Lesson for August 23, 2023
The Book of II Corinthians
Chapter 7:1-16
Verses 1-4
“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Make room for us in your hearts; we wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one. I do not speak to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together.Great is my confidence in you; great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.”
These promises is a reference to the promises in II Corinthians 6:16-18 quoted from the Old Testament. The principles of separation and promises of blessings continue to be valid to all dispensations. The Greek word for cleanse is “katharizo,” which means to purify. The Greek word for defilement is “molusmos,” which means to stain. These words refer to mental attitude sins which take us out of fellowship with God and grieve the Holy Spirit.
Perfecting holiness in the fear of God means reaching spiritual adulthood. The Greek word forperfecting is “epiteleo,” which means to accomplish or to finish. The Greek word for holiness is “hagiosune,” referring to experiential sanctification. The Greek word for fear is “phobos,” which means respect. There must be respect for God’s authority (doctrine) before there can be respect for God.
Make room for us in your hearts; we wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one. Some of the Corinthians had mental attitude sins toward Paul. They needed to Rebound and get back in fellowship with God. They accused Paul and his team of three things: wronged is “adikeo,” which means to be unjust or unfair, corrupted is “phtheiro,” which means to destroy, and advantage is “pleonekteo,” which means to defraud. Paul denied all accusations.
I do not speak to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together.Great is my confidence in you; great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction. Paul was attempting to encourage these believers and not condemn them for their previous failures. His goal was to unite, not divide.
Paul said he had great confidence in them to do the right thing and rebuild their spiritual lives. Anticipating this, Paul could boast about their recovery, be comforted, and filled with joy.
Verses 5-7
“For even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus; and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more.”
Amidst the conflicts, fears, and depression, Paul and his team were comforted by God through a good report from Titus regarding the believers in Corinth, which intensified his happiness. Titus expressed how much the Corinthians wanted Paul to return for a visit, even to the point of mourning the fact he hadn’t been able to. At this point the Corinthians’ carnality has been changed to spirituality through Rebound.
Verses 8-12
“For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.So, although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God.”
Paul wrote exactly what the Holy Spirit wanted to be recorded even though he later regretted the harshness which the situation demanded. And even though he was tough on the Corinthians, this did not detract from the fact that he was filled with the Holy Spirit when he wrote to them. It was never Paul’s desire to make the Corinthian believers, who were in a state of reversionism, to grieve. His desire was that they would change their minds (repent) and turn back to God and accurate doctrine. So, Paul was happy when he knew they had changed their minds and returned to God. He did not regret the results of his harshness in his first letter, but the fact that he had to write it in the first place.
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. The sorrow that leads to the deliverance (salvation) from false doctrine is not regrettable. The sorrow that produces death means the death of your spiritual life.
For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. The Greek word for earnestnessis “spoude,” which means diligence or zeal. Godly sorrow (regret or grief) had caused these believers to be diligent in Rebound and the restoration of their spiritual lives. The Greek word for produced is “katergazomai,” which means to work out, or something on the inside working out.
The earnestness that sorrow had produced was: vindication is the Greek word “apologia,” which means a defense against an accusation, indignation is “aganaktesis,” which means a new viewpoint, fear is “phobos,” which means a reverential fear that motivates, longing is “epipothesis,” which means an intense desire, zeal is “zelos,” which means fervent mind, and avenging is “sunistemi,” which means to meet with approval. The idea is that these believers replaced their Human Viewpoint Thinking with Divine Viewpoint Thinking. They became passionate about Bible doctrine once again. All these things they had done to restore their spiritual lives had “cleared” them with regard to Paul’s chastisement of them in his first letter.
So, although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God. Paul did not write to take sides in the Corinthian controversy, but he wrote so that they would be aware of their need of Rebound, and that they would be brought back to doctrine. It was Paul’s objective to stimulate them to come back to the grace of God.
Verses 13-16
“Because of this, we have been comforted. And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even much more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I was not put to shame; but as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our boasting before Titus proved to be the truth. His affection abounds all the more toward you, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. I rejoice that in everything I have confidence in you.”
We see the successful mission of Titus to the church in Corinth. Titus was one of Pail’s “troubleshooters” in the ministry. He had been sent to Corinth to straighten out the false teaching, which was prevalent at the time, that had infiltrated the church. He did such an amazing job through teaching accurate Bible doctrine that those believers in reversionism had rebounded and returned to the grace of God from the legalism of the false teachers. There is no greater joy for a pastor-teacher than to see a positive response to his teaching.
Paul knew these believers intimately, having led many of them to Christ and establishing a church in the city of Corinth. As with many churches, they started out strong but eventually succumbed to the pressure of false teachers and apostate doctrine. However, Paul had great hope in sending Titus to them that he would teach in such a way that it would be used by the Holy Spirit to convict those believers who had succumbed to false teaching and cause them to return to the truth.
Paul’s boasting about these believers proved to be true when they returned to their spiritual lives. Titus remembered their positive response to accurate Bible doctrine, which increased his love for these believers even more. Titus recalled how these believers responded to him and his message, which when Paul heard this, it caused him to have confidence in them and rejoice even more!