2nd Corinthians – Godly Social Order

Grace and Law

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Godly Social Order

Lesson: 25-25

Genre: Talk

Track: 25

Dictation Name: RR41613B

Location/Venue:

Year: 1998-2000

[Mark Rushdoony] There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God. Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry: Abba, Father.

Let us pray. Our most good and gracious God and heavenly Father we come before you now in humility. We thank you for the privilege we have of addressing you as Abba, Father. We pray that you would teach us humility in that you have given us this privilege, yet use that humility to give us boldness to stand for you our heavenly Father. We pray that you would encourage us in our walk in the faith, we pray that you would give us an awareness of your Spirit with us and guiding us, in all holiness. We pray that you would encourage us this day and this week. We thank you for your goodness to us, we thank you for your providing for our daily needs. We thank you that you sustain us throughout our lives. We pray that you would encourage us to be ever more reliant on you, and ever more confident in your care for us. We pray that you would encourage us in our understanding of our responsibilities to you, and give us the courage to take a stand in terms of that belief. We pray that you would bless us, forgive us for our sins as we confess them to you. We pray that you would bless our families, we pray that you would keep our loved ones whom we have committed to you close to you, we pray that you would convict them when they stray from their covenant responsibilities, we pray for our loved ones far and near. We pray that you would help us to understand the larger church by our understanding of our responsibilities in our own home, to maintain our covenant faithfulness. Bless now this time we have together in the word; we ask this in Christ our saviors name, amen.

I will be reading the scripture text for this morning’s sermon, which is 2 Corinthians 12:10-21, 2 Corinthians 12:10 through the end of the chapter. And the subject of today’s lesson is Paul’s Defense.

“10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

11 I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.

12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

13 For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong.

14 Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

15 And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.

16 But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.

17 Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you?

18 I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?

19 Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.

20 For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

21 And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.”

[R. J. Rushdoony] In these verses in 2 Corinthians 12:10-21 We come to Paul’s defense, or we can say, his self defense. What Christianity is, is variously defined. Most people choose to define it in terms of what they think, not what scripture says. In the past 2-3 days on television, there have been discussions about the proposition on the ballot with respect to marriage. And it has been startling, although not unexpected , to hear homosexuals define homosexuality as Christian. And in the name of Christ, condemn anyone who condemn homosexuality.

As you can see, not only now but over the generations as Paul makes clear, people have variously defined the faith. They have defined it in terms of their own sins.

Paul’s defense is really not a self-defense, but a defense of the gospel. Because his defense is Jesus Christ. His faithfulness is his problem, not any sin on his part. Then, as now, people want Christ on their own terms, not on His. As a result, there was no desire to have Christ in terms of scripture in Corinth, but only in terms of themselves. They wanted salvation but no commitment. They wanted to say yes to Jesus, but their yes did not mean obedience.

Now that is not an uncommon problem today. Putting aside for a time those who profess that homosexuality is Biblical, consider the fact that most of the church today refuses to believe in the law, and yet still calls itself Christian.

Well, Paul as he writes to the Corinthians tells them that he comes not in his own strength, but in Christ.

“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake:”

He does this because he is not preaching himself. He knows that he does not depend upon himself and his works for salvation, but on Jesus Christ. So when he becomes aware of his weaknesses, he rejoices. It reminds him that his strength is Christ, not himself. The problem today is that there are too many sinners in the church, and that these sinners take pride in their supposed virtues. As against this, Paul says:

“when I am weak, then am I strong.”

‘When I am aware of my weakness, my sinfulness, it is then that I trust in Christ, and it is then that I am strong.’ And then he adds:

“I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.”

Paul apologizes, a bit sarcastically, to the Corinthians for commending himself. And of course as against the Corinthians, he has every reason to commend himself. But he says: ‘You will not commend me, in fact you commend yourselves, but I commend Christ. I praise Him, not myself.’ And he says, ‘in my service to Christ, although I am in myself nothing, I am not behind the very chiefest apostles in what I have accomplished for the Lord.

“Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.”

‘I don’t have to call attention to all that I did among you.’ We have no specific record of the miracles Paul performed among the Corinthians, but apparently he did. And quite a few. But none of this commended him to the Corinthians. In other words, no matter what we do if people are determined to condemn us, they will condemn us. And Paul says: ‘I find my strength in Christ and in my faithfulness to Him. “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.”

‘If you’ll think for a moment, you will realize that Christ was using His power in and through me.’ None of the apostles ever wrought a single miracle except in the name of Jesus Christ. ‘In the name of Jesus Christ I say: Stand up and walk!’ that was the way they talked. They never claimed that it was their power; it was the power of Christ. And name here means in the power, in the person of Jesus Christ. ‘I speak, I command you, I say stand up and walk.’

“For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong.”

That is sarcastic. Paul says: ‘You were not inferior,’ and he uses that term ironically, ‘To any other churches except in one respect, you didn’t have to pay to support me. I came there, I was your missionary, without pay from you. I asked other churches, however hard up they were, to support me, because I wanted to be independent of you in order to speak more clearly and bluntly; and to be in no way obligated to you.’

“Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.”

‘I am coming there soon, and again I will be no burden to you financially. I am treating you as my children, and children are supported by the parents.’ This is a remarkable statement. Paul had every reason to damn the Corinthians, but he did not. Instead he spoke as a Father, and said they were like his children; unruly children, but his children. He had begotten them in the faith, and therefore he was patient with them.

“And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.”

This is an amazing statement. Paul says: ‘The more I do for you, the less you like me. But, though this is true, and though it continue to be true, I shall still work to improve your faith and character, and to convert the unconverted.

“But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.”

Again Paul is sarcastic. He is loving in his sarcasm, but nonetheless he does not spare them. He says: ‘I refuse to take anything from you, in order to catch you with guile, to delude you into thinking I was so generous.’ Which of course he was, and which they were unwilling to acknowledge.

“Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you?”

‘I sent other men unto you, including Titus. But did I make a gain through them? Did I say: ‘Well, let them milk you for all they can, to carry on the work elsewhere.’ No, I did not.’

“I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?”

Well, Titus took no pay, like Paul he worked freely and charged other churches. ‘What was behind this?’ Paul says. ‘Are you going to interpret even this, as some kind of guile or trick on my part?’

In other words, if people are evil or sinful, or hateful, no matter what you do they are going to misinterpret it. And this is what the Corinthians had done.

“Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.”

‘All this is to edify you. To enable you to grow in grace.’ The amazing thing in this verse is that Paul calls them ‘Dearly Beloved.’ Paul uses that phrase only a few times in all his letters, and about half of the usages as we saw earlier, were in Corinth. Paul was not hypocrite. He truly loved the Corinthians. Paul knew that he had been a fearful sinner, he had been responsible for the arrest and death of Christians. He therefore, as he saw the sinners in Corinth, in the church, he was reminded of what he was. He knew how patient God had been with him, and so he shows love and patience toward the Corinthians.

“For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:”

Paul says: ‘I am speaking very bluntly now, because I would rather do it now than when I come. I am hoping that my letter will wake you up, change you, so that when I come you will be truly Christian.’

Paul nowhere in this chapter says anything about the probability that many of them are not. He touches on this in the next chapter. But for the present, he is treating them all as saved people, although still very sinful. And he says: ‘I am speaking very bluntly now, because when I come I don’t want arguments and envying’s and hatred and bitterness to prevail. I want to come to a peaceful, believing church.

“And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.”

He says: ‘I know I need humbling from God. I need to be reminded by God what a sinful man I once was, and what an enemy of Jesus Christ. But I hope when I come, I will find you repentant.’ And then he speaks of their sins, uncleanness, fornication, lasciviousness, ‘Which you have committed.’

Now Paul is not using those words figuratively. He is actually saying that ‘In spite of your confession of faith, you are a very sinful people. These are among the main sins you have committed.’ Our temptation would be to say: ‘Paul, close down that church and the work there. Those people are hopeless.’ But no, he is hopeful that they will have repented when he comes.

This is amazing, Paul’s love of the Corinthian church. His readiness to work with them in spite of their sins. It is a great lesson to us in Christian grace and patience.

Let us pray. Our Lord and our God we give thanks unto Thee for this Thy word. We pray that as we face the evils in the church of our time, we may deal with them with the plain speaking and bluntness of Paul, and with his grace and love also. We come casting before Thee, all our burdens and our needs. Heal us of our infirmities, bless us in patience and faithfulness, and grant us Thy peace. In Christ’s name, amen.

Are there any questions about our lesson?

I hope in these lessons on 2 Corinthians and 1st as well, you come to realize the importance of this work. It tells us so much that we need to know about the church, about its sins in the past, and how Paul dealt with them and how we should deal with them now.

I began our study in Corinthians by saying it was a difficult work, to study and to preach about it. Because it tells us what the church often is and can be. In God’s grace and patience through Paul, to such a church, and how great our grace and patience must be.

Let us conclude with prayer. Our Lord and our God, how great and marvelous Thou art. We thank Thee that Thy word is truth; and by Thy word we have a light upon our way. We have a knowledge of the evils of this world; we have a knowledge of the power that is ours in Christ, to be more than conquerors in all things. Bless us our Father in Thy service.

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