2nd Corinthians – Godly Social Order

Paul’s Position

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Godly Social Order

Lesson: 3-25

Genre: Talk

Track: 3

Dictation Name: RR4162B

Location/Venue:

Year: 1998-2000

[Mark Rushdoony] Our Most good and gracious God, and heavenly Father, we come before you now in thanksgiving for your goodness to us each day. We praise you for your care for us, we praise you that you have saved us and given our lives meaning and hope. We pray that as we look into your word we would understand better our responsibilities for you. Help us to look at your word not as a chore, but as a pleasure and a joy, as a means whereby we can understand your will for our lives as our heavenly Father’s will for His children. Bless this time we have together in your word, we pray that you would bless all those who faithfully preach your word today, we pray for those who gather together in your name throughout the world, especially for those who are oppressed for Christ’s sake. Bless now this time we have together, and us in your service throughout the coming week, in Christ our saviors name, amen.

[R. J. Rushdoony] Our Scripture is 2nd Corinthians the second chapter, verses 1-17, the whole chapter. 2nd Corinthians 2, Paul’s position.

“2 But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.

2 For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?

3 And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.

4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.

5 But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.

6 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.

7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.

8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.

9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.

10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;

11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord,

13 I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.

14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:

16 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.”

Christianity cannot be reconciled with any other religion, because it is of a radically different nature. Paul in his letters to the Corinthians, stresses the unique nature of Christian faith. First, all major religions speak of God and man, but with a radical difference. Among other things, God is totally unlike man, in that He is, among other things, absolutely perfect, sinless, omnipotent, all holy, all wise, and more. There is an unbridgeable gap between God and men that cannot be bridged by man. But god in His mercy and grace bridges it. It is by His saving power. It is by His saving grace. By grace and mercy, not by altering the being of man. It is an ethical, not a metaphysical change. We are changed morally, not in our metaphysical being.

Then second, the bridging of that gap, was and is an act of sovereign grace. This act does not diminish the gap between God and man, but stresses the totally miraculous nature of that bridging, the incarnation. It is a unique event. Again, atonement is a miraculous act of grace, so that the clearer our awareness of its meaning, the greater is our grasp of its implications. Whether it be the incarnation or the resurrection.

Paul does not allow us to naturalize its meaning. It is thus, not immortality, but resurrection that Paul stresses. Paul in 1st Corinthians 1:25, says that the foolishness of God is wiser than men. He says further that those called are not the wiser, but are seen as the foolish by the world, because God confounds the wisdom of this world. So that, the standards of the world are contrary to the standards of Christ and of the people of Christ.

Paul begins by telling the Corinthians of his determination that on this trip to Corinth he will not come again to you in heaviness, verse 1. His first letter had made many of them sorry. They whom he has made sorrowful are yet the ones who make him glad, as they grow in grace, he says then in verse 2. Moreover, Paul’s says: “I state this in writing, so that those who should give him joy are mindful of it. For what gives me joy should be shared by all of you.” Verse 3.

“The reason for my letter was not to grieve you, but to manifest the love of Christ, which I feel for all of you.” Verse 4. “You are all of you grieved when one of your number is a source of grief because of his sin. Normally the censures of the majority are enough, they awaken the straying member.” As he says in verses 5 and 6. “Since that censure has taken place, it is now their duty to forgive and comfort him, to prevent despair from overwhelming him. It is important at this time for you to reinstate him into your fellowship and love.”

Paul, who had been the first to condemn the man who had married his deceased fathers wife, is now insistent that repentance be followed by forgiveness. That there be restoration of this man into their fellowship.

Paul had written a letter to inquire about the man and his case, but the congregations attitude was, whom they forgave, Paul as Christ’s apostle also forgave. An unforgiving attitude would serve Satan, he says in verse 11, “As much as a toleration for the sin.” When Paul arrives at Troas he had there a great opportunity for Christ, he said. But he had no peace of mind because he was not met by Titus. And so he left to go into Macedonia.

Now, God in His providence leads us into blessings even through troubles. So this alternate step was a triumph as Paul says in verse 14. We are unto God Christ’s fragrance, verse 15. And also the same to the perishing who are saved, a vital scent that gives life. While for the ungodly who are perishing, we are the fatal odor that brings death, according to verse 17. The ungodly bringers of death must be termed. But we who proclaim Christ bring life in Him, Paul says in verse 17, the concluding verse.

Now, Paul speaks with authority, but it is always explicit that it is a delegated authority. He speaks for Christ, to the church. He does not give us a separate power or authority in the church. Had he done so, his appeal would have been to Jerusalem and to the other apostles, but it was always to the Bible and to Christ. Paul never gives his apostolic status any separate authority, it is always derivative and governed. Hence his determination not to come to them in heaviness, allowing the sins of men to outweigh the power of God, this does not mean that Paul will not be grieved at their sinning, but it is the power of God which he looks to, and which he knows will prevail.

Let us pray. Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we give thanks unto Thee for Paul’s plain speaking. Thy word oh Lord is truth, and we thank Thee that Thou hast given us Thy word through Thy servant Paul. Give us hearing ears, make us ever obedient unto Thee, make us mindful that even as Paul spoke to the few, but carried weight unto the ages, so the foundations we lay, although they be amongst the few, will carry weight unto the ages. Bless us this day and always by Thy word and Spirit, in Christ’s name, amen.

Are there any questions now, about our lesson?

One of the things we need always to bear in mind, is that Paul, one of the three or four greatest figures in the Bible, never exalts himself. He is never hesitant to say that: “I do have authority, I am an apostle. I have a God given ministry.” But he never exalts that to the point of obscuring the fact that it is God in Christ who is the central focus, not the one who brings the message. Paul is very remarkable in this, and of course it is a mark of those whom God has most blessed, that their stress is least of all on themselves. Think, for example, of Moses. His stress is always on the law of God. Or think about David in the Psalms, he never hesitates to call attention to the sins and weaknesses of David. Or think of Isaiah, it is the glory of God, and the saving power of God that he stresses, and so to with Paul. The greatest men of the Bible stress not themselves, but the Lord. And this is why in this chapter, Paul begins by making that point above all others: “Our sufficiency is of God.” He has nothing to offer, it is God who is offering up everything, and using Paul as His instrument.

Are there any questions or comments on this?

Well, if not, let us conclude with prayer. Our Father, we give thanks unto Thee that where two or three are gathered together in Thy name, Thou art there in the midst of them. Therefore welcome oh Lord Jesus, dwell within us, guide us day by day in the way that we should go. Fill us with joy, bless us in our work, grant our other ministries, and bless our men as they are there working today. We pray our Father, that the work may grow by Thy blessing. 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.