries of the Body of Christ travail until Christ is formed in the members of the Body. It is not Christ-likeness that is formed in us, as though our adamic soul could be changed into the image of God. Rather, it is the substitution of the Divine Nature and Substance of Christ for our adamic nature.

We are being converted, not only in image but in actual substance and spirit. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: Adam cannot imitate Christ. Adam must die and the very Substance and Life of Christ must take his place. Only then can the individual please God, becoming the brother of the Lord. God is pleased when He sees His Son in us. The Lamb is pleased when He beholds the Bride who has been formed from His own body and blood. Our light affliction is the tool that God uses to bring our adamic nature down to futility and death in order that the Life of Christ may arise.

Our "house not made with hands" is the "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" of the preceding chapter. It is the abiding place mansion of which Jesus spoke John Our momentary, light tribulation is achieving for us a solid, eternal glory. This solid glory is our spiritual house that is before the Throne of God in Heaven. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. The weight of glory is our spiritual body, our body of eternal life, our crown of righteousness and life.

A farmer sows seed. The disciple sows his physical body. The farmer reaps wheat. The disciple reaps a spiritual body of righteousness, a robe of eternal life. Our spiritual body, our house from Heaven, is being formed now. The disciple allows God to bring him down into difficult, painful places.

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The believer is perplexed, cast down, weak, denied what he or she is longing for, compelled to do things that are disagreeable, sometimes persecuted so severely as to result in his or her physical death. There is a portion of eternal resurrection life assigned to each difficulty, each pain, each perplexity, each oppression, each weakness. This eternal life raises and strengthens the inner man of the saint.

At the same time it creates before the Throne of God a spiritual body adapted to our strengthened inner man. The development of our inner nature is linked to the new body in Heaven—one complements the other. Eternal, indestructible resurrection righteousness and life are having their rise in two places simultaneously: Here is the righteousness and justice of God. We are reaping exactly what we are sowing on the earth. If we are sowing to our flesh, no house of life is being constructed for us in the Presence of the Father. If we are sowing to the Holy Spirit, a house of eternal life is being constructed for us in Heaven.

We shall be clothed with our own righteous works. If we allow God to bring us into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ in the present world, then we will come to know the power of His resurrection in the ages to come. If we choose instead to walk in the lusts of our body and soul we will reap corruption. We will be a naked spirit in the Day of the Lord, perhaps saved, perhaps lost to the Presence and purposes of God for eternity.

And not only they [the material creation], but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body Romans 8: That his flesh and blood, his mortal body, may be swallowed up by his body from Heaven—the body fashioned from incorruptible, indestructible, resurrection life.

Paul was not longing that he would be "unclothed," that is, lose his physical body. Rather, he was desiring earnestly that his flesh and blood body would be clothed with his body of eternal life from Heaven. This is an important concept. When we are new converts our goal is to go to Heaven when we die so we may enjoy the beauty and wonder of the spirit paradise.

Our longing changes from desiring to rest in the spirit Paradise to that of being clothed with the indestructible power of resurrection life. We want to overcome every enemy of Christ in the earth and establish His righteous rule on the earth. The earth and its peoples are the inheritance of the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot possess our inheritance at the present time because we are dwelling in a sin-filled, corruptible, weak physical body.

When we are clothed with our body of righteousness and life we will be able to possess the earth and its peoples as God has ordained. So we may be clothed with a body suited to our calling as sons of God. God cannot invest us with a body like that of the Lord Jesus Christ when our inner man is disobedient, sinful, fearful, unbelieving, impatient, self-centered, prone to worshiping idols. There are halfhearted, nominal Christians who believe that God intends to take them to Heaven in a "rapture" so they will not be harmed by tribulation.

Then He will invest them they imagine with authority and power as His kings and priests that they may govern the nations of the earth. They have never turned away from the world, taken up their cross, and followed the Lord Jesus in stern obedience to God. Their pastors and teachers have flattered and sought favor with them in order to gain their material support. Such believers are ignorant of spiritual realities, of the laws of cause and effect that are unchanging. It is only as we suffer that we reign with Christ.

It is tribulation that brings us down to death, providing the opportunity for resurrection life to strengthen our inner man and also fashion our body of life before the Throne of God in Heaven. If God were to clothe a halfhearted Christian with a body of eternal power while that person is yet unformed by the rigorous trials of the wholly dedicated disciple, the result would be an unbalanced creature who would be a danger to himself and to those about him.

A foretaste "earnest; pledge" of the Holy Spirit as the guarantee that we belong to God and will not be found spiritually naked in the Day of the Lord. Paul realized that although he was temporarily separated from the Lord because of his flesh and blood existence he possessed a house of eternal life, a weight of exceedingly great glory, before the Throne of God in Heaven.

Our life is spent beholding what is invisible. The Gospel of Christ is a vision of the future. We are saved by hope—the hope of the glory to come with the return of our Lord from Heaven. We are able to endure all things because we are seeing Him who is invisible. One day we will be eternally alive and our hoped-for city will exist in solid reality on the earth.

Today we speak of people appearing in court, and so we transfer that thought to II Corinthians 5: This is somewhat misleading. The concept here is that we will be revealed, made manifest, at the Judgment Seat of Christ. When an individual appears in court today he may or may not be made manifest. He may be successful in hiding what he is and what he has done. He is not necessarily revealed or made manifest.

The translation should read: We all must be made manifest before the Judgment Seat of Christ. This is what will happen. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad II Corinthians 5: We shall receive the things we have done while in our mortal body, whether they were good things or evil things. The directness of the reward is surprising. We tend to think of the verse as meaning that we will be rewarded according to our behavior.

This may be the meaning. But what it states is more direct. The statement is, we shall receive what we have done; not we shall be rewarded according to what we have done, but we shall receive the things we have done. If we were to interpret this in its exact form we would say that if we have practiced love we will receive love itself; not a reward for love but love itself. If we have practiced hate we will receive hate itself. This well may be the case.

It may in fact be true that we will receive a change in our personality according to what we have done, a corresponding change in our appearance and body, and a corresponding destiny. Some of the translators have added the thought that we shall receive a reward appropriate to our behavior and not the behavior itself. It is possible that this is what Paul meant. However, it usually is wise to follow the Scriptures as closely as possible. Things may be different in the Day of the Lord from what would be the case today. We may observe that Satan practiced rebellion. Satan no longer is capable of obedience.

Therefore his appearance is unimaginably horrible and his destiny frightful beyond words. If such is the meaning of II Corinthians 5: The believer who battles lust, denying himself and carrying his cross, will be given a spirit of holiness, a body of eternal righteousness and life, and an inheritance of people to love. The believer who is neglectful and lazy, will be given a spirit of sluggishness, a weak, lazy body, and a destiny in outer darkness. It is believed commonly that if a person makes a profession of faith in Christ, receiving Him as the sacrifice for sins and believing that He rose from the dead, there is little else of significance to do as far as redemption is concerned, other than to wait for His appearing.

Then, when the believer is presented before the Judgment Seat of Christ, he is to affirm his belief in the atoning death and victorious resurrection of the Lord. On this basis he will be ushered into glorious rewards of blessings, and rulership over the nations. This is the understanding of the new covenant held by the majority of Christian believers of our day. One does not need to be a Greek scholar to perceive that this is not what II Corinthians 5: When the Christian appears before the Judgment Seat of Christ he will be revealed for what he truly is.

God will not "see him through Christ. If he has laid hold on the grace of God so that the sufferings of Christ and the power of the resurrection are abounding in him, Divine life, light and glory will flow from him at his unveiling before Christ. If his Christian discipleship has been occupied with the satisfying of his flesh, the things of the present world, then the poverty of his threadbare soul will be uncovered before Christ. He will be ashamed, naked, found wanting. There is no question here of the correctness of his theology concerning the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

The question concerns the things he has done while in the flesh and the corresponding condition of his inner spiritual nature. The first part of the fifth chapter of Second Corinthians has to do with reaping what we have sown. If the believer, when he is made manifest before the Judgment Seat of Christ, has pleased God by his decisions and actions, he will be clothed inwardly with the Spirit of righteousness and outwardly with the body of indestructible life, also having righteous tendencies. If the believer has occupied himself with the things of the world, has indulged in sin, has followed his personal ambitions rather than taken up his cross and followed the Master, then his inner corruption, self-centeredness, and love of the things of Satan will be revealed before the Judgment Seat of Christ.

The believer will be found to be without spiritual clothing. Is it your understanding that Christ will clothe an immature, halfhearted "believer" with an all-powerful body, assigning him to a post of rulership over the nations of the earth, on the basis of his statement of faith in the Person of Christ? The teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ are stern, and we must take heed to them because they do apply to us.

Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: The issue is, rather, what the believer has done with the things of the Kingdom of God that have been given to him.

Those who believe and teach that our inheritance in the Kingdom of God depends on our profession of belief rather than on our behavior will stand one day before the Lord with their followers. They then will give an accounting of their manner of life in the world, before the eyes of the Judge of all the earth. Yes, He is indeed.

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His mercy is shown to us in the world by calling us to His Son, washing away our sins, and filling us with His Holy Spirit. God shows unbounded mercy to every person on the earth. The Judgment Seat of Christ is a demonstration of spiritual laws of cause and effect, of reaping and sowing. We shall reap what we have sown. Spiritual laws are as powerful as the laws that govern the physical universe. It would not be the mercy of God for a careless, double-minded "believer" to be showered with spiritual blessing in the Day of Christ.

It would be a transgression of fundamental spiritual law, a setting aside of the Word of God. Every believer is judged by the Lord, and only the Lord will decide. Christ stated, "Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness.


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If our teaching at this point should frighten the reader, let us call to mind two facts. First, it is well for us to be warned. There is not enough fear of God in the land today. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We have become overfamiliar with the things of Christ and are paying the price in the loss of His Presence and glory. Our overconfidence is not based on spiritual realities, on the true nature of the coming Day of Christ. Second, our fear of the Lord must not paralyze us. The Lord is full of mercy, full of lovingkindness. He always is waiting to receive and assist the humble seeker, the person who trembles at the Word of the Lord.

Every one of us is a sinner saved by grace. There is only one Conqueror, only one Overcomer. His name is Christ. We overcome because He overcomes within us. His life and glory are sufficient for every individual. The right kind of fear of the Lord will lead us to Christ for grace to help us in living the Christian discipleship so we will not be ashamed before Him at His appearing. He will help us if we will invite Him into every aspect of our life. The preceding paragraphs can hardly be overemphasized. There is at the present time an emphasis on the concept that, while out of love we should attempt to please Christ, we never can be severely punished by the Lord or lose our redemption altogether no matter what we do.

This doctrine is totally unscriptural and totally destructive of the spiritual life, being void of the fear of God. It has destroyed the moral light of the Christian churches, and as a result the moral character of the nations that look to the churches for moral guidance. The recent stress on the goodness of God, and the corresponding ignoring of the frightful warnings of the Scriptures by "ministers" who are afraid of public opinion, has rendered the churches incompetent in Kingdom warfare—and this at a time when the forces of darkness are arising and filling the earth with lust and violence.

It is good and wholesome for the Christian believer to have some concept of the dreadfulness that attends the Father of spirits and His beloved Son, Christ. Apart from such an awareness of spiritual authority and power we become much too careless and overconfident concerning the things of Christ. We are to have no fear of Satan. His authority and power were stripped from him on the cross of Calvary.

We are to fear Christ. Those who are teaching that we are not to fear God and Christ are ignorant of the Word of God and also of the realities that are to be disclosed shortly. Whoever does not fear God has never seen Him or known Him. Whoever does not fear Christ has never seen Him or known Him.

He may have been pampered to the extent that he cannot understand the harshness of his changed environment. He may not be willing to accept the fact that his loving heavenly Father would permit him to encounter so much pain. The sight of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross helps us understand both the mercy and the judgment of God Almighty.

If we will allow the rigors of the cross to enter our spirit we will not be thrown off balance when we are given the opportunity to suffer for His name. The believer who fears God and Christ with a wholesome fear and who loves God and Christ with all his heart and strength has a true perception of the Person of God. It is likely that he or she will make a success of the walk of faith.


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To persuade people concerning the fact that one day each of us will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and be made manifest as to what we have done in life. We cannot emphasize too strongly that it is our actions rather than our intentions that are judged. I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. God waits until our behavior has produced results.

Then He judges the results "the fruit of his doings". We like to think that God sees us as having a good heart even though we do not always do good things. However, God does not judge our intentions as much as He judges what we actually do. There is a crippling sense of inevitably that affects mankind, a sense that no matter what we do everything somehow will come out all right. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Scriptures proclaim that which is literally true. Salvation is a window of opportunity. If we practice what is good, the rewards will be precisely as the Word has stated. If we practice what is evil, the rewards will be precisely as the Word has stated. The greatest surprise we shall experience during the Day of the Lord is that there will be no surprise. Everything will be exactly as the Word has stated. The rewards to the victorious saints will be fantastic beyond their dreams. The punishments of the lazy and wicked will be more painful than we can imagine.

Let us believe every Word of God, for all shall come to pass literally, just as the Scriptures declare. So that the believers in Corinth would be able to give an answer to people who came among them and boasted of appearances rather than what truly was in the heart. Paul expresses the same thought in both First and Second Corinthians.

Paul had founded the church in Corinth. Whereas Paul deliberately made himself to be nothing of importance and spoke plainly and simply, these other teachers exalted themselves and pretended to be important and capable. These self-seeking teachers attempted to make the Corinthian Christians believe that Paul was not an apostle and was not to be followed or heeded. Paul refers to this problem several times and attempts to reassure the saints in Corinth that he actually is an apostle of Christ and has presented to them the true way of the Lord. There always have been false, self-seeking teachers and leaders in the churches of Christ, just as there are today.

How many ministers of today truly love the Lord Jesus? What reason does Paul give for his behavior while he was at Corinth, for his times of "madness" and also of sober-mindedness? Paul was a Hebrew of extraordinary training and ability, and no doubt of personal family wealth. He was not impressed by the accomplishments of the pagan Greeks Gentile dogs to him. Rather, he suffered all things and behaved as he did for their edification in Christ. It is difficult for a proud man to be spurned by those whom he is endeavoring to help, especially when he has made himself foolish and of no account for their sakes.

It is part of the sufferings of Christ. If Christ died for every person, then every person has died. Therefore every person should no longer live for himself or herself but should live for Christ who died on his behalf and rose again on his behalf. Even though Paul had gained some understanding of Christ on a human level he no longer was perceiving and learning of Christ in human terms, according to flesh and blood relationships.

A new creation has been brought forth in his personality. The new creation is the eternal union of Christ and the individual. The new creation is the Kingdom of God. It is important to notice here that God does not make all new things , He makes all things new. There is a difference. God is not doing away with us or with mankind and the world. Rather, He is bringing Christ into us now, and in the future He will bring Christ into saved mankind throughout the world.

God is transforming the creation by filling it with Christ. All who believe and receive will be saved and transformed. All who refuse and rebel will be destroyed. The kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom of Christ. The Glory of God shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. It is absolutely true that the old world, including the present earth and the heaven, will pass away. But then there will brought into existence a new heaven sky and a new earth.

The point is, the Lord is not making all different things, but the things we are accustomed to are being made new in Christ. This means all that is to be saved is being brought down to death and then raised again in Christ. Notice that God has not reconciled Himself to us, He has reconciled us to Himself. God does not change. It is we who are required to change. It always is a mistake to change the Word of God so that people are attracted. We are to be reconciled to God, not God to us. God came in Christ and through His own sacrificial offering, and the giving of the Holy Spirit, has enabled those who believe to be reconciled to Himself.

The concept of Christ becoming sin, becoming the bronze serpent, is unimaginable. It accounts for His awful cry in Gethsemane. No other person will ever be able to experience or comprehend such an ordeal. We can do no less than be thankful and serve Him by the grace He imparts to us. In Him we have the opportunity to become the righteousness of God. When we abide in Christ, God sees us as possessing the righteousness that exists only in the Divine Godhead. Here is the correct relationship. We are not to be working for God. God is not working for us.

God is working in terms of His own counsel and purposes, and He brings us into that labor as part of His joy, His travail, His sufferings, His Life, His power, His wisdom. We can read in First and Second Corinthians of the many problems the believers in Corinth were having. Further on in Chapter Six we notice that Paul was concerned about holiness, about their fellowshiping with unbelievers.

Any of these problems can take a believer off the track so he makes shipwreck of the life of faith in Christ. He may make a fine start, believing on Christ and being born again. He then may become arrogant or consumed with sectarian pride and loyalty or may abandon himself to food and drink. It withers and dies because it was not cared for with diligence. He received the grace of God in vain! And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. The Christian discipleship is a dangerous warfare.

We are safe only as long as we keep ourselves in Christ each day by praying, reading the Word, fellowshiping with the saints, and obeying the Spirit of God. Current Christian theology has been so corrupted, has been removed so far from the truth, that our admonition to prayer, reading the Word and so forth are regarded as desirable practices but not essential to salvation. When we stress them we are accused of "legalism.

The truth is, if we do not give ourselves to the things of Christ we have received the grace of God in vain. Some have complained that we are teaching "works. A destructive concept that has confused Christian thinking for centuries is still being preached and well may be one of the major tools of Satan in the years to come. It is that Christ has overcome the enemy and our sole task is to partake of His victory by identifying ourselves with Him. The deadliness of this idea results from the fact that it is so close to the truth. In fact, it is the truth. The spiritual and moral destruction takes place when the conclusion is drawn that the believer is to make no effort to overcome.

The doctrinal poison that portrays redemption taking place apart from our personal effort can be found in many different forms. The recent development, the concept that Christ did all the overcoming for us and we now are to rest in Him, is one leg of a paradox. The other leg is that we must "awake to righteousness, and sin not" I Corinthians The New Testament writings contain numerous exhortations to personal effort.

Victorious Christian living depends on our learning how to rest in the victory wrought by Christ, while at the same time running the race with all of our might. Satan will do everything in his power to discourage the believers from making the daily effort to pray and seek the Lord that is necessary for victorious living. He will even point out the perfect victory of Christ and use that as a reason for our not stirring up the gift that is in us. We could hardly overemphasize the deadliness of the idea that Christ has done it all and our sole task is to trust that this is so. It is absolutely true that Christ finished the work of redemption on the cross.

Our task is to receive that victory by faith, and then to work it out by pressing forward to total victory over the enemy. We press forward by offering our body as a living sacrifice and proving the will of God each day. We must run the race to win. We must keep the Word of the Lord, praying to Him constantly for help. We must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. We must overcome as He overcame—always by living, working, and pressing forward in Him. Our salvation, including our rewards, depends on our diligence in serving the Lord.

Any other teaching will lead to passivity, moral chaos, and spiritual death. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Titus 2: If someone would ask, Will God love me and bless me even if I am not faithful in keeping the Word of Christ?

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not Matthew Yes— works in the sense of doing diligently what the New Testament commands us to do. Are we teaching that we actually have to do something in order to escape outer darkness? And if we do not do what Jesus expects of us, there shall be dire consequences.

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: Are we actually required to exert ourselves in order to please the Lord? Yes, the Lord hates laziness, and the future of the lazy believer is not enviable. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Do we have to bear the fruit of righteousness in our life in order to keep our place in Christ? Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: Is current Christian doctrine filled with poisonous error?

But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world I Corinthians We have come now to the point in history when Christ is ready to prepare His army for the Battle of Armageddon. Satan has no fear of the saints being caught up to Heaven.

It is only as the saints experience the death of the cross that the Presence of God can come forth and destroy Satan. Another satanic purpose of the "Christ did it all," and the accompanying overemphasis on the goodness of God, is to keep the believers ignorant of the fiery wrath of God, the burning fire that purifies us as we pass through severe judgments. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: And if the righteous scarcely be saved [is saved with difficulty], where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? When the Gentile holocaust arrives and it is coming! This is what Satan desires. This is what happened to many of the Jews of the holocaust. No teacher of sound mental health enjoys announcing to people the negative aspects of the Scriptures. But the negative outweigh the positive. Divine promises are surrounded by Divine warnings. The true teacher of God faithfully presents the negative and positive in scriptural balance.

The hireling stresses the positive, hoping to gain followers. His god is his belly. Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: It is in this chapter that the Spirit of Christ declares that salvation at the hand of Christ will not stop with Israel but will include the Gentiles also.

David Guzik :: Study Guide for 2 Corinthians 1

And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth Isaiah Being a learned Hebrew, Paul knew this passage well. He understood that the time spoken of by Isaiah had arrived.

Paul, as a servant of Christ, was carrying forward the work of the Servant of the Lord by bringing the light of God to the Gentiles. Since this glorious redemption, so long awaited by the devout of Israel, had finally arrived, the saints in Corinth were to take heed that they continue to walk in the righteous ways of Christ—the ways that had been taught to them by the Apostle Paul. The acceptable time, the day of salvation, is now. To give no offense in any matter. With an open mouth and open heart, that is, Paul meant exactly what he said.

He did not walk in craftiness or handle the Word of God deceitfully. What Paul heard from Christ he told to them. He did not declare some parts of the Word and hold back other parts in order to use the Corinthians for his own purposes. All of us who serve Christ must learn to tell people the truth in love. If we hold back part of the Word in order to please people we will have to answer for our deceitfulness before the Judgment Seat of Christ.

He informed them that there was no lack of openness in his love toward them. If there was any restraint of affection, any holding back of love and trust, it was on their part, not on his. He proclaimed Christ openly to them with affection, and any limitations on how much of Christ they received were placed by themselves. They are not to join themselves to unbelievers.

They are not to enter partnerships, into alliances, into covenants with people in whom the Spirit of Christ is not dwelling. While we are in the world a certain amount of relationship with unsaved people is unavoidable. However, marriage, business partnerships, and other prolonged, intimate involvements with people of the world are not suitable for the saint. Sooner or later there will be trouble, because the Christian is serving the Lord Jesus Christ while the unbeliever is not ruled by the Spirit of God but by Satan.

And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people Leviticus We are to come out of the midst of the unbelievers, regarding our behavior, close alliances, and fellowshiping. We are to be separated as holy to the Lord. We are not to touch what is unclean. The unclean works of the flesh that we are not to touch are adultery, fornication, all other forms of lust, filthy talk, the love of money and material possessions, all expressions of occult force or wisdom, all forms of rage, murder, hatred, sectarian pride, envy, jealousy, spite, excesses of food and drink, malice.

In short, we are to flee from most of the practices of unbelievers. The Lord Almighty will receive us, bidding us welcome. He will become our Father and we will become His sons and daughters. The common Christian doctrine states that it is sufficient for the inquirer to make a profession of Christ, according to Romans Now we find that the profession of theological truth is only the beginning of our participation in the work of redemption.

We must come out of the world if we hope to be received by the Father. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. God will not receive us solely on the basis of a profession of belief in Christ.

In order to be received of God, to claim God as our Father, we must come out from the world and refuse to participate in the works of the flesh. If we do not take these steps, God will not receive us no matter how much we call Jesus Lord. We can understand from this point alone how far from the truth current teaching and preaching is.

It is time for a reformation of Christian thinking. No matter how much we preach Christ, if the listeners do not cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the work of sanctification they will not grow. If they do not grow in Christ, in holiness, taking up their cross and following Jesus, they will remain spiritual babies. They will continue to be of no use in setting up the Kingdom of God. We should cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

The Greek word translated fear , in II Corinthians 7: It is the same word used in Luke Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. The context of Isaiah 8: The changed emotional tone of chapters is obvious. Some have asserted that it is the result of several of Paul's letters to the church at Corinth being combined into II Corinthians. It is also possible that Paul wrote these after he heard about a new outbreak of opposition within the Corinthian fellowship. It is an emotional addendum. Refuting the itinerant Jewish false teachers cf.

Paul responds to Titus' message and relates his travel plans, chapters there is a major parenthesis dealing with Paul's apostolic ministry, 2: Paul's encouragement for the completion of the contribution for the Jerusalem church, chapters This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator. Read the entire biblical book at one sitting. State the central theme of the entire book in your own words.

Read the entire biblical book a second time at one sitting. Outline the main subjects and express the subject in a single sentence. The Snake that Saves Numbers Stumbling at the Finish Numbers What Hope Do I Have? A Psalmist Calls For Help. I and II Corinthians. Paul's Letters to a Troubled Church: There is no hint of disunity in any of the ancient Greek manuscripts. No variations of the literary units b. No manuscript which does not contain all thirteen chapters.

Paul is stated to be the author in 1: Paul wrote a severe letter cf. This letter is unknown, unless, as some suppose, part of it is in II Cor. He found Titus and heard that the church had responded to his leadership and he then wrote II Corinthians in great thanksgiving cf.

It was delivered by Titus a. Some modern scholars find the lost letters in II Corinthians 1. Here are some of the charges leveled against Paul to which he responds. Paul was fickle i. Paul was a powerful writer, but weak in personal speech cf. Paul was not a polished orator cf. Paul did not accept money cf. Paul was not a true Apostle cf. Paul was not an orthodox Jew cf. Outlining this book is extremely difficult because of: However, there are obviously three major subject divisions: Paul's encouragement for the completion of the contribution for the Jerusalem church, chapters 3. Theme of entire book 2.

Subject of first literary unit 2. Subject of second literary unit 3. Subject of third literary unit 4.