|
2 Corinthians Chapter 12
Commentary by Ron Beckham
Verse 1. "Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go
on to visions and revelations of the Lord."
Paul’s "boasting" of Chapter 11 was actually a showing of Paul’s
qualifications to a people who had rejected him. But he is now essentially saying
"Enough of that" for he knew that to "boast" (to speak of himself)
would ultimately not convince them of his sincerity. The heart of man is perverse
and ultimately we can only learn through the Spirit of God.
The Lord now led him to speak of "visions and revelations" of the Lord.
Our arguments may be good, but they only go so far. Finally, we must bring
that person to the Lord, who gives each one a vision of Himself. We may not
encounter Him visually in this life, but we will have a vision of His majesty in our
hearts. We can hear about Christ, but we must KNOW Him – personally.
Verse 2. "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago whether in the body
I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows such a man was caught up to the
third heaven."
A lot of people teach that when Paul said "I know a man", he was speaking of
himself. And they cite Verses 5 and 7 ("on behalf of such a man I will
boast" and "to keep me from exalting myself") as evidence, and that may be
true. But we have just completed a Chapter (11) where Paul said things like "I
did this" and "I did that" and such-and-such happened to "me."
Paul was not ever shy about using the pronouns "I" and "me" in
any context.
Actually, who he was speaking of is much less important than what happened – a man
glimpsed the paradise of God (Verse 4). From a Scriptural perspective, by the way,
there are three "heavens" – 1) the atmosphere, 2) the interstellar vastness
of outer space, and 3) the place Paul terms as "paradise" in verse 4. This
is the "Eden" of Genesis 2:8. This man actually went there, though whether
he took his body with him when he went, he did not know (and neither did Paul). It
is important to see that God does give miracles to people.
Verse 3. "And I know how such a man whether in the body or apart from the
body I do not know, God knows"
Again, it’s not clear whether this man was physically taken into heaven or if he
left his body behind, for a time. When we studied Ezekiel and his visions, we had
similar concerns and yet it does not matter – What is important is that he saw a real
place, and he came back to share that God has wonderful places and promises in the future
of people just like you and me.
Matthew Henry correctly pointed out that to dwell on that which we cannot know, is
"presumption" and Paul himself said he did not know (this verse and in verse 2).
Julian of Norwich, who lived about 700 years ago, cautioned us: "It is
not fitting or wise for the servants to pry or demand to know (God’s) secret
plans." We are to love God and let Him show us what we need to see. (And
He does long to show great things to those who love Him).
Verse 4. "was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a
man is not permitted to speak."
The reason he was not permitted to speak those words, is because we don’t have a
vocabulary (or understanding) sufficient to describe what was seen and heard. To
make the attempt would only take away from them. I’ve read that bees utilize a
basic form of language. They can direct others of the hive to the location of
pollen. Bees might benefit from electricity that would heat and cool the hive at
various times. Yet if we tried to communicate such concepts and applications to
them, their language would not contain the words necessary to convey the ideas needed.
So it is with the things of God. Eternity contains a PLACE where we will
be able to see, hear, speak, and move in relation to objects and other beings. And
yet the "physical" laws of that place, as we see in places like the Book of
Revelation, are utterly different from this present universe. Our need is to look to
Christ. If we focus exclusively on questions about the "physical"
properties of heaven, we miss the point.
Verse 5. "On behalf of such a man I will boast; but on my own behalf I will
not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses."
This verse suggests Paul was not the one who had the visions, for he commends the other
man but would not boast on his own behalf. Except, as he continues, in his own
weaknesses. Have you considered just how alien Paul’s expressed ways are?
People flaunt their STRENGTHS, not their weaknesses. And yet Paul, who was a
strong man, exhibited his weaknesses for all to see.
We’re going to get a good look at this aspect of Paul, as we get deeper into this
Chapter. For now, it’s sufficient to note that our weakness is more valuable
than our strength, for in our weaknesses, we see our need of God.
Verse 6. "For if I do wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be
speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than
he sees in me or hears from me."
Paul had an amazing resume, as we have discussed before. He had the equivalent of
a PhD in theology, having trained under the great Rabban, Gamaliel. Paul was
probably a former member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, and he also was BORN with Roman
citizenship (a rare honor).
As Paul pointed out, if he talked about himself, he would be telling the truth.
Yet he discouraged this, and the real reason is that he wanted to give the glory to
God. There is no profit in you and I glorifying ourselves. What we are in this
world will not last, but what is of God, will endure.
Verse 7. "Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this
reason, to keep
me from exalting myself, there was given me a
thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me to keep me from exalting
myself!"
Two concepts that are rare in modern theology are expressed here: 1) that God, who is
all-powerful, allows (or even causes) things like sicknesses in our lives, and 2) these
troubles are in our lives for a good reason. As an example, the fact that I was in
wheelchairs and hospital beds as a child has had wonderful outcomes. For example,
the experience made me weak, that I might turn to Christ.
Entering my teen years grossly overweight (and without any particular muscle
development), certainly shaped my present (at that time) and my future. Most amazing
of all, I meet lots of people in wheelchairs, (computers are MADE for wheelchair people),
and the fact I have been in one, too, sort of lets me into the club. God is
sovereign and can do anything He wants, but He also loves you, and is acting on your
behalf in ways that you do not presently understand.
Paul was given a physical problem and he is not specific about what it was. It
was Satan (the adversary) who initiated the problem. God had a purpose in allowing
this act of the enemy, which was to curb Paul’s pride in himself.
Verse 8. "Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might
leave me."
We don’t want to be sick and Paul was no different than we are. Physical
limitations are not considered valuable in this world. Paul did the reasonable thing
and asked repeatedly (three times) for this problem to be taken away. He asked in
faith. If you do not think so, it implies you feel you have greater faith than Paul,
and are in a position to judge his faith. This was a man of faith, and we should all
be like him.
Some say he was wrong to pray three times, and they go on that he should only have
prayed once. But Jesus taught us to keep on praying until we get the answer (Luke
18:1-8). Others have said he should have kept ON praying, but the true reason he
stopped is in the next verse – he quit because he was answered, and the answer was
"No."
Verse 9. "And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for
power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast
about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me."
What’s really IMPORTANT in life to you? The grace of God, as in this verse?
Quite often we give lip service to verses like Luke 14:27, where Jesus said, "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me, cannot be My
disciple." Sometimes a limitation like sickness IS the cross in our
life.
Jesus had just finished saying (Luke 14:26) that we must "hate"
our relatives, and even ourselves, in order to effectively follow Him. By
"hate" He meant we are to love God more than any relationship or possession we
have on earth. We must love Him, even more than we love ourselves or those
"special" people in our lives.
To give up what we want is to be "weak," for the strong person takes what he
wants. The rich man does what he wants, but his butler, on the other hand, responds
to the wants of the rich man. To go to the cross is to decide you want God’s
power in your life, more than your own. Just as Paul before you did, you will
receive the grace of God, for His power will perfectly dwell in you, and you will find the
joy of the Lord.
Verse 10. "Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with
distresses,
with persecutions, with difficulties, for
Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."
Here’s a shopping list of the things we generally DON’T want, as 21st
century men and women: We don’t want to be weak, and we certainly don’t
want to be insulted. (We respond with coldness when others are insulting to us).
As discussed in the last verse, we want to be STRONG, not weak. To be
persecuted is the worst nightmare of the paranoiac, who, like just about everybody else,
wants to be left alone to do what they want. Who, after all, wants difficulties of
any kind?
Yet these difficulties make us weak for a PURPOSE, for when we are WEAKENED as men and
women, CHRIST’S STRENGTH will fill the void of that weakness and He will potentially
be strong in us (verse 9). Like Paul, we need to love Christ so much, that whatever
comes in life, we will be content in Him, letting Him do His perfect work in you and in
me.
Verse 11. "I have become foolish; you yourselves compelled me.
Actually I should have been commended by you, for in no respect was I inferior to the most
eminent apostles, even though I am a nobody."
All that Paul was saying, all this verbiage, should have been unnecessary. All
this presenting of his credentials, this PROVING of himself to them – he had better
things to do, and so did they. They should have just RECEIVED this man (sent to them
by God). We waste so much time going over the fundamentals, when we should be
serving one another (and our Lord) in His Name.
All they had to do was LOOK at what Paul had done: The same miracles, the same
trust in the Holy Spirit of God, the amazing changes in the lives of his hearers –
all that was done by the original apostles of Jesus, was done by him, too. And ALL
of the apostles were "nobodies", just as we also are, too, for it is the Lord
(and not ourselves) who does the work of God.
Verse 12. "The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all
perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles."
Some years ago, I went on a quest – What are these "gifts of the Holy
Spirit", and are they active for us today?, for the "signs, wonders and
miracles" all came from the "gifts" which arose in relation to the events
of Acts 2:4. You can go back into the commentary on 1st Corinthians,
chapters 12 and 14, on the website (www.fridaystudy.org) and see what was decided.
Romans 11:29 is provocative on this subject, where Paul says "the gifts and the
calling of God are irrevocable". God does not change, but people do, and we
have less of a tendency toward faith than the apostles did.
Thousands come forward at the crusades of Billy Graham and Greg Laurie, and it’s
NOT because they are persuasive men. It’s because they are men willing to be
"weak" (verse 9), by letting Christ do His work through them.
Paul, who had great faith, performed signs and wonders among them, just like it was
done through the "original" apostles.
Verse 13. "For in what respect were you treated as inferior to the rest of
the churches,
except that I myself did not become a burden to
you? Forgive me this wrong!"
The Corinthians were petulant and felt hurt by Paul. It’s always a surprise
when we reach out to someone and they respond as though we did something wrong.
That’s how the Corinthians treated this man of God (the one God had sent to them).
Paul was using sarcasm toward them ("Forgive me this wrong"), in order to wake
them up.
The basis of such hurt feelings is pride, which is rooted in insecurity. The
Corinthians thought they deserved the best and Paul (who was short and had been beaten up
a lot) didn’t seem good enough for them. This made them feel they would somehow
appear less in the eyes of others, and so they covered up their pride-based insecurity by
rejecting Paul. Do we sometimes do the same?
Verse 14. "Here for this third time I am ready to come to you, and I will
not be a burden to you; for I do not seek what is yours, but you; for children are not
responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their children."
Paul mentions another concern of the Corinthians: They didn’t want to
provide for the needs of others. He touches this by saying he would not be a
"burden" to them. He reassures them but also drops in an insult by
referring to them as "children." Indeed, to the extent we resist helping
others, we remain immature, all of our lives.
Now, they WERE his "children" in the Lord, because he led them to Christ.
But it was time for them to grow up and become mature, which we do when we become
willing to pass on that which has been given to us. The key word is
"responsible" and we remain like children until we are willing to take Godly
responsibility for the needs He shows us in this world.
Verse 15. "I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If
I love you more, am I to be loved less?"
Paul would have given his life for them. Indeed he HAD given up his life, in
relation to the needs of others. And in 66 AD, he would be beheaded on a street in
Rome, because he followed his Lord and served the needs of people like these Corinthians.
We have seen that Paul had lots of natural advantages in life, and he did not need
to suffer for the needs of others. But he did serve and he did suffer.
So the question is, since he spent his life for them, and gave himself to them without
measure, why did they reject him? Why did they love him less? I wonder about
this, when I hear a wife say to her husband (or him to her), "I don’t love you
anymore." To marry someone is to give them your LIFE. And when this gift
is given, we simply become just as ridiculous as the Corinthians, when we throw such a
love away.
Verse 16. "But be that as it may, I did not burden you myself; nevertheless,
crafty fellow that I am, I took you in by deceit."
They (the Corinthians) really had two choices. They could either 1)
accept Paul’s love for them as genuine (evidenced by all he had done for them), or 2)
decide he was some kind of deceitful (crafty) person who was trying to trick them out of
something.
The latter option is so ridiculous that, if they were honest people, they would have no
choice but to accept it that he loved them. The manipulative, insecure, and
dishonest person must continually find "evidence" against the person they have
already decided to reject. They do this in order to remain prideful (see commentary
on verse 13); that is, to uplift themselves. Paul was breaking right through the
little "games" they were playing.
Verse 17. "Certainly I have not taken advantage of you through any of those
whom I have sent to you, have I?"
Paul has now established that he loved these people. If the Corinthians were even
remotely honest, they would respond with love in return. There is another
possibility and he would now nip that one "in the bud." They had shown
themselves to be people who must blame others (like in a modern corporate setting) –
Since they could not reasonably blame Paul anymore, they might blame the others Paul had
sent to them.
Maybe they would now blame Paul indirectly, by accusing the brothers Paul had sent
their way. He must deal with it now, before it even occurred to them to switch their
offended feelings onto someone else.
Verse 18. "I urged Titus to go, and I sent the brother with him. Titus
did not take any advantage of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves in the same
spirit and walk in the same steps?"
Continuing the thought in verse 17, Paul now starts naming names. They could not
reasonably be resentful and envious in relation to Paul anymore, but what about, hmmm
– Titus? Yes, what about this young man Paul had sent to them? Would they
now reject HIM, as they had attempted to do with Paul? Probably.
But they could not reasonably do that, either, because everybody knew of Titus that his
affection "abounded" toward them (2 Corinthians 7:15) and they had received him
at that time (he was probably better looking than Paul). Another one sent was
"the brother", a famous orator discussed in the commentary on 2 Corinthians
8:18. What about their response to HIM? They loved "the brother" and they
should have loved Paul, too, for he was the one who sent this wonderful
"brother" TO them.
Verse 19. "All this time you have been thinking that we are defending
ourselves to you. Actually, it is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in
Christ; and all for your upbuilding, beloved."
All through Chapters 11 and 12, we have witnessed Paul "boasting" about his
credentials. He has continually presented his "resume" of experience and
education to the Corinthian people, who seemed to want ANYBODY (except they did not want
Paul). I would not want his resume, because in Chapter 11, he "boasted" of
things we would all want to forget.
But now, we learn for sure what we suspected before: In all that he has been
saying he has been led by the Spirit. All the words in this letter have been the
will of God, and there’s still more – all this was for the
"upbuilding" of the Corinthians, because Paul (and the Holy Spirit) loved them.
There is much confusing input in our lives, just as it was for the Corinthians.
But always remember, God loves you, and His will is that you will be built-up in
Him.
Verse 20. "For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not
what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be
strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance,
disturbances;"
Paul recites a list similar to the "sins of the flesh" shown in Galatians
5:19-21. An interesting inclusion here is "gossip" which is a subtle, but
very dangerous sin. I suggest that when someone comes to mind and you don’t
like something about them – Instead of telling somebody else how you feel, PRAY for
that person you don’t like, and then pray for yourselves, that the Church may be
delivered from gossip.
Notice that Paul’s whole purpose in the last few Chapters, has been that the
Corinthians will be delivered from the strife, jealousy, and so on, that he names in this
verse. You may or may not like Paul’s methods, but God likes him, and who He
likes is all important. Paul’s heart was pure in relation to the Corinthians.
He loved them and longed to seem them delivered from sin.
Verse 21. "I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before
you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of
the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced."
To succeed, for Paul, would be to see the Corinthians delivered from sin. To
"humiliate" himself, as in this verse, was to carry out the will of God in their
lives. He mourned because of their strange tendency to profess Christ and yet live
for themselves.
It is incredible (a word I use a lot, because life is incredible) that we sometimes
turn to the Lord and yet live for ourselves. God’s choice for the Corinthians
was – Paul! THEIR choice was somebody (anybody) ELSE! God’s choice
for you and me is that we might be pure, in and through Christ, in thought, words, and
deeds. Who has God sent to help YOU, in your life? Who are you listening to?
It’s time to listen to God, and to the one(s) He has sent.
Ron Beckham
Senior Pastor
Friday Study Ministries
www.fridaystudy.org
Ron@fridaystudy.org
|
