2nd Corinthians – Godly Social Order

God’s Promises

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Godly Social Order

Lesson: 20-25

Genre: Talk

Track: 20

Dictation Name: RR41611A

Location/Venue:

Year: 1998-2000

[Mark Rushdoony] “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,”

Let us pray. Our most good and glorious heavenly Father we thank you for your goodness to us each day. We praise you for your loving kindness which protects us, which directs us, which has given us your word so that we might know your will. We pray that you would help us as we seek to direct our lives as you would have us. We pray that you would help us to make reference to your revealed will and not our desires; to Thy commands and not our will. We pray that you would help us to understand our responsibilities better each day. We pray for your sanctifying spirit to work in our lives, to encourage us in faithfulness to your word, and in faithfulness to our efforts to in some way increase your kingdom in our lives and in those around us each and every day. We pray that you would bless this time we have in your word, we pray that you would encourage all those who worship you together this day, encourage them in a spirit of unity that is based on your word, and in a spirit of unity that is based upon extending your kingdom, and that of your son Jesus Christ. We pray this in His name, amen.

The scripture passage for this morning’s sermon, I will be reading from 2 Corinthians 10:1-18, it is the entire chapter of 2 Corinthians 10.

“10 Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:

2 But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

7 Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? if any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's.

8 For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed:

9 That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters.

10 For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.

11 Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.

12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

13 But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.

14 For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:

15 Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men's labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly,

16 To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand.

17 But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

18 For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.”

[R. J. Rushdoony] As we have seen, as we have gone through these chapters of 2 Corinthians that deal with charity, charity to the needy during the famine in Palestine, that there are three kinds of giving that the Bible requires of us: the tithe, then second, free will gifts above and over the tithe to the Lords work, and third, charitable gifts. None of these are compulsory in the sense that there is some kind of punishment from the church if you do not do these things. That would go against the whole spirit of the Bible, for what the Bible requires of us is that out of our own nature we sever the Lord, we obey His commandments, and so on.

When you go through Gods law, the number of laws that have penalties where church or state or family is required to punish the person are few compared to the many laws that speak to us that tell us how seriously God considers them, and then require us to obey them out of our own free will.

Now, as Paul continues, he begins by telling them that: ‘I have begged you, and I do beg you, to be faithful to the Lord in these things of which I speak. We walk in the flesh. We live in this world where men think only of considerations humanistically, but we are not to wage war against anything or anyone after the flesh. This is why what I am talking to you about is not something that you are going to be required to do, otherwise you will be punished by state or church. No. I am appealing to your conscience. God considers this very important, but God considers this and other things too important to be made merely a matter of discipline and punishment. He is the one who will reward you or punish you for these things. We have a war, a war against sin, a war against this world; but our warfare is not carnal, it is not after the way of the world, but it is in terms of Gods law, God’s blessings, and God’s requirements that we do these things. We do it because God requires it, not because church or state will punish us. Therefore, we are to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.’

Now, this is a very important statement. We are not going to go our way serving the Lord, because if we don’t we are going to be punished by someone, but we do it because we are obedient to Christ, obedient spiritually. Obedient because we believe what He requires is the way of life.

We can perhaps make an analogy here to marriage. We are faithful and loving one to another in marriage, not because if we say a cross word or get angry we are going to be hauled before a court, we do it because we love one another. And so, Paul says: ‘We are obedient to God’s law concerning giving as well as other things because we love the Lord; and because the kingdom of God is not to be brought in by compulsion, but by our faithful and loving obedience to the Lord.’

Therefore we should have a “readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” We do bring judgment on disobedience, but it is not after the way of the world. It is through faith, through our love, through our disciplined lives. We do not look at things in terms of the outward appearance, we do not follow the world in judging by appearance, but we are judged by God according to His word, we are called by the Spirit to obey Him, and we try to live a life in the Spirit as much as possible.

The kingdom of God therefore is a revolutionary kind of order. While there are things that are to be punished, if we go through the 600 and some laws that God gives in the Old Testament according to the Rabbinic count, we are surprised how few of them require punishment by church, state, or family. Most of them say that the spirit is to lead us in these things, that we are to obey God because we love Him, and we are to create a spiritual order, not a tyrannical one.

When you follow the method of compulsion: “You do this and we are going to clobber you for it, we are going to send you to prison, or we are going to execute you.” Or whatever, the more you follow that way, the more you destroy society.

Now, the state does not believe in the Holy Spirit. The state has no holy spirit. So what does it do? It fines you or send you to prison, or executes you. Now, that changes no man. It makes no man a better man, in fact it can make him the worse. So, when you have a statist kingdom or government, or attempt to bring about a good society, it gets worse and worse instead. It gets worse because there is no inner change. There is no Holy Spirit to guide us into righteousness and truth, to make us do what is right, not because we are going to be sent to prison otherwise, but because God requires it of us, and being in the Spirit we want to do God’s will.

So, we have a totally different outlook when we are Christian; we depend on the Spirit, we depend on men’s character, their growth in the Spirit of God to alter the world, not upon a law passed by Congress or Parliament. That in itself does no good. What it does instead because it fails when there is no character among men, no faith, it requires more laws. So you go from a few laws to many laws, to a totally law society as in the Soviet Union and similar social orders.

This is why in Rome, as in Paul’s day, everything was by law. You could not even have a group of people in your home to discuss something without a license. That is why the early church limited the number of people since they were home churches, and if they had too many attending at one house, it would arouse suspicion and state interference.

There is a world of difference then between the Christian plan for society and the non-Christian one. The non-Christian on depends entirely on compulsion, compulsion. The Christian society uses compulsion as little as possible, and depends on the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of believers.

So, as Paul continues, “Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? if any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's.”

‘You believe that your way is right because you see yourself as Christ’s, but,’ Paul says: ‘I also am Christ’s.’ And he goes on to say: ‘I can boast if I choose, of the particular authority that Christ has given me as an apostle, of the power to perform miracles. But I choose not to do so. I appeal to you in the Spirit. I know how little you think of me, how you have said that I terrify people with my letters, but in person am not very impressive, and my speech contemptible.’

In other words, Paul says: ‘I am not a good speaker in your eyes; perhaps I am not. But what I say is of the Lord. I will deal with you when I come, even as I am dealing with you in my letters, by Gods truth. I do not compare myself to others, but I judge myself, I measure myself, in terms of the word of God.’

And so he declares: ‘You have a duty to obey me, because it is the gospel of Christ that I preach. When your faith is increased, then you shall be enlarged, and you will see me as the servant of God, as one who has been called to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, to all the world, and hath been called by God.

“he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” ‘And this is my glory,’ he said. “For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.” And Paul says: ‘God commends me. He has blessed my life and my labors, and therefore I feel I should be respected and obeyed by you.’

Well, this is a tremendous statement by Paul, and we should bear in mind that he has in mind here what he said in the previous chapter, and continues to develop in this one, namely, he says that: ‘God is liberal towards all that are liberal in His service, who are liberal specifically in their charity.’ Now, there are many, many blessings pronounced throughout the Bible. It is interesting how most of them are specific. Here Paul says: ‘God is going to bless you, not generally; God is going to bless you for being charitable.’

Charity is an important requirement of Christians. It is an important requirement of churches, of Christian groups. We of Chalcedon have tried to be charitable; for example we are helping Peter Hammond with his work in Africa, and have also helped Aaron (Kaiaion?) with his work in Africa and Armenia, we have helped my brother in his work in Macedonian Outreach in Kosovo, Bulgaria, and throughout the Balkans, and so on. We have tried to make charity an important part of our work, because we want the blessing of the Lord.

So, we have to recognize that when we are saved by Jesus Christ, much more is expected of us than to say: “Thank you Lord.” and go to church, and so on. We have a duty, whether directly as individuals, or through our church or a Christian organization to minister to human need, to be mindful that God makes this a major part of His word. If you read through the law, you find how much charity is urged on us, especially widows and orphans are in particular frequently mentioned. This is true throughout the prophets, and in the New Testament, and we see here how much space in 2 Corinthians Paul gives to this matter of charity.

He could have said: ‘There is famine in Palestine, we need to help.’ And gone on. But he goes on at great length in chapter after chapter to deal with this issue, and commend it to them, that out of their own free will, they do what God requires.

So it is today. God does not require the tithe of us, He does not say: ‘You are going to be punished in this and that way by the church if you don’t do this, or if you don’t give some gifts above and beyond, or if you don’t give to charity.’ He gives no church that power, no organization that power. But He also says: ‘This is basic to my kingdom.’ This is the society we have to create, the kingdom of God; where it is not by statist compulsion that the good society is brought in, no, the amount of statist compulsion that God allows in His law is very limited. The compulsion is of the Holy Spirit. God speaks to us and He says: ‘This is the way, walk ye in it.’ He does not say: ‘If you don’t give, you are going to be hauled before the session or Deacons to be punished.’ Rather He summons us as members of Jesus Christ to be mindful of the needs of His kingdom, and our duties as members of it.

When you look carefully at the Bible, it tells us something wonderful. The basic government is not Rome nor Washington, it is you and I. And the future will only be a good one as we govern ourselves, and then govern the world around us with our behavior, our charity, our obedience to the law word of God.

Let us pray. Our Father, we thank Thee for this Thy word. Thou hast shown us the way of freedom, of Thy kingdom. Now give us grace to walk as Thou wouldst have us to walk; to be obedient, to be zealous in Thy service. To know that Thy kingdom is of Thy Spirit, and not of the rule of men. In Christ’s name, amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson? I hope you are beginning to see how these many chapters that Paul is giving to the matter of charity are so very, very important, and so basic to the whole of the Bible.

Well, if there are now questions, let us conclude with prayer. Our Father, how glorious is Thy kingdom. How marvelous Thy word. And we pray that day by day we may be more and more faithful to Thy word, rejoice in it, obey it, and in all things glorify Thy Holy name. Bless us now as we give ourselves to Thee.

And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.