There is still work to be done on this series.

The ESV has been inserted for the passages which are covered. Bob’s corrected translation is included when given.

1968 2Corinthians 1:1–4                                                                               Lesson #1

1 10/13/1968 2Cor. 1:1–4 Spiritual gifts; 4 purposes of Christian suffering

Greeting

2Corinthians 1:1 [This letter is from] Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy, our brother. [It is being sent] to the church of God at Corinth, with all the saints [i.e., God’s holy people] who are in the entire province of Achaia [Note: This was the southern province of Greece]

2Corinthians 1:2 May [God’s] unearned favor be yours, [along with] peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God of All Comfort

2Corinthians 1:3 May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Father of compassionate feelings and the God of all comfort, be praised.

2Corinthians 1:4 He comforts us [Note: Most commentators view the editorial “us,” “we,” and “our” in this passage as a reference to a tragic personal experience of Paul. See verses 8-11] in all our troubles so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any [kind of] trouble, through the comfort we ourselves have received from Him.

Chapter 1

Paul is now writing to the Corinthians back in fellowship. This is the beginning of the study of the doctrine of suffering. The approach here is taking a lot of ex-carnal believers who have found that it is much more pleasant to be in fellowship, who have now learned a little doctrine from 1 Corinthians and two epistles which were lost and were not a part of the canon. And bearing this epistle was a young man by the name of Timothy. He is also going to be their pastor.

Verse 1 — “Paul, an apostle.” Even though things are more or less back in order in the Corinthian church Paul doesn’t hesitate to remind them of his authority. “Paul” means “little,” it means orientation to grace. “Apostle” is a term in the Greek language for the highest of admirals, used originally for the Athenian admiral who commanded the fleet on operations. It is therefore a military word, a word for the highest authority.

“of Jesus Christ” — genitive of relationship. Paul has a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. He has personally received Christ as his saviour.

“by the will of God” — he is an apostle by the will of God, dia plus the genitive which means through the instrumentality of God’s will. Specifically, God here is the Holy Spirit who gave him the gift of apostleship at the point of salvation — 1 Corinthians 12:11. Spiritual gifts function with spiritual growth.

“and Timothy” — the bearer of the epistle; “our brother” — fellow believer.

“unto the church of God” — the church that belongs to God. Paul founded the church, the believers have been out of line but they still belong to God. This is a genitive of possession.

“with all the saints” means the general group of people there; “Achaia” includes not only Corinth but all of southern Greece.

Verse 2 — the salutation and the principle of doctrine by which he is going to communicate. “Grace” always depends on who and what God is. Grace is the plan of God, the plan of God belongs to every believer, even to the carnal Corinthians. As long as the believer is alive God has a purpose for his life, and that was true of the Corinthians. And so we have “Grace to you.” It is plural, “to you all.” This is because all of them were in the plan of God, they were born into the plan of God and when one is born into something it is rather difficult to get out. Once the believer begins to orient to the plan of God and operate under the plan of God His word is …

“peace” — a relaxed mental attitude.

“from” — preposition a)po meaning ultimate source, and the ultimate source of grace, the ultimate source of our relaxed mental attitude, is “God the Father,” the first person of the Trinity who designed the plan in eternity past.

“of our Lord Jesus Christ” — the second person of the Trinity who makes it possible for us to enter the plan in time. The Holy Spirit is not mentioned because the job of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age is to glorify Jesus Christ — John 16:14.

In this chapter are seven reasons for Christian suffering. The first reason is given in verses 3-7, the purpose: to comfort others. If through doctrine you learn comfort and you can find comfort and peace and a relaxed mental attitude in suffering. Then you can help other people for the very simple reason that you have learned to get on top of sufferings yourself.

Verse 3 — “Blessed” is an adjective used in the New Testament for God only, it is never used for anyone else. It means “worthy of praise and love.” Blessed means that God has something in Him that merits our praise and our love, and that something is perfect happiness. He had it in eternity past; He will have it in the eternal future. The word “blessed” means that God has designed a plan whereby the believer can share His happiness in time. That is the meaning if the word in this context and it means that even when you are under maximum suffering conditions you can still have this inner happiness.

“be God” — there is no verb, it is “the God, even the Father.” He is the author of the divine plan, the one who set up a plan whereby we can have this wonderful inner happiness.

“of our Lord Jesus Christ” — He is called the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ because everything that comes to us comes through the Lord Jesus Christ. There are two monopolies which belong to God the Father in His plan and they are now mentioned:

He is “the Father of mercies” — mercy is grace in action. Mercy is a believer receiving God’s grace, receiving divine benefit. Mercies here is plural and this means that God’s benefits are endless. Mercies means all that God wants to give us now — while we are suffering.

“and the God of all comfort” — the word “comfort” is in the singular, “mercies” is plural. Mercies means that there are many different ways in which God provides a sharing of this happiness, many ways in which God blesses under suffering conditions as well as under conditions of prosperity. But this genitive singular of the word “comfort” indicates that comfort belongs to God. God is sharing mercies but comfort is a monopoly with God. This comfort is related to the Son in 2 Thessalonians 2:16,17, and in John 14:16 it is related to the Holy Spirit.

Verse 4 — “Who” — relative pronoun referring to God the Father; “comforteth us” — present active participle. The verb now is parakalew [kalew = to call; para = immediate source] which comes to mean comfort because something is spoken from the immediate source of the Father, something is given to us. That something that is given to us is that inner happiness in suffering. When you have inner happiness in your soul in the midst if the disasters and trials you have comfort. This is a present active participle which means He keeps on doing it.

“in all our tribulation” — this comfort is specified. Tribulation is in the singular for one reason: to gather up in one time all the sufferings you will ever have as a believer. From the time you are saved until the time of death or the Rapture whatever amount of suffering you have God has provided in His plan for you His happiness. He wants to share it with you and He can only share it on the basis of grace.

“that” introduces a purpose clause; “that we may be able” — God shares His comfort with us so that we can share this comfort with other believers in their periods of suffering. Here is a ministry of the priesthood of the believer that only requires one thing: the knowledge of doctrine, having used that doctrine in suffering so that you can come up with inner happiness, and then being able to communicate with other believers the secret to that inner happiness that you had in suffering. You can pass on the doctrines. The only thing that provides comfort and that is the grace principle. It comes through knowledge of doctrine. If you are thinking doctrine then you must pass it on to the mentality of another soul which is in suffering.

“to comfort them” — believers under suffering; “which are in any trouble.” The word for trouble is qliyij and it means maximum pressure, maximum distress of mind, mental suffering, soul suffering.

“by the comfort” is dia plus the genitive and is literally, “through the comfort.” The comfort is Bible doctrine producing inner happiness.

“wherewith” — literally, “by which.”

“we ourselves are comforted” — present passive indicative of parkalew. Present tense: we keep on being comforted. The passive voice: we receive this comfort. We do not earn it, we do not deserve it. The indicative mood is the reality of comfort through Bible doctrine.

“of God” — the preposition is u(po which means “under the authority of God,” and the authority of God is Bible doctrine.

There is only one way to receive comfort under the authority of God and that is through knowledge of Bible doctrine.

1968 2Corinthians 1:                                                                                    Lesson #2

2 10/27/1968 2Cor. 1:5–7 Suffering, comfort

2Corinthians 1:5 For just as we experience an overflow of Christ’s sufferings, even so we also experience an overflow of comfort through Christ.

2Corinthians 1:6 But if we experience trouble, it is in order [to provide] for your comfort and salvation. Or, if we are comforted, it is in order [to provide] for your comfort [also], which enables you to endure patiently the same sufferings we experience.

2Corinthians 1:7 And our hope for you is firm, for we know that just as you share our sufferings, so you will also [share] our comfort.

Verse 5 — we are studying the first purpose of suffering in this passage. It is to benefit others God has designed all suffering for the blessing of the believer in phase two and when the believer faces suffering and utilises Bible doctrine and he is under the control of the Holy Spirit, he finds some of the most fantastic blessings at that time. Some of the greatest blessings you will ever have you will have in times of suffering. That is the principle we have in this passage.

“For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us.” The Greek word “as” sets up an analogy between the suffering of Christ and the suffering that we have. In the incarnation of Christ He had a tremendous amount of pressure and a great amount of suffering. Everything up to the cross is suffering which we, too, can have. Suffering was a blessing to Him; this same suffering can be a blessing to us. On the cross He had suffering which was unique and there is no way in which we can enter into the sufferings of our Lord on the cross because we do not have any capability, nor are we in the plan of God as far as sin-bearing is concerned. In phase two we suffer at times. We see in verse five that the pattern of our suffering has its origin in the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. The word “abound” is a little misleading. The suffering of Christ do not abound in us. The word “abound” in the KJV here is the Greek word perisseuw which means to overflow. It doesn’t mean to abound. It means something overflows into something else. The sufferings of Christ went through a pattern during His 33 years and that overflows to believers in phase two. What is the principle behind this phrase? When Jesus Christ was on earth up to the point of the cross the sufferings which He had were all turned to blessing. Jesus Christ in His humanity was blessed in the midst of these sufferings. In other words, every pressure and disaster and heartache that ever came His way, during that time He had inner peace, inner happiness, and inner blessing. As these sufferings overflow to us in phase two the same blessing that Jesus had becomes ours. The blessing comes through knowing doctrine. Christ suffered and His suffering was blessing. We suffer; our suffering is designed for blessing.

Translation: “For as the sufferings of Christ overflow in us, so our comfort also overflows through Christ.”

When a believer is blessed by God there are others who are blessed as well. This doesn’t mean that the blessing is going to come through suffering. When the believer suffers and he is blessed in his suffering the blessing overflows. It doesn’t mean that the others are going to suffer. When Christ was suffering people were often not aware of it, they were simply receiving blessing from Him while He was suffering. When you are blessed people may be the beneficiaries of the blessing and never know that you are suffering at all. It is the comfort that overflows, not the suffering.

The word “by Christ” is dia plus the genitive and it should be “through Christ” — through the provision of Christ. Dia plus the genitive is Bible doctrine. Here is a believer who has doctrine and he has contact with another believer. The overflow is comfort, blessing. Dia plus the genitive refers to 1 Corinthians 2:16, the mind of Christ and/or Bible doctrine. Every time you are under pressure your whole character is under a test. If in the pressure, the suffering, the adversity, the tragedy and the heartache you as a believer utilise Bible doctrine then you are going to have comfort. Comfort is Bible doctrine, the happiness that God shares with you.

The literal translation of verse 6: “And if we are being afflicted it is for the benefit of your comfort and deliverance which operates in the patient endurance of the same suffering which we also suffer.”

“And if” is the Greek word e)ite. The word for “afflicted” is the present active indicative of qlibw. It means to be under maximum pressure. Maximum pressure is designed for blessing in the life of the believer. If we are under maximum pressure it is for benefit. It is for the believer’s benefit but we are talking here about overflow. The teaching here is, how does your suffering affect others? The impact of your suffering on others must come from overflow. When we suffer it is for the blessing of others. The word “salvation” in the KJV is really deliverance and it means the overflow of blessing. Suffering is not only designed to bless you, suffering is also designed to bless others. The dynamics of Christianity include this overflow principle in time of suffering when doctrine is utilised.

The second half of the verse begins with the same Greek word e)ite, “And if we are being comforted it is for the benefit of your comfort and deliverance which operates in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.” This is an entirely different situation which adds something. This is what you anticipated at first and now it is brought into the picture. If someone is suffering you have suffered — it doesn’t have to be the same type of suffering — when you contact that person under suffering you can be a blessing to them. There is a key to this, and that is the word “patient endurance.” The sufferings of Christ overflowed to Paul. Christ had blessing in suffering; Paul has blessing in suffering. So there is an overflow from Christ to Paul and those who were with Paul. This comfort operates in the “patient enduring.” All comfort in suffering operates under maximum use of the faith-rest technique. Patient enduring means to live faith-rest. It means to put the problem in the Lord’s hands and leave it there. This time the blessing is Paul helping the believer to become spiritually self-sustaining. When he overflows he overflows with the principle that makes them spiritually self-sustaining. When you are spiritually self-sustaining you are because you know Bible doctrine, because you use Bible doctrine. When in time of suffering you patiently endure, what does this do? This means you are using the faith-rest technique. It gives you blessing, happiness and inner peace. But when you meet someone else who is suffering you give them the faith-rest technique. They use it and therefore they arrive at the same place that you do. In other words, you help some believer to become spiritually self-sustaining. They are comforted by Bible doctrine, by a technique which comes out of Bible doctrine — faith-rest.

Verse 7 — Paul is confident that the Corinthian believers will derive their comfort from the same source as he, the Word of God. Paul is not making people depend upon him for comfort, he wants them to depend on what he overflows to them — Bible doctrine. So when Paul is not there what do they still have?

“And our confidence of you is steadfast.” What is overflowing from Paul in suffering? Doctrine. He is not telling them about his suffering here, he tells them about doctrine. Doctrine leads to faith-rest, faith-rest leads to comfort and deliverance. It is doctrine that overflows.

1968 2Corinthians 1:                                                                                    Lesson #3

3 11/03/1968 2Cor. 1:8–10 Blessing through doctrine in suffering

2Corinthians 1:8 For we want you to know, brothers, about the trouble that we experienced in Asia. [See I Cor. 16:19]. We were under a heavy burden [which was] more than we could stand, even to the point of despairing of life.

2Corinthians 1:9 Actually, we felt within us that we had [already] received a death sentence, so that we could [learn] not to trust in ourselves but in God, who raises the dead.

2Corinthians 1:10 He has rescued us from a serious 217 threat of death and He will do it again. We have placed our hope in Him, that He will also continue to rescue us,

Verse 8 — Paul doesn’t list his specific problems. What he does is to list a principle. “For we would not” — this is a negative plus the verb qelw which is a desire from the emotion. A desire from the emotion means that Paul loves the Corinthians and he has rapport with them even though he had to be rather difficult on them in their carnal state. So Paul now expresses his rapport loves for the Corinthians, he really enjoys them, apart from the carnality and the fact that God the Holy Spirit led him to elucidate on that subject. He says, “We keep on not desiring, brethren.”

“to have you ignorant of our trouble” — he is going to make a point of doctrine, therefore they must be aware of the fact that he is suffering. But Paul must communicate his suffering without going into details so that they will be depressed and upset by the things that are happening to him. The word “trouble” is qliyij, for the principle of suffering. It refers to more than one kind of pressure. All of the pressures that make you miserable, all at the same time, fit into it. Paul isn’t depressed, he is merely indicating that he has a variety of different pressures. The principle here is found in verses 8-10 and is the second reason why we suffer. We suffer do that we can learn our hopeless condition and learn to depend upon the Lord, for ultimately all suffering in the Christian life is designed to teach us to depend upon the Lord or to orient to the grace of God.

“to have you ignorant” — present active infinitive, the verb is a)gnoew from which we get “agnostic,” [a) = negative; noew = think]. In this case it simply means ignorance of a principle.

“which came to us” is literally “which came to pass” — aorist active participle of ginomai which means to come to pass. There was a time when Paul was free from suffering, a period of prosperity, and then all of a sudden he found himself under qliyij and is now under very serious pressures; “in Asia” is the Roman province of Asia.

“we were pressed out of measure” — the verb is bareuw [sometimes barew] which means to walk under a window and have someone drop a piano on you from about 10 stories up! It means to be flattened. This is the direct suffering. It is so powerful and so strong that it puts you in a state of shock.

“above strength” means simply beyond power to cope with it. No human solution. It means using your own mind and not coming up with anything.

“insomuch that we despaired even of life” — the word ‘insomuch’ is a result clause. With the result that we despaired” — e)caporew [e)c = out from; aporew = to be without means] means to be totally divorced from any support. This means no human solution; hopeless means you can’t think up an answer. The details of life, such as friends, do not help. You may have the details of life but they do not sustain. No outside help sustains you. In other words, your problem are not solvable by the details of life. You belong to God, you are in the plan of God and once you are in the plan of God there is one solution to your problems and that is through doctrine. He has provided a solution to every problem in your life.

Verse 9 — “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves.” ‘We had’ is a perfect tense. We had it in the past with the result that it kept on being that way. The sentence of death here is a hopeless situation, a maximum suffering situation, a situation which causes one to usually despair of life.

“that” introduces a purpose clause; “we should not trust in ourselves.” The word for trust here is not the usual one, pisteuw, which means to believe or to trust. The word that is used here is peiqw. This is confident thinking — “we do not have confident thinking in self, but in God.”

Principle: When you are in a suffering situation which is totally hopeless and you are helpless God shows His love by providing the solution.

“but in God” — we are to trust in Him, God who has a plan, God who has provided happiness for us; “who raiseth the dead” — ‘raiseth’ is a present active participle and it takes us over immediately to phase three, perfect happiness in a resurrection body. We are not in a resurrection body in phase two, we are in a human body; and yet, we can have this same happiness. In phase three it is automatic; in phase two it depends upon knowledge of doctrine.

Verse 10 — the believer’s extremity becomes God’s opportunity. In this verse, therefore, there are three deliverances. The key word in the verse is the verb r(uomai which occurs three times. It means to deliver from a difficult or hopeless situation. It was used to snatch from drowning, to be delivered from a situation that was hopeless, to drag out of danger. In other words, it means to rescue. We have deliverance in living, deliverance in dying, deliverance in phase three.

The first deliverance: deliverance in time, phase two. “Who delivered us from so great a death.” This is a deliverance in time while alive. Paul is describing his own situation. Here is a relative pronoun referring to God. Paul put his trust in God through, through knowledge of Bible doctrine, and therefore he was delivered in Asia. This is an aorist middle indicative of r(uomai. The aorist tense: point of time in Asia under maximum pressure. Middle voice: God Himself did the delivering because Paul depended on Him, not upon the details of life or some solution of his own. The indicative mood is the reality of being delivered. The “so great a death” is the pressure, the “pressed out of measure” situation. This is not physical death but the hopeless situation.

The second deliverance: in dying — “and doth deliver” is the future active indicative of r(uomai. Here is deliverance in dying grace. Paul isn’t in dying grace yet but he will be in the future.

The third deliverance: “in whom we trust that he will yet deliver” indicates phase three.

1968 2Corinthians 1:                                                                                    Lesson #4

4 11/10/1968 2Cor. 1:11; Acts 12 Prayer for others

2Corinthians 1:11 as you cooperate by praying for us. Then, many people will give thanks [to God] on our behalf for the gift He has given to us through [your] many [prayers].

Verse 11 — “Ye also” means that the Corinthians are a part of the team, that they are just as much a part of the team as anyone else. Even though in the past they have been carnal and have failed, as per 1 Corinthians, they are still on the team.

“helping together” is the team concept. This is a present active participle and the verb is sunupourgew [sun = along with; pourgew = the idea of functioning along with athletically, to function under the authority of someone]. This has all the ingredients of the local church. The authority in this case would be the pastor. The function means various members of the congregation along with other members of the congregation praying.

“by prayer” is the team operational function. This is an instrumental case in the Greek and it should be translated “by means of prayer.” Prayer, then, is the function of the team in this particular verse. God has ordained prayer as a means of helping others, as a means of entering into the ministry of others, as a means of functioning in time of adversity. In time of adversity we help others by praying for them. Paul at this point recognises the rebound of the Corinthians and he wants to help them, and he wants them to continue to help him. He recognises that they have rebounded and are now capable of offering prayer because he adds two words …

“for us” — ‘for’ is the preposition u(per and it means for our benefit or on behalf of. Protecting other believers by prayer is the concept here. This is the thing that we are to do habitually — to protect other believers through our prayers. Sometimes this is hard for us to understand and the only way we can learn to do this is to have a little suffering ourselves. This stimulates us and makes us recognise how important it is to pray for others. “Helping together” means to act as a part of a unit, as a part of a team.

“that” introduces a purpose clause; “the gift bestowed upon us” — the word ‘upon’ is the preposition e)ij and it means “toward.” The gift here is deliverance. Paul is under tremendous pressure and he needs help. In other words, this is God’s promise that when you offer prayer on behalf of others they will be heard and will form a part of the deliverance. God has two ways of stimulating prayer. He brings suffering into the life and, if that doesn’t work, eventually He breaks up the team — Acts 12, the Jerusalem church. Your effectiveness as a believer, the effectiveness of a church, depends upon our function in prayer for others. This means the effective use of a prayer list. The word ‘gift’ is not a spiritual gift here but the gracious gift of deliverance. God is pleased to graciously deliver in response to team action. The word ‘bestowed’ is not found in the original. The word “upon’ is ‘toward’. Deliverance is a gift toward us.

“by means of many persons” — here is the team. These are many persons in prayer and they are stimulated to pray by suffering. This is literally, “from the faces of many persons,” it is the preposition proj plus the accusative. This is an idiom for prayer.

The word ‘gift’ in this verse refers to the deliverance as the result of the prayer. And what happens? Everyone involved has thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is appreciation to God for His grace and the means by which He brings it about.

“thanks may be given” — all one word in the Greek, e)uxaristew which means to give thanks [e)u = good; xarij = grace]. The point is, we are responding to the grace of God. Thanksgiving is the ability to identify God’s grace and to make a normal response to it. This is what the word actually means. To do so it takes a knowledge of Bible doctrine. Therefore thanksgiving is orientation to the grace of God; it is also response to God. E)uxaristew is in the aorist tense, the passive voice, and the subjunctive mood. Aorist tense: point of time when you orient to grace, point of time when you identify a gracious act. Passive voice: you receive this through doctrine. Subjunctive mood: thanksgiving is potential, it does not become a reality apart from a knowledge of doctrine, apart from response to the grace of God.

“by many” — these are the prayer warriors on the team. Even though they have personally prayed prayer is under the framework of grace. Prayer is not some type of work which is legalistic. Bona fide prayer is operation grace all the way.

“on our behalf” — again, the word u(per. In other words, Paul, even though he has this fantastic spiritual gift and even though he is associated with men of great spiritual gift, they need prayer. The suffering of Paul has stimulated these other believers to pray for him. Their own suffering stimulates them to enter into this and the result is Paul’s deliverance and therefore all of the members of the team rejoice in a great victory.

God has designed the Christian life for us to be winners, we were never designed to be losers. One of the ingredients of victory is prayer for others, that team operation that leads to deliverance, thanksgiving, orientation to the grace of God, and the capacity to respond to God in love and/or thanksgiving.

1968 2Corinthians 1:                                                                                     Lesson #5

5 11/17/1968 2Cor. 1:12–14 Suffering for blessing; filling of Holy Spirit + knowledge of Bible doctrine means blessing in suffering

Paul's Change of Plans

2Corinthians 1:12 For this is what we boast of: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, in holiness and godly sincerity, not with human wisdom, but with the favor of God.

2Corinthians 1:13 For we are not writing anything to you than what you can read and understand. And I hope that, on the day of our Lord Jesus [i.e., the judgment day], you will understand us fully,

2Corinthians 1:14 as you have understood us partially [or “only a part of you have understood us”], that we are [the occasion of] your boasting, even as you are [the occasion of] our boasting.

Verse 12 — “For our rejoicing,” kaukhsij is an Attic Greek word that originally meant to boast. Obviously Paul isn’t boasting. Boasting is the verbal manifestation of the mental attitude of pride and so obviously they couldn’t translate this “boasting.” But then they didn’t have to go around and use a word like joy because joy is inner happiness. The problem is that in the English language there isn’t quite a word. When you translate you try to match some word in the English that goes with the Greek, and there isn’t a word really. But there is a word in the French that has been brought into the English, a military word, esprit decor, our team spirit.

“is this” — present linear aktionsart, “keeps on being this.” The word ‘this’ is simply put in to show that an explanation will follow.

“the testimony of our conscience” — that isn’t the explanation, this is simply how he is going to explain it. Literally it is, “the witness of our conscience.” The word for conscience is suneidhsij [eidhsij = to know; sun = with]. When you put ‘know’ with the word ‘with’ is means norm or standard. To have a norm or standard means that you know with something — “the witness of our conscience [Paul and his entire team].” So Paul is speaking for himself and for several others. He is talking to the Corinthians who in 1 Corinthians are the worst believers on record in the early church when it comes to all kinds of carnality. That is not the basis for esprit decor! Yet Paul says he now has a team spirit with them. This obviously indicates that the Corinthians are on the rebound trail and they are getting back in fellowship. In 1 Corinthians Paul had to hit them over the head with a 2x4 and he now recognises that according to his own conscience he did exactly the right thing.

Now there are four characteristics of Paul’s manner of life at this point and he wants to communicate these because they had a great deal to do with the writing of 1 Corinthians and they are going to be the springboard to bring up a point about suffering — suffering for blessing. “For our team spirit is this, the witness of our conscience...” and now he mentions four things in the witness of his conscience.

“that in simplicity” — if there was anything that Paul was not he wasn’t simple. The word is a(giothj and it does not mean simplicity, it means holiness or sanctification. So he says “in sanctification.” This refers to experiential sanctification. In other words, Paul was saying when he wrote first Corinthians he was a(giothj, not simple but filled with the Holy Spirit. This is a very important part of the doctrine of inspiration. Any writer of the Old testament had to be a prophet; any writer of the New Testament had to be an apostle or in several cases, like Mark, associated with an apostle. At the time of writing they had to be controlled by God the Holy Spirit. So Paul was in fellowship when he wrote 1 Corinthians where he used some very strong language.

“and godly sincerity” — the word ‘sincerity,’ ei)likrinhj [krinhj = to judge; e)ili = by light]. It means that they used to take certain articles out in the ancient world to see if they were pure or not and they held them up to the sunlight. So the word ‘sincerity’ is just about as far away as you can get. It means to determine purity. It has a genitive case with it and the genitive is of source, so it means to discern from God. So ‘godly sincerity’ is really ‘discernment from God.’ So Paul wrote it in the filling of the Spirit and he also wrote it in doctrinal discernment from God.

“not with fleshly wisdom” — not from the old sin nature — “but by the grace of God.” It was written in grace. Grace takes many different streets and this one was a street where there was a great deal of pressure on the Corinthians.

“we have had our conversation” — the word ‘conversation’ is literally ‘manner of life,’ “in the world to you-ward.” Manner of life or conversation has to do with 1 Corinthians, so he is explaining now why he had to swing that big club so that they could get into a different category. In other words, there are two basic principles of suffering for the believer in phase two. a) Self-induced misery, divine discipline; b) Blessing. Sometimes you can go from a) to b) by means of rebound. Rebound is always the key if you are suffering for the wrong cause.

Verse 13 — out of suffering comes the Word of God, and Paul now specifically mentions the writing of 1 Corinthians. “For we write none other thing unto you” — in other words he wrote 1 Corinthians for the purpose of clarifying the issues of carnality to get them on the rebound trail so that suffering could be meaningful in the life. The word “write” again refers to 1 Corinthians, the epistle where he rebukes them. He says that in the writing of these things this gives the Word of God content. But even though Paul has written these things that isn’t enough, there is something else that is necessary. Here is the problem: e)piginwskw [ginwskw = to learn, to pick up doctrine through the experience of studying it; e)pi intensifies it, it means you put it away in the human spirit]. This is the verb, we have already studied the noun, e)pignwsij, maximum knowledge of doctrine. The verb is not quite clearly translated in the KJV.

“than what ye read or acknowledge” — acknowledge is e)piginwskw; the word ‘read’ which is a)naginwskw [a)na = again and again]. You had to learn these again and again and again before they became e)piginwskw. You can’t hear something once and learn it, you have to go over it and over it. You learn by repetition. Both of these words are present active indicative and that means to have it so well learned that you can use it, you can apply it. The Spirit-filled life must work through Bible doctrine and you must have doctrine in your frontal lobe, not in the Bible. Therefore, if the filling of the Spirit is going to have maximum manifestation and activity in your life it must come through Bible doctrine.

“and I trust ye shall acknowledge” — he actually says “I hope,” the future concept, e)lpizw, reality in the future. It should be translated, “ye shall learn to the maximum,” e)piginwskw again. He says that “what you study repetitiously you will learn to the maximum, and I hope that in the future you will keep on learning to the maximum.” Why? Because it takes two things for you to get blessing out of suffering: the filling of the Spirit and knowledge of doctrine. These two together means blessing in suffering.

Verse 14 — out of suffering comes reward at the judgement seat of Christ. Not only are you blessed in time but it is possible for you to be blessed for billions and billions of years in phase three out of sufferings that occur in time. “As also ye have acknowledged” — this means to learn to the maximum, now for the first time we have e)piginwskw in the aorist tense. The first time it was used in this passage it was a present active indicative, and that means that learning to the maximum is a continuous process throughout phase two. Then we went to the future because future from the time that Paul wrote you will persist, and this is the persistence of maximum doctrine. Then we finally go to the aorist which brings us down to the self-discipline of learning Bible doctrine — concentration. Self-discipline and concentration are two sides of the same coin. “Ye have acknowledge” is ‘Ye have learned to the maximum.’ When it is in the aorist tense here it gathers up into one time the concept of your self-discipline, the concept of your concentration. If you can concentrate and if you can discipline yourself to learn Bible doctrine then the fantastic blessing is right there because of orientation to grace.

“acknowledges us in part” is wrong. It says “part of you have learned to the maximum.” It is those who are the esprit decor of Paul or the team spirit. In other words, those who have a maximum knowledge of doctrine — e)pisgnowsij, the noun, or the verb e)piginwskw — are the team spirit. So team spirit is based on maximum knowledge of, doctrine.

“that” is “with the result that we are your team spirit, even as you are ours also.” Paul and the Corinthians seemed to be far apart in 1 Corinthians. Paul clobbers them. But once they rebound then they are all in he same team and they have a great team spirit. Team spirit is developed under conditions of pressure and suffering.

“in the day of the Lord Jesus” — in other words, at the judgement seat of Christ. Their production which will result from a maximum knowledge of doctrine is the production of divine good, the result of this team thing being carried right to the judgement seat of Christ.

All that we have from verse 15 to the end of the chapter is related to suffering. However, there is a slight change of pace for this reason. We are going to have something of Paul’s confidence in view of the fact that he is under a great deal of criticism. Every believer sooner or later is going to be criticised by someone, it is a part of being a believer. Generally it is going to be the unjustified type. Beginning in verse 15 we have Paul suffering because he is misjudged, because the Corinthians do not have the facts and without then facts they have gone ahead and clobbered him. Out of this Paul is going to enucleate certain principles of suffering and the reason that Paul gives us this particular passage in the power of the Spirit is because while we have many areas of suffering here is one that is common to all believers at some time or another. Paul is not out of line but the Corinthians have assumed that he is. Because Paul had to clobber them in his first epistle about their obvious areas of carnality they have what we might call a super sensitivity. They have now come to the place where every move that Paul makes if it isn’t what they think it should be then their super sensitivity goes into action. They begin to express attitudes toward Paul that are contrary to their real love for him. For example, when he doesn’t turn up when they expect him, they’re hurt. Their attitude is that Paul doesn’t love them. Secondly, they not only say that Paul doesn’t care for them but then they say, I’ll show Paul — operation vindictiveness. So from being hurt they go to vindictiveness. But then there is one other thing, we then have operation vengeance. When he does come back they’re going to slam the door in his face. That was the pattern of some of the Corinthians and that is the pattern of this passage. This is something that happens when people have their feelings hurt: super sensitivity. They’re hurt, they don’t understand, they don’t have any facts but they prejudge. Then operation vindictiveness, and here is where self-induced misery really begins. There is an alternative to all of this which will be stated toward the end: get with Bible doctrine, to put the matter in the Lord’s hands. When you really love someone and you have Bible doctrine, like the Corinthians, they should have been patient with Paul. Patience is really a perpetuation of their love. They don’t know what the facts are but they will wait. In the meantime they love Paul and appreciate his ministry. Secondly, their love should have expressed itself in another way: patience followed by prayer for Paul. But this they did not do, they criticised him but they didn’t pray for him. They should have been patient, they should have prayed for him. Then a third factor. They should have been open-minded, and this means an RMA — relaxed mental attitude.

1968 2Corinthians 1:                                                                                     Lesson #6

6 11/24/1968 2Cor. 1:15–24 Suffering; leave unfair treatment in Lord's hands

2Corinthians 1:15 And because of this confidence [i.e., that you people have such a favorable opinion of me], I had determined to visit you first [i.e., before going to Macedonia. See I Cor. 16:5-7], so that you could have an additional blessing. [Note: The “blessing” here would be Paul getting to minister to them both before and after visiting Macedonia].

2Corinthians 1:16 [I had planned] to visit you on my way to Macedonia and then again on my way back from there, and to have you help me on my journey to Judea. [See I Cor. 16:6].

2Corinthians 1:17 So, when I made this decision, was I just vacillating [in uncertainty]? Or, do I make plans in a worldly way [i.e., just to suit my own fancy], so that my “yes” and “no” [do not really mean anything]?

2Corinthians 1:18 But just as certainly as God is dependable, our message to you is not [both] “yes” and “no” [at the same time].

2Corinthians 1:19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed among you by me, [and] Silvanus [i.e., the same as Silas] and Timothy, was not “yes” and “no” [i.e., both our message and Jesus Himself were not contradictory], but with Him, it was “yes” [i.e., Jesus consistently spoke the truth].

2Corinthians 1:20 For [no matter] how many promises God has made, in Christ [the answer] is “yes” [i.e., Christ has fulfilled all of God’s promises to mankind] Also, through Christ, the “amen” [Note: This word is always translated elsewhere as “May it be so”] can be said by us in order to honor God.

2Corinthians 1:21 Now God is the One who makes us stand firm with you in [fellowship with] Christ. He has anointed us [Note: “Anointed” here probably refers to selecting, appointing and commissioning people for some form of Christian service. See Luke 4:18];

2Corinthians 1:22 He has placed His seal of ownership upon us by giving us the down payment of the Holy Spirit [to live] in our hearts.

2Corinthians 1:23 But I appeal to God as my witness [i.e., to verify that I am telling the truth]; it was in order to spare you [i.e., from a disciplinary action] that I decided not to return to Corinth.

2Corinthians 1:24 For we do not have [the right to] rule over your faith [i.e., to dictate concerning your personal relationship with God], but we want to work with you for your happiness. For you are [already] standing firm in your faith. [Note: This whole narrative alludes to some unresolved problems still existing there in Corinth]

Verse 15 — “And in this confidence.” The Greek actually says, “And this the confidence.” ‘In this’ means this mess, this misunderstanding between the Corinthians and Paul. Then in apposition, in this mess Paul has something — “the confidence.” There is this mess and Paul has confidence in the mess because of Bible doctrine. The word “confidence” is dative case, dative of advantage. It is to your advantage to be judged, to be maligned, to be misunderstood, to be criticised, to be the victim of vengeance and vindictiveness and antagonistic mental attitude sins. If someone has made life miserable for you it is to your advantage, that’s the plan of God. The plan of God can take the cursing of this pressure and turn it into blessing. Paul doesn’t fall apart because of this pressure, he is totally relaxed. His relaxation is the fact that he is occupied with the person of Christ, he understands the principle of doctrine that God in His grace can take any personal situation and turn it into a blessing situation, and Paul gets out of God’s way. Paul has confidence here, and confidence is knowing that God will handle it and staying out of His way. No counter attack, no pettiness, no counter mental attitude sins.

Paul now starts to explain. Paul doesn’t call this his defense, or his explanation, he calls it his confidence. And he is writing at this moment to people who are antagonistic toward him. Now his is going to state and amplify his confidence: “I was minded to come unto you.” Here are the facts. The Greek word is boulomai which means to plan something. It means a wish, a desire, but it means a wish or desire from the mentality of the soul. He had planned this, he had planned to come. Imperfect active indicative. The imperfect tense means this was always his objective, this was his desire. Active voice: it came from his mentality. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that Paul wanted to be with them, it was not lack of desire on his part. For the first time the Corinthians are getting the facts.

“to come” is an aorist active infinitive, it means in a point of time; “unto you” is proj plus the accusative which means face to face: “I kept on planning in a point of time to come face to face with you.”

“before” — this means before the time of this writing. Paul had previously stated that he would come back to them in 1 Corinthians 16:3,5,6. So there is the documentation for the fact that Paul intended to. But the problem is that God had another plan. This was Paul’s plan but God overruled it. Why didn’t God want Paul to come personally? Because God knew that they had a few things to straighten out as far as doctrine and love and everything else, and God wanted Paul not to come personally but to write again. Why write to the Corinthians? So that they could be straightened out by His message. This was so that 2 Corinthians could be written so that people who would fall into these traps would not thereafter. An explanation is necessary for orientation, but before there is an explanation there should still be orientation minus explanation — because of Bible doctrine. Paul’s change of plan was not vacillation but the will of God. So behind all of the pressure Paul has confidence based on doctrine that he is doing the will of God. Paul also has to wait and ride it out until the appropriate moment, which has now come. Therefore he sits down in Macedonia and begins to pen 2 Corinthians. He starts out with the general subject of suffering and now her really gets to the heart of the matter.

The purpose clause: “that ye might have a second benefit” — God kept Paul from coming to Corinth a second time. The second benefit is 2 Corinthians. Paul has confidence that the Word of God is beneficial. Paul knows that he can come and give personal explanations as to why he is late. He could explain himself to death and it wouldn’t change a thing. He could talk and talk and talk and the vindictiveness would still be there. When people have it in for you you can talk and talk and it isn’t going to change anything. But they can be changed and their attitude can be changed by Bible doctrine. This was the second benefit, the doctrine of 2 Corinthians. Doctrine has to change people, and so ‘second benefit’ means that Paul knew when he was writing 2 Corinthians that he was writing the Word of God, and the Word of God can change people. You have to have pressure from people in order to have faith-rest exercised at all times, to have a relaxed mental attitude.

Verse 16 — this verse presents his canceled itinerary. Paul levels with them, he says he bypassed them. “And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia face to face with you., and of you to be brought on my way toward Judea.” This indicates the fact that he was going to Macedonia but he was going to come back from Macedonia, and that he had really intended to come back and take up an offering there, but he hadn’t.

Verse 17 — “When I was thus minded” — ‘thus minded’ is boulomai again, a desire from the mentality of the soul; “did I use lightness?” The word here is levity or fickleness. In other words, ‘I was due there at such and such a time. Does that mean I took you lightly?’ This is what the legalists of Corinth are now claiming. They were hurt by what they considered Paul’s lack of attention toward them. Being hurt they had become critical and had followed the pattern already indicated.

“or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh?” absolutely not; “that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay?” Yea yea and nay nay is instability, he is asking a question. It is an idiom, two yes’s and two no’s. Some people say yes and they mean no. Paul is saying, ‘Am I unstable?’ The Corinthians said yes, you said you’d come and you didn’t. You said you loved us but you didn’t show.

Verse 18 — “But as God is true.” The word is not ‘true’ at all. The Greek word is pistoj which means ‘faithful.’ “God is faithful.” In other words, God is faithful to the Corinthians and God loves the Corinthians a lot more than Paul does, though Paul loves them with a human love. So God says in effect, No Paul, I know that you want to go back but you’re not going to go back because these people have a flaw, and this flaw can be ironed out but it requires for a while that you be misunderstood.

“our word face to face with you was not unstable,” literally. Principle: Bible teaching can only be effective when it is accurate and dogmatic. The Word of God must be absolute and therefore is dogmatic. Bible teaching says this is it, period. Otherwise instability results.

Verse 19 — Paul is reminding them how they were saved. It was not through instability. Salvation was not under the principle that all roads lead to Rome. Paul, Silas and Timothy were dogmatic. It was dogmatism all the way.

Verse 20 — if it is true that the gospel must be given dogmatically, in this verse he goes to the promises for phase two and he says that all the promises of God are dogmatic. The promises of God are just as dogmatic as the gospel, there is no lack of faithfulness on the part of the Lord in these things. So they are dogmatic in Him and they are Amen [I believe it] they are to be believed — “they are to be believed by us unto the glory of God” would be a better way to translate the last phrase. We are to believe these things to the glory of God. The faith-rest technique glorifies God.

Verse 21 — “Now he who stabilises us with you.” Notice, we are on the same team. Paul is not unstable because he hasn’t shown, the Corinthians are unstable because they took it wrongly; at least a majority of them, not all of them. Paul is not unstable though to the Corinthians he appears to be.

“in Christ, and anointed us, is God” — the word anointed means you are in the plan of God. This is an aorist active participle and it means you are in the plan of God, and in the plan of God it doesn’t call for instability, it doesn’t call for judging people, it doesn’t call for being vindictive or sensitive.

Verse 22 — “Who has also sealed us and given us the down payment of the Spirit in your frontal lobes.” The word ‘sealed’ takes up the plan of God in time. When you accepted Christ as saviour how did you know you were in God’s plan? How do you know that all things work together for good? How do you know there is a purpose in all things? How do you know that even the difficulties are not setbacks in His plan but advances? How do you know pressures are an advance? Because He gave you a down payment. You have God the Holy Spirit indwelling you — to learn doctrine, to produce divine good, many reasons. The very fact that God gave you the Holy Spirit inside tells you a lot of things: a) that there is no frustration, disappointment, heartache, or difficulty in this life for which God has not made perfect provision. God does not intend for you to be miserable, to be carnal, to be upset and disturbed. He intends for you to share His happiness now in this world in all kinds of circumstances.

Verse 23 — Literally, “Moreover I call God as my witness upon my soul, that to spare you I came not to Corinth.” What does he mean to “spare”? This is a present middle participle, “to keep on sparing you.” The concept is a very simple one. If Paul came back and found this attitude of criticism and antagonism he would chew them out in a face to face encounter at this time. He would confront them with their sensitivity and failure and that wouldn’t get the job done in two ways. a) A personal confrontation would be too subjective and they wouldn’t get it. Things must be settled on the basis of principle and a face to face situation would eliminate the principle. They would look at Paul and get mad all over. b) There is even a greater reason for it. God knew that down through the centuries this problem would occur again and again and again. For hundreds of years believers have been misunderstanding believers. If Paul had faced them personally and if everything had worked out that would have been fine for Corinth. But what about us?

Verse 24 — “Not for that we have dominion over your faith.” The word ‘dominion’ means lordship, and here it really means dictator. Paul says that if he came personally he could straighten them out as a dictator. This is a problem of sensitivity and therefore no dictator can walk in on this one. Paul is now making it very clear that as an apostle or a pastor he cannot dictate to them a course of action. He can provide information, and his information is in the form of principle, but he cannot dictate to them. The angelic conflict depends upon free will, human freedom even among believers. Therefore believers must respond to doctrine and not to a dictator. “Your faith” here means the whole course of action in phase two, we do not dictate to you what you are to do.

“but are helpers of your joy” — the word ‘helpers’ is sunergoj [ergoj = to work, produce; sun = with]; ‘joy’ is inner happiness, a relaxed mental attitude under pressure. Paul says if he comes now some of them will get straightened out, but he stays away and writes this, this is the Word of God and Bible doctrine, then you will respond not to me but to doctrine. When you start responding to doctrine then you have joy. You don’t have joy because you respond to a dictator, you have joy because you respond to Bible doctrine. You have a relaxed mental attitude. Paul can help them with their joy by communicating Bible doctrine. That is the primary responsibility of a pastor.

“for by faith ye stand.” The word ‘stand’ is a perfect tense. You are going to stand this way in the past, phase two when you learn doctrine, with the result that you will keep standing all the way until phase three. If you are going to make it in phase two you are going to make it because of doctrine, not because a pastor tells you you can’t do this or that. You have to respond to doctrine.

1968 2Corinthians 2:                                                                                     Lesson #7

7 12/15/1968 2Cor. 2:1–4 Forgiving others, relaxed mental attitude

2Corinthians 2:1 So, I decided for myself not to make another painful visit to you.

2Corinthians 2:2 For if I caused you sorrow, who can make me glad except the one I have grieved? [See verse 6].

2Corinthians 2:3 And I wrote you this very thing so that when I did come I might not be grieved by those who should make me happy. I had confidence in all of you, that whatever makes me happy [also] makes you happy.

2Corinthians 2:4 For I wrote to you out of much distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not in order to grieve you, but that you people might know how very much I love you.

Chapter 2

There are two background principles which are necessary to understand this passage. The first of these is the fact that Paul promised to return to Corinth and has not returned. In fact he could have returned several times and did not return. Many of the Corinthian believers were very sensitive about it and they became filled with mental attitude sins toward Paul. The second background principle goes back to 1 Corinthians 5 where we have the account of the man guilty of incest. Paul put him under the sin unto death and turned his body over to Satan for the destruction of the body, the gradual destruction of the body that he might be delivered in the day of the Lord. The church voted him out. This is about the first and clearest case of excommunication on record. As a result of all this this person is down, right down. He finally got around to rebound, and he was forgiven. He is back in fellowship and filled with the Holy Spirit and yet every legalist in the congregation was walking over him. God has forgiven him but no one else has!

This chapter deals with two bad mental attitudes among Corinthians Christians. The first one is directed toward Paul and the second one is directed toward the incest boy. They had a bad mental attitude toward Paul because Paul had not returned, and they had a bad attitude toward the incest person because of their self-righteousness. Paul is filled with the Holy Spirit at the time of writing this chapter, so they are antagonistic toward a person filled with the Spirit. But that isn’t all, the incest man is in the same situation. He has rebounded and he is filled with the Spirit. So the Corinthians who are involved in this are actually antagonistic toward two people who are filled with the Spirit.

Your mental attitude determines what you are, and the whole objective of 2 Corinthians chapter 2 is if you have it in for anyone for any reason that is not excuse. We are to live under Colossians 3:13, “Forgive as Christ forgave.” This means that you have a relaxed mental attitude toward others.

Verses 1-4, the Corinthians antagonism toward the apostle Paul. Paul is in fellowship, he is doing the will of God, they do not deserve an explanation but in grace he gives them one.

Verse 1 — the bypass of Corinth. The word “I determined” is actually the verb krinw which means to judge, or here it means to discern. Paul is acting on discernment. He bypassed and bypassed Corinth and every time he did so he did so on the basis of divine guidance. And here is one of the unheralded keys of divine guidance: discernment. Discernment is applying doctrine to a situation so that the will of God is accomplished in your life. Paul exercised his discernment; “this with myself” or within myself.

There are three points to Paul’s bypass

a) Paul had planned to return to Corinth — 1 Corinthians 16:3-7. He wanted to come back. He loved the Corinthians and he wanted to come back.

b) A second declaration of Paul’s intentions to return to Corinth is stated in 2 Corinthians 1:15,16.

c) Paul declares why he did not keep to his original itinerary — 2 Corinthians 1:23 which was the first explanation.

“I discerned within myself” — the word ‘myself’ is a reflexive pronoun in the dative case and it means it was to his advantage to discern this. Determining God’s will at any point in your life depends upon applying doctrine to the situation, and you cannot apply doctrine unless you know it. The more doctrine you know the easier it is to determine God’s will. “Within myself” also indicates something else: Paul is a believer priest. As a priest he has the right of privacy, he has the right of volition, he has the right of application of doctrine for himself regardless of what others think.

“that” introduces a purpose clause ; “I would not come again to you” — proj plus the accusative which means ‘face to face with you.’

“in heaviness” — the word is luph which doesn’t mean heaviness, except that 300 years ago heaviness meant sorrow or a heavy weight of pressure on you. Luph means sorrow, pressure. If Paul came to Corinth he couldn’t teach the Word of God because of pressure. The easiest thing in the world to do is to teach the Word of God to a relaxed congregation who want the Word of God. But Paul would have had to discipline, exhort and rebuke, and this hinders the communication of doctrine.

Verse 2 — the principle of the bypass. “If I make you sorry” is a first class condition, and the word to make sorry is now the verb, lupew, the cognate. It means to cause grief, to cause sorrow, to cause pain. “If I cause you pain.” The content of his message is going to cause sorrow. He is going to have to chew them out, discipline them. If he is going to cause them sorrow and they are therefore sorrowful, how can he go out to dinner with them and have a good time? How can they meet socially? How can they have rapport?

“who is he then that maketh me glad” — e)ufrainw [eu = good, happy, well; frainw is from fronew which means to think]. In other words, “who is going to make me think happiness” which is inner happiness. Where there is rapport among believers there is inner happiness, inner stimulation. But if he is going to chew them out who is going to make him happy. They’re all mad at him, and so on. Ministers suffer when their congregations fail to orient to grace and respond to the Word.

“but the same which is made sorry by me?” — in other words, ‘the same’ refers to the congregation and if Paul is chewing them out and making them sorry ‘by me’, by the source of me, then there is no one with whom I can have social life and relaxation.

Verse 3 — the purpose of the epistle. This epistle would never have been written if Paul hadn’t bypassed Corinth. This is the key to the whole epistle.

“And I wrote this same [2 Corinthians] unto you” — dative of advantage.

“lest” should be translated “that,” it is a negative purpose clause; “when I came, I should not have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice.” The word ‘of’ is a)po, from the ultimate source of. Paul is saying he has to write a letter to chew them out and when this letters straightens them out he can then come to Corinth any time and the rapport is re-established. Principle: Rapport is established by clearing up the air. To rejoice here means to have fellowship and inner happiness.

“having confidence in you all” — the perfect active indicative of peiqw. In the present tense the word means to be persuaded; in the perfect tense is means confidence based on permanent persuasion. Paul has absolute confidence that Bible doctrine will produce inner happiness. He doesn’t have confidence in them, he has confidence in the Word. But he cannot communicate the Word as long as there is mental attitude sinning in the congregation, as long as there is antagonism. He can’t get doctrine over if they resent him, they won’t listen to him. He is saying that he is confident that they would have the same inner happiness that he himself has but they would not until they got doctrine, and they could not get doctrine until they got straightened out.

“that my joy is the joy of you all” — he doesn’t have confidence in them, he has confidence in them that they can have his joy. In other words, Bible doctrine is the source of joy.

Verse 4 — “For out of much affliction.” Paul wrote during a period of great personal suffering. Everywhere at this point in his life he had problems, pressure. And when he considered their situation he had “anguish of heart” — mental suffering, the worst type. He had mental pain because he loved the Corinthians dearly, because they were out of line, because they were antagonistic toward him; “with many tears” — dia plus the genitive, and it should be translated “through many tears.” Paul wrote through many tears. What is he saying? His tears were a matter of privacy and he wept when he thought of the tragedy of their mental attitude sins.

“not that you should be grieved” — Paul is not trying to appeal to them on the basis of emotion, he is not trying to arouse sentimental regret. He is not trying to get them to feel sorry for their sins.

“but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly for you.” Paul wants them to respond to love rather than to rebuke and he demonstrates his love by not visiting them, by bypassing them. It is much better to express his rebuke in a letter and give them a chance to rebound, and then he can really minister to them. But he can’t minister under these present conditions. There is another reason.. God the Holy Spirit used this bad situation so that we might profit by some of the most unusual doctrines in the New Testament.

1968 2Corinthians 2:                                                                                     Lesson #8

8 12/22/1968 2Cor. 2:5–11 Forgiveness for incestuous believer, comfort

Forgive the Sinner

2Corinthians 2:5 But if anyone has caused grief, he has not done it to me [only], but to almost all of you [or, “only partially to all of you”] for I do not want to overstate the case.

2Corinthians 2:6 The punishment inflicted [on him] by the majority of you was sufficient. [Note: If this is a reference to the incestuous man of I Cor. 5:4ff, then the punishment was removing him from their fellowship].

2Corinthians 2:7 So instead, you people should [now] forgive and comfort him, in order that such a person does not become overwhelmed with extreme grief.

2Corinthians 2:8 So, I urge you to reassure him of your love for him.

2Corinthians 2:9 For this also was my purpose in writing you, that I might test your willingness to obey everything [I required of you].

2Corinthians 2:10 Now whomever you forgive [for doing] anything [wrong], I will forgive also. For indeed, whatever I have forgiven, if I have [actually] forgiven anything, has been for your sakes in the sight of Christ. [Note: Paul seems to be saying “Since my forgiveness depends on your forgiveness of the man, I am not sure of my forgiveness because I am not sure of yours”].

2Corinthians 2:11 [I do this] so that Satan cannot take advantage of us, for we are not unaware of his schemes.

In verses 5-11 we see a believer who had a problem that really contributed to the problem of others in the congregation. The background for this section goes back to 1 Corinthians 5:1-7 where we have the incestuous believer. It will be recalled that two things were commanded. The congregation was commanded to ostracise this man whose name is not given. Also, the apostle himself turned his body over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, this is a part of the administration of the sin unto death. Only apostles had this prerogative, it has not been passed down to pastors.

In verses 5,6 we have the inflexibility of the congregation. When they were given an order they did it in such an inflexible manner that grace was excluded.

Verse 5 — the word “if” is a first class condition recognising the past historical fact of 1 Corinthians 5:1-7. It is true that there was a believer who habitually committed incest, it is true that he was put under the sin unto death, it is true that he was ostracised by the congregation. What is not known until this moment is the fact that he has also rebounded, is back in fellowship, and is no longer under the sin unto death. However this case must be discussed in order to get a grace perspective from the congregation.

“if any have caused grief” — perfect active indicative of the verb lupew which means to cause grief. In the perfect tense it refers to the past action of the carnal believer in 1 Corinthians 5. The indicative mood is the reality that this occurred so that sorrow was caused in the congregation.

“he hath not grieved me” is not correctly translated. This passage should read, “If any have caused grief, not I but you has he grieved, at least part of you.” “Part of you” means that some of the people were very definitely hurt, offended, and were shaken up by the incestuous Corinthian.

“that” introduces a purpose clause; “I may not overcharge you all” — the word does not mean to overcharge, the Greek word is e)pibarew and it means to be over critical. Barew itself means to weigh down someone with criticism, to pressure them with sins of the tongue; e)pi means to add and add to it. When it is put together it means to be over critical. Paul does not want to be too severe at this point because the offender has rebounded and because he has the case is closed, God has forgiven him. While God has forgiven him some of the people have not. So the believers in Corinth have found themselves in a very embarrassing situation. They are minus forgiveness and they find themselves in a modus operandi which is contrary to God’s modus vivendi. It is now time to forget the entire matter and move on as a church. In other words, Paul is now stressing a point: grace makes a believer a good forgetter! No one can move on in the Christian life if he remembers the past sins of others and therefore gets into chain sinning. Chain sinning is really described in Hebrews 12:15,16.

Verse 6 — “Sufficient to such a man.” Paul says he is no longer an issue but let’s go back and look at him for a moment. His situation is described by the word “sufficient.” The suffering of the incestuous believer has been great. God’s discipline on him has been very strong and God has used many types of discipline. There is the personal suffering involved and there is the sin unto death given by the apostle, and there is the ostracism of the Christian society. The burden was so heavy that it forced him into a position of rebound. Now that he has rebounded God has removed the personal suffering, the sin unto death,. but the people in the congregation at Corinth have not removed their antagonism nor their ostracism. God’s discipline is not sufficient for them so Paul uses the word “sufficient.” The believer who tries to help God in disciplining others always receives triple-compound discipline.

“is this punishment” — the punishment, again, is threefold. He was excommunicated by the congregation — 1 Corinthians 5:4; he was put under the sin unto death, 1 Corinthians 5:5; he had produced in himself by his bragging (an expression of pride) a mental attitude sin.

“which was inflicted of the many” is literally, ‘which was under the many.’ That is, the congregation in their ostracism. At the present time, the status quo at the end of verse 6, this believer had been under the sin unto death, he had rebounded. God forgave him and in forgiving him had removed the discipline. The Corinthians are now under test to see if they can apply what doctrine they have learned. If Paul returns to Corinth there will be no test, they will simply do what Paul tells them to do. So Paul must stay away in order that these Corinthians from their own doctrinal resources can forgive and forget, and can follow the procedure which will be listed next. There must be forgiveness, there must be grace. Grace makes the believer a good forgetter.

Verse 7 — “So that” introduces a result clause; “With the result that contrariwise ye ought rather.” Now we have a policy established. Paul is absent, he wants them on the basis of Bible doctrine to do three things. So now we have an expression of three things toward a rebound believer.

“to forgive” — attitude #1, xarizomai [xarij = grace], which means to exercise grace and that means to ‘forgive.’ But forgive means a relaxed mental attitude toward that person. It means forget what they have done to antagonise, and it means to maintain a normal attitude toward them. This is an aorist active infinitive. The aorist tense is this point of time. The active voice: forgiveness must come from them, from their own spiritual resources. The infinitive denotes God’s purpose, it is God’s purpose for believers to forgive believers. This should be the predominant attitude. In fact, you don’t wait for them to rebound, you forgive as Christ forgave, you forgive while they are still offending you, still hurting you.

“and comfort” — attitude #2, an aorist active infinitive. The word ‘comfort’ is parakalew [para = be beside; kalew = to call to one’s side, to impart important information or to have fellowship or relationship]. The word ‘comfort’ is used to test the relax mental attitude. To comfort someone means to have a relaxed mental attitude toward them. Comfort means the restoration of their privacy. It means they are no longer the target for vindictiveness or implacability.

“lest” introduces a negative purpose clause; “that such a one should not be swallowed up,” aorist passive subjunctive, katapinw [pinw — drink or to gulp; kata =down]. To gulp down means to devour or to swallow — “so that such a one should be swallowed by an overabundance of sorrow.” Many believers are casualties in phase two because of the implacability of legalistic Christians. To be constantly critical of a restored believer leads to misery, dejection, and despondency on the part of the rebounding Christian. He has rebounded, God has forgiven him, and you hold it against him. So it is a terrible sin to remember what God has forgotten and blotted out. Doctrine in the frontal lobe causes the believer to relax and to forgive, and part of this forgiveness is forgetting. The grace man is always a good forgetter.

Verse 8 — a third attitude. “Wherefore I beseech you” or “I encourage you” — parakalew; “that ye would confirm your love toward him.” The word ‘confirm’ is kurow. It doesn’t really mean to confirm, it means to exercise authority and it means to give assurance. It has the idea of encircling them with your love. The word ‘love’ here is a)gaph, a mental attitude love. So “assure them of your mental attitude love.”

Verse 9 — the principle of being spiritually self-sustaining; “the proof of you” — the word for ‘proof’ is dokimh which means testing, testing ore to see if it has gold or silver, anything precious in it. Paul wrote instead of coming to them that he might test them, to give them the opportunity of operating on doctrine they had been taught rather than coming himself and doing it for them.

“whether you be obedient in all things” — u(phkooj which means responsive obedience. It means response to something inside, to Bible doctrine which they have learned. Notice: Paul is absent. His authority is found in doctrine, he has transferred doctrine from his frontal lobe to theirs. They now have doctrine, they have the test to see if they will be obedient to the doctrine which he has transferred to them. If they are, then they will have demonstrated the fact that they are spiritually self-sustaining.

Verse 10 — the principle of orientation to grace. “To whom ye give anything, I forgive also.” Xarizomai is the verb for giving and it has the basis of grace. Present active indicative: he anticipates that they will forgive. Then Paul says “I also forgive.”

“for if I forgave anything” — ‘if’ is a first class condition, if I forgave anything and I already have; “to whom I forgave it, for your sakes,” or ‘because of you in the person of Christ.’ Paul is simply saying, ‘Here is this man who has failed. He has rebounded and is now forgiven. I have already forgiven this man in Corinth and have a relaxed mental attitude toward him. This assures him of my love. But what about you? What is your attitude toward this man?’ If we are all operating on doctrine then we present a great dynamic to the unbelieving world.

Verse 11 — conclusion. “Lest” introduces a negative purpose clause; “Satan should not get the advantage over us.” To get an advantage is an aorist passive subjunctive. The Greek word is pleonektew. All this means is to counter punch. When you are out ‘punching’ other believers you are giving Satan an opening. Satan is a counter puncher. How do we keep Satan out of a congregation? Relaxed mental attitude on the part of the individual believer. To the extent that you are slugging other people to that extent you are giving Satan opportunity to counter punch.

That Satan should not counter punch us: “for we are not ignorant of his devices.” The word for ‘devices’ can also be the word for strategy.

1968 2Corinthians 2:                                                                                     Lesson #9

9 12/29/1968 2Cor. 2:11–14 Discouragement after failure; devices of Satan

2Corinthians 2:11 [I do this] so that Satan cannot take advantage of us, for we are not unaware of his schemes.

Triumph in Christ

2Corinthians 2:12 Now when I came to Troas [See Acts 16:8], in order to preach the good news about Christ, and when a door [of opportunity] was opened to me in [the service of] the Lord [there],

2Corinthians 2:13 I had no peace of mind because I did not find my brother Titus [there]. So, I said “good-bye” to them and went on to Macedonia.

2Corinthians 2:14 But I offer thanks to God, who always leads us [preachers] to victory in [the service of] Christ, and through us makes known the “fragrant odor” of His knowledge everywhere.

2Corinthians 2:14 But I offer thanks to God, who always leads us [preachers] to victory in [the service of] Christ, and through us makes known the “fragrant odor” of His knowledge everywhere.

2Corinthians 2:15 For we [i.e., through our preaching] are like a fragrant incense which goes up to God, [and spreads the knowledge] of Christ among both saved and lost people.

2Corinthians 2:16 To lost people [we become] a smell of death [i.e., we bring condemnation to people who reject our message]; to saved people [we become] a fragrance of life [i.e., we bring salvation to people who accept our message]. And who is adequate to [accomplish] such tasks?

2Corinthians 2:17 For we [apostles] are not like so many people, who “peddle” God’s message merely for profit [or, “who corrupt God’s message”], but in Christ’s [service] we proclaim the message from God with sincerity, [realizing we are] in the presence of God.

The doctrine of the devices of Satan

The devices of Satan are divided into three areas:

a) He has strategy toward believers; b) He has strategy toward unbelievers; c) He has strategy toward the world in general.

1. Satan’s strategy toward believers.

a) He accuses the brethren — Revelation 12:9,10; Job 1:6-11; Zechariah 3:1,2.

b) He persuades the believer to ignore the Word of God in three different ways: through disobedience — Genesis 2:17; 3:4; by worrying — 1 Peter 5:7-9; he gets the believer to ignore doctrine — 1 Chronicles 21:1.

c) He seeks to entice the believer from the operational will of God — Galatians 5:7; James 4:7,8; from the geographical will of God — 1 Thessalonians 2:18.

d) He seeks to destroy the believer’s focus: by getting eyes on self — 1 Corinthians 1:10,11; by getting eyes on people — Genesis 19:28 cf. 20:1; to get eyes on things — Hebrews 13:5,6.

e) He seeks to get a believer frightened with regard to death or dying — Hebrews 2:14,15.

2. Satan’s strategy with regard to the unbeliever: to blind the unbeliever — 2 Corinthians 4:3,4; Luke 8:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:9,10.

3. Satan has a strategy with regard to nations which is described in Revelation 12:9; 20:3,8.

The Satanic device is designed to get churches to go from doctrine to apostasy. Churches never go from apostasy to doctrine. Once the leaven is in the leaven leavens the whole lump. Never in church history will you ever find a church going from apostasy to the truth, but you will find literally thousands and thousands of churches that have gone from the truth to apostasy.

Paul himself was the victim of a Satanic device, the device of worrying.

Verse 12 — Paul’s experience at Troy. This is where he failed. The word ‘Troas’ is an old English for Troy. “Furthermore” — you Corinthians, get off of that believer’s back. Before you ever got on his back I want to show you what a terrible sin I have committed!

“when I came” is an aorist active participle, ‘having come to Troy.’ This indicates it was the will of God for him to come to Troy. He also declares the purpose for coming to Troy: literally, “because of the gospel of Christ.” Translation so far: “Furthermore, having come [in a point of time] to Troy because of Christ’s gospel.” In other words, it was God’s will for him to be there.

“a door was opened” — the door represents the opportunity of Christian service.

The doctrine of doors

1. The door of salvation — John 10:7-9.

2. The door of service — 1 Corinthians 16:9; 2 Corinthians 2:12; Colossians 4:3.

3. The door of the Rapture — Revelation 4:1.

4. The door of judgment — James 5:9.

5. The door of evangelism — Acts 14:27.

There are a lot of doors in the New Testament and these doors are connected with some kind of an opportunity. Christ is the opportunity for salvation; the door of service is an opportunity to perform some special service for God; the door of the Rapture is the door that opens up heaven to a whole age of believers — the Church Age; the door of judgment, entrance into judgment; the door of evangelism is an opportunity to evangelise under special conditions.

Notice it says the door was opened, perfect passive participle. The perfect tense means that the door has been opened in the past and the results of that verb go on. In other words, a maximum number of people on positive volition at the point of God-consciousness have now gathered in the city of Troy and they are waiting for someone who will communicate to them the gospel properly. The passive voice means that in this situation the door has been received, it is there and it continues to be there. It received opening, Paul didn’t open it himself he merely went at the direction of the Lord.

There are several things here. The phrase “because of Christ’s gospel” plus the perfect passive participle of the verb to open, plus the phrase “unto me” — dative of advantage, indicates that this is God’s will for Paul. a) Geographically he belongs in Troy; b) Operationally he needs to be evangelising and teaching; c) Mentally he must have an RMA. No evangelist or pastor can function effectively with an RMA. He needs the filling of the Spirit, a knowledge of his subject before he communicates. He needs the gift of teaching and he must be relaxed himself. Paul fulfilled the first point, he was in Troy. He started to fulfil the second point but Satanic divisiveness got to him, he started to worry about Titus. Worry is a mental attitude sin, and mental attitude sins not only produce self-induced misery but they also cancel out the function of the will of God. He got out of Troy, he did not evangelise and teach, both of which were the will of God for him. This is 1 Peter 5:7-9. Paul failed here to walk through a door of service.

Verse 13 — Paul has definitely sinned when he left Troy. It began with a mental attitude sin, “I had no rest in my spirit.” Worry is a mental attitude sin that produces self-induced misery. That pushes doctrine right back. The human spirit is the basis for having relationship with God and his relationship with God is therefore hurt by mental attitude sins. So not only does he have self-induced misery but he short-circuits the possibility of doing the will of God. The word for “rest” in the Greek is tranquillity, relaxation of mind.

“because I found not Titus” — when he had come to Troy he expected to find Titus.

“but taking my leave” is not what the Greek says at all, a)potassomai here means to renounce or to forsake: “I forsook them.”

“I went from thence to Macedonia” — in other words, he worried and worried and he decided that Titus had left Corinth and had gone up to Macedonia. He then decided that he would try to find Titus since Titus had not crossed the Agean Sea. In other words, the apostle Paul failed totally. He worried all the time when he should have been preaching and teaching, he was sitting there biting his nails wondering what had happened to Titus. He walked out on God’s will for his life. The principle is obvious. While our sins may not be exactly the same as Paul’s we are still alive and breathing. This ought to tell us something: God still has a plan for our lives. If He didn’t we would be dead.

Worry and anxiety destroys service to the Lord, the believer cannot produce and be worried about his friends or anything else.

1968 2Corinthians 2:                                                                                  Lesson #10

10 01/05/1969 2Cor. 2:14–17 Apostasy; stabilizing doctrine of union with Christ

Verse 14 — the principle of recovery.

“Now thanks be unto God.” It doesn’t say that at all. Literally it says, “But grace because of God.” This is the whole point. Somewhere along the line you are going to have to stop worrying about what people think about you. What people think about you doesn’t count, it is what God thinks about you. What does God think about you when you rebound? Grace! People do not determine how your life should be run, it is the responsibility of God. You belong to God, not the people. It isn’t what people think, it is what the Word of God says that counts. God is the source of grace that makes recovery possible. So between verses 13 & 14 what has Paul done? He has rebounded.

“who causes us to triumph” — God causes us to triumph. The word triumph is qriambeuw. It is from the word qriamboj which is a hymn of triumph, a hymn of glory. The word means to celebrate a victory, to sing of a restoration. Every time you rebound you ought to celebrate a victory. This is a present active participle in the dative case, it is dative of advantage, it is to our advantage to celebrate a victory at any time in phase two. The present tense means upon rebound we are back in fellowship. So we have a continuous activity here. We have the celebration of victory and always God is the source of the celebration. The active voice means God’s grace in rebound causes the believer to celebrate a victory. The participle is a causal participle, rebound in the cause of celebration.

“in Christ” — positional truth. Here are the two stabilisers: a) we are in union with the Lord Jesus Christ, that is our stability for phase two; b) when we are in the bottom circle that is the basis of stability, and that is rebound. When you are in the bottom circle then you have Philippians 3:13.

The last half of verse 14 tells us of the recovery; “and maketh manifest” — present active participle, dative of advantage. The verb fanerow which means to bring to light, it means that something becomes obvious to us. These things come to light to us through Bible doctrine. Principle: Knowledge of Bible doctrine is the greatest virtue in the Christian life. The more you know about doctrine the more you know about Christ; the more you know about doctrine the more you know about God the Father; the more you know about doctrine the more you know about God the Holy Spirit. The more you know about the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, the more you know about the grace of God and the greater becomes your capacity to love God, the greater becomes your ability to orient to the grace of God and the plan of God, the greater becomes your awareness of the angelic conflict and its intensified stage. The more you become aware of the plan of God the more you see the significance of your life in the light of the plan of God and therefore fulfil the principle for which you remain in this life. There is no excuse for any believer being stupid about doctrine.

“the savour” — we have a problem here because the word ‘savour’ really means fragrance. Fragrance was used in a very beautiful way in the triumphal processions in the victory celebrations. The word ‘fragrance’ here has to do with the sweet odour of victory. And what is this fragrance?

“of his knowledge” — knowledge of doctrine is the fragrance of victory. The victory is there, the question is can you smell it? It is one thing to have victory, it is another thing to smell victory. The whole point here is whether you can smell victory or not depends upon your knowledge of doctrine. Your spiritual sense of smell is the human spirit where Bible doctrine is stored. When it is stored there it goes into the soul.

“by us” is dia plus the genitive and it means ‘through the instrumentality of us.’ The believer is used. Every believer is in full time Christian service, the fragrance is the gospel. The concept of witnessing: fragrance refers to doctrine, but now fragrance refers specifically to the gospel. Who is responsible for the gospel? “By us” refers to every believer. Every believer is responsible for the gospel. As you give out the fragrance of the gospel there will be two kinds of people who will smell it: people who will believe and respond to the gospel. It will be to them “life unto life,” and those who reject it and are on negative volition it will “be death unto death” — verse 15.

Verse 15 — every believer is in full time service. “We are” — present linear aktionsart, absolute status quo verb. “We keep on being unto God a sweet fragrance in them that are saved, in them that perish.”

“in them that perish” — present passive participle of a)pollumi which refers to the unbeliever at the last judgement. Present tense: he is going to have something that will last forever. Passive voice: he receives judgement because he went on negative volition with regard to the fragrance, the gospel.

Verse 16 — we reverse the situation and start with negative volition and then take the positive volition crowd.

“death unto death” describes the situation with regard to the unbeliever. It is really “from death to death.” He is spiritually dead, he is born that way, and when he dies physically then next is the second death, the last judgement. So the unbeliever goes from spiritual death to the second death. He lived his life in rejection of Christ, he dies spiritually dead. When he dies spiritually dead there is the second death.

“and to the other” — the believer; it is “the savour of life unto life.” He is born into the world and there is a point where he believes in Christ as saviour. He therefore receives eternal life, so he goes from physical life to eternal life all within a lifetime.

“And who” — an interrogative pronoun, a question which deals with the principle of grace whereby some are saved and some are lost. It deals with the fragrance. The fragrance was poured out on everyone in the triumphal procession, those who were about to die and those who would live; “is sufficient” — the word is a noun which doesn’t really mean ‘sufficient,’ i(kanoj, and it means “who is qualified?”

“for these things” is literally, ‘face to face with these things.” The answer: Only the one who believes in Jesus Christ is qualified, only the one who appropriates grace. Only those who have believed are qualified for eternal life. The victor is the one who believes in Jesus Christ.

Verse 17 — “For we are not as many.” ‘We’ is a reference to the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ — w(j o(i polloi, “as the many,” the ones who have rejected Christ, the ones who teach salvation by works. They are the ones who proclaim a system of human good for salvation.

“which corrupt the word of God” — kaphleuw means to huxter, a diluter of the product. So the person who goes on human good for salvation dilutes the gospel. This means he rejects the gospel. “We [believers] are not like the many who dilute the word of God.”

“but” — conjunction of contrast, “as of discernment,” literally. So by holding the gospel to the light of Bible doctrine we can determine what is true and what isn’t. This requires knowledge of doctrine.

“but from God, in the sight of God we keep on speaking in Christ” — out from the source of God here means that God is perfect and His plan is perfect. The presentation of His plan is the gospel. The gospel is perfect and it is so because man has nothing to do with it, there is no human good; “speak we” is the present active indicative of the verb lalew which means to communicate. Here “we” [all believers] are communicating the gospel. We must not in any way dilute it.

“in Christ” — this means that every believer is in union with Christ. Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. We share all that Christ is and has but all is based on who and what Christ is, not on who and what man is. There is a stablising factor in phase two that cannot be changed: “in Christ.”

1968 2Corinthians 3:                                                                                   Lesson #11

11 01/12/1969 2Cor. 3:1 Letter of commendation; Paul's sarcasm

Chapter 3

Ministers of the New Covenant

2Corinthians 3:1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again [i.e., by saying that we are not like other people]? Or, do we need letters of recommendation to you or from you, as others do?

In chapter three Paul is going to open up on the subject of the unveiled glory as it relates to the angelic conflict. And as he begins he opens with sarcasm.

Verse 1 — “Do we begin again to commend ourselves?” Paul begins with the present middle indicative of the verb a)rxw which means to begin something; it means the beginning of a relationship. We all have to have beginnings and friendship, love, and everything else has a beginning. And if there is anyone who is really old hat in Corinth it is Paul. All of the members of the church know Paul, he led most of them to the Lord, he taught them their first doctrine, he is the one who got them started properly. He was the one who laid it on the line to them as far as the Word of God was concerned. Now Paul starts off with the word a)rxw and that is a word used only for a stranger. And that really hit them. And Paul says, ‘You mean that I must come back to Corinth as a stranger, as someone that you have never met?’ So he uses the present middle indicative of a)rxw, and in the present tense he is being very dramatic. Usually this is known as a dramatic present but perhaps the syntax calls for a sarcastic present tense. This is confirmed by the middle voice which means in effect ‘we ourselves.’ The indicative mood is the reality that Paul is taking the position that because of their nit picking, their criticism, their judging, their maligning, their gossip about him that he is now a stranger. He wants to establish a point of doctrine with them right now. Paul has known the Corinthians very well for years. When he in effect asks them if they have to get acquainted again he is saying to them, ‘Look, I have known you for a long time, but by your actions you have phased me out. And since you have phased me out I have been fulfilling Romans 16:17,18 which means to love you from afar.’ He has stayed away from them. A)rxw is a short little word Paul uses, designed to exude sarcasm. The Corinthian criticism of Paul means they must begin all over again. Paul is sending a letter so that they can get acquainted again — a very neat piece of sarcasm.

“commend” — sunisthmi [isthmi = to stand; sun = with]. The word actually means to place someone beside another. To stand with someone means to be with them. Do we begin again to be with each other? The word also means to introduce or to commend. It is a present active infinitive. Sunisthmi became known as a verb used for commendation. In the ancient world accommodations were not very good for travelers. Therefore it was ideal if you could stay in someone’s home. So there would often be letters of commendation sent to people with a request to take care of a traveling friend. Paul is using this custom as a means of sarcasm. ‘Must I come to the door of the Corinthian church with a letter of commendation before you will allow me entrance?’

“or need we as some others” — here is sarcasm piled upon sarcasm. When he says ‘need we’ he uses a word that doesn’t occur too often, xrhzw, a present active indicative and it really expresses a critical attitude toward the apostle Paul. The Corinthians have implied that they are not going to permit Paul to enter ever again, they’ll throw him out of he shows up. And Paul is actually saying to them, ‘Do I have to come as a stranger, loaded down with letters of commendation before you will let me in ?’ The word ‘some’ in the Greek is dripping with sarcasm, it is a subtle criticism of the Corinthians for permitting false teachers and legalists to come into the church. How did the false teachers come in? They said they had a letter of commendation. Legalists did this throughout the Roman empire, they often forged Paul’s name. It happened to the Thessalonians and possibly this is what ‘some’ means — that these people, false teachers and legalists, came to the door of the Corinthian church saying that they had a letter from the apostle Paul. Then they came in and taught false doctrine. So they let people with forged letters of commendation come in and teach false doctrine but they won’t let Paul with true doctrine come in.

“epistles of commendation” — the epistles of commendation were simply letters that the false teachers carried whereby they were permitted to come in and speak to the church.

“or do we need commendation from you” — the final barb. He is asking the Corinthians, “Would you sign a letter of commendation if I send for it?” They had been saying all these terrible things about Paul and Paul is now saying in effect, Write it down.

1968 2Corinthians 3:                                                                                   Lesson #12

12 01/19/1969 2Cor. 3:2–3 Unveiled glory of Church Age dispensation; ministry of the Holy Spirit

2Corinthians 3:2 You people are our letters [of recommendation], written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.

2Corinthians 3:3 You people show [i.e., by your conversions] that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us [i.e., the result of our ministry], not written with ink but with the Holy Spirit of the living God; not on stone tablets [i.e., as in the case with Moses’ ministry], but on tablets of the human heart. [See Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10].

Verse 2 — “Ye are our epistle.” A corrected translation would be “You all are,” present linear aktionsart, and at this particular point Paul does not use ginomai which means to become something you were not but he uses the absolute status quo verb e)imi. Whatever they were at that moment they would keep on being, this is an absolute and this is the basis for establishing a perimeter of defense, this is the basis for taking the offence from that stabilised perimeter, this is the basis whereby you can personally represent the Lord Jesus Christ in phase two. “You keep on being our epistle.” This is quite a shock to these people who have been critical of Paul. Paul originally evangelised the Corinthians, and not only did he evangelise them but he started them out immediately on Bible doctrine. It is true that they failed and their failure is brought out in 2 Corinthiasn chapter six. The reason they failed is because they began to depend on emotion rather than upon Bible doctrine. But at this particular point he says “You keep on being our epistle written in our hearts.”

“written in our hearts” — the perfect tense of the verb written means that they have been written in the past with the result that they will always be in the hearts of Paul and those other men who ministered there. In other words, Paul constantly had the Corinthians in mind. The fact that he had not seen them personally does not in any way change his attitude toward them.

“known and read of all men” — the word for ‘known’ here is ginwskw which means to know from the experience of observation. You are being observed by others around you and being in their observation they come to know something about you. So this means to know from the experience of observation and it is a present passive participle, which means they are being observed constantly by people and by the fallen angels. Remember that it is taught in Ephesians that fallen angels learn something of the grace of God and the justice of God by the observation of born-again believers in time. The passive voice indicates that they receive observation whether they like it or not. You cannot live in this life, you cannot be a believer in phase two without receiving the observation of others. They may not know you, they may not even know your name, but you are under observation both by angels and by men. This is your part in the angelic conflict and you are definitely in the picture as far as that is concerned.

The word for ‘reading’ here doesn’t mean to read at all, it is simply a compound of ginwskw, a)naginwskw [a)na = again] doesn’t really mean to be read at all, it means to be exegeted. Some people are going to casually observe you and some people are going to exegete you. The word means to gather exact information, to understand you exactly, and to discern what you are really like; ‘by all men’ — all mankind. The believer’s life is both observed and exegeted by unbelievers and believers as well. The human race is observing you. You are a battleground, you have the tremendous potentiality for glory, and that glory was unveiled at the beginning of the Church Age. The curtain is still back, the glory is still there, this is a part of your heritage as a believer. From one generation to another as Bible doctrine is learned and applied and utilised this glory becomes a very real and a manifest thing. There is in every generation of believers those who have the courage to stand on the Word of God, who are not herd bound, who are not distracted, who do not fall apart and get into gimmicks, who do not substitute human for divine dynamics, and these people are the glory of God and the grace of God represented on earth.

Verse 3 — the witness of the life of the believer through the Holy Spirit. Really there are only two tacks that one can take here by way of the principle of doctrine. Either this must be approached through knowledge of doctrine or it must be approached through the ministry of the Spirit. In 2 Corinthians chapter five knowledge of doctrine is emphasised, but here in this passage there will be an emphasis on the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. For when God through back the veil of the Church Age the secret to glory is located in the third person of the Trinity.

“Forasmuch” is not found in the original. A corrected translation would be, “Because you are [keep on being] the epistle of Christ ministered by us.” This is addressed to every believer, to the carnal and the spiritual, the baby and the mature. All believers are an epistle. The words “of Christ” is a genitive of source. He is the source of the writing. Jesus Christ writes to the human race through your life. First of all He writes to the unsaved of the human race by saying, “I died for your sins, I took your place when I was judged on the cross; believe on me.” Then again, every believer is an epistle written to other believers — the importance of grace, the importance of the plan of God, the importance of the provision of God, the importance of the glory of God. And again, the writing is designed — believer, you have a right to your priesthood, your privacy on the basis of the Word of God apart from gimmicks and apart from any system of human dynamics, and apart from any public relations image; you have a right to glory. This glory is your heritage since the day the Church Age began. So the source of the epistle is Jesus Christ, an we could translate: “You keep on being an epistle from Christ.”

The word ‘ministered,’ the verb is diakonew — konew means to stir up the dust and dia means ‘by means of.’ That was the original concept of the word. Someone who really hustled around accomplished something and in doing so they stirred up the dust. In other words, it was someone who entered vigorously into some action of some type and accomplished an objective. It has been translated here ‘ministered.’ Actually, it refers to Paul’s initial evangelising but primarily it refers to the inculcation of Bible doctrine. This was Paul’s objective, to so teach the Corinthians that they became spiritually self-sustaining. So that they didn’t depend upon Paul, they depended upon the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. It is in the aorist tense and it refers to the point of time when the apostle Paul was in Corinth.

“by us” is not that at all. This is the preposition u(po, the preposition of authority — ‘under the authority of us.’ U(po is the life of any pastor.

“written not with ink” — melani. The negative emphasises that the believer does not have to have the gospel in some kind of a sign board situation. The point is that the writing is on the inside and the writing is the glory that God has provided for the believer in the Church Age. The believer possesses a glory that Moses knew nothing of, that no Old Testament believer of the past possessed. God has unveiled something new, beginning on the day of Pentecost. There has to be a way to break through human good, programs; these come from the old sin nature. So in this verse we begin the unveiling of this glory which is not the same as any human, superficial glory.

“but with the Spirit” — now we have met the unveiled glory of God. For the first time in all human history God the Holy Spirit is given to every believer and this is the unveiled glory of God. The Age of Israel is the age of the veiled glory, the Church Age is the age of the unveiled glory.

The dispensation of veiled glory

1. The outline of the dispensation of Israel. It is divided into three parts:

a) The period of the patriarchs, from Abraham to Moses.

b) The period of the law, from Moses to Christ.

c) The Tribulation.

2. The characteristics of the Age of Israel

a) There were many languages on the earth in contrast to the Age of the Gentiles.

b) There were many races on the earth. This is why God developed a special nation to represent Him.

c) There was for the first time in human history a missionary agency. The first missionary was Abraham. Throughout the Old Testament the nation Israel was responsible for the dissemination of the gospel.

d) Security for the regenerate Jews. This is found in four unconditional covenants: Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic and New. Each one of these covenants had an eternal life clause which provided the basis for their eternal security.

e) Israel had specific discipline for failure. Leviticus 26, the five cycles of discipline.

f) Salvation was by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The pattern: Abraham believed in the Lord and it was credited to his account for righteousness.

g) Spirituality was the fiath-rest technique, not the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

3. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Age of Israel.

a) There Holy Spirit indwelt some believers, less than one per cent. There are perhaps 10-16 people in all of the Old Testament who actually had any ministry of the Holy Spirit. Enduement or empowering are better words than indwelling in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit empowered Joseph — Genesis 41:38; Bezaleel and Aholiab — Exodus 28 & 31; some of the elders who assisted Moses received help from the Holy Spirit — Numbers 11:18,25; Joshua — Numbers 27:18; certain judges, such as Othniel — Judges 3:10; Gideon — Judges 6:34; Samson — Judges 13:25; 14:6; 15:14; Saul and David — 1 Samuel 10:9,10; 16:13; Daniel — Daniel 4:8; 5:11-14; 6:3; certain post-exilic references — Zechariah 4:3-14. This is just about it.

b) These believers who did have the empowering of the Holy Spirit as a matter of discipline could lose the enduement of the Spirit — 1 Samuel 16:14; Psalm 51:11.

c) The believer could obtain the Holy Spirit by asking for him — 2 Kings 2:9,10; Luke 11:13.

d) There would be an elapse of 10 days between the departure of Jesus Christ from the earth and when the Church Age would begin. During that ten days the believers gathered in Jerusalem simply couldn’t remain together, they need help. So Jesus didn’t tell them anymore to ask, He just simply gave them the Holy Spirit to sustain them — John 20:22.

e) The Holy Spirit was not given in that dispensation of veiled glory because Christ was not yet glorified — John 7:39. He was not seated at the right hand of the Father. But once He, is the veil is taken off. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in he Church Age — John 16:14, the glorification of Jesus Christ.

The dispensation of the unveiled glory

The Church Age is divided into two parts, the pre-canon period and the post-canon period. The pre-canon period goes roughly from 30-96 AD. From 96 AD to the present time and all the way to the Rapture we have the post-canon period, we now have the Word of God. The pre-canon period: the book of Acts; the post-canon period: the epistles of the New Testament. There are a number of general characteristics of the age of unveiled glory.

1. Every believer is in union with Christ, the doctrine of positional sanctification. This was never true before and it will never be true after the Rapture of the Church. There is just one age in which God takes every believer and puts him in union with Christ.

2. Every believer is indwelt by the person of Christ. However, the indwelling of Christ is not for functional purpose, it is for fellowship with the glorified Christ. Revelation 2:20.

3. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit in indwelling is functional.

4. Every believer is an ambassador representing Christ on the earth.

5. Every believer is a priest representing himself before God.

6. We have a completed canon of scripture.

7. Every believer is commanded to be filled with the Spirit, so we have a supernatural way of life.

8. Salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ, as it is in every dispensation.

The glory which is emphasised in 2 Corinthians chapter three is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit produces divine good; the old sin nature produces human good. There is no glory in your life by the production of human good. God the Holy Spirit imitates God in our lives in that He produces in our soul those characteristics which make all kinds of personalities attractive. Sin destroys that. So the issue in your life: Who controls your life, the Holy Spirit or the old sin nature? The Holy Spirit can indwell without controlling. The glory is not seen unless the glory controls your life. The Holy Spirit cannot control your life unless you utilise the rebound technique. Once the Holy Spirit controls your life there will be produced inside your life the very character of Christ.

“with the Spirit” — John 7:39; 16:14; 1 Corinthians 6:19,20; Galatians 4:19; 5:22,23.

“not in tables of stone” — not with the Mosaic law. We are not under the law. Jesus Christ fulfilled the law.

“but in the fleshly tables of the heart” — here the word ‘heart’ is used for the soul. The battleground is the soul. What goes on in your soul determines what you really are. If Bible doctrine is in your soul the glory will be revealed. If God the Holy Spirit controls your life the glory will be revealed.

1968 2Corinthians 3:                                                                                  Lesson #13

13 01/26/1969 2Cor. 3:4–6 Intensification of angelic conflict during Church Age; Holy Spirit is the unveiled glory of the Church Age

2Corinthians 3:4 [We say this] because we have such confidence in God through[our relationship with] Christ.

2Corinthians 3:5 It is not that we are [so] competent as to consider anything [we do] as coming from ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

2Corinthians 3:6 He has also made us competent as ministers of a New Agreement [i.e., between Himself and mankind]. It is not [an agreement] based [merely] on a written document [i.e., such as the Law of Moses], but on the Holy Spirit, for the written document brings [spiritual] death [See Rom. 8:2], but the Holy Spirit brings [never ending] life.

Verse 4 — “And such trust.” The word for ‘trust’ is pepoiqhsij which means confidence. Knowledge of Bible doctrine gives you confidence. A part of the unveiled glory, the principle of on to glory. This chapter is a transitional chapter. We are in suffering, we are in the midst of this [angelic] conflict, we are in the intensification of this stage of the angelic conflict, but the command is ‘on to glory.’ That glory is God the Holy Spirit indwelling you — verse 3; the confidence you can have as a believer — verse 4, and confidence is based upon knowledge of doctrine. The word ‘trust’ means confidence. The confidence of the believer is based on knowledge of Bible doctrine and every believer is not only indwelt by the Spirit but he should be indwelt by doctrine. If you don’t have pepoiqhsij then you are never going to stand up in this conflict in the devil’s world.

“have we” — present active indicative of the verb e)xw which means to have. It is in the present linear aktionsart and it means to keep on having it: ‘we keep on having.’ And how do we have it?

“through Christ” — Paul does not say that he has confidence in the Corinthians, they are the last people he would ever have confidence in. But he does have confidence in the plan of God and he knows that in the unveiled dispensation, the Church Age, the doctrine and the plan has been revealed. Paul’s confidence is not in people as such, his confidence is in the plan of God. The plan of God is tied up in the person of Jesus Christ. The plan of God for the human race begins with Christ. Operation phase one: ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved; Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.’ That is where confidence begins.

“to Godward” — the preposition proj plus the accusative case, and it means ‘face to face with God.’ The believer can’t see God and yet he is face to face with God. What does this mean? This means that while you represent Him on the earth you have a personal relationship with Him. Confidence belongs to the believer on the basis of Bible doctrine. Paul’s confidence is not in the conduct of the Corinthians but in the doctrine of the Word of God. According to Bible doctrine God has a purpose for every believer, regardless of his carnality, his obscurity, his lack of talent, his failure or any other factor. Our confidence is not in people, our confidence is in the Word, in the plan of God. God has a purpose for the believer’s life and this purpose is hindered by carnality and is resumed by means of rebound; and he gets oriented to the purpose through Bible doctrine.

Now we have gone from verse 3, the filling of the Spirit, to confidence, knowledge of Bible doctrine, in verse 4 — the progress of the unveiled glory.

Verse 5 — sufficiency, the next principle. It starts out literally, “Not that from the ultimate source of ourselves are we sufficient.” This is not confidence in people, this is confidence in the plan of God. The believer has no human resources which God can use under the operation of grace. So here is a logical progression. The believer has a sufficiency but that sufficiency is not from self.

“we are” is present linear aktionsart, ‘we keep on being sufficient.’ The word ‘sufficiency’ is i)kanoj and it means two things: ‘qualified’ and ‘sufficient.’ Both are true here. We are not self-sufficient but doctrinally sufficient because we are qualified. Our qualification: At the moment of salvation God the Holy Spirit entered us into union with the Lord Jesus Christ. At that moment He made every one of us a priest. At that moment God the Holy Spirit entered into each one of us. We were given a canon of scripture, we were appointed ambassadors for Christ, given a supernatural way of life and a supernatural means of execution. And this is our qualification that leads to our sufficiency, but our sufficiency is not from the ultimate source of self; “of” is the preposition a)po, the preposition of ultimate source. Our sufficiency is from the source of God.

“but our sufficiency is from God” — now we have e)k because God has provided it for us on the basis of Bible doctrine and e)k indicates that we may or may not learn it, depending on whether we are on positive or negative volition toward doctrine. So everything we need for the angelic conflict, our sufficiency, is from the ultimate source of God.

Verse 6 — every believer is in full time Christian service. “Who” — relative pronoun referring to God the Father, the author of the divine plan, the author of operation grace.

“has made us able” — i)kanow, the verb this time. It means to have sufficiency or to have ability on the basis of His provision; “ministers” — the word is used here for every believer. Every believer is in full time Christian service; “of the New Testament” — that is the unveiling glory of God. Since every believer is a target in the Church Age, since every believer is under the intensification of the angelic conflict, God has made every believer a minister of the New Testament; “not of [from] the letter [the Mosaic law], but from the Holy Spirit.” So we go right back to the glory. We live in the age of the unveiled glory; The unveiled glory: God the Holy Spirit indwells the believer; when the believer is filled with the Spirit God the Holy Spirit reveals the glory of Jesus Christ in that believer. The glory of God is unveiled in this intensification of the angelic conflict.

“the letter [Mosaic law] kills” — the Mosaic law destroys, it proves that we are dead and need a saviour; “but the Spirit gives life” — the giving of life here is the glory of God revealed in us.

Moses came down from the mountain after getting the Mosaic law and he had a glory of glamour in his face that was so animated and so great that no Jew in the audience could stand there and look at him intently. He could glimpse that glory but he couldn’t keep looking at it and hear the Mosaic law.

They could not gaze intently upon him, they could only glance. But then all of a sudden as Moses finished he pulled down a curtain, he put a veil over his face. Why? Because the glamour, the glory, faded away. The law has a glory, but like the departure of youth it is a fading glory; it is a glory that disappears. Moses would put a veil over his face and then stumble out of the camp and go up to the mountain again to get the next segment of the law. Then he could come back down with the veil lifted. Then, as he finished that segment of the law, he rolled down the veil again and walked out of the camp. The glory had faded. That is a perfect illustration of the Old Testament dispensation — a fleeting glory. It was a glory that was real, a glory that was there, but a glory that faded. Why? All glory in the Old Testament is focused upon the person of Jesus Christ. But Jesus Christ in the Old Testament times was God, and only God. So beginning in Genesis 3:15, the seed of the woman passage, there was the promise that He would be the God-Man. Consequently all glory in believers was a fleeting glory, it was related to the Mosaic law but it was not related in any way to a glory that never needs the veil. There is a glory which you can have today and no one will ever pull the curtain on you. It is an unfading glory, a glory that belongs only to this dispensation. It belongs by right of [re]birth, by right of eternal heritage; it belongs to every believer in Jesus Christ. The life of the believer in this dispensation is designed for unveiled glory. The believer in Christ learning Bible doctrine and being filled with the Spirit can have an unveiled glory. As long as we live on this earth there should be more glory than the day before, but that ‘more glory’ depends upon spiritual intake, upon how much Bible doctrine is learned to day and tomorrow and the next day and the next. Bible doctrine is the key, the filling of the Spirit is the key; both of them together are the unveiled glory.

We have now in verses 7-11 the contrasts of glory. The first contrast is given in verses 7,8.

1968 2Corinthians 3:                                                                                  Lesson #14

14 02/09/1969 2Cor. 3:7–8; Ezek. 28:11 Fading glory vs increasing glory; the glory on Moses' face

2Corinthians 3:7 But if the ministry [of the law] that brings [spiritual] death, being carved in letters on stones, came with [such] splendor that the Israelites could not look at Moses’ face because of its radiance [See Ex. 34:29-35], (even though such radiance [eventually] faded away),

2Corinthians 3:8 will not the ministry of the Holy Spirit [i.e., the New Agreement] have [greater] splendor?

Verse 7 begins with a first class condition: “But if the ministration of death” — the word for ministration is diakonia, the word from which we get deacon and it means simply ‘minister.’ Perhaps a better translation here would be ‘ministry,’ “For the ministry of condemnation [judgement].” That is the Mosaic law. The Mosaic law is a ministry of death. Death here is a reference to the fact that the Mosaic law proves that we are spiritually dead. The ten commandments are designed to show us that we are born with an old sin nature which in its area of weakness manifests itself in sins, in its area of strength it manifests itself in human good and a lust pattern which becomes the motivator for life. This old sin nature makes us spiritually dead.

“But if [and it is true] the ministry of death [the ten commandments], written and engraven in stone.” The word ‘written’ is a noun in then dative case which means it was to the advantage of the Jews to have the ten commandments in stone. ‘Engraven’ tells how it was written, it is a perfect passive participle. The perfect tense means the ten commandments were put in stone with the result that they stayed there. The passive voice: the engraving was simply a matter of dictation and Moses was an engraver as well as a student. The stone was simply his notebook. This is the ministry of the law.

“was glorious” — the word ‘was’ here is ginomai, so ‘it became glorious.’ It is not the same as the glory of our dispensation which is e)imi, it is a permanent glory. But with the Mosaic law the word ginomai is used, it becomes a glory but it is a glory that is there for the moment. It is being discussed, it is one that is the subject of a message which Moses gave as he was reading and as he was declaring and disseminating the doctrine of the Mosaic law. But once Moses finished the glory drained away, it faded out, and he put the veil down over his face. So we have a contrast of glory. There is a glory that belongs to the Mosaic law but there is a greater glory that belongs to the believer today in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“so that” introduces a result clause, “with the result that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses.” They could glance at Moses but they could not a)tenizw, which means to keep on looking, to look with concentrated attention. They could blepw [glance], but that isn’t the word used here. The glamour, the glory was so great that they couldn’t even look at him steadily, they couldn’t keep looking him in the eye.

“for the glory” — dia plus the accusative is literally, “because of the glory [of the ministry of death].” The veil had to cover at the end of his message, it had to cover the fading glory. Once Moses put that veil over his face no one saw his face until he came back again.

So it should read, “For if [and it is true] the ministry of condemnation [the Mosaic law], written and engraved in stones, became [in a point of time] glorious, with the result that the children of Israel were not able to keep on staring into the face of Moses because of the glory of his face which was to be done away [which faded away].”

“was done away” — katargew, which means to abrogate, to supersede, to fade out, to be cancelled. All of these are true here. The Mosaic law is abrogated in our day, the intensified stage of the angelic conflict; it is a glory which fades; it is a glory that is cancelled. The actual historical account of this is found in Exodus 34:30-35.

So verse 7 introduces a glory. This is law glory. It is a glory because it is a part of the Word of God and because it has a function. But it is glory fading. However, there is in the Church Age a grace glory now introduced and it is increasing rather than fading.

Verse 8 — the glory of the grace of God. “How shall not the ministry of the Spirit.” Note the change of dispensation. The word ‘how’ is not an interrogative pronoun, it is an interrogative adverb. It introduces an argument which means from the lesser to the greater. The lesser is the glory of the glory or the glamour of the law, and the greater is the glory or the glamour of the Church Age — the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the believer in the Church Age. Now here is the principle. When you are a new baby in Christ you start out with the filling of the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Holy Spirit in a baby isn’t nearly as glorious as the filling of the Holy Spirit in a mature believer. We all begin as babies. We grow through knowledge of doctrine. If we become mature a mature believer filled with the Spirit has a super glory. So we have an increasing glory which comes from the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

“be” — this is in contrast to the word ginomai in verse 7; now it is to be — e)imi, and this is verse 8; “rather glorious” should be “in the sphere of more glory.” The sphere of more glory refers to the Church Age. In the dispensation there was the glory of the Mosaic law. This is a part of the angelic conflict, in the dispensation of Israel Jesus Christ was the target. The line of Christ was the target until He came into the world, the person of Christ became the target after He became true humanity and this went on until the cross. Then Jesus Christ was glorified as the God-Man, seated at the right hand of the Father, and now the angelic conflict shifts gears. In the dispensation of Israel they were minus the Holy Spirit, they had no increasing glory, they had the glory of the Mosaic law. But in the Church Age every believers has the Holy Spirit. John 7:39 — the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified. But once He is glorified we now have in the Church Age the super glory and it belongs to every believer. In the Age of Israel they had a fading glory and it belonged to one person only — Moses.

This passage starts with a principle found in John 7:39.

1968 2Corinthians 3:                                                                                  Lesson #15

15 02/23/1969 2Cor. 3:9–10 Glory of Holy Spirit for the Church Age believer; Mosaic Law: its purpose and limited glory

2Corinthians 3:9 For if the ministry [of the law] that brings condemnation came with splendor, will not the ministry that brings righteousness [i.e., the New Agreement] have greater splendor?

2Corinthians 3:10 For truly, what once came with splendor [i.e., the Old Agreement] has now lost it in comparison to that which has surpassing splendor [i.e., the New Agreement].

Verse 9 — “For if [1st class condition] the ministry of condemnation [the Mosaic law] is glory.” Codex #1 of the Mosaic law actually condemns the human race, it is the decalogue and a set of moral commandments. The morality standard of God is so high and so great that it demonstrates that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So Codex #1 condemns. Codex #2 presents a saviour. Codex #3 presents a way of life for divine institution # 4, nationalism. The law has glory, the law came from God. There is nothing wrong with the law, there is something wrong with those who cannot comply with that law, the entire human race.

“much more” — here is a ministry which is even greater than the law — “a ministry which produces righteousness.” The ministry of righteousness has to do with God the Holy Spirit indwelling the believer and producing a righteousness demanded by the law. In this dispensation God the Holy Spirit indwells every believer to produce this righteousness. The dispensation of Israel had the Mosaic law, the Mosaic law is glory. The dispensation of the Church has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and this is more glory.

Romans 8:2,3 — “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus [the law of spirituality in the Church Age] has freed us [set us free] from the law of sin and death [the old sin nature]. For what the law could not so, in that it was weakened through the flesh” — the presence of the old sin nature in man makes it impossible for the law to do. The Mosaic law demands a righteousness from man but the old sin nature precludes the possibility, so because of the old sin nature in man there is something the law cannot do — “God sending his own Son” — before there could be a change of dispensation God had to send His Son “in the likeness of sinful flesh.” He wasn’t sinful flesh but He was like it — True humanity; “and for a sin offering,” literally, “condemned the old sin nature in the flesh.”

Romans 8:4 — “That” introduces a purpose clause, “the righteousness demanded by the law might be fulfilled in us,” believers in he Church Age. In the previous dispensation the law demanded a righteousness but man could not produce it. But in the Church Age God the Holy Spirit indwells every believer; “who walk not according to the standard of the old sin nature but according to the standard of the Holy Spirit.”

2 Corinthians 3:9 — “For if [and it is true] the ministry of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministry of righteousness [the filling of the Spirit fulfilling the law] exceed in glory.”

John 14 — the back ground for this chapter is the upper room discourse. The upper room discourse was the first announcement of the doctrine of the mystery, the first announcement of the Church Age. Everything pertaining to the Church Age had been hidden in Old Testament times.

Naturally, since the great change will be the ministry of the Holy Spirit there was a great deal of emphasis on the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, in the upper room discourse. Jesus had previously announced that when He would be glorified the Spirit would come. Jesus has announced in the first part of the chapter that He is going to depart, His ascension is declared. Then He says in verse 16, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you [believers in the Church Age] another Comforter.” The word ‘another’ is a)lloj which means another of the same kind. In other words, Jesus Christ had been the comforter during His earthly ministry and now another member of the Godhead is going to be the comforter; “that” [purpose clause] he may abide” is literally, “that he may be [this is not the word ‘abide,’ menw, it is e)imi] in you [not ‘with you’] forever.”

Verse 17 — “Even the Spirit of truth,” the functional title for the Holy Spirit whereby He is spreading out the truth of the Word of God; teaching doctrine — “whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but [conjunction of contrast] ye [believers] know him; for he dwelleth with you” — para means to be beside you. This is the end of the Jewish Age, the night before Christ died on the cross, therefore the ministry of the Holy Spirit is para, which means to be beside. God the Holy Spirit did not indwell people in the Old Testament, He was beside them, He empowered them. God the Holy Spirit was beside certain believers to aid them; “and shall be in you” — this is the Church Age. Now in the Church Age He is in every believer.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit leads to the filling of the Spirit. The filling of the Spirit leads to ‘the glory.’ The believer in this dispensation has a permanent glory. Whether that glory is revealed or not depends on whether God the Holy Spirit controls your life. He indwells you, does He control you? Here is the power of the Church Age and we must always be alert to knowledge of doctrine, to application of doctrine, to discernment, and never to allow anything to replace the glory of the Holy Spirit in the life of the individual. We have a glory that is supernatural, beyond all human gimmicks, all human viewpoint, and only Bible doctrine orients us to this glory.

Verse 9 — “exceed in glory.” The word ‘exceed’ is perisseuw [peri = over; sseuw = abundance], “overabundance of glory.” This overabundance of glory is something that never occurred before, never in all of history. There can never be any greater glory in the Old Testament than the glory of the law until you get the glory Christ at the right hand of the Father, and that leads to sending another Comforter, and now we have as believers in the Church Age the super glory. There is the glory that puts the Mosaic law out of business as far as being the Christian way of life.

Verse 10 — “For even that which was made glorious” — a reference to the law, the perfect passive participle of docazw which actually means to glorify. The perfect tense means the law will always have the glory assigned to it. The passive voice: the Mosaic law receives glory. The participle indicates that God always recognises His Word, He honours the Mosaic law and He gives the Mosaic law a place. But the law cannot save.

“had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth” — the word for excel is u(perballw [u(per = beyond; ballw = to throw] which means to exceed beyond any imagination even, to exceed beyond excess.

The principle: The glory on the face of Moses which resulted from contact with the law was real and was temporary. So in our dispensation the glory on the face of the spiritual believer is real. Our glory is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and it is real and permanent. There is just one problem. Is this glory going to be seen or not. It can be seen whenever you rebound and you are filled with the Spirit. By growth you stablise and get into the prolonged period of ‘in fellowship’ instead of always out, and so you have the means of revealing the glory of God. This is the glory that excelleth.

Principle: the glory without the veil. You don’t have to put down a veil. Since God has made every believer a priest and given the Holy Spirit to everyone He no longer has to have a veil. The veil is wiped out for the believer. Instead we have an inside situation. Out of fellowship we are quenching and grieving the Spirit, but it is inside, there is no veil now, and when we rebound we are filled with the Holy Spirit and the glory is apparent.

1968 2Corinthians 3:                                                                                  Lesson #16

16 03/02/1969 2Cor. 3:11–12 2 veils; 2 advents of Holy Spirit; gift of pastor–teacher

2Corinthians 3:11 For if that which was fading away [i.e., the Old Agreement, represented by the Law of Moses] had splendor, how much greater is the splendor of that which remains [i.e., the New Agreement represented by the Gospel]? [Note: In this section Paul uses the analogy of the fading splendor on Moses’ face to the fading splendor of the Old Agreement].

2Corinthians 3:12 Therefore, since we have such a hope [i.e., that the Gospel is much superior to the law], we speak with great boldness,

Verse 11 — “For if,” first class condition, if an it is true; “that which is done away” — katargew means to abrogate, it means that someone is unemployed according to a norm or standard [gew = to be employed; a = negative; kat = according to a norm or standard]. According to the norm or standard of grace the Mosaic law is no longer employed. The Mosaic law is out of a job to the Church but not to the human race. The Mosaic law has a glory but it is a transient glory, a fading glory, whereas the Church has a real glory that never fades. Our glory is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Mosaic law is not unemployed to the unbeliever for Codex #1 of the Mosaic law teaches the unbeliever that he is a sinner and that he needs a saviour. It has a purpose, according to Romans 3:20; 1 Timothy chapter 2, and other passages dealing with functions of the Mosaic law. But the Mosaic law cannot save and never could.

“was glorious” — this should read “unemployed through glory,” dia plus the genitive of doca. The Mosaic law was unemployed through glory because in the Church Age, the intensification of the angelic conflict, there is a glory that fades it out. This is really the story of Romans 8:2-4. The Mosaic law demands perfection. God is perfect and anything that comes from God is perfect. The Mosaic law is holy, just and good; there is nothing wrong with the law but it is limited in its function. The law cannot save, it cannot provide spirituality. When a person believes in Christ God the Holy Spirit, the real glory, comes to indwell. When the believer is filled with the Spirit, and only when he is filled with the Spirit, the righteousness demanded by the law can be fulfilled in him. In other words, you can’t keep the law by trying to keep the law, you can only keep the law by the filling of the Spirit. The law had a great glory but now in the Church Age the Holy Spirit has a greater glory, a super glory, and so the super glory of the Holy Spirit outshines the glory of the law. The Christian way of life is a supernatural way of life and demands a supernatural execution. It is executed by the Holy Spirit. The glory of the Mosaic law is still there but when a greater light shines, when a greater glory comes along it supersedes, and everything that the law could do for the individual the Holy Spirit can do infinitely more. A more literal translation: “For if that which was abrogated through glory.” In other words, the glory of the Spirit-filled life abrogates the glory of the Mosaic law — Romans 8:2-4.

“much more that which remaineth” — the verb is menw which means to abide, and in the present tense it is linear aktionsart, it keeps on abiding; “much ,more that which keeps on abiding in the sphere of glory.” The glory of the law is replaced by the glory of the filling of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the glory outside of the veil.

Verses 12-18, the removal of the two veils.

Verse 12 — the principle of communication. “Seeing then” — o)un, which means ‘therefore.’ This goes back to verses 1-11.

O)un — “therefore”

1. In view of the glory outside of the veil (the Spirit-filled life) it becomes necessary to communicate spirituality by grace.

2. In the Old Testament doctrine was communicated through training aids — types, holy days, ritual, the structure and furniture of the tabernacle, the offerings, the modus operandi of the priesthood. Because it was presented in a ritual form the legalist doesn’t object; he does not oppose ritual. Now the ritual is all gone, we have a completed canon of scripture.

3. But with the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ the first advent of the Holy Spirit occurred — John 7:39; 14:17.

4. Since the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ [John 16:14] it becomes necessary to communicate this doctrine to all believers apart from types and apart from shadows.

5. This must be accomplished by categorical teaching. However, you must first of all have exegesis before you can have doctrine presented categorically. There is no categorical presentation of doctrine apart from exegesis, and this means a verse by verse study of the Word.

6. We live in the dispensation of the completed canon of scripture by which God communicates to us. Our norm and standard is the Word.

7. The scriptures must be communicated to believers through the medium of a spiritual gift. There is really only one gift for the communication of the whole realm of doctrine — pastor-teacher. There is no other spiritual gift for communication to believers. Between the gift at the point of salvation and the beginning of the communication there are years of preparation.

8. This communication of pertinent doctrine will remove the veil which hinders spirituality in phase two.

“Therefore we keep on having such a hope [the abounding glory of a spirit-filled life].”

“we use” — xrawmai, means to employ. The Mosaic law is not employed in the Church Age for believers but speech, language, interpretation, exegesis, doctrine presented categorically is employed. So Paul says “we keep on employing.”

“great plainness of speech” — literally, ‘great boldness of speech,” speech from the immediate source of thought is the concept here: parrhsij [para = immediate source; rrhsij = speech]. Speech from the immediate source of self eventually was used for boldness, confidence, courage. The Word must be taught with confidence.

The first veil found in this passage is literal and historical, the second veil is real and historical. The first veil is the veil over the face of Moses which had to be put down to hide the fading glory of the law. The second veil is the veil over the frontal lobe over the volition of the individual who rejects Christ as saviour. This veil is lifted up and removed when a person believes in Jesus Christ, and when he believes in Christ the lifting of the veil reveals the glory of God’s grace. So the first veil has a fading glory, the second glory reveals the greater glory, the glory that belongs to the individual believer priest in the Church Age.

1968 2Corinthians 3:                                                                                  Lesson #17

17 03/09/1969 2Cor. 3:13–18 Two veils, the glory of the Lord

2Corinthians 3:13 and are not like Moses, who had to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at it as [its] radiance was completely fading away. [Note: The analogy continues by suggesting that the Old Agreement was fading away like the splendor on Moses’ face did].

2Corinthians 3:14 But the minds of the Israelites became dull for, to this very day, the same veil remains on them [i.e., figuratively] when the Old Agreement [Scriptures] are read. It is not being revealed to them that the Old Agreement is being abolished by Christ [i.e., by His death on the cross. See Col. 2:14]

2Corinthians 3:15 But to this day, a veil remains on their minds whenever [the writings of] Moses are read.

2Corinthians 3:16 But whenever a person [i.e., a Jew] turns to the Lord, the veil is removed [i.e., so they can understand the meaning of God’s promises to them through Christ].

2Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord [i.e., Christ] is the Holy Spirit, and there is freedom [from the bondage of sin and fear] wherever the Spirit of the Lord is.

2Corinthians 3:18 But all of us [Christians], with unveiled faces, see the Lord’s splendor reflected, as [though we were] looking in a mirror, and [so] are being transformed into His likeness in ever-increasing splendor. This is [the work] of the Lord, [who is] the Holy Spirit.

Verse 13 — “And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face.” Paul’s modus operandi is the antithesis of Moses. Moses had to put a veil over his face so that people could not see the fading glory — Exodus 34:30; 34:33-35. Paul uses clarity of speech so that the glory of the Spirit-filled life can be revealed. Moses had to hide a fading glory. “Moses took” — imperfect linear aktionsart. Every time he took a trip up the hill when he stopped speaking down went the veil and his face was hidden as he walked out of camp. The purpose for putting the veil over the face of Moses — “that,” introducing the purpose; “the children of Israel could not steadfastly look [with concentration].” They could look at the face of Moses while he was speaking only for a short time. The point is very simple. The Jews were fascinated by the glory on the face of Moses when he began to declare a segment of the Mosaic law. They couldn’t watch it too intently but they could glance at that glory. But the glory was transient and it would begin to fade. When Moses would complete a segment of the law the glory would begin to fade from his face. The glory of the Mosaic law was a transient glory.

“to the end” means for the purpose; “that which is abolished” — the transient glory of the Mosaic law. The transient or fading glory could not bee seen as it was removed. This first veil was designed to hide a fading glory, but the second veil obscures any possibility of glory — verses 14,15.

Verse 14 — “But their minds” is literally, ‘But their thoughts,’ nohmata, referring specifically to the thinking of the Jewish mind under the Mosaic law, but obviously for anyone. Anyone who has rejected Christ as saviour is completely cut off from God’s viewpoint. Therefore he has nohmata which is human in contrast to divine viewpoint. He has the human viewpoint of life all the way through. There is no way for him to see the divine viewpoint of life on any subject.

“were blinded” — but the word does not mean to be blinded, it means to be hardened, prwrow. It refers to scar tissue on the soul. This is an aorist tense, the were full of scar tissue. This, of course, refers to the Exodus generation originally which was negative to Bible doctrine.

“until this day” — 57 AD when 2 Corinthians was written; the same vail” — Jews with scar tissue on the soul; “remaineth untaken away [not uncovered].” We could translate this: “the same veil remains not removed.” In other words, even today when Jews hear the teaching of the Old Testament they’ve rejected the message of grace, they’ve rejected the message of the Lord Jesus Christ, they’ve rejected the plan of God clearly revealed in the Old Testament scriptures, and as they reject it scar tissue is developed on the left bank of the soul.

“in the reading of the old testament” — the word for ‘reading’ means the analysis, the exegesis of the Old Testament; “which veil can be removed” — the word ‘which’ is antecedent to the word ‘veil’ so it is all right to put the word ‘veil’ in. The veil, the scar tissue of the soul is removed when they believe in Christ.

Verse 16 — “Nevertheless” is de and should be translated “But.” This all should read “But if, when he shall be converted to the Lord.” The word “if” is a 3rd class condition, maybe he will and maybe he won’t, it depends upon his volition, his response to the gospel. If he believes he will be converted, if he doesn’t believe he will not.

“the vail shall be taken away” — the scar tissue on the left bank of the soul shall be taken away; periairew [peri = up and around; airew = to lift up]. To lift up a veil and throw it back is what it means. So a conversion is lifting up the veil over the soul and throwing it back. At the point of conversion the left bank of the soul is free of scar tissue, and at the point of conversion is the glory which will be sustained by the Spirit and by doctrine. The passive voice indicates that scar tissue receives removal by the grace of God.

Verse 17 — “Now the Lord.” The Greek says “a Lord” and it refers to one of the members of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. “Now a Lord is [keeps on being] that Spirit” — God the Holy Spirit is deity — kurioj.

“and where the [Holy] Spirit is, there is liberty — e)leuqeria, which means freedom, freedom to serve. It never means license, it always means freedom. It means that when you accept Christ as saviour the veil is pulled back, the glory is there, you have freedom to serve the Lord, you have freedom in His plan, freedom to operate under grace. For the first time you are able to accept something under grace. Previously it had to be earned or deserved.

Verse 18 — “But we all” refers to all believers; “with open face” — a)nakaluptw in the perfect passive. It means ‘unveiled’ here, unveiled in the past with the result that it keeps on being unveiled forever. Passive voice: we receive unveiling at the point of the cross. But with that unveiled face, just as Moses looked at God and received portions of the law, so we look at the Word and receive His glory.

“beholding as in a glass [mirror]” — the mirror represents the Word of God. The mirror is used for the Word and Bible doctrine in James 1:22-25; 2:12; 1 Corinthians 13:12. The word ‘beholding’ is katotrizw which means to look into a mirror to see what you are really like overtly. We look into this mirror to see what we are like on the inside because this mirror is the Word of God. When we look into the mirror of the Word of God we do not see ourselves, we are looking with the eyes of the soul. As Bible doctrine moves into the soul then the glory is developed. We see God in His essence, God in His person, God in His love, God in His attitude, etc. in the Word of God. So when we look into the mirror of God’s Word we see reflected back to us God in all of His glory.

“and [we] are changed” — Bible doctrine changes the believer; metamorfow is the word for changing and it means a complete and total change.

“into the same image” — what kind of an image? “from glory to glory” — from the ultimate source of glory; a)po, the preposition of ultimate source referring to doctrine; “to glory” is e)ij, the preposition of direction, “unto glory.” The direction is the perfect glory, the perfect character of God. Bible doctrine changes us on the inside, “into the same image” — the glory of God. In other words, doctrine is the thinking of God and doctrine is the glory of God. And doctrine in the soul brings out the very glory of God in the human being.

“as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

1968 2Corinthians 4:1–7                                                                             Lesson #18

18 03/16/1969 2Cor. 4:1–7 Suffering, witnessing & conscience; hypocrisy

2Corinthians 4:1 So, having obtained this ministry through [God’s] mercy, we do not become discouraged.

2Corinthians 4:2 Instead, we have renounced [the practice of] secret, disgraceful behavior. We do not practice deception, nor resort to distorting God’s message. But, by making known the truth [i.e., the true message], we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the presence of God.

2Corinthians 4:3 For even if our Gospel message is veiled, it is veiled [only] from those who are lost.

2Corinthians 4:4 For the god of this world [i.e., Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they would not see the light of the Gospel of the splendor of Christ, who is the image of God.

2Corinthians 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves, but [we preach] Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.

2Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said [Gen. 1:3], “Light will shine out of darkness,” has [also] shone in our hearts to provide [us with] the light of the knowledge of God’s splendor [as it shines] on the face of Christ. [Note: This allusion to “splendor shining on Christ’s face” may be a continuation of the analogy used in 3:13].

Treasure in Jars of Clay

2Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure [i.e., the Gospel message] in clay pots [i.e., the mortal bodies of the apostles] to show that the [i.e., its] extraordinary power comes from God and not from us.

Chapter 4

We have three epistles together here: Romans, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. In Romans we have God’s work for us which is salvation. In 1 Corinthians we have God’s work for us in sanctification. In 2 Corinthians we have God’s work through us in service. After we get through the various passages in 2 Corinthians dealing with suffering we constantly go from suffering to service, and this is more or less the whole pattern of the epistle.

Verse 1 — “Therefore because of this,” literally, has to do with the previous passage; because of the tremendous unveiling of glory which God has provided through the assets of the Church Age.

“we have [keep on having] this ministry” — the word ‘ministry’ is diakonoj and here it refers to all believers. Every believer is in full time Christian service. The basis for it is the fact that every believer is a priest representing himself before God, and every believer is an ambassador representing the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth. In addition to this, in the Church Age we have a tremendous provision for this glory which is manifest through the ministry of the Spirit and through learning Bible doctrine. So we have all of the assets that we need in order to have perfect happiness and for our lives to have meaning and purpose. So here we have the word ‘minister’ in its general sense for every believer.

In this chapter we have the ministry of witnessing in verses 1-7; the ministry of suffering in verses 8-12; then, suffering and service are put together in the impact of the Christian life in verses 13-18. This passage will emphasise the fact that all suffering which is designed for blessing is also designed to enhance our service for the Lord. This service which we have is going to be challenged. Whenever we as individual believers begin to orient to grace this grace is going to be challenged through suffering. Then, out of the challenge of suffering comes the dynamics of the divine provision. There never has been and never will be a tragedy, a frustration, a heartache which is too great for the plan of God.

The ministry that we have demands that we avoid despondency, fainting mentally, and anything which detracts from that inner happiness which He has provided.

“as we have received mercy” — the word for receiving mercy is e)leew, and it means to receive grace. Just as the pastor receives grace from the point of salvation to the point of a pastorate so every member of the congregation is the recipient of grace. The aorist tense means in any point of time. The passive voice indicates the grace concept, we are the beneficiaries. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that every believer is in full time Christian service and is the beneficiary of God.

“we faint not” — e)gkakew which means to be despondent, to faint mentally, or to be discouraged. Sometimes this is used for scar tissue over the emotion of the soul. The believer finally becomes so disillusioned or discouraged with the Christian life that he simply goes around trying to sublimate or trying to get some kind of happiness is seizing or grasping the details of life.

Verse 2 — “But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty.” In witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ it is imperative that we avoid anything of gimmicks. This is why we have to avoid the scar tissue. We can’t witness for the Lord Jesus Christ with scar tissue because with scar tissue we begin to use human selling principles and human viewpoint. So we have the renunciation of these things. The word means to renounce or disclaim. The hidden things of dishonesty refer to the gimmicks of evangelism, dishonest methods of presenting false issues, or presenting some sort of a psychological gimmick in order to get people to make a decision. Paul didn’t water down the gospel and he didn’t tamper with doctrine to fit local conditions or even local taboos and therefore taking the pressure off himself. He went right to the issue. When we witness for Christ we must be sure that the content of our message lines up in principle with grace and in actual word formation. It must be a declaration of who and what He is, it must be His grace, and it must be free from hitting for money, tapping certain people because of their social position, etc. Basically, this verse is discussing witnessing of the individual believer, the presentation of the gospel from person to person. In order to do this we avoid the hidden things of dishonesty and also …

“not walking in craftiness” — craftiness means to be cunning, to be deceitful; “nor handling the Word of God deceitfully” means to corrupt it with error. In other words, don’t try to get a decision by catering to someone’s human viewpoint. There must be a clear issue of the principle of grace and the mechanics of grace.

“but by manifestation of the truth” — the truth refers specifically now to the gospel, to a presentation of it, so that people can understand their attitude toward Christ determines their eternal future. Manifestation of the truth is to make the issue clear with regard to the gospel. The word is fanerwsij which is a word meaning to take the veil off. It means that there is a veil over the cross, it can’t be understood. So the believer comes along and witnesses, explaining the issue of the cross. It means to take the veil off of the cross so that it is revealed to the unbeliever, so that he can see the issue. The truth here refers specifically to the gospel.

“commending ourselves to every man’s conscience” — the word ‘commending’ is a present active participle from sunisthmi, it means to recommend favourable attention. This word is used because we have a right to make the issue clear but we cannot coerce the volition of the individual to whom we witness; ‘ourselves’ is a reflexive pronoun referring to the believer under the control of the Holy Spirit who is witnessing; ‘conscience’ is suneidhsij. The conscience of the soul is a series of norms and standards which we find in the soul. Norms and standards are based upon what the person thinks is right and wrong. Once the conscience distinguishes between right and wrong — just once is all that is needed to make a distinction — you have the basis for God-consciousness. In other words, no one ever comes to the point of God-consciousness without an arousal of the conscience of the soul. One of the approaches to God-consciousness is something is right and something is wrong. There has to be an absolute person who sets up norms and standards and in this way God-consciousness is reached. If a person goes on positive volition at the point of God-consciousness through this particular system then he is going to, at the point of gospel hearing, respond positively because norms and standards have been set up in his conscience. These norms and standards makes him aware of the existence of God, and these norms and standards say give a hearing to the gospel.

“in the sight of God” — all actions, thoughts, and motives of the believer are observed by divine omniscience. We witness as unto the Lord. Whenever you are witnessing as a believer you are witnessing in the sight of God. ‘In the sight of God’ means you don’t have to run around and tell everyone that you have witnessed, you don’t have to make a report. You have done it as unto the Lord.

Verse 3 — “But if” is a first class condition, if an it is true; “our gospel be hid” — ‘our’ is a possessive pronoun in the plural, it belongs to each one of us, it is our personal possession. The word for gospel is e)uaggelion [e)u = good; aggelion = news or communication], some thing that is good news; ‘be hid’ — it shouldn’t be hid by us. It is the policy of Satan to hide it. Kaluptw means to obscure, and also in this passage it can mean to veil. As a part of the angelic conflict Satan is obscuring the gospel, he doesn’t want a clear presentation of the gospel to anyone. This is a perfect tense which means he has been doing it in the past since the angelic conflict began and he does it in the present as well. The passive voice means that he has a concept for obscuring the gospel. He does it by means of legalism in the life, by means of hypocrisy, by means of mental attitude sins, by means of religion. There are many ways in which a person can be side-tracked as far as the gospel issue is concerned.

“it is hid to them that are lost” — it is the unbeliever who needs the gospel, the one who is lost, and he is the one who isn’t getting it. The word for ‘lost’ is a)pollumi which means to be destroyed from the ultimate source of self [a)po = ultimate source; llumi = destruction]. They destroy themselves. They went on negative volition at the point of God-consciousness and they are blinded, obscured. A vacuum is opened up in the frontal lobe into which goes religion, legalism, emphasis on the details of life, mental attitude sins that produce self-induced misery, etc. So to destroy from the ultimate source of self actually means in the absolute sense the final judgement, the judgement of John 3:18; Revelation 20:12-15. This is a present tense which means that the unbeliever is in the process of moving in that direction.

Verse 4 — opposition to witnessing. “In whom” refers to the frontal lobe of the unbeliever; “the god of this world” — Satan. He is called this in John 12:31; 14:30. In Ephesians 2:2 he is called the prince of the power of the air; 6:12; 1 John 5:19. He must get to the unbeliever somehow, so …

“hath blinded the minds” — nohma means thoughts, he blinds their thoughts, he veils their thoughts; “of those who believe not” — a)pistoj, ‘no faith.’ In other words, when they hear the gospel it comes into the mentality of the soul, and it has a negative response resulting in scar tissue of the soul beginning the hardness of heart. So there is opposition to witnessing and the opposition comes from Satan who reaches the thoughts of the unbelievers.

“lest” is the word ‘that’ and it introduces a purpose clause; “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ” — Christ is the light of the world, and here we have the ‘glorious gospel.’ When this gospel is declared to someone else it is ‘glorious.’ It is glorious because it belongs to God. The Father planned it, the Son executed it, the Holy Spirit reveals it.

“of Christ, who is the image of God” — Jesus Christ is God and He is also true humanity. Glorious means that He is now in hypostatic union which is the way in which He was able to accomplish salvation.

“should shine unto them” — the word for ‘shine’ here means to unveil. It means that it comes through and also to discern — “that they do not discern the one who is the light of the glorious gospel, Jesus Christ,” is the literal translation from the Greek.

Verse 5 — “For we preach not ourselves.” The word for ‘preach’ here doesn’t mean preaching, it means believers witnessing — khrussw which emphasises the message. It is used for a herald announcing something about the king. The King is the Lord Jesus Christ. So witnessing is making a proclamation about the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings. So Paul is saying “we declare not ourselves,” in witnessing for Christ we are not trying to sell self but our emphasis is “Christ Jesus the Lord.” The emphasis is on the only saviour.

Verse 6 — an analogy to witnessing. “For God, who said [not ‘command’]” is a quotation from Genesis 1:3; “to the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts.” There was darkness covering the earth. God said for the light to shine. So while the earth was covered in darkness the light broke through, and the light is still with us. The light was always there in the universe at large but there was a canopy over the earth, and God commanded the light to break through. So now we have light on the earth. That is an illustration. Light = the gospel. God can make the gospel break through. All the believer has to do is just simply declare it, he doesn’t have to make it break through. The way the breakthrough occurs is that the light must shine out of something. When the believer learns doctrine he has light in the soul, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God. When the believer is filled with the Spirit light flashes through. Here is living the life which opens up the opportunity for the witness of the lips. But if there is scar tissue on the soul the light doesn’t shine through.

“hath shined in our hearts” — the word ‘heart’ here refers to the soul. This is doctrine going into the soul. Doctrine, the gospel, must be received.

“the light” — proj fwtismon in the accusative case: proj = face to face with the light. What is face to face with the light? The soul is face to face with the light. The soul has perception.

“of the knowledge of God” is Bible doctrine. So before light goes out, light goes in. Here we have doctrine, including the gospel. Then when the believer is filled with the Spirit there is maximum light shining forth, operation witness of the light. This is “the light of the knowledge of the God in the face of Jesus Christ” — the face of Jesus Christ manifested God the Father when He was on earth. Just as these things were manifest in Him so we have exactly the same thing in the face of any believer who follows the same pattern. Just as Christ represented God on earth so we represent God on earth.

Verse 7 — the power of witnessing in the broken vessel. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels” — ‘treasure’ is doctrine. Part of Bible doctrine is the message of the gospel. In the ancient world there were many vessels. If you put something inside that was a treasure it couldn’t be seen unless there were some cracks. The cracks are suffering, and suffering is a challenge to the believer to let the light shine through. When a believer is under suffering and the light shines through this is the impact of the broken vessel. Suffering situations are maximum opportunities for witnessing, not only to people but to angels. So suffering is not only a blessing, it has a purpose.

“that,” purpose clause, “ the excess of divine power [dynamics],” literally, “might be from the source of God, and not from the source of us.”

1968 2Corinthians 4:                                                                                  Lesson #19

19 03/30/1969 2Cor. 4:8–12 Suffering, persecutions; sustaining ministry of Holy Spirit to Jesus Christ; transition; 7 principles of putting on Christ

2Corinthians 4:8 We are afflicted in every way, but are not crushed; [we are] perplexed, but not to the point of despair;

2Corinthians 4:9 [we are] persecuted, but are not deserted [by God]; [we are] struck down, but are not destroyed.

2Corinthians 4:10 We always carry around in our [physical] bodies the [threat of] dying, as Jesus did [i.e., the apostles were constantly exposed to impending danger and death], so that the life of Jesus [i.e., His virtue, courage, faithfulness, etc.] may be demonstrated in our bodies [i.e., in the way we live] also.

2Corinthians 4:11 For while we live, we are always exposed to death for Jesus’ sake [See Rom. 8:36], so that the life of Jesus may be demonstrated in our mortal bodies [i.e., in our weak and frail human nature].

2Corinthians 4:12 So then, [the possibility of physical] death is at work in us, while [spiritual] life is at work in you.

Verses 8-9, the believer oriented to suffering.

Verse 8 — we have two kinds of pressure in this verse, exterior and inner. First of all we have orientation to external suffering. “We are troubled in the word qlibw which means overt pressure. It was used originally for crushing grapes, so it means pressure on the outside moving toward the inside. This is a dative case, present passive participle — dative of advantage, it is to your advantage to have pressures from the outside. The present participle indicates that such pressure is a means of blessing, and this is a divine standard operating procedure for phase two. The passive voice means the believer receives this pressure. Paul continues to have external pressure. These pressures in his life were designed for blessing but the blessing depends upon the use of doctrine — faith-rest, and so on. Phase two is designed for happiness whether you are in a pressure situation or not.

“on every side” — these pressures are coming from all directions; “yet not distressed” — Paul expresses his orientation to Bible doctrine. The word for ‘distress’ is stenoxwrew [stenoj = narrow; xwra = space] means to be confined to a narrow space, to be cramped. But with the negative it says ‘we are not cramped.’ In other words, we are not allowing these pressures to push us down. They are not falling apart, not collapsing. The answer is Bible doctrine which equalises the pressures and maintains happiness.

“we are perplexed” — a)porew refers to inner pressures. This means to have something on the inside that hurts, something that causes sorrow or difficulty.

“but not in despair” — e)gkataleipw [eg = in; kata = norm or standard; leipw = departure] means not to despair but to be abandoned, forsaken. We constantly receive inner pressures and yet we are not abandoned.

Verse 9 — opposition or persecution. Generally speaking there are two sources of persecution in the life of a Christian when they are bona fide. The first is Satan himself plus fallen angels [demons], this is a part of the intensification of the angelic conflict. There is another source which has to do with false doctrine, legalism. A third source where we produce our own persecution. Mental attitude sins, for example, produce self-induced misery.

1. Oppositional pressure is a separate category from internal and external.

2. Opositional pressure comes to those believers who apply doctrine daily, who are constantly on the rebound. So oppositional pressure is designed for grace-oriented believers.

3. Most believers have distorted self-induced misery into some form of persecution.

4. It is vitally necessary for every believer to distinguish between self-induced misery and bona-fide persecution.

5. The believer who says the devil is after him is usually a Christian whose carnality is located in mental attitude sins. Consequently he manufactures his own suffering and his own pressure.

“persecuted” — present passive participle. This is bona fide persecution; “but not forsaken” — not abandoned; “cast down” — a form of persecution, it refers here to being stoned to death, Paul’s experience at Lystra — Acts 14:19,20; “but not killed” — destroyed in the absolute sense or killed. This is the first of two occasion in 2 Corinthians where Paul refers to his Lystra experience, the second is in 12:1-10. Paul was literally cast down by the stones — kataballw, to throw down.

Verses 10-11, the principle of glorifying God in these types of suffering.

Verse 10 — “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.” Bearing about means to carry here and there; ‘in the body’ refers to that earthen vessel of verse 7; ‘the dying of the Lord Jesus’ actually means information about the dying of the Lord Jesus, information which caused him to orient to a principle. In other words, what Paul is saying is that inside of his body is his soul and in his self-consciousness he is aware of Jesus Christ — occupation with Christ. In his mentality he has an RMA. He has the capacity to love God, category #1. In his volition he is constantly positive in making decisions according to the will of God. In his emotion he has a rapport love for God, an appreciation for God and for God’s Word. In his conscience he has divine norms and standards. This is the orientation to grace and it always has to go back to who and what Jesus Christ is. The word ‘dying’ is mentioned here for one reason. Jesus Christ did the dying on the cross. He provided for us, and it has to do with His spiritual death. He was being judged for our sins and that’s what provides salvation for us. So bearing about means to carry about, carrying about the dying of the Lord Jesus — basic orientation to the grace of God.

“that the life of Jesus might be made manifest” — once you are oriented to the plan of God in phase one then in phase two the life of the Lord Jesus Christ can be manifest in your life by the same principle: grace, only now we call it ‘more grace.’ The emphasis of the cross is the dying of Christ, He did the work. The emphasis of phase two is the life of Christ, and just as the Holy Spirit controlled Christ during His earthly ministry so when the Holy Spirit controls us the life of Christ becomes manifest. Notice here that it is the ‘life of Jesus,’ not the life of Christ. Jesus is the title for the humanity of the second person of the Trinity, the God-Man, and the emphasis is now on His humanity. He was indwelt by the Holy Spirit and He produced during His incarnation a certain type of life. This life is now said to be ‘manifest,’ aorist passive subjunctive, fanerow is the verb. The aorist tense means anytime when the Holy Spirit controls your life. The passive voice: you receive the filling of the Spirit in a non-meritorious manner, i.e. rebound, as per Proverbs 1:23. The subjunctive mood says that even though you are a Christian, whether the life of Christ is manifest in your life or not is entirely dependent upon the filling of the Spirit.

“in our body” — the life of Jesus in our body. ‘Our’ refers to every believer priest. This is while on earth, operation phase two.

The doctrine of the sustaining ministry of the Holy Spirit

This has to do with the Lord Jesus Christ only.

1. The sustaining ministry of the Spirit was prophesied — Isaiah 11:2,3; 42:1; 61:1,2.

2. The Holy Spirit was given without measure to Christ — John 3:34. That means there was no limitation to what the filling of the Spirit could do in the humanity of Christ.

3. The Holy Spirit began a special ministry with Christ at the point of His baptism — Matthew 3:16.

4. The Holy Spirit is the power of the ministry of the incarnate Son of God, as demonstrated by Matthew 12:18,28; Luke 4:14,15.

5. The sustaining ministry of the Holy Spirit was discontinued during those three hours when He was made sin for us.

6. The Holy Spirit participated in the resurrection of Jesus Christ — Romans 8:11; 1 Peter 3:18.

The doctrine of the transition

1. Just as the Holy Spirit sustained the humanity of Christ through His earthly ministry, so the indwelling Spirit sustains the believer in phase two — John 14:12. This says very simply that the works that Jesus Christ produced will be produced by the believer when he is controlled by the Holy Spirit — ‘greater works” is greater in number, not in quality. 2. However, the sustaining ministry of the Spirit depends on being filled with the Spirit — Ephesians 5:18; Galatians 5:16; 1 John 1:7.

3. When the believer is filled with the Spirit the very character of the incarnate Christ is formed in that believer — Galatians 4:19; 5:22,23; Ephesians 3:16,17; Philippians 1:20,21; 2 Corinthians 3:3.

4. Therefore the transitional command to all believers in the Church Age — Romans 13:14, “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”

The seven principles of putting on Christ

1. The purpose of the indwelling Spirit is to glorify Jesus Christ — John 16:14; 7:39.

2. Such glorification takes place on the inside of the believer — 1 Corinthians 6:19,20.

3. The glorification issue revolves around the filling of the Spirit — Ephesians 5:18.

4. The Spirit-filled believer produces a mental attitude and modus operandi which constitutes an open letter from God to the human race. The letter is the believer’s life written by the Holy Spirit — 2 Corinthians 3:3.

5. The believer filled with the Spirit glorifies Christ inside his body — Philippians 1:20,21.

6. The believer filled with the Spirit has Christ at home in his body — Ephesians 3:16,17.

7. The believer filled with the Spirit forms the character of Christ inside of his body [in his soul] — Galatians 4:19; 5:22,23.

Verse 11 — “For we which live are always delivered unto death because of Jesus.” This is a slight variation from what we have already had. The word ‘we’ refers to the believer priest; “which live” — this is a way of life, the filling of the Spirit and learning Bible doctrine. Present active participle, we keep on living; “are always delivered” — the word for deliver here means to be delivered from maximum pressures.

“unto death” — that means in the direction of death, and death is used here for maximum pressure. We are designed for maximum pressure “because of Jesus,” not ‘for Jesus’ sake.’ This is dia plus the accusative. “Because of Jesus” means literally, ‘we represent Him.’ Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. We are on this earth and represent him as ambassadors, and because of Jesus we are subjected to the greatest of pressures, we are His representation on the earth. In other words, this is the intensification of the angelic conflict. Every believer in the Church Age is the object and the target of Satanic attack. We are always delivered unto death, maximum pressures. God has made provision for this. It is His provision that is manifest and it destroys any possibility of our taking credit for what is accomplished.

“might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” — the life of Jesus becomes manifest. ‘Mortal’ simply means we are subject to death, subject to weaknesses, subject to infirmities. Even so, the life of Jesus can be manifest.

Verse 12 — the conclusion of the paragraph: the production of suffering.

Again, the word ‘death’ means maximum pressure. Paul handled maximum pressure and out of it came production. Most people collapse under maximum pressure but with Paul it went to work — e)nergew is the verb here, it means to work on the inside. So maximum pressure produced on the inside. Paul was ‘not destroyed’ [verse 9] and therefore he got to Corinth, verse 11, and he communicated things that produced the life of God in them. So maximum pressure was not only a source of personal blessing for Paul but the personal blessing overflowed to them in the communication of Bible doctrine, and through the communication of Bible doctrine the very life of God became manifest in them and they were able to represent Him effectively as ambassadors for Christ.

It is almost impossible to get people in the 20th century to get their eyes on things that are not seen. We live in a scientific age and yet one of the greatest scientists of our day has said that science has made no improvement in us as people. Science has not solved our problems, has not improved us, has done nothing in particular except to stimulate the ego of man.

In order to understand the background for verse 18 we need to look at Philippians 4:10-12. Circumstances of life mean nothing to Paul. He had inner happiness based upon a day by day feeding on the Word of God.

Verse 18 — “we look not at the things which are seen.” The things which are seen are the details of life. The word ‘see’ here is blepw, a glance, they are not the most important thing on the radar screen. The details of life are the things which are seen. This does not mean that Paul renounces all of the details of life, it means that he is not putting his emphasis there. His emphasis is on Bible doctrine; “but at the things which are not seen are eternal.”

1968 2Corinthians 4:                                                                                  Lesson #20

20 04/06/1969 2Cor. 4:13–18 Things not seen are eternal; passing the baton; multiplication of grace

2Corinthians 4:13 But, we have the same spirit [i.e., type] of faith as that written about [Psa. 116:10], “I believed [God’s message], so I spoke.” We also believe [it], and so we also speak [about it]

2Corinthians 4:14 We know that God, who raised up the Lord Jesus [from the dead], will also raise us [apostles] up with Jesus and present us with you people [i.e., in the presence of the Father in heaven].

2Corinthians 4:15 For everything [i.e., that we have experienced. See verses 8-12] is for your sakes so that [God’s] unearned favor, being extended to so many, [in bringing them salvation through Paul’s ministry] may result in much thanksgiving in praise to God.

2Corinthians 4:16 Therefore, we do not get discouraged, for though our physical body is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed daily.

2Corinthians 4:17 For our insignificant troubles [here on earth], which last only a short time, are producing for us an immeasurable, never ending [counter-] weight of splendor [i.e., in heaven. See Rom. 8:18]

2Corinthians 4:18 So, we do not look at the things which can be seen, but at what cannot be seen, for the things which can be seen are [only] temporary, but the things which cannot be seen are never ending.

Verse 13 — “We have the same spirit of faith.” Paul kept on having the same kind of life that David had and he calls it the same spirit of faith. Paul failed, he faith-rested, he used rebound. He faced adversity, he used faith-rest; he faced prosperity, he used faith-rest. He kept claiming the promises of God, the doctrines of God. That same spirit of faith is the operation of the faith-rest technique in every situation in life.

“according as it is written” — perfect tense, written in the past with the result that it stands written forever. He is quoting from Psalm 116:10, “I believed [said David] for I have communicated.” ‘I have believed’ is an aorist active indicative of the verb pisteuw. This is a translation from the Hebrew where we have the hiphil stem of amen — ‘I have been caused to believe.’ I have learned doctrine, that strengthens my faith. The aorist tense is the point of time in which David lived, and it gathers up in one entirety David’s complete circuit of the track. David has won his race. The apostle Paul picks up right where David left off with the same principle.

“Therefore I have spoken” — David said, ‘I have something to communicate.’ The word for ‘spoken’ is lalew and it means to communicate Bible doctrine. Paul is also communicating Bible doctrine.

“we also have believed” — we are still on the lap, we are still moving along but we are doing the same thing David did, we have believed and we are communicating doctrine: “and therefore speak.”

Verse 14 — the impact of the faith-rest technique, the impact of knowledge of doctrine. “Knowing” indicates maximum knowledge of Bible, doctrine which is already learned, doctrine which is stored in the human spirit. This is the word o)ida which means this knowledge is in there and it goes into the facets of the soul and the soul is free from scar tissue. Knowing is the key here.

“that he which raised up the Lord Jesus” — God the Father raised up the Lord Jesus Christ, Psalm 16:10,11; Acts 2:24; 13:30; Romans 6:4; Ephesians 1:19,20. Notice that this is a point of doctrine. This is also an application of Bible doctrine; “shall raise up us also by Jesus” — here is that Rapture of the Church. Just as Jesus Christ has a resurrection body now, and He is in heaven, so we are going to have a resurrection body in the future.

“and shall present us in association with you” — Paul is writing to the Corinthians, they are carnal believers generally, they are always in trouble, and yet they are going to be at the Rapture. If the Corinthians are there anyone can make it! ]

Verse 15 — “All things are for your sakes that” — here is why we are all involved in the Rapture; “the abundant grace” — but that isn’t what the Greek says, it says, “the grace having been multiplied.” The word for ‘abundant’ is an aorist active participle of pleonazw which means to multiply. So it is “grace having been multiplied because of thanksgiving.” It is dia plus the accusative. Thanksgiving is the mental attitude of grace, orientation to grace. It is a true recognition of the faith-rest technique.

The word ‘redound’ doesn’t really mean to redound. It is the word perisseuw which means to render more prominent. Grace renders the glory of God more prominent.

Verse 16 — a contrast of men. “For which cause we faint no.” This means to be despondent. Your pressures, failures, or even physiological problems can make you despondent, but because of the grace of God we are not despondent.

“even though our outward man perish” — the human body, the body we do not take with us, the body of corruption, the body which is subject to death.

“yet the inner man is renewed” — a)nakainow [a)na = again; kainow = renew], is renewed again and again and again and again — through learning Bible doctrine.

“day by day” — it is renewed daily on the basis of learning doctrine. You must learn doctrine day by day by day by day.

Verse 17 — a contrast of weights. “For our light affliction” — Cf. 2 Cor. 11:24-28; “which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Paul’s light affliction is all the things which he is suffering, and he says it is but for a moment. Even if he suffers for 50 years, 50 years is just a moment. Who gets the glory? God gets the glory because Paul has inner happiness in the midst of all of these perils. Who gets the glory? The One who provided the inner happiness. The provision of inner happiness is Bible doctrine in the soul of the apostle Paul. There is no difficulty to great for the man who has Bible doctrine.

Therefore he concludes:

Verse 18 — “We look not at the things which are seen [the details of life], but we look at the things which are not seen [Bible doctrine daily]: for the things which are seen [the details of life] are temporal [here today and gone tomorrow]; but the things which are not seen [Bible doctrine] are eternal.”

1968 2Corinthians 5:                                                                                  Lesson #21

21 04/13/1969 2Cor. 5:1 via Job 5:19–27 Death, dying grace, widows (prayer, comfort)

2Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly “house” [i.e., our physical body] which is like a tent, is torn down, we have [the promise of] a building from God, a never ending “house” in heaven that is not made by human hands.

Chapter 5

Job 5:19 He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no evil shall touch you.

Job 5:20 In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword.

Job 5:21 You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes.

Job 5:22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the beasts of the earth.

Job 5:23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.

Job 5:24 You shall know that your tent is at peace, and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.

Job 5:25 You shall know also that your offspring shall be many, and your descendants as the grass of the earth.

Job 5:26 You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheaf gathered up in its season.

Job 5:27 Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good." (ESV)

Verses 1-4, the perspective of death.

Verse 5 — “For we know.” The importance of knowing Bible doctrine. The only true comfort when you lose a loved one is Bible doctrine. And if it is a source of comfort when we lose a loved one in death it is a source of comfort for every pressure, every problem, every heartache, and every difficulty of life. There is no more important function in life than the phrase “we know.”

“that if our earthly tabernacle were dissolved” — ‘if’ is a third class condition which introduces two possibilities with regard to departure from this earth. a) He can leave his body — physical death; b) the Rapture of the Church. The word ‘dissolved’ is kataluw [kata = the preposition of norm or standard; luw = to unfasten, unloose, untie]. It means we are all untied or loosed according to the same system. The soul and the spirit leave that tabernacle on the same norm, dying grace. This is a reference to physical death. It is in the aorist tense which means we die in a point of time, It is the passive voice which means we receive our death from God. The subjunctive mood is to indicate that death is only potential, and there will be one generation that will not die, i.e. the Rapture.

“we have” — now we go from the aorist tense to the present. The verb is e)xw and it is present linear aktionsart, we keep on having, there never will be a time when we will not have.

“a building” — this is the Greek word for a permanent building, one of those Greek building constructed out of marble, o)ikodomh.

“not made with hands” — this is a noun and it is a reference to the resurrection body. It is not made with hands, it is constructed by God; “eternal in the heavens” — it is eternal, it lasts forever, and it is designed to abide in heaven. This is what God has provided for us, this is the hope of glory. This is our glorious future and this is why we can have confidence now.

The whole story of this passage is knowledge of doctrine.

1968 2Corinthians 5:                                                                                  Lesson #22

22 04/27/1969 2Cor. 5:2–5 Groaning in the soul; soul never sleeps or dies; what happens at physical death or the Rapture

2Corinthians 5:2 For indeed, we groan while in this “house,” longing to be covered over by our heavenly dwelling place,...

2Corinthians 5:3 because when we are covered by it, we will not be found naked [i.e., without a suitable dwelling for our body].

2Corinthians 5:4 For indeed, we who are in this “tent” groan under its burden, not [wanting] to be uncovered, but to be covered over. Then our mortal body will be swallowed up [i.e., replaced] by [never ending] life.

2Corinthians 5:5 Now God is the One who has prepared us for this very thing [i.e., the receiving of a new body to live in]. He has [also] given us the Holy Spirit as a down payment. [Note: This refers to the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit as being a guarantee that we will receive the balance of our inheritance in the form of a new body].

Verse 2 — “For in this [the human body] we [keep on] groan [groaning].” Groaning is the word stenazw. It means to groan, to sigh. In other words, it means to make noises when things are not right with you. The word really has the connotation of hurting badly and making some kind of noise about it. The human body is the tent and inside it lives the real ‘you,’ the soul. We keep on groaning because in addition to the pressures that come from a pain in the body, loss of health, and so on, there are pressures upon the soul. They start with self-consciousness which can enter into pride or self-pity. Mentality can enter into mental attitude sins. Volition: decisions that are not pleasing to His plan, His operation and desires for the priesthood. Emotion: the failure to have the rapport with God, the rapport of the various categories of love, and the true enjoyment of certain details of life as God provides them. Conscience: the norms and the standards are all mixed up and the person picks up the norms and standards of human viewpoint, the norms and standards of environment. The groaning of the soul is the fact that we have an old sin nature, the fact that we take in false doctrine, the fact that we have human viewpoint and erroneous mental attitudes.

“earnestly desiring” — e)pipoqew [e)pi = upon or near; poqew = an Attic verb meaning to miss someone, to long for someone]. In other words, you long for someone who is near to you, or for something that is near to you. You can’t go out and reach it but you earnestly desire it.

“to be clothed upon” — e)penduw [e)nduw = to pull on clothes; e)p = to put them over something], to put on clothes by putting them over something. In this case it means to put on a resurrection body, putting it on over the soul.

Verse 3 — “If” is a first class condition, if and it is true; “If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.” Being clothed is the second use of the word e)penduw, putting the resurrection body over the soul. This is an aorist tense and it means a once and for all possession of a resurrection body. The middle voice: the believer is benefited by having a resurrection body. It is an aorist participle, and the action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. The main verb: we shall not be found naked. In other words, once we have a resurrection body, once we possess our eternal house, the soul is never without a body, it will always have an abode. The future tense indicates the believer receives a resurrection body in the future and therefore will not be discovered naked. The passive voice indicates the believer receives such a body at a specific time. The indicative mood is the reality of the future possession of a resurrection body. The Greek word ‘naked’ here is a reference to the soul without either kind of body.

Verse 4 — “For we that are in this tent [reference to the human body in phase 2] do groan” — the soul has its own set of pressures. Groan is the present active indicative of stenazw and it has the same concept, it is the groaning of the soul because the soul is under pressure.

“being burdened” — to be weighed down, to be oppressed, present passive participle; “not for that we would be unclothed” — the desire is not to be unclothed, a reference to physical death; “but being clothed upon” — he is not afraid of death but he simply wants to state a preference. When he leaves this earth he would rather be in a resurrection body than to wait for a resurrection body because he is down here yearning for something that is important to him.

“that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” Mortality refers to his human body; the body dies. Inside of the body is the soul which is immortal. The body is mortal, subject to death. Immortal means not subject to death. So he wants mortality to be swallowed up in life which means a permanent type building. Mortality is the human body; life is the resurrection body. The key here is “swallowed up” — katapinw which means to gulp down [kata = down; pinw = swallow or gulp]. What he wants to do is gulp down his resurrection body. This describes what will happen to people on the earth at the time of the Rapture.

Verse 5 — “Now he that hath wrought us” means to produce according to a norm or standard. In this case God produces according to a perfect norm or standard, katergazoma, and it refers to the work of God in salvation. We received everything in the plan of God at salvation.

“us for [the purpose of] the selfsame thing God [the Father] who hath given unto us the earnest — a)rrabwn means the down payment. At the point of salvation the believer was given the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is a down payment on power for this life, for joy and blessing for the soul in the presence of the Father. So while you do not have a body when you go to be with the Lord you are still indwelt by the Holy Spirit. There never will be a time when you don’t have the Spirit.

“of the Spirit” should be ‘even the Spirit’ bnecause this is a genitive of apposition.

“Therefore,” because of God’s provision for phase two and phase three, “we are confident.” The Greek word is qarrew which means total assurance of mentality. It means that the mind has fixed norms and standards that are unshakeable whether you are in disaster or in prosperity, regardless of the situation you are mentally unshakeable. Qarrew really combines two areas of the human soul. It looks at the mentality of the soul and relates it to the conscience of the soul. The norms and standards are telegraphed up to the mentality and they reside up in the mentality in the face of every situation. In everything there is total and absolute confidence. In other words, you are relying on inner resources that are provided by God, you are relying on doctrine. ‘We are confident’ is a present active participle. The present tense is linear aktionsart, it means we keep on having confidence, it is not an occasional thing. The active voice: confidence is produced. The participle says this is a precedent, a divine precedent for the devil’s world, a precedent that even makes the divine institutions click, it is the thing that changes the course of nations, it is the thing that gives stability to a nation, it is the thing that turns all of the subjectivity that destroys a nation back into objectivity, protecting the rights of the individual, the property of the individual, the freedom of the individual.

But you don’t simply have this confidence, it isn’t something that comes out of the air, it comes through learning Bible doctrine. So the next phrase indicates that.

“knowing” — we have a participle modifying a participle. The fact that we have these two participles together, the fact that they are in reverse order should mean nothing to us. The perfect participle always comes before the present participle. We have to know something before we have confidence. And that isn’t all, the perfect participle says we know it in the past with the result that it belongs to us, it is a part of our inner resources as a believer. When that is true then we have confidence. The perfect participle comes first. The perfect tense is something that happens in the past and the results continue, and as the results continue they hit a point of stabilisation. There is maximum doctrine and that is the point at which confidence comes. That is when you start to live on the inner resources of the Word of God. Confidence in phase two is based upon knowledge of doctrine and the more doctrine we have in the soul the greater becomes our confidence, and the greater becomes our confidence then the more effective our priesthood, the more effective our ambassadorship.

“we are at home in the body” — this is not what this really says. We have another present active participle, e)ndhmew [e)n = in; dhmew = people]. The verb actually means in-people. Who are the in-people? In this context any born again believer with his soul still in his body. Real people are souls and they are inside of a body.

“we are absent from the Lord” — What is the point of this? Why emphasise the fact that with your soul in that tent, your temporary body, you are absent from the Lord in heaven? What is the purpose? It is to show that our relationship as believer priests is based on absence, and the relationship must come through correspondence. Our confidence doesn’t come from personally seeing the Lord or personally being with the Lord, it comes from your correspondence from the Lord. God has written us a letter, the Bible. In the Bible He has given us doctrine and principles and promises and concepts and techniques. So we have a relationship with the Lord even though we are absent and that relationship is contained in the Word of God. So the relationship is carried on with God the Son out of this world and the devil ruling it. We are living in the world and representing Him. Therefore as long as we dwell in our mortal body [phase 2] our fellowship with the Lord, relationship with the Lord will be carried out by means of correspondence, the Bible.

“Therefore we keep on always being confident, having known [in the past] that, while we are the in-people in the body, we are absent from the Lord.”

Do I have any missing text or notes for the following?

1968 2Corinthians 5:                                                                                  Lesson #23

23 05/04/1969 2Cor. 5:6 Manuelsky; Darkness of souls results in national destruction; confidence; walking

2Corinthians 5:6 So, we are always encouraged and know that, while we are at home in our [physical] body, we are away from the Lord,

1968 2Corinthians 5:                                                                                  Lesson #24

24 05/25/1969 2 Tim. 3:12 Religion stalks grace; soul–breathing; responsibility of pastor & congregation; ordination

2Ti 3:12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,...

1968 2Corinthians 5:                                                                                  Lesson #25

25 06/01/1969 2Cor. 5:6–8 Confidence from Bible doctrine; never cater to a guilt complex; never let outside forces dictate to your soul

2Corinthians 5:6 So, we are always encouraged and know that, while we are at home in our [physical] body, we are away from the Lord,

2Corinthians 5:7 for we live by faith, not by what we see.

2Corinthians 5:8 We are encouraged, I say, and would rather be away from our body and at home with the Lord.

Verse 7 — “For we walk through faith, and not through sight.” Faith is not only a non-meritorious system of perception by which we enter salvation, and it is not only the principle of phase two, but faith has another concept. The faith is doctrine and in that sense “the faith” or doctrine keeps the scar tissue out of the soul so that light comes in. Sight is human viewpoint.

The doctrine of the Christian walk

1. Walking in doctrine — 2 John 4. Doctrine is the mean of our walk.

2. There is walking by means of faith — 2 Corinthians 5:7; Colossians 4:5.

3. Walking in spirituality:

a) Walk in the Spirit — Galatians 5:16.

b) Walking in love — Ephesians 5:2.

c) Walking in newness of life — Romans 6:4.

d) Walking worthy of our vocation — Ephesians 4:1.

e) Walking worthy of the Lord — Colossians 1:10.

f) Walking honestly as in the day — Romans 13:13.

g) Walking in good works — Ephesians 2:10.

Verse 8 — “We are confident” is a present active indicative, ‘we keep on having confidence.’

“and are willing rather” — the word to be willing is e)udokew [the word for ‘willing’ is qelw] and it means to think well [dokew = to think; e)u = well]. How do you think well? You think well with doctrine. It is taking mental delight in.

“to be absent from the body and to be present [face to face with] with the Lord” — this is a progression. You don’t start out by having confidence with regard to death, that is where you wind up after the intake of doctrine. You have confidence about something that people in general do not have confidence about at all — dying.

1968 2Corinthians 5:                                                                                  Lesson #26

26 06/08/1969 2Cor. 5:9–13; Heb. 11:19 Need to assemble to hear teaching of doctrine

2Corinthians 5:9 So, we are also eager to please God very much, whether we are at home [in our body] or away from it.

2Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear in front of the judgment bar of Christ, so that each one of us may receive what is due him for what he had done while in his [physical] body [i.e., on earth], whether it be good or bad.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

2Corinthians 5:11 Since we [apostles] know [what it means] to revere the Lord, we try to persuade people [i.e., to accept the Gospel, or to acknowledge our integrity]. But we are [already] known to God, and I hope that you also know us in your hearts [i.e., to have integrity].

2Corinthians 5:12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but we speak [in such a way as] to give you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you can have an answer for those who take pride in [outward] appearances instead of what is in the heart.

Verse 9 — “Wherefore we labour.” If there is one thing we don’t do in this section it is labour. There is no place for human good here. The word for ‘we labour’ is a word which expresses some of the deeper concepts and capacity for love — filotimeomai [timeomai = to honour something or to have a regard for something; filoj = the word for total soul love] means to consider it an honour. This is a present middle indicative. Present tense: ‘we keep on considering it an honour.’ The middle voice: we are benefited by considering it an honour. The indicative mood is the reality of an attitude toward God based on Bible doctrine. When you have a capacity for love you consider it an honour to please the one whom you love. The whole basis of this verse is literally, “we consider it an honour to be well pleasing to you [God].”

“whether present or absent” — whether we are on this earth or whether we are in heaven we know enough about God and have enough confidence in Him that we consider it an honour and a privilege to be well pleasing to Him.

“we may be accepted [well pleasing or acceptable] — ‘we may be’ is the present active indicative of e)imi and it means ‘to be acceptable.’

Translation: “We consider it the highest possible honour, whether present [phase two] or absent [phase three], to keep on being pleasing unto God.”

To be pleasing unto God means first of all your soul attitude, an attitude from doctrine, so that you exhale in response to Him and you consider it the highest honour, the greatest privilege to do something that is pleasing to Him. This leads to occupation with Christ, this is our response to divine love.

Verse 10 — “For we must all appear.” The Greek word is fanerow meaning to make some kind an appearance, to make a manifestation. The aorist tense means at the Rapture. That will be the first time in all history when the entire Church, the body of Christ, will be assembled at one spot. All will receive at that time resurrection bodies. The passive voice: the believer receives the Rapture. The infinitive indicates it is God’s purpose to gather together all born again believers of the Church Age, and at that point they become the bride.

“before the judgement seat of Christ” — the word ‘judgement’ means evaluation. In other words, all believers are going to have an efficiency report. it is described in Romans 14:10; 1 Corinthians 3:11-16; Hebrews 6:7-12. The purpose of this efficiency report is to measure our love response to the Lord after we becomes the bride. The production of divine good is a love response to God.

“that every one” is literally, ‘that each one.’ We are regarded as individuals; “may receive” — komizw meant originally to receive wages or to receive a reward, but it doesn’t mean that here. The word doesn’t really mean to receive, it mans to ‘receive again, recover again.’ It is used in Hebrews 11:19 for Abraham receiving his son back from the altar. It means to receive back something which was an expression of love. So you are going to receive back at the judgement seat of Christ your expression of love toward God.

“the things in his body” is literally, ‘through the body.’ He is going to receive back the love expression of the things through the body — dia plus the genitive.

“according to that” is proj plus the accusative which means face to face with; “face to face with what he has practised,” literally — prassw. The practice is the intake of doctrine and the output of doctrine.

“whether good or bad” — the word ‘good’ is a)gaqoj, divine good; the word ‘bad’ isn’t really bad, it is fauloj which is said to be refuse, excrement, something that is cheap or trivial. We have to inhale Bible doctrine daily, we have to exhale love toward God, category #1. This takes the filling of the Holy Spirit and the knowledge of doctrine.

Verse 11 — true love demands more than the trivia of life. So we have to have some confidence in His plan, in His person. “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord” is not correctly translated. “Since we know what it is that causes the fear of the Lord” is the correct translation. What is it that causes the fear of the Lord? Ignorance of grace, ignorance of doctrine, ignorance of the gospel. It is ignorance, lack of information that causes the fear of the Lord.

“we persuade men” — peiqw means to present the facts, the information, and the evidence so that the issue is understood by then one to whom you present it. In other words, making the gospel clear, making the issue of the gospel clear. It is a presentation of information whereby the issue is clarified — “we keep on persuading people.”

“but we are made manifest unto God” — fanerow again, and this time it means when you witness for Christ you don’t have to brag about because if you are witnessing [production of divine good] you are doing it because you love the Lord. We are manifest to the Lord because doctrine gives us a love for the Lord and we like to talk about the things we love. It is easy to talk about things we love and to talk with enthusiasm. The important thing is that when you love the Lord what you do is manifest unto the Lord.

“and I trust” — but he doesn’t say trust. This is a present active indicative of e)lpizw which means “I hope.” He is telling them he has given them the message and he would like to say that it is getting through but he can’t. He is telling the Corinthians that he can’t trust that he is hearing, so he adds the statement, “I hope you are getting it” — e)lpizw.

“also are made manifest” — fanerow, and this time it is doctrine; he says this time, ‘I hope it is manifest in your consciences.’ The soul has norms and standards which are designed so that you can have some ruler by which to function. The conscience is a ruler. If you are inhaling doctrine then you are going to get doctrine in the norms and standards, and the norm and standard for absolute love is God so you exhale out of the conscience category #1 love. Then your norms and standards with regard to service and production and details and people will produce divine good. Paul is saying that what he is doing will be manifest to God and that why he is talking about it is so that it will be manifest also to the conscience of the Corinthians, so that they will get the information in their souls and the in exhale of their conscience Jesus Christ will be the norms and standards for love.

Verse 12 — “For we commend not ourselves.” He is not writing this to tell them how good he is. He says ‘ourselves’ because Timothy has been there and Titus is now there.

“but give you an occasion for glorying through us” — we give you the opportunity of glorying. But glory always belongs to God, and so all that he is saying is, ‘We are providing doctrine to go into your soul and when you exhale that doctrine toward God you are glorifying God,’ not Paul or Timothy or Titus.

“that you may have somewhat to answer” should be, ‘that you may have something in opposition to those who boast in outer appearance, rather than the heart.’ In other words, the reason he is giving them this doctrine is because they had people in Corinth that talk about what is outside — pseudo love, someone who seems to prosper, someone who seems attractive — and they boast in that. That is superficial. It isn’t what people see outside, it is what God sees in the soul. So this is designed to remind you that you are not accountable to people, you are accountable to the Lord. The heart refers to the lungs of the soul, what is being inhaled and what is being exhaled.

Verse 13 — emotion is a part of category #1 love, it has a place in the Christian life toward God. There is no such thing as the filling of the Spirit producing emotion. It is all right to emote but don’t confuse it with spiritual life.

“For whether we be beside ourselves toward God” — ‘beside ourselves’ is simply a word for our emotion going in the direction of God, e)cisthmi which means to have maximum emotion, sometimes to be ecstatic. In other words, ‘if we be emotional toward God.’ This is a part of genuine category #1 love when there is doctrine behind it because you have a true appreciation of God. Emotion is an appreciator. Notice that in this particular situation Paul isn’t showing any of this to people.

“or whether we be sober” — sober means to possess a stabilised mentality; “for your cause” should be ‘unto you.’ Toward God we can show this emotion based on doctrine but toward you we just show a stabilised mentality, a relaxed mental attitude.

1968 2Corinthians 5:                                                                                  Lesson #27

27 06/15/1969 2Cor. 5:14–16 Grace has no strings; the love of Christ; capacity; doctrines of unlimited atonement and witnessing

2Corinthians 5:13 For if we [seem to] be crazy, it is for the sake [of the work] of God, or if we [seem to] be sensible, it is for your benefit.

2Corinthians 5:14 For Christ’s love for us motivates us, because we have concluded that, [since] one person [i.e., Christ] died for all people, so then all people have died. [Note: This may mean simply that Christ died for all people, who were dead in their sins].

2Corinthians 5:15 And Christ died for all people, so that those who are alive should not live for themselves anymore, but for Him who died and rose again for their sakes.

2Corinthians 5:16 So, from now on we will not regard any person by worldly standards, even though we [once] regarded Christ that way. But we will not regard Him [that way] anymore. [Note: Paul seems to be saying that before his conversion he viewed Christ on the basis of His family, His education, His position, etc., but since his conversion he does not view Him that way anymore].

Verse 14 – “For the love of Christ constraineth us” – ‘of Christ’ is a genitive, it belongs to Jesus Christ. The love of Christ has to do, first of all, with His deity. Jesus Christ is God, only the deity of Christ is not propitiated. Jesus Christ loves you on a different basis from propitiation. He loves you, He always has loved you. He has the power to love in His deity, He has the consistency to love you. He can still be consistent with His righteousness and His justice because, as it were, they became a substitute, the substitute that satisfies the Father. Jesus Christ loves us. How do we know that? “The one who loved us and gave himself for us.” The Father’s love is cleared at the cross, and at the cross Jesus Christ went there to demonstrate His love. The love of Christ is the grace in the human soul of Jesus Christ, grace based on doctrine. The love of Christ is the constrainer in our passage. The love of Christ is grace in His soul, it is something that can be duplicated in us even though we possess and old sin nature. Grace comes by doctrine, doctrine is converted to grace in the soul. In witnessing the first principle is that we must exhale grace through the right bank of the soul for the unbeliever. That means you can’t be full of self-pity or pride in your self-consciousness, it means you can’t have mental attitude sins in the mentality of your soul, it means that you can’t freeze up on your volition and go negative, it means that your emotion must have a rapport love for God and an appreciation of the cross – “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.” It means that the norms and standards of your conscience have a special place for those who are headed for the lake of fire.

What does the word ‘constrain’ mean? The Greek word is sunexw [sun = with; e)xw = to have], to have with. And it means to have with a principle a mental attitude. Here is the principle of witnessing and to have with this principle is the mental attitude. The love of Christ gives us the mental attitude that goes with witnessing. So this word comes to mean to be motivated mentally. The love of Christ motivates mentally. If you are going to be motivated you must be motivated in the mentality of the soul, and in the mentality of the soul there must be the same grace that you have toward other believers. So you exhale grace toward the unbeliever.

“because we thus judge” — aorist active participle of krinw. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. The main verb is love and we judge something before we are motivated by love. We judge a point of doctrine, examine it critically. The judge here is to inhale doctrine on the left bank of the soul, so it isn’t like judging on the right bank where you run down some poor character with your mouth. So what is the doctrine that is coming in? The doctrine of unlimited atonement: Christ died for all. But the word ‘judge’ also means to discern and so here it means to discern a point of doctrine. You judge or discern a point of doctrine by getting it in when you can. Illustration: If a person commits a crime he is called a criminal. But you have to catch the criminal before you can judge the criminal. So you have to catch doctrine and get it in your soul before you can discern it. So here is a doctrine called unlimited atonement, you take it into your soul — inhale, and krinw is used for inhaling or discerning doctrine. Translation: “We thus discern that Christ died for all.” Unlimited atonement is the doctrine. Unlimited atonement: 1 Timothy 2:6; 4:10; Titus 2:11; Hebrews 2:9; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 2:2.

“Christ died for all” — ‘died’ here is a)poqnhskw. When it says that Christ died for all you have to know that Christ died twice on the cross. This is referring to His spiritual death only; “for all” — u(per is a preposition of substitution. He died as a substitute for all, and that is spiritual death, not His physical death. He also died physically three hours later when His work was finished, but before He died physically He said, “It is finished.” And then He said, “Father, into thy hands I dismiss my spirit.” So what do we discern here? We discern a doctrine of unlimited atonement that in spiritual death on the cross Christ died for us. He died as our substitute. Unlimited atonement is a grace doctrine. So the doctrine is converted to grace because the love of Christ — He is full of grace and doctrine … and this fullness of grace and doctrine we have received. It is grace and doctrine that motivates us and now we understand the doctrine of unlimited atonement, and we exhale it toward an unbeliever in witnessing. There is a mental attitude grace and there is the declaration of the good news.

Why did Christ die for all? Because they were spiritually dead. So we discern another doctrine in our souls: “that if one died for all, then all were dead.” The aorist tense, ‘all were dead,’ a)poqnhskw, means dead in a point of time. We were dead when we were born. We have always had a)poqnhskw, we were born spiritually dead, and so since we came into the world with spiritual death He died for all.

Ever see a hyper Calvinist? Here is the way he looks. He has scar tissue on the left bank of the soul. He is sitting around waiting for Kismet. If it is the will of God they will be saved, maybe they will and maybe they won’t. If it is the will of God they will, so he sits around and doesn’t take anything in — except the five points. And what does he have? He has TULIP. So what goes out? Not much.

Unlimited atonement: Christ died for all; all are dead spiritually. The believer converts the doctrine of unlimited atonement into grace and out comes witnessing — “constraineth” — motivated mentally. The love of Christ is the mental motivation. The two factors of witnessing here: a) A mental attitude based on the inhale of doctrine; b) A knowledge of doctrine. So we could translate this: “We thus discern that one died on behalf of all, we are constantly motivated by the love of Christ.”

Verse 15 — the next installment of grace in the soul. We are not to live unto ourselves which is subjectivity. When you are not taking in doctrine and converting it to grace, you are minus grace in your soul and you are a legalist. If you are a legalist then you are subjective.

“And he that died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves ” — the word for ‘live’ here is the believer now living on the earth as an ambassador for Christ, and it is a present active participle. As long as he lives on the earth he is an ambassador for Christ [verse 20]; “that” introduces a purpose clause, “that they which live.” If you are a believer you are in full time Christian service.

“should not live unto themselves” — dative of disadvantage. How do you live unto yourself? Forget doctrine, ignore it, reject it, stray from it, build up scar tissue.

“but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”

Verse 16 — “henceforth” means from now on, a)po [ultimate source]tou [the] nun [now]. This verse now responds to that subjectivity in the soul.

“know we no man after the flesh” — ‘after the flesh’ means on the principle of scar tissue. We are going to stop knowing people on the basis of all this scar tissue, and hurting with the old sin nature. We are going to love on the basis of grace which is who and what we are.

“though we have known Christ after the flesh” — there was a time when we didn’t know that Christ died for us. Then the gospel came through and faith in Christ took the scales off of our eyes or the scar tissue off the left bank. When you are born again you start with no scar tissue on the left bank or the right bank of the soul.

“yet now henceforth know we him no more” — no more according to the scar tissue principle. We are not going to look at Christ any more through scar tissue on the soul. We are going to take in Bible doctrine and that doctrine is going to be converted to grace, and we are going to exhale love, faith-rest toward God, toward the Lord Jesus. That is going to have some repercussions because we are going to go on a grace basis with people, we are going to be motivated by the love of Christ.

1968 2Corinthians 5:                                                                                  Lesson #28

28 06/22/1969 2Cor. 5:17 How to orient to the grace of God; doctrine of positional truth; spiritual death

2Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if any person is in [fellowship with] Christ, he is a new person. His old ways have passed away; now his ways have become new.

Verse 17 — confidence in positional truth, or how to orient to the grace of God. This is a very familiar passage, one which is often quoted and often distorted by such quotation. The implications of being a new man often are associated with some experiential change. Many believers when they first accept Jesus Christ as saviour are the recipients of some legalistic bullying of one type or another, or they are simply impressed with certain Christian types and as a result they want to do what that person does, they want to imitate. And so they are either led or inspired or bullied or coerced or shamed or pressurised into giving up something. Anything that the Word of God causes you to give up is fine. Anything you do because of the Word of God is one thing but to simply give up something because of some other pressure is definitely not a bona fide part of the Christian life. And no one ever really gives up something in the energy of the flesh, in the strength of the old sin nature plus the human volition, without wanting to crow about it at some time, some place, somewhere. Unfortunately and tragically it is almost impossible to approach this verse without remembering some of the distortions to which it is exposed. It is fixed in the mind erroneously that we are new creatures because we have changed our lives, we have changed our behaviour pattern, we have changed our modus operandi.

Here is a passage that causes a great deal of trouble because we associate it with what we are doing for God instead of associating it with what God is doing for us.

“Therefore” — the Greek word, w(ste, actually brings us to our first conclusion in the passage. It is better translated “So that,” but it draws a conclusion. It is the conclusion of going through 16 verses of this chapter and seeing all of the marvellous provisions of the grace of God, and seeing the principle of soul breathing. Left bank of the soul, inhale of doctrine; right bank of the soul, exhale of doctrine toward people; left bank, exhale toward God. Doctrine is in the soul, it gives us a relaxed mental attitude, +H, it frustrates the activity of the old sin nature which is constantly sending up approbation lust, power lust, and constantly evacuating from the soul sin and human good. No we have actually come to the conclusion, to the ultimate in the field of grace function, grace orientation. “Conclusion” is a better translation here.

“if” [1st class condition], if and it is true; “any man” — tij means any one, any believer priest; “in Christ” — no verb here. A new creature is ‘in Christ.’ You don’t have ‘new creature’ first, you have Christ first. ‘In Christ’ is referring to positional truth and the only sense in this passage in which we are new creatures is because of our union with Christ. The reason for that is quite obvious. The word ‘new’ is an adjective, kainoj, and it is a word for a new species. It means new but it means new in species. In the devil’s world there is a brand new species that has only existed since the ascension, since Jesus Christ was glorified, and the day that the baptism of the Spirit occurred for the first time a new species was brought into existence. Notice that this does not say salvation, although it includes that. In the Old Testament there were millions of people who were saved and they were saved by believing in Christ as Christ was then revealed. But when people were saved in the Old Testament they were born again, just as we are; they were justified, just as we are; they were given eternal life, just as we are; but they were not kainoj. Why? Because never before in history had anyone been put into union with Christ. Never before the day of Pentecost in 30 AD had the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurred. There is a difference between Old Testament saints and New Testament saints and that difference is that Christ had not been glorified and Christ therefore was the target of Satan in the angelic conflict, and now that Christ is glorified at the right hand of the Father the target is the believer. Christ is absent in the Church Age, the believer is on earth. In order to meet the problems of the angelic conflict, since Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, since operation footstool is now in reality [Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool], since the body is being formed — the body only is the bride, the OT saints are not the bride — and since the body is the bride and Christ is a new species, He is the only person with a resurrection body, and since the next people to get a resurrection body are believers in the Church Age only, for the first time in history we have something that was never true before or after. We have something that no group of believers will ever have again. We are a part of the body of Christ, we have the phrase “in Christ Jesus,” and we are a new species. When the Rapture of the Church occurs that will never be true again. And we are not a new species because we have given up anything or changed our behaviour pattern, we are a new species because at the moment of salvation we were picked up by God the Holy Spirit and entered into union with Jesus Christ. The word “we” is important here, we are new creatures, ‘a new species of creation,’ literally. The word ktisij means a creature or a new creation. We are a new species in creation and we have been made that by what God did, we are not a new species because of anything we have ever done.

“he is a new creature” — but there is no ‘he is.’ Kainoj means new in species; ktisij means a creation. You have been created a new species y the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

“Conclusion, if [and it is true] anyone in Christ [positional truth] a new creature.”

The doctrine of Positional Truth

1. The mechanics of positional sanctification — 1 Corinthians 12:13, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

2. Positional truth belongs to the carnal as well as the spiritual believer — 1 Corinthians 1:2, 30. The carnal Corinthians were “sanctified in Christ Jesus.”

3. Positional truth protects the believer from eternal judgement. Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.” This new species is protected from the last judgement.

4. Positional truth qualifies the believer to live with God forever. There are three qualification necessary for the believer to live with God forever. His sins have to be taken care of, he must have eternal life [1 John 5:11,12], he must have the righteousness of God [2 Corinthians 5:21].

5. Positional truth defines both election and predestination — Ephesians 1:3-6. The word proorizw is usually translated ‘predestined,’ but that isn’t what it means, it means to be preplanned. The point is that God the Father planned a future for Jesus Christ, we are in Christ, we share His proorizw. Jesus Christ was therefore called. We are in union with Christ, we share His election. As it says in Ephesians 1, “elected in Christ before the foundation of the world.”

In other words, there never was a time when Christ didn’t live. He lived in eternity past with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. There never was a time when He didn’t exist but there was some period in eternity when some planning occurred and in that planning Jesus Christ was given an eternal destiny. Now Christ is at the right hand of the Father, we are in union with Christ, we share His destiny. But since it was planned in the past we call that election, and since it was designed in the past we call that predestination. So we share His election, we share His destiny.

6. Positional truth produces a new species on the earth, a species that has never existed before, a species that started on the day of Pentecost in 30 AD, the day the Church began.

7. Positional truth guarantees eternal security — Romans 8:38,39.

Positional truth is located in two categories. The first is retroactive — Romans 6; the second is current — Colossians 3:1,2. Retroactive positional truth: identified with Christ in His death. Christ rejected human good, and the point of retroactive positional truth is, positionally we have rejected human good, now all we have to do is reject it experientially. Jesus Christ is currently at the right hand of the Father, so current positional truth: we are in union with Christ at the right hand of the Father, which puts us as superior to angels in opposition and guarantees that physically in the future we will also be superior to angels.

9. The characteristics of positional truth:

a) The believer shares the life of Christ — 1 John 5:11,12.

b) The believer shares the righteousness of Christ — 2 Corinthians 5:21

c) The believer shares the destiny of Christ — Ephesians 1:5.

d) The believer shares the election of Christ — Ephesians 1:4.

e) The believers shares the sonship of Christ — Galatians 3:26.

f) The believers shares the heirship of Christ — 1 Peter 1:4,5; Romans 8:16,17.

g) The believer shares the sanctification of Christ — 1 Corinthians 1:2, 30.

h) The believer shares the priesthood of Christ — Hebrews 10:10-14.

i) The believer shares the kingdom of Christ — 2 Peter 1:11.

10. Positional truth:

a) Is not an experience. It is neither an emotion nor ecstatics.

b) Is not progressive, it is perfect at the moment of salvation.

c) Is not related to human merit. It is neither human good nor energy of the flesh.

d) Is eternal in nature, it will last forever.

e) Is known only from the Word of God by the teaching of the Word of God, by understanding the Word of God.

f) Is obtained completely at the moment of salvation.

“old things” — one word in the Greek, a)rxaioj in the plural, is ‘that which existed in the beginning.’ It means something that is really old. It obviously doesn’t refer to things we have given up because a)rxaioj doesn’t refer to this generation, or the past generation or 100 years ago. The word is never used in that sense. It is always used for something that is a few thousand years old. It refers to what happened at the moment that the woman sinned and what happened at the moment that Adam sinned. They entered into a condition called spiritual death. Once they were spiritually dead they had lost their human spirit and had picked up an old sin nature. This immediately cuts them off from God. The old sin nature does not breathe through the apertures of the soul, the old sin nature is an evacuator of the soul. Because it is a part of the soul whenever a sin is produced, whenever a temptation becomes a sin, the sin is then evacuated through the old sin nature. And whenever there is a reaction to that and a guilt complex then human good comes through the old sin nature. So both sin and human good are evacuated from the old sin nature.

“old things are passed away,” something that is archaic, something that is older than you are. The old sin nature is older than we are. The old sin nature isn’t passed away, but the old sin nature means spiritual death and you are born with an old sin nature you are born with spiritual death. Spiritual death is a principle of no relationship, with God and the old things, the archaic things is spiritual death which means no relationship with God. Spiritual death is as old as Genesis 2:17. Spiritual death as an anticipated judgement came before sin. God warned the first parents.

Romans 5:12 — “Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin [singular; osn] entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all the human race, because all [the human race] sinned [when Adam sinned].”

Notice, “death passed upon.” It is spiritual death that we have here. Death passed upon all — Romans 5:12. Now, when you accept Christ spiritual death “passes away” — 2 Corinthians 5:17. We were born [in Adam] spiritually dead, but in Christ “shall all be made alive.” He has eternal life, we share His eternal life.

“passed away” — parerxomai, which means a lot of things. It means to go, to pass, to come to an end. It means here that spiritual death has come to an end. At the moment you accept Christ as saviour spiritual death comes to an abrupt end. Never again do you have spiritual death. It is impossible, you are in Christ. It also means to disappear, and we could translate this, “the ancient things [pertaining to spiritual death] have vanished [disappeared]. Spiritual death is gone.

“behold, all things are become new” — ‘all things’ is not found in the original. It is literally, ‘behold they have become new.’ “Become” is ginomai in the perfect tense, they have become new in the past with the result that they will always be new. The word ‘new’ is again kainoj, new in species.

All of this is the work of God, every bit of it. There is nothing that you have done to make yourself a new creature, God did it all. That’s grace.

1968 2Corinthians 5:                                                                                  Lesson #29

29 06/29/1969 2Cor. 5:18–21 USA vulnerability to destruction; the "all things" from God; reconciliation, ambassadorship

2Corinthians 5:18 All [these] things are from God, who restored us to fellowship with Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of restoring [other] people to [such] fellowship.

2Corinthians 5:19 That is, God was in Christ restoring the world to fellowship with Himself, not counting people’s sins against them. And He entrusted to us the message of restoring people to fellowship [with Him].

2Corinthians 5:20 So, we [apostles] are ambassadors, [speaking] on behalf of Christ. [It is] as though God were appealing [to people] through us: “We urge you people, on behalf of Christ, to be restored to fellowship with God.”

2Corinthians 5:21 God considered Christ to be sinful on our behalf, even though He never sinned, so that we could be considered right with God through Him.

Verse 18 — “All things are from [the] God,” the all things of doctrine; “who hath reconciled” — God did something that makes it possible for us to stay on this earth; “us to himself” — the word to reconcile is katallassw [kata = preposition of norm and standard; llassw = to change, to alter, to transform] which in this passage means to change from being spiritually dead to being spiritually alive because God has taken us over a barrier. God has removed the barrier so that we can cross the line, and we do so by personal faith in Jesus Christ. The word ‘reconcile,’ then, is a picture of the fact of the barrier between man on the one hand and God on the other. The barrier is made up of sin, the penalty of sin is spiritual death; the problem of physical birth, being born physically alive but spiritually dead; the problem of +R, God’s absolute righteousness and man’s relative righteousness; the problem of the character of God; and finally, the position in Adam. This barrier cannot be passed through, around or over, and so it is removed by the planning of God and by the work of Jesus Christ the Son of God on the cross. Sin is removed: doctrine of redemption; the penalty of sin is removed: doctrine of expiation; the problem of physical birth is removed: doctrine of regeneration; the problem of relative righteousness is removed by imputation and justification; the problem of the character of God is removed by propitiation; the problem of position in Adam is removed by position in Christ. The barrier is removed by the cross and now man is reconciled to God by the work of Jesus Christ.

“has reconciled us to himself” — the aorist tense means a point of time divorced from time and perpetuated forever. At the moment a person believes in Jesus Christ as saviour he is reconciled to God, which means that point of time is taken out of time and perpetuated. Therefore he is reconciled to God forever.

“by Jesus Christ” — dia plus the genitive means ‘through Jesus Christ.’ Jesus Christ accomplished reconciliation.

Now because Jesus Christ accomplished reconciliation and because we have personally believed in Jesus Christ God the Father has given us a purpose for being on this earth.

“and hath given to us” — given is didomi, the ordinary Greek word for giving. The aorist tense means in the point of time when we believed; ‘to us” is dative of advantage. It is to our advantage because we have a ministry; “the ministry of reconciliation” — the Greek word for ‘ministry’ is diakonia which means a lot of different things, but basically it has the concept of being in service. It is used in Romans 13:4 for leaders of state — political use; for the specialised ministry of the pastor-teacher in 1 Corinthians 3:5; but its primary use throughout the scripture is found in 2 Corinthians 3:6; 4:1; 5:18, and here is means every believer. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you have a ministry, you are in full time Christian service, you have the ministry of reconciliation. This means that God has left you here for a purpose as His personal representative. Jesus Christ is not going to suddenly withdraw all of His representatives until the Church Age is over. That will be known as the Rapture of the Church. The ministry of reconciliation means that the believer has a responsibility of witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 19 — the message of reconciliation. “To wit” is actually “As it were.”

“God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” — when it says that God was in Christ it doesn’t means that God the Father indwelt Christ, it means that God the Father in eternity past designed a plan, operation salvation/grace, and in designing this plan He made it possible for the Son, Jesus Christ, to become incarnate. And Jesus Christ went to the cross, was judged for our sins, He is the only saviour. So God the Father is behind it as the planner, Jesus Christ is the saviour because He is the one who was judged for our sins and was our substitute. So through the work of the cross Jesus Christ reconciles mankind to God. Therefore, ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself’ in the sense that God the Father planned it. The one who planned salvation and the one who planned everything in connection with the incarnation, to the cross, to the resurrection is the same God in heaven who has planned your life on this earth as a believer, who has planned the ministry of reconciliation. Nothing in this world can remove your ministry of reconciliation to mankind as long as God permits it.

“not imputing their trespasses unto them” — in other words here is the message of hope; “and hath committed unto us the word [message] of reconciliation.” The word of reconciliation is simply the message of the gospel.

Verse 20 — the believer’s purpose in phase two. The moment you accepted Jesus Christ as saviour you became the personal representative of the Lord Jesus on the earth.

“Now then we are [we keep on being] ambassadors” — present active indicative; “for Christ” — on behalf of Christ, literally.

The doctrine of ambassadorship

1. An ambassador does not appoint himself. He is appointed by the nation he represents, the king he represents, the person he represents. As ambassadors we are appointed by God the Father because God the Father was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Christ is now at the right hand of the Father through ascension and we are now His personal representatives on this earth. Our appointment is a grace appointment at the moment of salvation.

2. An ambassador doesn’t support himself. This is not talking about man working by the sweat of his brow, we are talking about the sustaining, the surviving, the protection through catastrophe and disaster as well as in time of prosperity, the fact that we are a part of a spiritual warfare, the fact that we are in the intensification of the angelic conflict, and the fact that we are totally and completely sustained, preserved, protected by God the Father. We are in His plan and cannot be removed from this world as long as God’s purpose for your ministry continues.

3. An ambassador does not represent himself. Once you accept Jesus Christ as saviour the door is open to the greatest happiness in the world. That happiness comes from the daily intake of Bible doctrine. That happiness gives the capacity to love God: category #1, capacity to love a member of the opposite sex: category #2, capacity for friendship: category #3. That same doctrine gives the ability to master the details of life, to enjoy them when you possess them and when you lose them to still have inner happiness and stability. As this door is opened we have to remember that our purpose in life has now radically changed. Our purpose in life is to represent the Lord Jesus Christ, to enter into the spiritual conflict which exists in this earth, as well as the historical conflict. And since it is a spiritual conflict we no longer represent ourselves but we represent the Lord Jesus Christ. And since we are His representatives everything is in His hands. Therefore, we have been given techniques, such as faith-rest, in order to put difficulties and problems and pressures in his hands, in order to stay cool under fire, or to have poise when things are difficult. He has provided all of this.

4. He doesn’t belong to the country to which he is sent. There is a sense in which we are now the citizens of heaven although we are the citizens of this country. There is a sense in which our highest responsibility belongs to the Lord,. although it is wonderful to know that as in Romans 13 we can enter into the service of our country and do it as unto the Lord under our type, of government.

5. All ambassadors have instructions in written form. We have our instructions in written form — Bible doctrine.

6. An ambassador representing his country does not treat any insult as personal. This has to do with the relaxed mental attitude in the soul from the inhale of Bible doctrine.

7. When the ambassador is recalled from a country that is tantamount to a declaration of war. When we are recalled through the Rapture of the Church then there will be the most fantastic warfare, spiritual and otherwise, during the Tribulation.

“as though God did beseech you by us: we pray [request] in place of Jesus Christ” — the word for pray is deomai. It meant originally to beg, then it meant to pray, and sometimes it is mistranslated ‘beseech.’ Actually it means to request.

Notice two words here: “God did beseech you.” The word to ‘beseech’ is parakalew which means to come in alongside, to give instructions, or to help. God comes in alongside to help us. Our job is to deomai which means to request. Parakalew does not involve volition, except in response to doctrine, but deomai recognises the volition of the individual. Christ is not here so we request you in place of Christ — “in Christ’s stead.” Christ is at the right hand of the Father, we are here on the earth, “we request you.” Deomai recognises the free willl, the privacy and the rights of the individual unbeliever. So when you come to the unbeliever with deomai you must so present the gospel so as to provide information and to make the issue clear, but you have no right to try to coerce his volition by getting him to raise his hand, by getting some sad story cranked up, to get him to walk an aisle, to pressurise him. All of that is out. Deomai is the order of the day for you as a witness for Christ, you have no right to pressure people. You are responsible for dissemination of information, to make the issue clear. Recognise their freedom to make a decision, God the Holy Spirit will take it from there.

“be ye reconciled to God” — aorist passive imperative. The aorist tense means in a point of time when you hear this message — gospel hearing. The passive voice: it is up to you, you have to receive it. The imperative mood says this is God’s command for salvation. The believer is simply relaying God’s command or God’s way: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

Verse 21 — the mechanics of reconciliation. In order for us to have a ministry, in order for us to have a meaning to our life as believers:

“For he [the Father] hath made him [the Son] sin for us” — ‘hath made’ is poiew which means to work, to do. He has caused Him to do something; “to be sin for us” — Jesus Christ was minus an old sin nature, minus personal sin, minus Adam’s sin. Because He was minus all of these He could go to the cross and be made sin for us. “For us” means that our sins were poured out upon Him. He “who knew no sin” was made sin for us.

“that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” — Jesus Christ was judged for our sins so that we can cross the line, and when we cross the line we receive God’s righteousness and since it is equivalent to His righteousness we are qualified to live with Him forever. This last verse simply tells us that when a person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ God does all of the saving. He doesn’t get any help from anyone else, including the person involved. The moment a person believes in Christ God the Father does something. He credits to out account His own righteousness.

1968 2Corinthians 6:                                                                                  Lesson #30

30 07/27/1969 2Cor. 6:1 Positional truth; doctrine of edification; all believers in full–time Christian service

Chapter 6

2Corinthians 6:1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

Up through chapter five we have had principle, now we get to the concept of practice. In chapter 6 we have the universal ministry of the believer. In chapters 7 & 8 we have one of the privileges of the priesthood, two whole chapters on giving.

Verse 6 — “We as workers together.” ‘We’ is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and it refers to the fact that every believer is a minister — verse 4. The word ‘ministry’ is used three ways in the scripture. The political use is found in Romans 13:4 where it is used for someone who has a position of authority in divine institution #4. The second use of the word is specialised, often used for the pastor of a church as in Ephesians 3:7; 6:21; Colossians 1:23, 25; 4:7; 1 Timothy 1:12. But the word is also used in a third way and that is the way we find it almost entirely throughout 2 Corinthians. The general usage has to do with the universal ministry of the believer. Every believer is a minister from the standpoint of 2 Corinthians. While there is a distinction in spiritual gifts there is a general thrust in the Christian life that includes us all. Literally, “We therefore as workers together.”

“workers together” is sunergew, present active participle [sun = with or together with; e)rgew = producers]. So we are all joint producers. This is a present active participle which says that we are always going to be workers together. It doesn’t say that you have to have togetherness, As workers together you’d be amazed as to how we pull together. We pull together by first of all drawing a line between us, and that is a curtain called privacy. The reason is because we are all priests and between each one of us there should be privacy, even in any intimate relationship — even marriage. The primary principle in pulling together is the recognition of each other’s privacy. We must have privacy to live our lives unto the Lord. And when you have everyone breathing in his own lungs and not trying to give artificial respiration to someone else, then we will start to work together. When it says “we working together” it means every person has his own volition of soul. This is summarised in Colossians 3:16,17.

This means that apart from spiritual gifts there are certain assets which we all possess:

a) Positional truth, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Every believer at the point of salvation is entered into union with Jesus Christ. Now every believer is his own priest and is in full time Christian service. The distinction of clergy and laity is obviously a Satanic traditional attack upon the true concept. We are workers together.

b) We have the universal indwelling of Christ. Every believer is indwelt by Christ for the purpose of fellowship. This was never true before.

c) God the Holy Spirit indwells every believer. This was never true before.

d) The priesthood. Each one represents himself before God.

e) We have a completed canon of scripture. We have Bible doctrine exegetically portrayed verse by verse, line by line, and we also have it categorically with an indication as to the category found throughout the scripture.

f) This is the first time in any dispensation, the first time in history, when we have had a completely and total supernatural way of life which in no way requires any human energy, any human ingenuity, whereby we have a total provision per individual believer from God.

g) For the first time in history every believer is a minister — the universal ministry of the believer. Therefore, every believer is in full time Christian service.

“beseech” — present active indicative parakalew [para = immediate source; kalew = call] means sometimes to exhort and sometimes it means to encourage, but whatever way you take it it also means to persuade. They way it is taken here, beware in a public relations apostasy, beware in a legalistic apostasy, beware in a blasphemous apostasy, beware every generation …

“that you do not receive the grace of God in vain” — the only way we can work together is for grace to be in the soul of every believer. Every believer must be grace oriented.

“receive not” — the Greek verb is dexomai which means three or four things. It means to welcome something with open arms, to receive gladly, to take someone up in your arms, and it also means to receive the content of something. Here it means to inhale Bible doctrine which is the grace of God expressed. Bible doctrine reveals and expresses the grace of God.

“in vain” — kenoj means emptiness, empty without content, minus structure. The whole point here is that every believer must not ever be empty of structure. We cannot work together when we are minus doctrine in the soul. There must be a constant inhale of doctrine so that there can be structure, content in the soul.

The doctrine of edification

1. Etymology. There are three Greek nouns and all of them are translated by the word “edification” but they are all different.

a) o)ikodomh — this is the act of erecting a structure. This is the one that is found in Ephesians four. This is the one where doctrine comes in the left bank of the soul and you begin to build a structure on doctrine — grace orientation, inner happiness, RMA, capacity to love in all categories, mastery of the details of life. O)ikodomh simply means the process of this thing.

b) o)ikodomia — this noun means the finished product, the one we are going to see in 2 Corinthians. This word sees the structure erected in the soul.

c) o)ikodomoj — this is the builder. In our context the builder is Bible doctrine, residual doctrine in the soul.

2. The biblical usage.

a) Three times in Ephesians four we have o)ikodomh, in verses 12,16,29. This is the process.

b) In Acts 9:31 we have a church that had peace and quiet and blessing because it had o)ikodomia. In other words, we actually have a church that is the perfect idea church. Everyone is relaxed because inside of the soul of each was this erected structure.

c) In 1 Corinthians 14, to show that the tongues movement only had a short-burst function and was being abused, and then no longer existed, the word oikodomia & o)ikodomh are being used in contrast with the tongues movement — verses 3,4,12,26. It was nothing compared to doctrine, grace orientation, inner happiness, RMA, capacity to love, and mastery of the details of life. That is the erected structure of the soul.

d) In 1 Corinthians 8:1 we have another use. ‘Knowledge puffeth up but love edifies’ — but knowledge there is the stuff that comes through mataiothj, it is the devil’s stuff. But when you have love, RMA, in the edification structure you have it because you have doctrine, and it is doctrine that edifies and builds the structure. The verb is o)ikodomew which means the process of building the structure, verb form to erect the structure. Therefore the inhale of doctrine erects the structure and this is a contrast between human viewpoint knowledge of kosmoj diabolikuj and divine viewpoint knowledge of Bible doctrine.

e) The communication gifts are designed for edification — 2 Corinthians 10:8; 13:10. Bible doctrine is designed for edification.

3. The first prerequisite for edification is the filling of the Holy Spirit. This is the means of inhaling Bible doctrine — John 14:26; 16:12-14; 1 Corinthians 2:9-14. This is based upon the rebound technique.

4. The second prerequisite for edification is the continuous learning of Bible doctrine.

5. The mechanics of edification. They involve all three Greek words: oikodomoj, which is doctrine equivalent to oxygen. Then mechanically you have the left bank of the soul with the left lung designed for inhale of doctrine. The basis for doing this is the filling of the Spirit. Then you exhale toward God, category #1 love; toward people, category #2 love, right man, right woman; toward friends, category #3; toward the details of life. All of this is done with residual doctrine in the soul. Then from there you build grace orientation and there must be a fantastic residual factor here before your grace orientation begins to build. The first result of this is e)pignwsij, full knowledge of God. The second result is o)ikodomia which is the finished product.

“We as workers together.” How are we ever going to work together? We must have an erected structure in the soul from residual doctrine. This causes our relationship with each other to operate on the basis of the erected structure of the soul and it eliminates all the guff. It means that we work together as a team, it means we are going in the same direction even though our personalities are different, our basic background may be different, everything that people count as important is different, but we are living our lives as unto the Lord, we have privacy.

Notice the word ‘beseech’ here means to persuade, and persuasion starts in 6:1 and goes all the way to the end of the book. In 13:10 is the direction of his persuasion: “Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me directed toward the purpose of edification, and not destruction.” In other words, he is writing these things so as not to destroy them but to edify them. If he came in person he would tear them to bits.

This is the whole issue in the Christian life: edification or destruction. Which is it going to be? If you are somehow daily taking in Bible doctrine and exhaling Bible doctrine, you have residual doctrine in the soul. And from residual doctrine you have a buildup and therefore you have a perfect stability of life, a consistency of life, a dynamic of life. But if you are a believer who goes negative on doctrine then there is no residual doctrine in the soul, there is no soul breathing, you have mental attitude sins, you have self-induced misery, wide emotional swings, great instability, and you may cover it up with any system of pseudo spirituality but it still stinks and you are pulling in the wrong direction. This means the buildup of scar tissue on the right and left banks of the soul, and when it is filled up completely the sin unto death.

Verse 11 tells us what happens when edification, not destruction, is the order of the day: “Finally brethren, farewell, Be equipped, be stabilised, be of one mind [divine viewpoint], live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.” He can’t be anything else where there is the erection of the structure of the soul based on residual Bible doctrine.

1968 2Corinthians 6:                                                                                  Lesson #31

31 08/03/1969 2Cor. 6:2–3 Missionary activity; 7 points on witnessing

2Corinthians 6:2 For he says, "In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

2Corinthians 6:3 We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,

Verses 2 & 3 deal with an illustration of how not to accept the grace of God in vain. This has to do with your personal life day by day in whatever you do by way of recreation of business, or however you fill your hours, the inhale or exhale of doctrine. Now the apostle Paul selects one facet of the Christian life, a facet which is not connected in any way with what you do when you are in the geographical area of the local church. Witnessing was really not designed for the church service or for the function of the church, it was designed to go to the outside day by day where the unbelievers are located and to reach these individuals for Christ. So we have a problem here, and that problem is to be able to so operate from the structure of the grace of God in the soul so that without any problem, without any difficulty, we are going to be able to witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. The concept of witnessing is given first in verse 2 where we have the message of the lips.

Verse 2 — “For he saith” is a quotation from Isaiah 49:8; “I have heard thee in a time accepted” — ‘I have heard’ is not the usual word for hearing which is a)kouw, but here we have e)pakouw which is slightly different. Putting the pronoun with it means to hear with favour, to hear with positive volition. When you hear something you respond to it. You hear it and you are positive volition begins to throw out signals in response to that. This is the inhale of the gospel. The gospel goes into the nouj and once there then there is a response. There is the response of positive volition, there is the exhale of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now God says, “I have heard favourably in a time.”

“in a time” — kairoj refers to an epoch or a dispensation or to a civilisation. It refers to an historical period of time. It is usually translated ‘epoch,’ it refers to anything that involves an historical period of time. The historical period of time here involves the Church Age in which every believer is in full time Christian service and one of his expressions of service is witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ.

“accepted” — dektoj refers to the point of God-consciousness. This is every epoch, in every period, in every dispensation, in every century, in any period of time no matter how time is declared in the scripture, the time/epoch accepted refers to positive volition at the point of God-consciousness. It refers to the fact that people in various periods of history are rearranged geographically. For example, in some periods of history there has been a great population explosion in Mongolia and it has pushed out in all directions. It pushed out toward the Assyrians, toward the Cythians. Others went toward China and some toward India. And throughout history there have been great population explosions. Populations are located in various places, and you never know from one century to the next and from one generation to the next where the positive volition is going to be. The positive volition at God-consciousness can be in different areas and maximum evangelism in that generation is going to depend on where the positive signals are. Wherever there is maximum negative volition at the point of God-consciousness that is the area where God shuts down. We can deduce that China is in this area today. Communism has taken over China today. In spite of the tremendous aggressiveness of the communists after world war 2 there would be no communism in China today except for the fact that communism follows the vacuum. Communism is a Satanic organisation and the vacuum is negative volition. But this also tells us something else, it means that God has opened up somewhere else.

Isaiah recognised in his day what we should recognise in ours. They were just about to go to war with Assyria. For about a year before that war Isaiah recognised that the people of that day had gone positive at the point of God-consciousness and at the point of gospel hearing. Hezekiah was a born again believer and even though he was a very weak king there was definitely positive volition right under his nose. So Isaiah began to evangelise and teach day by day. The result was that within that year there was a fantastic harvest of souls and a fantastic development of the individual believer, for those who were born again went to his Bible classes daily. Then the crisis came, the Assyrian invasion of the land which eventually led to the siege of Jerusalem. And you have the people on the wall who faith-rested it all the way. They had been led to the Lord under Isaiah’s ministry, they were people who were strong in the Word, they had that ECS as it then existed. They had all of these things and they were strong and relaxed when the Rabshakah came forth with his system of brainwashing, they didn’t buy it at all.

“and in the day of salvation I have succoured thee” — the word to ‘succour’ means to run to the aid of someone crying for help. The Greek word is bohqew. The cry for help is positive volition at God-consciousness, the potential positive volition at the point of gospel hearing. That means that there are thousands of people in our area right now in their souls are crying for help. And all they are waiting for is for you to witness.

The application: “behold now” — Paul is speaking in his day, in the dispensation of grace, the dispensation of the Church whereas Isaiah was speaking in the dispensation of Israel. Now there is an application from Isaiah’s remarks.

“now is the time accepted” — the time of a grace offering. The word for ‘accepted’ here is e)uprosdektoj [e)u = good; proj = face to face with; dektoj = the concept of an opportunity], the time when grace is available, when God will look with favour upon the call for help. So he is saying to the Corinthians that they are face to face with a fantastic opportunity in their own city. Now is the time for the Corinthians to face up to the tremendous opportunity of positive volition.

“behold, now is the day of salvation” — when the people in Corinth are presented the issue they are going respond when it is presented on a grace basis. That means no legalism intruding. In order for this to occur there is going to have to be a change among the Corinthians. They are spending all of their time criticising Paul. They are going to have to get rid of the scar tissue of the soul where it exists and they are going to have to go on that crash program for the removal of scar tissue. As scar tissue is removed there will be the build-up of residual doctrine in the soul. This is the foundation for the erection of a structure in the soul.

Verse 3 — “Giving no offence.” The word for ‘offence’ here is proskoph which is a very mild word [koph = cut off; proj = face to face with]. It means to phase someone out, to shut them down, to turn them down. But it is a mild word. He is saying in effect that as long as you are out of fellowship, building up scar tissue, you are going to cut off these unbelievers who are on positive volition, even though you are face to face with the, even though you live in the same vicinity. And when you do that you are going to cause offence to the ministry. He puts a negative in front of proskoph which means ‘no offence.’

“that the ministry [the universal ministry of the believer] be not blamed” — the word for ‘blame’ here is mwmeomai, and it means an unbeliever criticising a believer for a legitimate reason. It is an aorist passive subjunctive and it means the Corinthian believers are being criticised by the unbelievers because the unbelievers are critical, because the believers manifest mental attitude sins. So here is the unbeliever of Corinth censoring the believer because of his mental attitude sins, and therefore the believers of Corinth who are supposed to be witnessing are turning off unbelievers on positive volition.

1968 2Corinthians 6:                                                                                   Lesson #32

32 08/10/1969 2Cor. 6:4–7 Pressure, suffering; reflected glory from ECS (edification complex of the soul)

2Corinthians 6:4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,

2Corinthians 6:5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;

2Corinthians 6:6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love;

2Corinthians 6:7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;

Verse 4 — “But in all things approving ourselves.” There are all kinds of all things and some all things are more obvious than other all things. There are all things of eternity, what you will have in phase three. There are all things in time.

In this passage, verses 4-10, we have three demonstrations of the ministry, the universal ministry of the believer as a priest and as an ambassador. The first of these demonstrations is pressure, verses 4,5. The second one is stability, verses 6,7. The third is adaptability, verses 8-10. All of these demonstrations are from Bible doctrine in the soul of the believer. In other words, the concept of residual doctrine in the believer’s soul. As a believer we are given as a gift from God pressure, and this pressure is to demonstrate that inside of us is that wonderful edification structure which He has provided. God says, ‘I am going to show the world what kind of a suit you have on your soul. I am going to show Satan and the fallen angels and all human beings in cosmos diabolicus the most beautiful clothes in the world.’ The style is perfect because it was designed in heaven billions of years ago. God says that to show the world what you are wearing He has to turn us inside out. The only way He can do this is through suffering. So when you begin to get the ECS, when you begin to have the erected structure of your soul, you are going to are going to have this marvellous structure to put on, clothes in the soul — the new man. And when you do it God shows the world what it is like by turning you inside out. So we have three ingredients in the divine demonstration of the ECS to the world. People can’t look inside of you and see your soul, your soul is well hidden from human view. So God shows fallen angels and unbelievers what beautiful clothes you wear in your soul. But you have to have the ECS first, and when you have it God turns you inside out with pressure. Once it is turned inside out through suffering, through pressure, with that ECS this is what people are going to see — stability. Then, to intensify this storm we are going to have adaptability. God demonstrates what His grace can do. We are going to show what the plan of God can do and therefore we have in this passage the demonstration of the edification structure, or a minister turned inside out. The minister is every believer. With the build-up of the edification structure God is going to demonstrate His grace and His plan to angels and to men. God is going to show to the world what you are wearing in your soul. When God brings or permits pressure in your life that pressure plus what you have in your soul, the ECS, is a fantastic reflection of His glory.

Therefore we have “in all things approving,” a present active participle of sunisthmi. The word means to recommend to favourable attention, it means to present, to introduce or to demonstrate. God has a demonstration of His glory, not every believer but only those believers who daily inhale Bible doctrine, who have residual doctrine in the soul and who build upon that residual doctrine the ECS. Exhale of doctrine from your soul is simple application but when you start reflecting from your soul the edification structure of the soul that is reflected glory. This is a present active participle and all of your life on this earth you are to be a reflector of the glory of God. “In all things constantly demonstrating.” The active voice: each believer must do it for himself. No one else can demonstrate glory for you, you must do it on your own. This is something that is done by the grace of God, it is done by soul breathing.

“as the ministers of God” — ‘of God’ is a genitive of possession; the word ‘minister’ refers to every believer. You are the possession of God. As the possession of God you should be the glory of God. There are nine areas of suffering whereby the edification complex reflects glory to God. When the glory is reflected toward God the other side of the building also reflects glory under these conditions, and so glory is reflected toward angels, toward people, and everything else involved in cosmos diabolicus. But this is clothing on the inside because this is the devil’s world. There is a time coming when we are going to be removed from the devil’s world and given outside clothing, the resurrection body. This is the greatest glory we can have until we possess a resurrection body. And when we possess a resurrection body we will come back to the earth and Satan will be removed, and then there will be a reflected glory overtly forever. You and I in resurrection bodies will glorify God forever.

The exhale of the reflected glory is through the exhale from the soul. In this reflected glory, category #1 love, there is a principle which causes the reflector to fire out the other side at the same time, and that is the principle of faith-rest in suffering, a persistence in the most difficult circumstances. And this is declared by the prepositional phrase, “in patience.”

“in” is e)n plus the locative case, and it should be translated “in the sphere of.” Then we have the word “patience,” the Greek word u(pomonh [monh = abide; u(po = under]. It means to abide under pressure. You have the ECS and therefore reflected glory going out toward God, and there is a faith-rest switch called u(pomonh, persistent faith-rest — your love toward God, your prayer toward God, your faith rest is all category #1. And this switch also fires it out in the other direction so that the world, the flesh and the devil, as it were (the people in the flesh), can all see this.

Patience — u(pomonh

1. Patience is the locative noun u(pomonh which emphasises the extension of the faith-rest technique into suffering situations in life.

2. Suffering is designed by God to be a great blessing to the believer. God wouldn’t let us suffer in time if it were not His plan and it didn’t have a good purpose. It has a good purpose and it is in His plan. Suffering is a source of great blessing in phase two.

3. God in grace found a way to bless the believer in suffering, and to advance His plan.

4. The advance of God’s plan in suffering is the demonstration of His glory from the ECS.

5. Under suffering the reflected glory from the ECS is category #1 love. In this reflected glory toward God there is a switch which fires grace glory out the right bank of the soul.

6. Category #1 love includes not just the love itself but faith-rest and prayer, the faith-rest is the switch.

7. With the faith-rest switch, u(pomonh, causes God’s glory to fire out the right bank toward people, toward angels, toward cosmos diabolicus.

The nine areas where the reflected glory is perceptible

All of these nine areas have the same structure. They are all prepositional phrases. The preposition is e)n plus the locative case which means ‘in the sphere of.’

1. “In the sphere of afflictions” — qliyij means the closing in of the walls until they crush you. This is a word which means pressure, mental pressure, from distressing circumstances of life. Mental pressure reveals the ECS, the beauty of the new man in the soul.

2. “In the sphere of necessities” — the object of the preposition is a)nagkh which means to compress, it means compulsion, it means to use torture, to be bullied, to have people intrude upon your own volition, your privacy. The noun is actually used for some form of compulsion which can be threefold: loss of freedom, being bullied, being bullied.

These are gradations of loss of freedom. Loss of freedom simply means sticking their nose in your business. Being bullied means they are trying to force you into a false system. Being tortured, of course, is obvious. This should be translated ‘in the sphere of compulsions.’

3. “In the sphere of distresses” — stenokwria which means excruciating pain of soul or body. It means anguish, distress or troubles. This is a general term for trouble, the other two were specifics; “and in general troubles of life.” God has so designed something whereby you can reflect His glory.

Verse 5 —

4. “In the sphere of strife” — plhgh means wounds, blows, bruises. In other words, it refers to violence. The believer priest is going to be subjected to various types of violence.

5. “In the sphere of imprisonments” — fulakh, means here unfair incarceration, being deprived unjustly of your normal functions and freedoms in life.

6. “In the sphere of tumults” — a)katastasia means revolutions, riots, mobs. In other words, the suffering of political persecution. Even in riots, if you are the victim you can reflect the glory of God.

7. “In the sphere of labours” — kopoj is used especially for being pestered. It also means to be exhausted. Generally if you are pestered long enough you are exhausted — like mothers at the end of the summer!

8. “In the sphere of watchings” — a)gnupviaj means to suffer from lack of sleep. This is suffering from being deprived of sleep.

9. “In the sphere of fasting” — nhsteia means suffering from being deprived of food. This phrase means suffering by not having basic necessities in life.

All of these are adversities which are designed by God to show, to demonstrate, the edification structure of the soul, what you are wearing in the soul. By the way, if you are wearing rags in the soul that, too, shows up.

Verses 6,7 — demonstration #2, stability.

Verse 6 — this time we have the same preposition, e)n. But instead of the locative we have the instrumental case. This should be translated ‘by’ or ‘by means of.’ E)n plus the locative is ‘in the sphere of,’ but e)n plus the instrumental is ‘by means of.’ Stability is demonstrated by the erection of the ECS from residual doctrine. The foundation for the structure being residual doctrine which comes from daily inhale-exhale of doctrine. These conditions, then, are going to show something of how the structure is developed and how the reflection goes on. Demonstration #2 is not only stability but it is mechanics also. First of all, there must be pureness to build up this structure.

“By pureness” — e)n plus the instrumental of a)gnothj which means purity of life, purity of thought pattern, purity of motivation, purity of behaviour pattern. In other words, it really is another expression of the rebound technique. This is accomplished by rebound. So ‘pureness’ is the means of cranking up this structure which reflects the glory of God. The rebound technique, then, is the basis for stability in phase two because rebound provides the filling of the Spirit and the filling of the Spirit leads to soul breathing with positive volition involved.

“by knowledge” — gnwsij which means technical knowledge, knowledge of a technical subject. The technical type subject for the believer is Bible doctrine categorically. It is used here for residual doctrine.

“by longsuffering” — e)n plus the instrumental makroqumia which is a grace orientation word. It means longsuffering.

“by kindness” — this is also a grace orientation word, xrhstothj. But now this is to show us something. Gnwsij is technical, categorical knowledge, and it refers to residual doctrine. Then we have makroqumia which is grace orientation. When suffering hits makroqumia, longsuffering, it reflects out the right bank, “by gracious operation” — xrhstothj. This means your attitude toward people is based on what you have in your soul. Grace is who and what God is. God has essence and grace is the work of His essence. God in His essence found a way to save man, found a way to love man, found a way to provide for man. The way that He found was grace, so grace is the reflected glory of God’s essence. Kindness is the reflected glory of your essence in the soul, your new essence, your ‘new man’ where the ECS is a new man. And this is what you are in the soul, therefore your attitude toward people is based upon grace orientation.

“by [means of] the Holy Spirit” — once again the Holy Spirit is brought in to show that the filling of the Holy Spirit makes the whole thing function.

“by love unfeigned” — inner happiness and RMA. The word ‘unfeigned’ really tells us that this love is without mental hypocrisy.

Verse 7 — all of this is built on residual doctrine. “The word of truth” is a synonym for gnwsij because residual doctrine has a mechanics even. The mechanics is logoj, ‘word,’ referring to Bible doctrine in the Bible; a)lhqeia, the word for ‘truth’ means categorical truth. Getting it from logoj to a)lhqeia is the process of the pastor-teacher communicating doctrine, the inhale of doctrine into the soul, the doctrine going into its categories, making it a)lhqeia.

“by the power of God” — again the instrumental case and the word for inherent power, dunamij. This is a reminder, a safeguard. Remember, you don’t build the ECS. The foundation is residual doctrine and he basis for taking in this is the grace principle and every floor of the ECS is built on grace, you don’t earn it, you don’t deserve it, you can’t cultivate it, it is something that God found a way to do. God found a way to reflect His own glory and to reflect it on earth. So there has to be a safeguard here so that you will never get off into legalism — ‘by means of the power of God.’ This is His inherent power, His omnipotence. This is the power of the Father in 1 Peter 1:5; the power of the Son in 2 Corinthians 12:9; the power of the Spirit in Romans 15:13; the power of the Word of God in Hebrews 4:12.

Now the devil goes around trying to put the lights out, the lights of the reflected glory. The light is a reflected light and therefore he has to see that this structure is destroyed, so God has given us some armour over the soul.

“by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left” — now we have a change of preposition. Now we go to dia plus the genitive which means by the means of: “by means of the armour of righteousness.” The armour includes both weapons and equipment of the soldier. It is a reminder that we are in the angelic conflict and the devil is in the job of trying to destroy the reflectors. This reflector is called ‘righteousness,’ which means here fairness, equity, justice, graciousness, vindication. God has found a way in grace to supply for us the armour of vindication in the devil’s world. There is no way that we can be vindicated by our own works. Our vindication has to come from God. So what has He done? He has provided lungs for the soul, He has provided the principle of soul breathing, He has provided the residual doctrine of the soul for the building of the ECS. And He has put a suit of armour over it all called grace.

We now move to another demonstration through the ECS which is the subject of adaptability. Adaptability has to do with rapidly changing circumstances. There are nine rapidly changing circumstances which are connected with suffering because of the rapid change from one extreme to another extreme and these are going to be used to once again show the reflected glory of the ECS. Adaptability is a concept which has to do with weathering a storm. How to weather a storm is the subject of adaptability. God gives us a series of rapidly changing circumstances. There is a type of suffering where you just take the full brunt of it and it goes on and on and on and one, but you orient and you begin to find some of God’s wonderful provisions of grace on that disaster. But here we have a situation where a storm hits and disappears, hits and disappears, and this calls for the ECS under the concept of adaptability which is presented in verses 8-10. In the concept of adaptability some of the rapidly changing circumstances will be in the form of the preposition dia plus the genitive. Then, all of a sudden, we run out of prepositional phrases and we go to a second expression of adaptability. We have an adverb, o(j which introduces antithetical situations which also are a part of the adaptability factor. So throughout this particular passage we are going to have dia plus the genitive, and then o(j, and then finally to participles and verbs to set up nine different systems which involve the ECS. These are rapidly changing circumstances. So once again we need to realise that the inner resources of the soul are built up over a period of time by the inhale of Bible doctrine. The edification structure of the soul begins with residual doctrine, the doctrine you do not exhale, the doctrine you do not apply. On this is erected a structure which can adapt to rapidly changing circumstances without being destroyed. In other words, when the winds of life come along and everything that would be disastrous, this structure can stand up under all of them. All of these adaptability factors begin with a prosperity principle and then move to non-prosperity where they reverse and you start out with non-prosperity and disaster and move to a successful principle. But the principle that is to be remembered here is like moving to some situation where you are very hot to a situation where you are very cold. This requires adaptability of the body and people often say this is the way you get a cold, you get hot and you suddenly get very cold. The body has to adapt from one circumstance to another, and so it is with the spiritual life where circumstances change rapidly.

1968 2Corinthians 6:                                                                                   Lesson #33

33 08/17/1969 2Cor. 6:8–9 Adaptability to rapidly changing circumstances; ECS

2Corinthians 6:8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;

2Corinthians 6:9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed;

Verse 8 — “By honour and dishonour.” We have the preposition dia plus the genitive meaning through or by means of. The preposition dia which should be translated ‘through’ here indicates that the edification structure of the soul stands up to the varying circumstances of life. In other words, adaptability means that you rule the circumstances of life, they do not rule you. The word for ‘honour’ is really not honour at all. It is the Greek word doca which is ‘glory.’ Then we have the word a)timia which means ‘dishonour’ or ‘infamy.’ It connotes disapprobation from the human race. Literally, this is “Through glory and dishonour.”

“Through glory and dishonour”

1. Antithetical circumstances are mentioned to demonstrate the ability of the edification complex to cope with rapid change of circumstances.

2. The ECS causes the believer to stand up under circumstances which change through adversity. You start out with glory and you wind up with dishonour. That is a rapid change of circumstances. Rapidly changing circumstances and adaptability is a sign of great stability.

3. Therefore the believer with an ECS is stabilised and adaptable. Adaptability is the utilisation of the ECS in time of sudden disaster.

4. Adaptability then manifests the believer’s grace orientation; it is the flashing forth, the manifestation of the reflected glory in the ECS.

5. Stability from the ECS causes immediate adjustment to rapidly changing circumstances.

6. Adaptability is the perpetuation of that stability into the extremes of suffering which are caused by a rapid change of circumstances.

7. Stability is the erection of the ECS and its first manifestation in the angelic conflict, but adaptability is the perpetuation of that structure into the worst possible storm of life.

8. Illustration: What does it mean to go from glory to dishonour? “Through glory and dishonour.” Glory can be to have the love of a woman. Dishonour is when she phases you right out of the picture. You’ve had it! That is a rapid set of circumstances. This phrase, “through glory and dishonour,” is suffering through a rapid change of circumstances but it is suffering which comes from vacillation and instability on the part of others, whether it is an individual who is unstable or a collective group.

“by evil report and good report” — again we have the same structure of dia plus two genitives. It should be translated “through evil report and good report.” The Greek has dusqhmia, the word which is translated ‘evil report.’ The next word e)uqhmia. Dusqhmia means to malign or slander someone; e)uqhmia means ‘praise,’ to say something good about someone. One word means to condemn, one means to commend. It would have been better translated “through condemnation and commendation.”

1. Rapidly changing circumstances produce suffering and disorientation unless you possess and ECS.

2. This believer who orients to both condemnation and commendation without loss of happiness, without lost of the relaxed mental attitude [RMA], obviously has his ECS intact.

3. A believer’s happiness does not depend on what people think about him. A believer’s happiness depends upon God and God’s grace and God’s plan and God’s perfect agenda.

4. Inner resources include the divine provision of the ECS.

5. This ECS manifests the glory of God under suffering from rapidly changing circumstances.

“as deceivers, and yet true” — now we change. With the others we were going through something, like a storm, dia plus the genitive. Now for the first time we have o(j, and adverb, and it is going to set up some contrasts with the use of this. It is correctly translated “as.” There is no passage in the Word of God that tells you to be a deceiver. We are never commanded to deceive anyone. The word ‘deceiver’ isn’t in the text. The word is planoj and it means to be misunderstood — ‘being misunderstood.’ This means to be misunderstood when you are right, when you have done nothing wrong. This means that people misunderstand you because you are operating on grace, because you are oriented to the Word and to the plan of God, and because it is a part of Satan’s strategy to have Christians generally misunderstood by Christians, unbelievers, and anyone else who happens to be around. So every believer is going to face the suffering of being misunderstood when he is right. And the suffering part of this comes from the fact that you can’t stand around and spend your life explaining. If people are going to misunderstand they are going to have to be disciplined by the Lord. But planoj means not only are you being misunderstood but you are right and they are wrong. This is the word “yet true” — a)lhqhj which means true or genuine. It means you have a relaxed mental attitude, you are oriented to the grace of God, you are not in anyway out of fellowship, you are not trying to run around and defend yourself. Your RMA keeps you from defending yourself, you don’t try to explain. You live your life as unto the Lord even though you are misunderstood.

Verse 9 — “As unknown, and yet well known” — again we have o(j, the adverb, plus two present passive participles. The first is from the verb a)gnoew, the second is e)piginwskw which means to be very well known. A)gnoew means to be obscure, to be unknown. The ECS protects the believer from ambition, greed, and approbation lust. He has no ambition based on pride. E)piginwskw means fame, to be famous, to be well known. The principle: The believer’s happiness does not depend on either success or obscurity. Notice that these are present passive participles: being unknown. This is being in the will of God, having and ECS, and yet not known. Then there is being well known, and the passive voice in each one of these participles means that this in the will of God for you at this point. You are unknown and then you are successful, you are well known. The passive voice means you were unknown through grace and you were successful through grace. You received it all from God. You have no right to boast in these things personally, you have no right to assume that this is because of your ability. You are these things because of God’s ability. The ECS adapts to these circumstances of being obscure and being successful. The same thing is taught in Philippians 4:11,12.

“as dying, and behold, we live” — for the first time we have a break in the structure. We have the word o(j again but this time we have a present active participle followed by a present active subjunctive. The subjunctive is the key, for the subjunctive goes with the word zaw which means to live. At the end of this phrase you still don’t know whether you are going to live or not. You have gone through a tremendous storm here, a storm where you are dying — present active participle of a)poqnhskw, you are in the process of dying, present tense. The active voice: they think you are dying. The participle: you are going out and you know it. When you get down to living you still have the present tense, you are still alive. Active voice: you are still alive, but dying. The subjunctive mood: you don’t know how it is going to turn out. When it says “behold we live” it doesn’t mean you get cured, or you get well, or you even get rescued.

The break in the parallel structure of these antithetical circumstances is to teach a very important principle. This is actually the suffering that comes from danger. Under conditions of danger where death is involved. For example, you might be going through a battle through which you are constantly in danger. It is only when the battle is over that you actually know how that subjunctive mood is going to turn out. This is a case, not of dying grace, but of the possibility of survival or the possibility of going on to be with the Lord. So we have a present active participle, a)poqnhskw which means a believer actually facing death. In the midst of this when he is facing death he has his ECS, he can have inner happiness, an RMA, he can be completely relaxed about everything. His ECS flashes out the very reflected glory of God when in a situation where he is dying or is in danger of dying, and the subjunctive mood means he is living and doesn’t know whether he is going to remain alive. His ECS carries him through the whole thing and he doesn’t fall apart. Residual doctrine gives stability in the face of death. Grace orientation recognises the fact that as long as God has a purpose for his life he is going to stay alive, and if it is God’s time to take him home there is no way he is going to survive. It is in God’s hands and he relaxes, that’s grace orientation to the dying situation. The third would be inner happiness which gives him that wonderful stimulation of soul in the midst of a dying situation. He has blessing while facing death. He has an RMA and then finally he has mastery of the details of life and therefore has great fortitude as he faces a dying situation.

“as chastened, and not killed” — this is really different. These are both present passive participles. The word ‘chastened’ is paideuw which means to be trained by discipline, to be trained by being spanked, by being hurt. This category actually finds the believer under discipline from God. There is such a thing as suffering from discipline. Paideuw is the key here. It is possible that you can be in some form of discipline and suffer for quite a while. It is in the passive voice: you receive the discipline from God — Hebrews 12:6. The participle says that God is in the business of disciplining His own family. Now if you are suffering from this there is still the ECS to protect the believer in these circumstances.

1. As long as the believer priest continues to be alive he must orient rapidly to suffering caused by discipline. If you have an ECS you can orient rapidly. And what is your orientation? Rebound.

2. In so doing the believer will rebound with the result that cursing is turned to blessing. If you are suffering for discipline when you rebound the cursing of discipline is turned to blessing, and the suffering is now blessing suffering instead of cursing suffering because you are back in fellowship and you begin to operate again under the ECS.

3. If the suffering then continues, after rebound, the purpose of the suffering is blessing.

4. This is because grace found a way to turn cursing into blessing even when we are being spanked.

5. Rapid rebound indicates that the believer is not filled with scar tissue but rather has the ECS. Therefore he is alive after rebound so he keeps moving.

“not killed” — chastened but not dead. This is a present passive participle. This is the word qanatow, it means here to be delivered from death and as a result you are still alive so you keep moving. The believer assumes that God has a purpose for his life, he doesn’t look back, he doesn’t enter into guilt feelings or self-recrimination, he forgets it and he moves on. This is adaptability under discipline.

1968 2Corinthians 6:                                                                                   Lesson #34

34 08/24/1969 2Cor. 6:10–13 Adaptability; ECS stands up & reflects the glory of God in adversities of life; emotion

2Corinthians 6:10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

2Corinthians 6:11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open.

2Corinthians 6:12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections.

2Corinthians 6:13 In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.

Verse 10 — again we have antithetical circumstances which are designed to bring out the beauty and the glory of God’s provision in grace for the believer through the ECS. You cannot utilise and enjoy the emotional facet of your soul without the ECS to stabilise it and to give it some real strength. We have here two present participles. “Sorrowful” is a present passive participle, “rejoicing” is a present active participle.

“As sorrowful” — the word sorrowful is not a good translation, it is an old English noun. The Greek word is lupew in the present passive participle and it means to feel pain, to feel sorrow, or to have an occasion for grief. So this should be translated “being sorrowful,” or constantly feeling pain [or grief]. It means to be the recipients of these things and yet not to succumb to them. In other words, it means to experience tragedy and all of the things that are so difficult and not to succumb. You go through these things but you don’t fall apart, and it is done through the ECS.

“yet always rejoicing” — the word ‘always’ is an adverb, a)ei. This means that the ECS, the inner happiness that is mentioned specifically as a part of the ECS, continues to exist through the greatest tragedies and sorrows that life has to offer; “always rejoicing” — present active participle, and the active voice is very important here because it says that that inner happiness floor of the ECS, joy, continues to function and from it there is reflected glory. There is reflected glory toward God, there is reflected glory toward the human race, even though the individual believer is in great tragedy and in great heartache. In the active voice the subject produces the action of the verb. In this case the believer produces this action through his ECS, he is always rejoicing — inner happiness. Receiving these troubles in life we are not changed by them, ‘yet always’ rejoicing, and that means always rejoicing in the midst of these difficulties.

“as poor, yet making many rich” — we have a contrast this time between a noun and a present active participle. The noun is going to describe a tragedy and the present active participle is going to show how the ECS carries you through that. The Greek word ptoxoj originally meant to be reduced to poverty. It means to be doing all right, to be comfortable, and to suddenly lose it all. In other words, it means to have it taken away suddenly. Ptoxoj means to be completely impoverished and yet still alive. That means that God provides for these catastrophes. But what He provides by way of food is nothing compared to what He has already provided for the believer who has been with doctrine. The word for making many rich is a verb, ploutizw. It is taken from Pluto the god of wealth. How can you be without the possibility of another meal and yet still alive and provide wealth for someone else. The present active participle of ploutizw means to enrich, and in this case it means to enrich spiritually. It means that when you are reduced to having absolutely nothing and are in the worst type of poverty there is no way that you can apparently recover from it. But you still have Bible doctrine in the soul, you still have the reflected glory of God, and when people see under these conditions the reflected glory of God the unbeliever will listen to the gospel and the believer will want to know what makes you tick. When you communicate Bible doctrine to the believer you are enriching others. This is a spiritual law that never ceases to exist. When a believer has the ECS under poverty he is able to provide a fantastic communication under those conditions.

“as having nothing, and yet possessing all things” — having nothing is not the same as being impoverished. Being impoverished means to have no money, not food, and therefore no to know where your next meal is going to originate. Having nothing means loss of the details of life but not the necessities of life;. ‘Having” is a present active participle which means constantly having nothing — e)xw plus the negative. Then we have the word ‘nothing’ which actually represents the details of life — mhdeij. Having nothing means to have the details of life all wiped out. If you have an ECS and you have lost the details you still have necessities such as food and clothing. The ECS reflects the glory of God under the disaster of losing the details. The word for ‘possess’ is katexw which means to be in full possession. You still have the ECS. You still have doctrine, grace orientation, you have inner happiness, joy. You have an RMA, you are not bitter about losing these things. You have the capacity to love even though you may have lost some of the objects. You still have mastery of the details of life, they’re gone but you are not depending on them so you don’t need a fix! In other words, loss of details is a tragedy. The “all things” refers to the grace provision in the soul, i.e. the ECS.

Verse 11 — from adaptability we go to the great enemy of the ECS, and that is emotionalism out of place. It is not wrong to have emotions. Christianity is not stoicism, it is God’s plan, grace, whereby you represent Him in the angelic conflict in the devil’s world and have the very happiness that God has possessed for all eternity past. All of these things are yours and so stoicism is not the order of the day.

For the first time in some chapters Paul speaks to the Corinthians directly. “O ye Corinthians” — this is a vocative addressed to believers who are negative to Bible doctrine. They have accumulated scar tissue on the lungs of their soul and they do not depend upon the ECS, therefore they must rely on how they feel. This is their problem.

“our mouth” — the mouth is the means of communication; ‘has been open [in the past] with the result that it is still open” — this is a perfect active indicative of the verb a)noigw. It means not simply to have the mouth open, it means to be teaching, to be communicating. Paul has done this since the day he stepped into Corinth, he is continuing it through written letters.

“is open unto you” — ‘face to face with you.’ Paul actually taught r Corinthians face to face and they have received enough doctrine to have erected an ECS rather than the accumulation of a scar tissue. What Paul has been describing is the ECS and how it reflects the glory of God in the midst of the worst storms of life. Even though the storms of life hit this ECS it has adaptability and it can face any changing circumstances. Inside the believer has perfect happiness. But actually what do we have? The Corinthians to whom he addresses this, or most of them, are loaded up with scar tissue and are on a frantic search for happiness. A frantic search for happiness always involves the emotions.

“our heart” — kardia. There is no reference in the New Testament where the heart is the heart, the blood pump. It does not refer to the physiological pump. The kardia always refers to some function of the soul. It refers generally to the mentality of the soul. Sometimes it refers to the old sin nature and quite frequently it refers to the breathing or the lungs, the breathing structure of the soul. But it is always connected with the soul and never to the physiological heart. So what does Paul means when he says he has an enlarged heart? An enlarged heart is something that every pastor should have. It is a maximum knowledge of Bible doctrine. “Our heart has received enlargement in the past with the result that it keeps on being enlarged.” Paul has maximum doctrine. The word for ‘enlarged’ is platunw and it means expansion. This is a perfect passive indicative. The perfect tense: Paul continues to study Bible doctrine, he is building doctrine on doctrine. It started in the past and it keeps on going. The passive voice: Paul receives doctrinal information through the left bank of the soul under the filling of the Holy Spirit. He inhales and exhales doctrine and has residual doctrine in his soul. The indicative mood means that Paul does have a maximum knowledge of Bible doctrine. The only basis for teaching the Word of God is maximum knowledge of doctrine.

Paul is making something very clear to the Corinthians. He has maximum doctrine. He has communicated this doctrine to the Corinthians but they have gone on negative volition and they have built up scar tissue. When they did they went on emotion and made it the criterion instead of doctrine. Doctrine is the criterion for the Christian life, not how you feel. How you feel does not determine spirituality or your relationship with the Lord, or salvation, or anything else. Your spirituality depends entirely on what the Word of God teaches: entirely upon the criterion of Bible doctrine.

Verse 12 — “Ye are not straightened” is stenoxwrew [xwrew = the concept of room; stenw = narrow or cramped]. This word meant originally to have cramped space, narrow space. Eventually it came to mean to be restricted, and then to be limited, and finally to be hindered. The word means to be hindered. This is a present passive indicative. “You have not received hindrance from us,” present tense, linear aktionsart — all the time Paul was in Corinth. Passive voice: they did not receive hindrance from Paul. Why” Paul taught them doctrine. So wherever they got their hindrance in the Christian life they didn’t get it from Paul. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that Paul’s ministry was only beneficial. The content was beneficial but of course it didn’t take.

“but,” conjunction of contrast, “you have received hindrance by your own bowels.” The Greek word is splagnon, and this word is never used for the physiological heart. It is always used in the New Testament for the emotions. They are actually using the emotion as their criterion rather than the Bible doctrine that Paul has taught. The Corinthians in rejecting Bible doctrine as the criterion have substituted the emotions of the soul. And why did they pick the emotions rather than the conscience or something else? For the reason that the emotions are the shortest cut to ecstatics, to some form of stimulation which is a substitute for inner happiness. So they are depending on how they feel, they are depending upon the emotions. Therefore they have rejected doctrine. As a result of depending on emotion the storms of life, the rapidly changing circumstances have wiped them out. They can’t stand up, they have no doctrine to carry them, they have no ECS. Because they lack an ECS they’re shot down.

Verse 13 — “Now for a recompense.” Ordinarily a recompense means a reward. But this word needs a little more explanation, it is a)ntimisqia [misqia = reward; anti = the preposition instead of, sometimes against]. Here it means against a reward. It means here a reward all right, the reward is not lost, but it is reward based on grace, not merit. So Paul says, “Now for a reward not based on merit.” In other words, the wages of grace. “Now for the wages of grace in the same” — literally, “in the like kind.” Just as the Corinthians have given themselves over to their emotions Paul now challenges them to now give themselves over to Bible doctrine.

“I speak as unto children [who haven’t grown up — but you can]” — the word ‘children’ means non-grownups; “be ye also enlarged” — platunw again. In other words, how can you be enlarged? It is aorist tense now, you have to start from scratch. Here is the intensification of Bible study, the crash program. The aorist tense takes up a series of points, a series of periods of time and gathers them into a single whole. In other words, you don’t get enlarged all at once. You study today, you study tomorrow, you study the next day. You inhale, inhale, inhale, inhale … take it in, take it in, take it in. You build up residual doctrine. On residual doctrine you have the erection of the ECS. The aorist tense says it takes a lot of studies, one after the other, after the other. The passive voice: the Corinthians must receive doctrine. That means that they have to have a change in attitude, they have to go from negative to positive volition toward doctrine. Then they can receive doctrine through soul breathing. The imperative mood: this is a command.

“Now for the ages of grace (I speak as unto children) keep on receiving Bible doctrine.”

1968 2Corinthians 6:                                                                                   Lesson #35

35 05/31/1970 2Cor. 6:14–18 Unequally yoked– 1.marriage 2.religion 3.social life 4.business 5.fraternal; doctrine of separation; ministry of HS

The Temple of the Living God

2Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

2Corinthians 6:15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

2Corinthians 6:16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

2Corinthians 6:17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,

2Corinthians 6:18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty."

Verse 14 — “Be ye not” is literally, ‘Stop becoming.’ It is the present active imperative of ginomai which means to become something you were not before. Here is has with it the negative mh.

“unequally yoked” — we actually have a present active participle, e(terozugew [e(teroj = other of a different kind; zugew = to yoke]. This was commonly used in the ancient world under an agricultural economy for trying to yoke up an ox and an ass and to get them to pull together to plow. An ox and an ass have different gaits and different strengths and they can’t pull together. This is exactly the principle we have here. This is based on Deuteronomy 22:10.

“with unbelievers” — dative of disadvantage. Because of this phrase this passage is limited with regard to the separation principle. However the principle does go beyond that as we shall see. There are five areas where you cannot be comfortably ‘yoked together’ with unbelievers. For example, one is marriage. Nothing in the Bible ever condones a marriage between a believer and an unbeliever. This is like the ox and the ass plowing together. The second area of application would be religion. No one should ever get tied up with a religious organisation. The third is in social life. The social life of the believer and the social life of the unbeliever in many ways are quite different, but there is a different mental attitude. The believer, if he is living a normal Christian life, has norms and standards which are cycled up from e)pignwsij. That means that there are certain things about his social life that are bound to be different even in attitudes. A fourth area would be business partnerships, but this does not include a corporation. A fifth area would be certain fraternal relationships such as a college fraternity.

The key actually here is ‘yoke.’ It’s principle does not exclude contact with the unbeliever but the principle demands that such contact should in no way compromise doctrine, that it should in no way hinder the function of GAP and the erection of an ECS. While this passage is dealing with unbelievers there is a general doctrine of separation.

The doctrine of separation

1. We are commanded to separate from certain types of carnal believers. There are certain types of carnality that encourage scar tissue and any kind of a sin that produces scar tissue in any believer who is habitually involved with that type is obviously the type for separation — 1 Corinthians 5:10,11.

2. Separation from believers who reject doctrine. If there is anything that will take you down in a hurry it is to make your associations with those who are indifferent to doctrine or whose exposure is sporadic — 2 Thessalonians 3:6,14,15.

3. Separation from believers who make emotion the criterion for life. These people always enter into some form of pseudo spirituality, and the best illustration is tongues — Romans 16:17,18.

4. Separation from the fast crowd — 1 Peter 4:4; Proverbs 1:10-19. The fast crowd destroy your norms and turn you into an animal. You have perception minus norms.

5. Separation from human viewpoint thinking. This is often called ‘worldliness.’ Romans 12:1,2.

6. Separation from unbelievers when doctrine is compromised — 2 Corinthians 6:14; Hebrews 13:13.

7. Separation from religion and apostasy — 2 Corinthians 6:17; 2 Timothy 3:5.

8. Separation from anything that destroys norms and standards in the frontal lobe — Jeremiah 2:24,25.

We now have five questions to enforce the imperative mood. “for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?” The word for ‘fellowship’ means communion or sharing. Doctrine is the basis for sharing, doctrine is the basis for the divine viewpoint of life, doctrine is the basis for frame of reference, and doctrine is the basis for the ECS. Therefore doctrine must not be compromised, so this question simply deals with fellowship with a believer and an unbeliever. It should translate: “what communion has grace orientation and lawlessness.” The word for ‘righteousness’ is dikaiosunh and that means grace orientation.

The second question: “what communion hath light with darkness?” This is partnership here, we have the word koinwnia. The word ‘light’ here is the reflected light of the ECS. The ECS is designed to reflect the glory of God, this is how God clothes the soul of the believer. There is no way that you can have this reflected glory and be in fellowship or partnership with darkness. So literally, “what fellowship has light face to face with darkness.”

Verse 15 — the third question: “And what concord hath Christ with Belial?” The word ‘concord’ is sumfwnhsij from which we get ‘symphony,’ and it means harmony. ‘What harmony has Christ face to face with Belial?’ ‘Belial’ is a Hebrew word for worthlessness. It is used for Satan’s doctrines and Satan’s concepts. This includes religion, legalism, and every anti-grace concept.

The fourth question: “or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” The word for ‘part’ is merij for ‘portion.’ What portion has the believer with the unbeliever? The believer and the unbeliever do not share the same destiny in eternity, they do not share the same purpose in time. They are actually enemies on opposite sides of the fence.

Verse 16 — the fifth question, designed especially for the people of Corinth: “What agreement has the temple of God with idols?” The word for ‘agreement’ means a norm or a standard put into place. There is no basis for having Bible doctrine in your human spirit and having anything to do with the devil’s communion table or idolatry.

“For ye are [keep on being] the temple of the living God.” This is a reference to the believer of the Church Age under the intensified stage of the angelic conflict; “as God hath said.” Now we have a quotation from Leviticus 26:12: “I will dwell in them.” This is a reference to the principle that the Holy Spirit now dwells inside of us; “and walk in them” or provides for us. In the age in which this was written which was the Jewish age, the dispensation of Israel, there was no divine indwelling of the believer. Divine provision for the believer was quite different in that time. So this was used to anticipate what would come in the future. “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be my people.” When you go back to the Leviticus passage you are actually looking at something which the Jews could understand but not in their own dispensation. This was written in the Age of Israel and it anticipates the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Millennium. But, of course, here it is used to apply to the Church Age. “I will dwell in them” here has to do with the indwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age.

We have six principles connected with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

1. The fact of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is given in 1 Corinthians 6:19,20; Romans 8:9; Galatians 3:2.

2. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit must be distinguished from the filling of the Spirit. It is one thing for all believers to be indwelt, it is something else to be filled. Only when we are filled with the Spirit are we accomplishing anything in the angelic conflict. We are never commanded to be indwelt but in Ephesians 5:18 we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit. In Galatians 5:16 we are commanded to walk in the Spirit.

3. It must be clearly understood in spite of the fact that we have this passage quoted in Leviticus 26:12, which is Millennial, that the Holy Spirit did not indwell all believers until the Church Age — John 7:37-39. This anticipates the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. There was no need for every believer to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Had the need existed then every believer would have been indwelt, but it was no necessary. The purpose of the indwelling of the Spirit is to glorify Christ, as per 1 Corinthians 6:19; John 7:39.

4. The indwelling of the Spirit must be distinguished from the indwelling of Christ. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is functional; the indwelling of Christ is strictly for the matter of fellowship — Revelation 3:20.

5. The purpose of the indwelling of the Spirit is provision of power to execute phase two — Acts 1:8.

6. The indwelling of the Spirit is also described by the word ‘anointing’ in Acts 4:27; 10:38; 2 Corinthians 1:21; 1 John 2:20.

“and walk in them” — the word for walking here has the idea of Jesus Christ having fellowship with them. It is the same idea as ‘sup’ in Revelation 3:20, the same concept is found in 2 Corinthians 13:5.

“and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” — it is possible for Christ to be your saviour and still not to be your God. ‘I will be their God’ is a reference to the fact that the believer must have e)pignwsij before he appreciates his saviour. E)pignwsisj is exhale toward God, toward Jesus Christ; “and they shall be my people” — this is the believers in the Church Age who replace Israel who is out under the fifth cycle of discipline. The future tense here is equivalent to the Hebrew imperfect. The active voice is the believer in the Church Age by application here. The indicative mood is the reality of a relationship with God in the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. As this was quoted in Leviticus this referred to the Millennium, as it is quoted here it refers to the Church Age.

Verse 17 — “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate.” This is an aorist active imperative of ecerxomai which means ‘come outside.’ This is the devil’s world, step outside of it. This is a command of separation from religion, from all Satanic thought. It says once and for all. The aorist tense means once and for all come outside. There is only one way to fulfill ecerxomai in the aorist imperative and that is to function daily under GAP. None of us have the ability to be consistent unless we are consistent in one thing: the daily intake of Bible doctrine. The word ‘be ye separate’ is a)forizw [orizw = to set up boundaries; a)po = ultimate source] and it means spearation on the basis of an ultimate source, and the ultimate source here is doctrine. You can’t simply walk out on something because someone tells you to do it, you have to do it on the basis of what you know. The passive voice says you receive this separation through doctrine. Doctrine gives you a frame of reference, doctrine gives you an ECS. You receive it.

“and touch not the unclean thing” — ‘touch not’ means do not contact the unclean thing. The unclean thing is defined by doctrine. You can’t say offhand what the unclean thing is. It might be religion, it might be some unbeliever, it might be a believer, but Bible doctrine makes it clear as to which it is going to be.

“and I will receive you” — e)isdexomai is a very strong Greek word for embracing, it means to embrace on the basis of grace. In other words, we are given the ability to know from what to separate and we are, as it were, embraced by the Lord.

Verse 18 — “And will be a Father unto you” means more than just the relationship, it means fulfilling the relationship in provision. A Father provides for his family. The father may exist and not be a provider but here is a case where we have a relationship with God the Father, but billions of years ago He makes the procision and the provision is possible through doctrine. So this means the actual provision.

“ye shall be my sons and daughters” — and it must be taken on the basis of the separation concept. It means ‘you will function in relationship to me so that you will need nothing else.’ In other words, having a Father like this and having all His provision there is no need for any other relationship.

“saith the Lord Almighty” — El Shaddai. God has the ability to provide everything that is necessary. The whole point of this is that separation is a principle. If you are having a relationship with God than all of the other things that you want will be taken care of. It is doctrine that gives the relationship.

1968 2Corinthians 6:                                                                                   Lesson #36

36 06/14/1970 Dan. 5:24–31 Handwriting on the wall. General Patton's letter to his son 6/6/1944

Dan 5:21 He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.

Dan 5:22 And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this,

Dan 5:23 but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.

Dan 5:24 "Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed.

Dan 5:25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN.

Dan 5:26 This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end;

Dan 5:27 TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting;

Dan 5:28 PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."

Dan 5:29 Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

Dan 5:30 That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.

Dan 5:31 And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

missing text?

1968 2Corinthians 7:                                                                                   Lesson #37

37 06/21/1970 2Cor. 7:1–3 Language problems; semantics regarding "repent"

2Corinthians 7:1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

Paul's Joy

2Corinthians 7:2 Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one.

2Corinthians 7:3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.

Chapter 7

A dissertation on three words

1. The Hebrew word nacham. It is translated many times in the Old Testament by the English word ‘repent.’ It is generally used for God. Apparently the translators were in a quandary because in each case it says ‘God repented,’ and in each case they couldn’t bring themselves to talk about God repenting and so they said, “Then repenteth God” — a silly compromise. But actually it means that God changes His mind.

How can God change His mind? Immutability says that it is impossible for God to change His mind. Repent when God is the subject is an anthropopathism, which means that God doesn’t really change His mind at all. God never has changed His mind, He knew the end from the beginning, God knew all things before they ever happened , and to say that God changes His mind at any point is blasphemous. This is simply ascribing to God a human characteristic so that God’s action or thinking, or something pertaining to God can be understood by the people who read the scripture.

Seven passages where this verb is used, and in all of them God is the subject:

a) Genesis 6:6, God changed His mind about the creation of mankind. He never changed His mind about the creation of mankind but God was now going to have to do something in connection with the angelic conflict. This meant that the angelic infiltration into humanity caused a radical change of policy and to explain this radical change of policy to human beings it says, “Then repenteth God.” But God didn’t repent at all.

b) Exodus 32:14 — God changed His mind about disciplining Israel. Actually He didn’t, He knew about it in eternity past but in order to integrate with the context and to show the Jews that they were under discipline and that the discipline was from God we have, “Then repenteth God.”

c) Judges 2:18 — God changes His mind about Israel’s groanings and oppressions. The Jews had made a very bad mistake, had gone down spiritually, and from a military standpoint. They were taken over by an outside force and were under such terrible slavery, and God ‘changed His mind.’ But He didn’t change His mind at all, He always intended to deliver them but they had to understand their discipline. To understand that their discipline was over an anthropopathism is used.

d) 1 Samuel 15:35 — God changed His mind about appointing Saul king over Israel. God never changed His mind, He just knew that the free will of the Jews would demand Saul as a king. It was never His idea in the first place, but God permitted this thing — which is, of course, the secondary will of God — and having permitted this thing it is over and God demonstrates this by using an anthropopathism. He really didn’t change His mind but in order that the Jews that a discipline is now occurring, both to Saul personally and to the nation as a whole, an anthropopathism is used.

e) Psalm 90:13 — here God ‘changes his mind’ about His servants. This doesn’t mean that He changes His mind but it means that He must now switch from blessing to discipline and it must be explained in terms of human activity.

f) Jeremiah 15:6 — God ‘changes His mind’ about changing His mind and giving the Jews another chance. He is not going to do it. The fifth cycle of discipline is coming on.

g) Amos 7:3,6 — God ‘changes His mind’ about the discipline of Israel.

In every case the verb is nacham and in every case the subject is God.

Three points:

i) These expressions of repentance and a change of mental attitude are all anthropopathisms.

ii) God is immutable and does not change, therefore any expression of change is merely designed to explain divine acts of discipline in terms of human attitudes and expressions.

iii) God’s attitude toward man can only be explained in terms of human attitudes. Therefore the human attitude of repentance is used to explain the divine attitude.

2. The Greek word metanoew is a compound verb [meta = change; noew = thinking] which means a change of thinking. It is translated ‘repent’ in the New Testament. There is no emotional connotation in this verb at all. The verb expresses a complete change of mental attitude about something. It often means a reversal of mental attitude about something. It is a transitive verb, it has a subject and it has an object. The subject and object define the basis of repentance.

There are two categories within this verb. Category #1 for the unbeliever as the subject; category #2 for the believer as the subject.

Category #1:

a) Category #1 is repentance in an unbeliever. The unbeliever does the repenting.

b) In each and every case the subject is the unbeliever and the object is Jesus Christ.

c) Prior to faith in Christ, or coterminous with it, the unbeliever changes his mental attitude toward Christ. No one ever expresses faith in Christ apart from repentance, a change of mind about Christ, and the change is made on the facts of the gospel. The Holy Spirit sheds the light on the truth, human perspicacity picks up the false, but volition operates on what is true. That means repentance and immediately there is exhale of faith in Jesus Christ.

d) This change of mental attitude is wrought by the ministry of the Holy Spirit — John 16:8-11; 2 Timothy 2:25.

e) Many times in scripture the unbeliever is not called the unbeliever. The word ‘sinner,’ for example. “Angels rejoice over one sinner that repenteth.” The sinner is the unbeliever and he is the subject. Repentance is the transitive verb, and the object is understood — Jesus Christ.

f) The sinner does not repent regarding sin but he changes his mental attitude toward Christ. The result is always the same, he believes in Christ.

g) Mark 1:15; Matthew 12:41; Luke 13:3,5; 15:7,10; 16:30,31; Acts 17:30; 20:21; 26:20; Hebrews 12:17; 2 Peter 3:9.

Category #2:

a) Repent is used of believers in Christ. Here the believer is the subject.

b) The subject is always the believer while of the object of repentance varies with each context.

c) Hebrews 6:2. The subject is the believer and the object of repentance is works [human good] — ‘repentance from dead works.’

d) Revelation chapter 2:5,16,22. The object of repentance is these verses is carnality, the sins of the believer. Cf. 2 Corinthians 12:21.

3. The Greek word metamelomai [meta = change; melomai = to regret] means to feel sorry and it has an emotional connotation. It means a change of emotion and ‘regret’ is probably the best translation. This verb means to feel sorry for something — Matthew 21:29, it is used for the expression of regret of a previous action of refusal. In Matthew 27:3 Judas Iscariot felt sorry for his sin of betraying Christ. It had no spiritual connotation, he just regretted what he had done. In Romans 11:29 God has no regrets regarding your salvation and the spiritual gift He provided for you. This is an anthropopathism. Hebrews 7:21 — the Father has no regrets regarding the appointment of Jesus Christ as High Priest.

2 Corinthians 7:1 — “Having” is a present active participle of e)xw which means to have and to hold; “Having and holding therefore” — in view of the previous dissertation on separation, and so on.

“these promises” — a reference to the promises quoted from the Old Testament is 2 Corinthians 6:16-18. The principle goes beyond those promises to any promise related to a doctrine; “dearly beloved” is ‘beloved ones.’ The word means ‘beloved’ and it has to do with our union in Christ. Christ is the beloved one, we are in union with Christ and therefore God the Father loves us as much as He loves His Son, Jesus Christ.

“let us cleanse ourselves” — kaqarizw, aorist active subjunctive. This recognises the believer as out of fellowship. The aorist tense is the point when the believer uses rebound. The active voice: every believer must rebound for himself, and privately. The subjunctive mood: rebound is potential. It depends on the individual believer.

“from all filthiness” — molusmoj. This is anything that you did not put on but that you picked up on the way to the party and is offensive to the other guests. It is generally translated ‘defilement.’ It comes to mean to us today mental attitude sins when you are with other believers, or the expression of mental attitude sins — sins of the tongue with other believers: maligning, gossiping, judging. In other words, sins that are committed in the presence of other believers.

Why is Paul saying this? Because he is persona non grata with the Corinthians. They don’t like him, they have threatened to lock him out if he tries to come to church in Corinth. They hate him, they are bitter, they are implacable. They despise him, they are antagonistic, and Paul calls it molusmoj, and he does it in the power of the Spirit. Molusmoj must be removed and this is the rebound technique. The mental attitude stains in the soul must be removed.

“of the flesh [old sin nature] and spirit [negative volition toward Bible doctrine] — when the believer is negative it intensifies that malusmoj in the soul.

“perfecting holiness” — the word ‘perfecting’ is e)pitelew [e)pi = upon; telew = finish or conclude] which means to reach a goal. The goal which must be reached is the ECS. If you are going to keep malusmoj out of the soul the ECS does it. So this is a reference to the necessity for the daily function of GAP. This is a perfect active participle. The perfect tense is the process of getting there, a day by day study of the Word. The active voice: the believer produces the action of the verb — GAP. The participle means that God has set this up as a grace process.

“holiness” refers to the doctrine of sanctification — a(giosunh. This actually refers to the function of GAP. This is phase two sanctification which has two parts: the filling of the Spirit — 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; the function of GAP — John 17:17; Ephesians 5:26.

“in the fear of God” — the preposition e)n plus the instrumental of foboj which is ‘respect,’ occupation. Foboj is produced by e)pignwsij in the human spirit and exhaled toward God. It should be translated ‘by means of fear [respect] toward God.’ Notice that foboj comes before love because foboj is respect for authority. first of all, when you get doctrine in the human spirit and start to exhale you have respect for God and for God’s authority — doctrine. So you exhale foboj, then you exhale a)gaph, and finally if you grow you exhale filoj toward God. There must be respect for God’s authority [doctrine] before there can be respect for God’s person; it is through the Word that we learn of the person of God. Our love for God comes from cognisance of His person but there cannot be cognisance of His person until we have respect for His Word.

Verse 2 — “Receive us” is xwrew. It means to welcome with love, to make room for, to make space for. That means make space in your soul. But how can you do that if you have malusmoj in the soul. You cannot make space in your soul for someone when you have mental attitude sins toward them. The Corinthians have mental attitude sins toward Paul. Mental attitude sins destroy their norm and standard lobe and short-circuit cycling of e)pignwsij into the right lobe. Paul says, “Receive us with love.” That means they are going to have to get the malusmoj out of the soul.

He gives three reasons, and each reason answers some complain that someone in Corinth has made. First of all, they claimed that Paul had acted unrighteously and unfairly toward certain Corinthian believers. He says, “we have wronged no man,” aorist active indicative. This is a flat statement, a permanent statement: a)dikew which means not to be unfair. And it is not ‘no man,’ it is o)udena which means no person, male or female.

The second reason was that he had been accused of corrupting many of those in Corinth. They claimed that his grace message was a corrupting message: “we have corrupted no one” — fqeirw.

The third is that he has cheated someone financially: “we have defrauded no man” — pleonektew. This means that Paul was wild for money and came to Corinth to milk them out of all of their savings. He denies emphatically all of these claims, all of which come from mental attitude sins or molusmoj.

Verse 3 — notice Paul’s graciousness. “I speak not this to condemn you” is literally, ‘I speak not in a spirit of condemnation.’ The words ‘I speak” not is legw, present active indicative. Then we have a prepositional phrase, proj katakrisin in the accusative — ‘face to face with condemnation’ means in the spirit of condemnation.

“for I have said before” — perfect tense, prolegw: ‘I have said before with the result that.’

“you are” — you keep on being, present active indicative of e)imi; “in our hearts” — the right lobe, the norm and standard lobe. In order to keep these Corinthians in his heart he has to keep cycling doctrine up there. The point of doctrine: If you want to stay in someone’s heart, if you want them to stay in yours, you’d better keep on cycling doctrine.

In other words, you have been stinko towards me but that didn’t change me at all. There were no mental attitude sins to short-circuit Paul’s attitude.

“to die and live with you” — you are with us if you are dying, you are with us if you are living . Paul is stable, and the stability of love is in the daily function of GAP; “to die” is an aorist active infinitive of sunapoqnhskw which Paul anticipates a violent death. A)poqnhskw means a violent death and sun means that ‘you are with us if we are dying.’ We will love you with our last breath!

“to live” is in the present tense because that goes right on — suzaw, present active infinitive, means to live with.

Paul is depressed at this particular time. Interestingly enough the thing that is going to remove his depression is a little right bank activity with Titus. On his left bank he is occupied with the person of Christ. He is constantly exhaling e)pignwsij, there is nothing wrong with his spiritual life. Depression is just a very common thing among people and believers are no exception, and we are going to see that this is what happened to the apostle Paul at the beginning of verse four.

1968 2Corinthians 7:                                                                                   Lesson #38

38 06/28/1970 2Cor. 7:4–7 Depression; ministry of comfort

2Corinthians 7:4 I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.

2Corinthians 7:5 For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within.

2Corinthians 7:6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus,

2Corinthians 7:7 and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.

Verse 4 — “Great is my boldness of speech toward you.” The word ‘great’ is poluj. It also means ‘much.’ Why is his boldness great? The apostle has just recovered from depression and he recognises the importance of doctrine as he never has before. As never before doctrine is important. But what has snapped him out of his depression was another human being. “My boldness of speech” is literally ‘my courage of speech’ — parrhsia means courage. It has to do with his right lobe, the source of moral courage.

“toward you” is literally, ‘face to face with you,’ proj plus the accusative. The Corinthians were saying that when Paul was face to face with them he was a mouse. He wasn’t a mouse at all. 1 Corinthians hit them so hard that they had forgotten how Paul was when he taught. When they received that epistle it was a traumatic experience, Paul really slugged them. And it was God the Holy Spirit writing through Paul. They had forgotten that it was that way and therefore they remembered vaguely Paul as a teacher but when they received that letter it sounded like Paul had the gift of exhortation of the gift of executioner and they were utterly shocked. It leveled them. It is typical of believers that when some preacher steps on their toes they don’t like him, they don’t like it, they don’t like the place where it happened, and they like to disassociate themselves with the entire thing. People do not like to be stepped on and that is understandable, but when it is God’s Word communicated then it is time to take heed even if you are very resentful.

“great is my glorying of you” — or, ‘my boasting,’ kauxhsij is the act of boasting. There is a legitimate boasting and there is a sinful boasting. What is the difference? The presence or absence of pride is the difference. Boasting is legitimate. The word kauxhsij is used constantly in the New Testament, usually mistranslated in the KJV but it is there. Boasting isn’t sinful, it is pride that is sinful. Paul has written to them a letter, he has leveled with them, he has exposed their carnality for a purpose. He had to get tough. But at the same time, after that letter was sent and before that letter was sent, but especially afterwards, what has he been doing? Kuaxhsij! He has been boasting about them. He says, ‘great is my boasting on your behalf.’ The preposition here is not ‘of you,’ it is u(per which means ‘on behalf of you.’ Now he says, ‘Why am I telling you this?’

“I am filled with comfort” — the word for ‘filled’ is plhrow, perfect passive indicative. Plhrow means to implement where something is lacking. He has been depressed because of circumstances, because of great adversity, because there are constant fightings on the outside. Paul was a human being. He was neither God nor angel, he was a human being just like we are. And there came a time when he was depressed, and yet even during that time of depression, even though he had to chew out and discipline the Corinthians he was still boasting about them. But then there came a point of comfort, some relief — ‘I have received comfort.’ The perfect tense: ‘I have received implementation.’ Something that happened before he wrote and he now expresses it. What happened? Titus came. Titus made the difference. One person had the key, the basis of removing this depression. Paraklhsij is the act of comfort. The suffix means ‘the act of.’ It is an active noun ending. There was someone who came along and provided comfort, a right relationship. People are going to be depressed; there is a ministry of comfort but it is a ministry that can only be provided by someone where there is capacity to love. This isn’t a)gaph love, this is filew. A thousand people could have come and said words to Paul but there comes a time when a person is depressed and lonely, even though he is surrounded by people. Paul was depressed and lonely, he was suffering from battle fatigue — ‘outside are battles.’ And just one person could be of comfort to him. Perfect tense: Paul is filled with comfort at the moment of the news from Titus with the result that he continues in a state of comfort and even happiness. The passive voice: Paul receives the comfort from God through the news of Timothy regarding the Corinthian rebound. The indicative mood is the reality of the comfort inside of Paul. You do not go from depression to happiness. Instead, you go from depression to comfort, and from comfort to happiness. When depression which is offset by happiness neither the depression of the happiness is stable, one will replace the other — wide emotional swings. The comfort is doctrine, and if you are depressed it is doctrine that stabilises you, and then you have happiness. The stability of happiness is in Bible doctrine.

“I am exceeding joyful” — literally, ‘I overflow with happiness.’ The words ‘I am exceeding’ is u(perperisseuw and it means to overflow. First of all he is stabilised, he was relaxed. Then he says, ‘I overflow with,’ a present middle indicative. The present tense is linear aktionsart. Middle voice: I am doing it myself — Bible doctrine. The indicative mood is the reality of the reassertion of happiness in his life.

“in all our tribulation” — qliyij means ‘pressures, adversities.’ “I overflow with happiness upon all of our pressures.” The word ‘in” is e)pi and should be translated ‘upon.’ In the midst of great pressures he was depressed, in the midst of great pressures he was comforted, in the midst of great pressures he overflows with happiness. The pressure didn’t change, he changed — or rather, doctrine changed him. But it is doctrine and a relationship on the right bank. He received comfort which brought doctrine back into focus and it is the doctrine that provided the comfort and it is the comfort that provided the happiness.

Verse 5 — Paul’s previous unrest because of the Corinthian situation. Here is the explanation of his depression. Remember that Paul goes through a great many things. He is constantly having trouble, having problems, having difficulties, having trials. It goes on and on and on.

“For, when we were come into Macedonai” — ‘we’ refers to Luke, and he is depressed. He has Timothy with him, and he is depressed. He has Epaphroditus, and he is depressed.

“our flesh had no rest” — he was the depressed one, the others were just simply disturbed. “Had” is the perfect active indicative of e)xw. It means they had this condition and it was getting worse and worse and worse. No rest, no peace, no blessing. Why?

“we were troubled on every side” — present passive participle of qlibw. It is not the ordinary word for being troubled, in fact is doesn’t mean that at all. It means to be constantly in a squeeze, to be constantly hit, to constantly be slugged with pressure. The present tense is linear aktionsart — no letup. Passive voice: he received it. He didn’t run around and stick his neck out. These are pressures which are brought from outside sources, pressures that are related to the angelic conflict. It is a constant series of pressures which an individual receives because of who and what he is. Because of who and what Paul is he is a primary target and he was constantly being hit. The forces of Satan were against him; the forces of legalism were against him. Christians were constantly maligning him, he was always ‘in it’ up to his neck. This is undeserved and unsolicited suffering.

Now he describes in two categories what he means by qlibw:

“without were fightings” — e)cwqen [outside] makai [battles, combat]. Paul is constantly having personal combat, he is constantly in conflict.

“within” — e)swqen means ‘inside’; “fears” — foboj. The outside affects the inside. This is not discipline here but Paul is constantly fighting.

Paul says that he overflows with happiness even though he has these pressures. He was depressed but the happiness was there all the time. He had happiness in his ECS. But that happiness was stifled by battle fatigue and while it was there it was not active. Why? Titus came that activated his +H. First of all, there had to be comfort. That is cycling e)pignwsij up to his frame of reference, and there is divine viewpoint. Once he has comfort in his right lobe then the happiness which has been in his soul all of this time is activated again.

Verse 6 — the occasion for this. What did God use? “Nevertheless” should be ‘But God’ — there is no relationship in life worth having unless there is left bank activity with God. That comes from Bible doctrine. “God” is in the emphatic position, God and only God.

“that comforteth” — the word for ‘comfort’ is the verb, parakalew, and it means here to comfort. Notice that all comfort is from God. This is a present active participle, linear aktionsart; “those that are cast down” — there is no verb here. ‘But God who comforts the depressed.’ The word for depression here is tapeinoj. Paul is applying the principle to all believers and therefore he gets away from the word he used for himself. Tapeinoj means to be depressed, it means to be pushed down. It is the result of pressure. The pressure becomes so great that it finally compresses the soul, it squeezes it tight. It is a noun, not a verb.

“comforted us” — aorist active indicative. of parakalew. In a point of time; God always comforts. The aorist tense is the point of time when Titus came into the picture. The active voice: Titus provided the comfort. The indicative mood is the reality of comfort through Titus.

“by the coming of” — ‘by means of,’ e)n plus the instrumental; “Titus.” Titus is a human being and a great believer. He not only straightens out Corinth but he comes and makes his report. When he does then first Paul is comforted and then he overflows with happiness.

1968 2Corinthians 7:                                                                                   Lesson #39

39 07/05/1970 2Cor. 7:7 Emotion; doctrine of happiness

2Corinthians 7:7 and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.

Verse 7 — the reaction to the Titus report. “And not by his coming only [the coming of Titus]” — he was always a great blessing to Paul. Of course, it is the news that Titus brings; “but by the comfort” — paraklhsij, the act of comfort; “wherewith” is literally, ‘in which,’ aorist passive indicative; “he was comforted by means of you [or, upon you]” — this means that when Titus walked into Corinth and straightened them out the Corinthians rebounded and got back into fellowship. That was a blessing to Titus and Titus passes the blessing on to Paul. Paul is now comforted and after his comfort comes the overflow of happiness — “wherewith he received comfort.” Paul received comfort when the Corinthians responded to his authority. The secret to Titus was how he used his authority. He used his authority and made it stick. Titus was blessed by the response to his authority. It took authority and leadership to bring the Corinthians church out of the spiritual doldrums.

“when he told us of your earnest desire” — ‘told’ is a)naggellw [a)ggellw = announce; a)na = again] means to being back word. This is the basis for comfort, ‘he brought back word about you.’ A present active participle. This is the verbal report of Titus.

“your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; and this caused me to rejoice.” When it says ‘earnest desire’ that is one thing, that is positive volition. When he said they mourned that had to do with something else. There is no word for ‘mind’ here; it is ‘zeal.’

At this point the Corinthians carnality has been changed to spirituality through rebound, and their mental attitude sins have been wiped out and replaced by three characteristics which are mentioned. Where did Paul get these three words? He received them from the Titus report. So basically we now have an outline of the Titus report in three words:

a) “your earnest desire” — this is actually one word, a compound noun e)pipoqhsij. Notice the active noun suffix. The word is derived from the Attic Greek [e)pi = over or upon; poqhw = to have a craving desire for something or to love someone to the point of insatiability]. In other words, poqew is an Attic Greek word for true love, it is not found in the New Testament as such. It is found in its root form in this noun. It means to love someone to the extent that you never lose your desire for them. Even though the Corinthians have been very critical of Paul and have been running him down, once they get back into fellowship their capacity for love is restored, they have a great desire to hear him teach doctrine, they have a great desire to be with him in an assembly situation.

b) “your mourning” — this noun, o)durmoj, means a lamentation but it means a loud and noisy lamentation at a funeral. It means a lamentation that doesn’t change anything. Even though there is loud and weeping lamentation over the grave of a dead one it didn’t change anything, the dead still remained dead. All of the emoting in the world does not bring anyone out of the grave. The whole point of the word’s use here is to indicate that once Titus began to clarify the issue they realised that they had done a very terrible thing. They had spoken against Paul, that had had mental attitude sins against him, and they awoke to the realisation of their terrible maltreatment of Paul. They began to weep and wail and to carry on, especially when they realised how much they loved him — category #3 love. But the fact remained that they had still clobbered him verbally and this particular word doesn’t give him any comfort because o)durmoj means that they will have to snap out of that, there is too much emotion. To be emotional about your sins or failures is all right but it doesn’t do any good spiritually.

c) “your fervent mind toward me” — the word ‘fervent’ is zhloj, generally translated ‘zeal.’ So this is literally, ‘your zeal toward me.’ Toward Paul means toward the ministry of Paul: toward his doctrine, what he teaches. Doctrine has become first now in their scale of values and doctrine is now their life. The emotion is a beautiful thing expressed but the thing that is going to make the difference is the third item, it expresses positive volition toward Bible teaching. This is the thing that will stabilise and will change. Emotion will not carry a person two feet in the spiritual life. Emotion is your appreciator, you ought to enjoy things in life.

There are two Greek words relevant here, the first is metamelomai. That is the emotion deal. That’s fine but it doesn’t do anything for you spiritually. But the thing that counts is what happens next — metanoia, the noun. The trouble is that these two words are translated in the KJV ‘repent.’ The first word means to regret and the second means to repent or change the mind. It was the metanoia, and later on the verb metanoew, which really counted because it meant a change of mental attitude toward doctrine. It is described in this verse by the word zhloj, ‘zeal.’ There is no word for ‘mind’ here, or the word ‘fervent,’ it just simply a positive attitude toward doctrine. This is the word that caused Paul to realise that the work wrought by the ministry of Titus will be permanent because the change is based on the Word, not based on emotion. The change was accompanied by emotion but it was not based on that emotion. The change was based on doctrine. Why is Paul so happy here, why does he snap out of the doldrums? Not because of the first two words but because of the third — zhloj, which is the positive attitude toward doctrine.

“so that I rejoiced” — aorist passive infinitive of xairw which means inner happiness. It refers to true happiness, not emotion. The aorist tense is the point of time when Paul heard the report. The thing that caused him to have inner happiness was that third word, zhloj, the positive attitude toward doctrine. The passive voice: Paul now receives the restoration of his own inner happiness from the news that the Corinthian believers are back to Bible doctrine. The infinite is the expression of the result.

“the more” — he had inner happiness all of the time but now it is intensified.

The doctrine of inner happiness

1. Happiness is older than the human race. Happiness is a characteristic of God. Therefore happiness as a principle has always existed and always been resident in God.

2. In eternity past God desired to share His happiness with man in time. But to share His happiness with man something had to be accomplished: salvation and subsequent perception of doctrine. Salvation does not mean happiness, it must be salvation and subsequent perception of Bible doctrine — Nehemiah 8:10.

3. The transition and the accomplishing of the transition between God’s perfect happiness in eternity past and the provision of that for man in the Church Age: This was accomplished through grace. In grace God found a way to give His happiness to mankind in time. This means through GAP.

4. But such happiness is definitely confined to the plan of God. Man enters the plan of God by faith in Jesus Christ — Acts 16:31. Salvation means only the possibility, not the reality of happiness. Becoming a believer does not mean instant or automatic happiness. Happiness for the believer in phase two is potential and it depends upon GAP. Every facet of GAP is designed to bring human happiness.

5. Ultimate for the believer happiness is found in the ECS — John 17:17.

6. Happiness prior to salvation is temporary and superficial. There is such a thing as an unbeliever being happy. For how long and under what conditions is something else. The happiness which the unbeliever can achieve is strictly temporary and it does not sustain in any pressure or adversity situation. Happy unbelievers become unhappy in pressure or adversity. Therefore human happiness [the happiness of the unbeliever] is fleeting and unstable. As a rule the unbeliever’s human happiness depends on circumstances. Human happiness is a form of slavery; you are a slave to your circumstances, to the details of life. Human happiness associates with a pleasant circumstance or with a detail of life. Therefore the loss of such details or the change of circumstances or environment means loss of human happiness. Human happiness is associated with something and the association leads to a form of slavery. Manifestations of this slavery are boredom, restlessness, instability.

7. God has designed phase two happiness to be permanent and stabilised. God’s happiness is not a slave to anything; He designed phase two happiness to be permanent, to be stabilised, to be greater than the circumstances and the details of life. So it is possible for the believer to be happy in spite of circumstances and without the details of life. Here is happiness without slavery. This is through the ECS — John 17:17. The inner happiness of the ECS sustains in every circumstance of life. Therefore GAP is the key to this happiness — 1 John 1:4.

8. We have to recognise a principle which is found throughout the Old and the New Testaments. Many times the word ‘happiness’ is found in a translation of ‘blessed,’ the beatitude word. This word is actually a plural noun for happiness. In the Hebrew it is ashere and it really means literally, ‘happinesses.’ In the Greek the word makarioi, used in the sermon on the mount among other places, is in the plural and it means ‘happinesses.’ So the literal word for ‘blessed’ is ‘happinesses.’ Why is it in the plural? Why does this plural always apply to some form of a believer or to some member of the human race who is following a divine law? The answer is because the happiness is a double happiness. It is in the plural to indicate that basically there are two sources of this happiness, and especially in the Church Age. The first source of this happiness is the filling of the Holy Spirit which produces happiness or joy. Then the ECS also produces +H. So happinesses means that when you log a maximum amount of time in the filling of the Spirit and when you erect an ECS as a mature believer you have double H. So blessing is not happiness in the singular, it is happiness in the plural. Why? Because blessing is the perpetuation of happiness. There is no blessing if you are happy one minute and unhappy the next; there is no perpetuation, there is simply an unstable situation. But if you can perpetuate happiness from one minute to the next and from one day to the next, then it becomes a blessing. Happiness is never a blessing unless it is perpetuated.

9. Inevitably the basic source of inner happiness is the daily function of GAP — James 1:25; Jeremiah 15:16; Matthew 4:4.

10. Happiness or +H is a protector. Not only is happiness something you enjoy but happiness protects you. Divine happiness or +H protects from areas of disillusion. There are three basic areas of disillusion: a) Disillusion from the circumstances of life — Philippians 4:11,12; b) Disillusion from the details of life — Hebrews 13:5,6; c) Disillusion with regard to Christian people, fellow believers — Hebrews 12:2.

11. Inner happiness enhances capacity for love. This inner happiness must be contained in the ECS. Again, the ECS depends upon the function of GAP, so Bible doctrine is the true basis for happiness — Jeremiah 15:16; John 13:17; 1 John 1:4.

12. The believer is commanded to be happy — Philippians 4:4.

“For though I made you sorry with a letter.” The word ‘though’ is literally, ‘if also,’ and introduces a first class condition. This is a fact. 1 Corinthians made them very sorry. The word for making sorry is found frequently in the rest of this passage, it is the aorist active indicative here of lupew. The word actually means to cause sorrow, misery. The reason for it is not always justified but in this case it was fairly justified. Paul also has a responsibility before the Lord. Paul received his authority and his responsibility from the Lord, and therefore in doing his job it becomes important for Paul to be very harsh, the be very critical, to lower the boom, as it were, on the Corinthians. He did this in written form. “If also I have caused you to be sorry [or, sad] by means of a letter.”

“I do not repent” — the word for ‘repent’ here should not have really been translated repent 300 years ago because it is the Greek word metamelomai and it means to regret. It has an emotional connotation whereas the true word for ‘repent’ is metanoew which means to change your mind. Until Titus came back with his report Paul was full of regret. He did that which was right and honest and fair before the Lord. He picked up those Corinthians and shook them in all directions. Then we he had written the letter he sat down and was full of regret. He was despondent, very discouraged. But now that Titus has come back with good news he is no longer in a state of regret. So when we have here the phrase, ‘I do not regret,’ it means that Paul has now snapped out of the doldrums. He no longer has any regard for what previously caused him great discouragement and despondency.

“though I did repent [regret]” — imperfect of metamelomai this time, linear aktionsart in past time. He had double despondency until Titus came back. Now he has no regrets — present tense. So Paul has been in a constant state of despondency and regret because he had to get tough with the Corinthians over carnality.

“for I perceive” — this doesn’t mean perceive at all, it means he took a quick glance and understood. He saw “that the same epistle hath made you sorry” — lupew again.

“it but for a season” — in other words, the pain and sorrow caused by 1 Corinthians only lasted for a short period of time.

Principle: The doctrine of inspiration guarantees the content of scripture, it does not guarantee the personal feelings of the human writer. In producing on paper the mind of Christ the Holy Spirit does not set aside individuality, personality, literary style, vocabulary, or emotion. God the Holy Spirit used Paul’s despondency to make a point here. The filling of the Spirit is not always sweetness and light. Paul wrote exactly what the Holy Spirit wanted to be recorded even though he personally later regretted the harshness which the situation demanded. Even though he was tough with the Corinthians this did not detract from the fact that he was filled with the Spirit in his toughness. Whether the filling of the Spirit is sweetness and light or toughness, one thing it never is is speaking in tongues.

1968 2Corinthians 7:                                                                                   Lesson #40

40 07/12/1970 2Cor. 7:8–12 Despondency; income tax; conscientious objectors; giving

2Corinthians 7:8 For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while.

2Corinthians 7:9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

2Corinthians 7:10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

2Corinthians 7:11 For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.

2Corinthians 7:12 So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God.

Verse 9 — “Now I rejoice.” The gospel convicts the unbeliever of one sin: rejection of Jesus Christ — John 16:8,9. The Bible convicts the believer of many categories of sins. As a result of hearing Bible doctrine taught in a very forceful way the Corinthians were able to absorb almost every category if hamartiology. 1 Corinthians is the book of hamartiology. Once they heard these things then they understood the issue that they had committed sins, sometimes unknowingly, and rebound became the order of the day. Since the Corinthians have rebounded Paul can rejoice in their rebound victory.

“not that ye were made sorry” — lupew again. He was not happy because he gave them an occasion for grief; “But because you distressed yourselves to repentance” — a change of mental attitude, metanoia. 1 Corinthians made them change their minds about sin.

“for ye were made sorry after a godly manner” should be “you were made sorry according to the standard of God” — the prepositional phrase is kata qeon. The passive voice: the Corinthians received regret and distress because of their carnality. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that the Corinthian grief caused them to change their minds and rebound. Therefore they were made sorry according to a Godly standard.

There is no merit in feeling sorry for your sins. The only merit in having any grief or distress or conviction about them is that you might rebound. So the change of mental attitude here results in rebound or identifying that sin to God as a part of the priestly ministry. As a result of that, even though Paul was very harsh, “that” introduces a purpose clause, “you might receive [suffer] damage by [from] us in nothing.” This means that the grief and the sorrow caused by Paul’s rebuke had a proper rebuke down the line. At first they reacted to it, they were very bitter toward Paul and they ran him down. Titus came down and stuck their noses in the letter and showed them it was true until they agreed. Therefore the Corinthians were not damaged by Paul’s first epistle to them but eventually were blessed by restoration to fellowship by the filling of the Holy Spirit. Teaching the Word often results in the conviction of sin and it is Bible doctrine which actually convicts with regard to sin. Therefore we have the principle of true and false repentance in the next verse.

Verse 10 — “For godly sorrow.” When you see this phrase it is literally, “sorrow according to the standard of God.”

“works repentance” — for ‘works’ we have e)rgazomai which means to work out. It works out metanoia, the noun [noia = thinking; meta = change] which means a change of mental attitude. In other words, these people were sorry. One thing that must be understood is that people have to be punished until they hurt because people are all bullheaded. This is exactly what Paul did; he hurt them. His letter hurt them, but it wasn’t enough. Titus had to go in there and hurt them again. What is godly sorrow or sorrow according to the standard of God. It “keeps on working a change of mind.” Sorrow according to the standard of God is being hurt by the Word, hurt by divine discipline. “Whom the Lord loveth He chaseneth.” Chastening hurts. That is the way we learn. Sorrow according to the standard of God works out a change of mental attitude to deliverance.

“salvation” — should be ‘deliverance.” Deliverance from the sin unto death. Remember that certain people in Corinth were delivered over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Therefore the sin unto death is removed from these people.

“not to be repented [regretted] of” — a)metamelhtoj.

Why is Paul very happy now? He made them sorry for a while but sorrow according the standard of God works out a change of mental attitude directed toward deliverance. The change of mental attitude led to rebound, the rebound took the sin unto death off of them. He is delighted that they are going to be around for a while and not going out under the sin unto death.

Translation: “For sorrow according to divine standards keep on working out a change of mental attitude to deliverance not to be regretted of: but sorrow according to the standard of the world keeps on working out death.”

“worketh death” — refers to the sin unto death. False repentance is maudlin sentimentalism, feeling sorry for sins, being sincere about it, breast-beating. Breast-beating and self-pity is nowhere condoned in the scripture. Feeling sorry for sins doesn’t change anything. It is the rebound technique that counts. It is the confession of sin and the restoration to fellowship, and all of the emotional activity does not do one thing for you, it has no spiritual connotation. False repentance is simply a carnal believer getting all emotional about his sins and when it begins to hurt feeling sorry about it.

Verse 11 — “For behold this selfsame thing,” this very thing. That is, being made sorry according to the standard of God; “that ye sorrowed” — i.e. received sorrow, aorist passive infinitive; “according to the standard of God.”

“what carefulness it wrought in you” — now he is going to describe some of the immediate results. The first word is translated ‘carefulness’ but the adjective is spoudh and it refers to diligence. In other words, they became diligent in their rebound. They started to keep short accounts. Once they realised through the ministry of Titus their carnality they were very diligent to rebound; “wrought out” — katergazomai, ‘worked out.’ Diligence worked out; something on the inside working out.

“what clearing” — a)pologia refers to ‘what a beautiful defense.’ They had the only defense open to them, rebound and the filling of the Spirit. Once you are filled with the Spirit, what a perfect defense. In other words, what did they do in their defense? They named their sins, they came to their own defense. They named sins that had been judged on the cross and that is a perfect defense.

“that indignation” is a a(pac legomena. It is a)ganakthsij which means ‘a new viewpoint.’ It doesn’t mean to be angry, it means a new attitude toward the things that one has done in the field of carnality. It means to take a complete new attitude toward the sins that are confessed. This is the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit. The new attitude will lead to a change toward Bible doctrine; Bible doctrine will become paramount.

“yea, what fear” — foboj which brings out occupation with Christ through the function of GAP. Then, when they began to take in a little doctrine, they next had “what vehement desire,” which is one word in the Greek — e)pipoqhsij, and it means an insatiable desire, and it was for doctrine. So the greater their craving for doctrine the greater became their action in the angelic conflict.

“zeal” — their orientation through Bible doctrine caused them to have tremendous zeal; “revenge” — the word is used here to counter human viewpoint. Divine viewpoint replaces human viewpoint in the right lobe.

“In all [these] things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in the matter.” All of the things that they have done here, all seven of them, have cleared them with regard to the purpose of 1 Corinthians. The words ‘ye have approved’ means to take a stand with the rest of them. To be clear means to be blameless.

Verse 12 — the purpose of writing this. “Wherefore, though I wrote unto you,” [If I wrote unto you, and I did] I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong” — literally, ‘not on account of the one having been wronged, nor on the one doing the wrong.’ Paul wrote it for neither of these reasons.

Translation: “Therefore, if I wrote to you [and I did], not on account of the one having been wronged, nor on account of the one doing the wrong, but that your diligence on our behalf in the sight of God might appear face to face with you.”

This means that Paul did not write to take sides in the Corinthians controversy but he wrote that they might be aware of their need of rebound, and that they might be brought back to GAP, and that they might understand the importance of their relationship with God. Therefore Paul’s purpose in pointing out their areas of carnality was to stimulate their rebound, not to hurt them. They still hurt, that is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but it was not Paul’s objective to hurt them. It was Paul’s objective to stimulate them to come back to the grace of God. Remember the principle: People have to be hurt before they will come to the grace of God.

Verses 13-15, the successful mission of Titus.

1968 2Corinthians 8:                                                                                   Lesson #41

41 06/20/1971 2Cor. 8:1–2 GIVING SPECIAL (lessons 41–54). Principle of giving (#1); 7 characteristics of Church Age

Encouragement to Give Generously

2Corinthians 8:1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia,

2Corinthians 8:2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

Chapter 8

The seven characteristics of the Church Age include

a) Unity. All believers are unified by positional sanctification. This is the only basis of unity on this earth during the Church Age, there is no other. There is no such thing as experiential unity among too many believers. The command to love the brethren is a command to mental tolerance but it does not include accepting or associating with believers who are negative toward doctrine and apostate. The only unity we have is a unity provided by God the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation. There will be no other unity until we arrive in eternity. Believers will be divided and separated in many ways, the primary one being Bible doctrine.

b) Every believer is indwelt by the person of Jesus Christ. This is the basis for fellowship but this fellowship only exists when the believer is filled with the Spirit — Revelation 3:20.

c) For the first time in history every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. A few people were empowered by the Spirit in the Old Testament but the indwelling of the Spirit to all believers is unique to this age.

d) The universal priesthood of the believer. For the first time in history every believer is a priest. This was never true before and will never be true again in a dispensation.

e) Every believer is an ambassador for Jesus Christ. This means that every believer is in full time Christian service.

f) We have our instructions in writing — the Word of God, the completed canon of scripture.

g) A supernatural way of life with a supernatural means of execution.

Out of these characteristics comes the experience of giving. Out of the experience of giving there are 25 principles of doctrine.

There are four basic principles of giving

1. The Old Testament principle of giving. It was grace giving just as it is in the New Testament, it was not tithing. Proverbs 11:24,25.

2. The principle of giving in the New Testament — 2 Corinthians 9:7. Neither of these passages mention tithing.

3. The two concepts of tithing. What is tithing? It is taken from the word ‘tithe’ which means ten per cent. Tithing in the Old Testament was a system of income tax accomplished by believer and unbeliever alike.

There were three types of ten per cent income tax in the Jewish nation. The unbeliever paid these taxes and so did the believer. There was an income tax for the maintenance of the Levites — Numbers 18:21,24. There was an incomes tax for the feasts and sacrifices — Deuteronomy 14:22-24. Thirdly, every third year there was a ten per cent income tax for the poor of the land — Deuteronomy 14:28,29. The system of taxation is described in more detail in Malachi 3:8-10. It says in that passage, “Bring all of the tithes into the storehouse.” The word ‘storehouse’ in the Hebrew is the treasury, not the church. Storehouse tithing is taxation. There is no such thing as storehouse tithing for Church.

4. The time for giving and the norm for giving is found in 1 Corinthians 16:2. The time for giving in that passage is on the ‘first day of the week’ at assembly worship. The norm or standard for giving, ‘as God has prospered.’

The outline of chapters 8 & 9:

1. The example of Macedonia — 8:1-6.

2. The exhortation to the Corinthians — 8:7-15.

3. A personal commendation — 8:16-24.

4. The delegation from Paul — 9:1-5.

5. The benefits of giving — 9:6-15.

Verse 1 — “Moreover” is a particle de used for a conjunction to change the subject; “brethren” — a reference to believers, only believers have the right to give. Such giving is one of the sacrifices of the priesthood of Hebrews 13:16. The unbeliever has no right to give as an expression of worship. No local church should knowingly collect money from the unbeliever. The unbeliever should be warned not to give. The unbeliever cannot give as an expression of worship and every activity in the local church is for worship.

“we do you to wit” — present active indicative of gnwrizw. This means to make know by communicating. Hence, “we keep on communicating.”

“the grace of God” — God so provided for the impoverished and persecuted Macedonians that they had an abundance to give to the impoverished and persecuted saints at Jerusalem. The Romans had persecuted the Macedonians. They were impoverished but God so provided for them because they had the first floor, grace orientation, of the ECS. They were grace oriented. They wanted to give to the impoverished saints of Jerusalem who were legalists. “Brethren, we keep on communicating to you the grace of God.” The grace of God is the fact that God so provided for the impoverished and persecuted Macedonians that they have an abundance to give to the impoverished and persecuted believers in Jerusalem.

“bestowed on the churches” — ‘bestow’ is a perfect passive participle of didomi which means to give: “the grace of God having been given.” Perfect tense: given in the past with results that go on forever. The perfect tense says it was given then, that it is meaningful today and tomorrow, and in the next century if the Lord tarries. That which is accomplished in grace is meaningful for a hundred years from now, a thousand years from now, two thousand years from now. That’s God’s plan. The passive voice: the Macedonians received grace. The participle indicates this is a plan of God, a law of God. “On the churches” is the preposition e)n plus the instrumental case — ‘by means of the churches.’ They were the instruments of God to take an offering to Jerusalem.

According to the historian Livy in chapter 45, paragraph 30 of his manuscript, the Romans at this time had devastated all of Macedonia. The entire region of northern Greece was impoverished. Yet the Macedonian Christians gave extensively out of their poverty for the Jerusalem collection. Therefore collecting an offering for the relief of the destitute believers of Jerusalem was not only a grace subject but a vital subject to the apostle Paul. He referred to this collection in Acts 24:17; Romans 15:25-28; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4; Galatians 2:10; 2 Corinthians 8:1-5.

The word for ‘grace’ is xarij. The Macedonian has grace. He is broke but he manages somehow to get the ‘widow’s two mites.’ When he gives these two mites he has nothing. He still has grace. When you give in grace you can’t give away grace, you still have grace when you’re broke. You have grace under all conditions, there never will be a time when you get rid of grace once you have it — unless you get into legalism, negative volition toward doctrine, or the emotional revolt of the soul. The grace of God remained a permanent part of the character of the giver. In this case the givers are the Macedonians.

Verse 2 — the first principle of giving. “How that” — introduces what appears to be a paradox: deep poverty and liberality of giving.

“in a great trial” — the preposition e)n plus the locative should be translated ‘in the sphere of.’ The noun for ‘trial’ is dokimh which means a testing for the purpose of approval. They were tested to give under poverty but because they were grace oriented they gave under poverty.

“of affliction” — pressure, qliyij. This should be translated, “That in much testing of pressure.”

“the abundance of their joy” — the word for ‘abundance,’ perisseia, means superabundance. They were overloaded with happiness. The word for ‘joy’ is +H — ‘the superabundance of their happiness.’

Much testing and superabundance of happiness

1. This happiness, xara, is based in Bible doctrine.

2. You cannot build happiness on happiness. You cannot be happy tomorrow with the person or thing that made you happy today if you build happiness on that person or thing.

3. Happiness can only be built on Bible doctrine — Jeremiah 15:16; John 13:17; 1 John 1:4.

4. Doctrine gives you the capacity for happiness — John 17:13,17.

5. Therefore, apart from Bible doctrine in the heart and resultant capacity for happiness the thing or person who makes you happy today will either bore you or make you miserable tomorrow. You will be bored with their presence or miserable by their absence — Hebrews 13:5,6

6. Unless you have doctrinal capacity even right man or right woman will not make you happy.

7. These Macedonians were under pressure but they had great happiness. They gave out of grace happiness, they gave out of +H.

“and their deep poverty” — a prepositional phrase which starts out with kata which ordinarily mean norm or standard. Here It means ‘down’ or ‘deep down.’ It should be translated, ‘in their deep down poverty.’ The word for ‘poverty’ is ptwxeia which means the depths of poverty. Here is the paradox of the Christian life. Deep down poverty abounds to great wealth.

“abounded” — this should be translated ‘superabounded.’ This is the aorist active indicative of perisseuw which means to be richly furnished, to be possessed of full sufficiency, to exist in full quality, to superabound.

“unto the riches’ — the preposition e)ij is causal, ‘because of.’ The word for ‘riches’ is in the accusative — ‘because of their riches.’

“of their liberality’ — grace generosity, generosity of mental attitude. The word is a(plothj.

Translation: “That in the midst of severe testing of great pressure the superabundance of their happiness and their deep down poverty superabounded because of their riches of a generous mental attitude.”

The first principle of giving

Giving is a mental attitude rather than the amount donated. While the Macedonians were in great poverty they gave on the basis of their great happiness and generous mental attitude. Therefore the first principle of giving deals with grace orientation.

1968 2Corinthians 8:                                                                                   Lesson #42

42 06/27/1971 2Cor. 8:3–5 GIVING SPECIAL: Principles of giving (#2–4)

2Corinthians 8:3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord,

2Corinthians 8:4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints—

2Corinthians 8:5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

Verse 3 — the second principle of giving. “For to their power” is a prepositional phrase, kata plus the accusative of dunamij — ‘according to the standard of their ability.’ Their ability was stated in the previous verse: they had a great mental attitude, divine viewpoint, and +H. So they gave according to the basis of their happiness. Just as God provides money for the believer to give He also provides, prior to that, happiness. The Macedonian believers were broke and yet at the same time they had happiness, they had a wonderful mental attitude, and they were able to give on the basis of that standard of grace.

“I bear record” is literally, ‘I give solemn testimony.’ This is a Greek word for giving testimony in court under oath — maturew. It is translated, ‘I testify,’ present active indicative, linear aktionsart. He keeps on testifying to this principle. Paul is the witness to both their poverty and their happiness, and their mental attitude based on Bible doctrine. The next phrase describes how they gave.

“beyond their power” — literally, ‘beyond their ability [to give].’ This is para plus the accusative of dunamij. This is sacrificial giving.

“they were” is not found in the original; “willing of themselves” — an adjective, nominative masculine plural a)uqairetoj. It means one who chooses his own course of action from his own free will. So it implies having free will and making a decision without coercion. It is a spontaneous but firm decision.

Translation: “That according to the standard of their ability, I testify, and beyond their ability willingly and voluntarily from their own free will.”

The second principle of giving

1. The Macedonian believers gave of their own free will and not from any human pressure. There is no human pressure involved in grace giving.

2. Furthermore they gave sacrificially apart from human coercion. There was no emotion involved in this.

3. No emotional gimmick, no points system, no bribing God for a better deal, and no approbation lust are involved in true giving. In other words, grace giving is based entirely upon the Word of God as the individual believer possesses it. The Word of God is the only true motive in grace giving.

4. All giving is from the priesthood, therefore the priesthood must function from free will and privacy. These are the ingredients of freedom under the angelic conflict.

5. Giving must be accomplished in privacy as unto the Lord as a commemoration of the Father’s grace.

6. Giving must be an expression of free will from grace orientation.

Verse 4 — “Praying” is not really praying at all, it means begging here. It is the present middle participle from deomai. The present participle means they kept on begging; the middle voice: they did it themselves.

“with much entreaty” — the preposition meta, plus the genitive of polluj — ‘much,’ plus the genitive of paraklhsij. Literally, “associated with much earnest supplication [imploring].” The word order is different in the Greek. It should read, “with much imploring, begging us.”

“that we should receive the gift” — incorrect. It should be “the favour” or “the grace.” This is xarij which means grace — literally, “begging us the favour and the partnership in the ministry of the saints.” The word ‘favour’ is grace, one of the key words in giving; ‘partnership’ or ‘fellowship’ is koinwnia.

“the ministering” — diakonia, a word which occurs at least 15 times in chapters 8 & 9. It refers here to the priestly ministry or function of giving; “to the saints” — the directional preposition e)ij, plus a(gioj. This is a reference to the destitute believers in Jerusalem.

Translation: “With much imploring begging us the favour and the partnership in the ministry of the saints.”

The third principle of giving

Christian giving is a privilege associated with grace. This principle is derives from two nouns in verse 4, xarij and diakonia.

Verse 5 — “And this they did not as” is kai o)un kaqwj, which is “and not even as.”

“we hoped” — e)lpizw is generally translated ‘hope’ but it means to have confidence, expectation. This is an aorist active indicative. In the aorist tense it means expectation; in the perfect tense it means confidence. Here it means expectation. In other words, the Macedonian believers were broke, yet they did more than expected. Paul expected them to do something but they far exceeded his expectation.

“but first” — here the emphasis is on the person rather than the gift. We have here prwton and it means to separate the person of the believer from the money of the believer. When a person gives of his money he is simply doing something that any unbeliever can do, but unbelievers cannot give of their person, of their soul. Soul giving must precede money giving.

“their own selves” — a reflexive pronoun, e(autou. Generally pronouns follow verbs in the Greek, and generally in the genitive case. To put a reflexive pronoun in front of a verb it is to emphasise the inner person; “they gave” — aorist active indicative of didomi, the common verb for giving. Literally, “they gave themselves and only themselves first to the Lord.” This is the word order in the Greek. The reflexive pronoun is in the emphatic position because it is placed before the verb, and the reflexive pronoun indicates the inner man or the soul. Giving, then, is a soul activity. That soul activity actually extends itself into giving some kind of a monetary offering, but the money or the amount of money is not important, it is the soul that counts.

“and unto us by the will of God” — dia plus the genitive of qelhma which is the plan of God, the design of God: “and unto us according to the design of God.”

Translation: “And not even as we expected, but they gave of themselves and only of themselves first to the Lord, and then to us by the plan [purpose and design] of God.”

The fourth purpose of giving

1. While giving is the design, the plan, and the purpose of God there is a definite sequence in giving.

2. This is because giving is a commemoration of grace. Jesus Christ gave Himself on the cross but His character was involved. He gave of Himself. God gives in grace because of His character. He gives in grace because of who and what He is.

3. Therefore in recognition and orientation to God’s grace the believer must give on the basis of his character. He must give on the basis of the function of his right lobe.

4. Therefore the giving of self is the capacity for love and the capacity for grace based on doctrine.

5. Giving, then, is both an extension and a manifestation of what goes on in the soul.

6. First there is the soul and then there is the overt act of giving. Giving must originate in the soul. The overt act is an extension of the soul.

7. The act of giving reflects grace and love in the soul. Therefore giving in grace does not emphasise the amount of the gift, nor relate it to emotional revolt of the soul.

8. Giving from the emotional revolt of the soul ends up being a bribe for love or good behaviour.

The illustration is found in Luke 21:1-4

The widow represents human helplessness.

1. The widow gave her last two coins to the Lord.

2. At that point all of her living was gone, she was absolutely without funds.

3. But in reality her living was not gone.

4. The woman first gave of her soul, then she gave her last two coins.

5. She could not give her last two coins were it not for the fact that her soul was totally involved with the Lord. She was totally dependent upon the Lord to provide for her in grace.

6. When the widow gave her last coin she had not lost her living because the Lord was her living, not money.

7. In other words, she gave her last two coins but she still had the Lord.

8. Summary of the condition of her soul: The Lord was her life, not money.

1968 2Corinthians 8:                                                                                   Lesson #43

43 07/11/1971 2Cor. 8:6–7 GIVING SPECIAL: Principle of giving (#5)

2Corinthians 8:6 Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace.

2Corinthians 8:7 But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also.

Verse 6 — the application of Macedonian giving. This passage relates the study of Macedonian giving to Corinthian giving, and the transitional verse is verse 6. “Insomuch that” is a prepositional phrase e)ij to. It should be ‘with the result that.’ The Macedonian giving has fulfilled every principle of grace, every principle of the extension of Bible doctrine. It is giving on the basis of the filling of the Spirit, giving on the basis of doctrine in the right lobe, giving on the basis of capacity for love. Now Paul cannot see why the Corinthians cannot give on exactly the same basis. The Corinthians are now hit with the same challenge. And what is the principle behind this prepositional phrase? It is to remind us that as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we have a responsibility to give provided that it is an extension of the spiritual life.

“we desired Titus” — aorist active infinitive of parakalew. Sometimes this word means to comfort and sometimes to chew someone out, to rebuke. Rebuke and comfort do not go together, on the surface anyway. But rebuke is one of the means of comfort, therefore parakalew is used here by Paul in the sense of a command, in the sense of a command that does not demand instant obedience but demands volition. This is Paul calling in Titus and not commanding him to go to Corinth but he simply mentions his plan to take an offering in Corinth. And Titus says, ‘I’ll go.’ If the word here had been u(potassw then all Titus could do would be to say, “Yes sir” and go to Corinth. Titus was not commanded to go back, and this is a part of the grace concept. When Titus goes back to Corinth he goes back because he wants to go back, it is his personal desire to be with the Corinthians so that he can administer to them Bible doctrine that they can administer this matter of the collection to the Jewish saints in Jerusalem.

“that as” — i(na kaqwj is ‘that even as.’ It indicates something of a purpose but a purpose which has been begin but not completed; “he had begun” — aorist active indicative of proenarxomai [pro = before; en = in; arxomai = begin] which means to begin before at a particular time, at a specific time. Translation: “With the result that we requested Titus that even as he had begun on a previous occasion” — reference to his ministry of teaching doctrine which resulted in the Corinthians of their own free will first giving of themselves to the Lord and then giving of their means for this specific offering. Now Titus returns with more than Paul’s letter, he returns with the desire to teach.

“he would also finish” — aorist active subjunctive of e)pitelew. Whether this is completed or not depends entirely upon the spiritual condition of the Corinthians. Which way did they go in the absence of Titus. The subjunctive mood recognises that in order to be effective and consistent there must be stability of spiritual life. They were stabilised when Titus left.

“in you” is again the preposition e)ij. This time it means ‘with reference to you,’ or, ‘that he would complete toward you.’ Then finally, “this grace.”

Translation: “With the result that we requested Titus, that even as he had begun [on a previous occasion], so also he would complete with reference to you this favour also.”

The word ‘favour’ or ‘grace’ indicates that giving must always be on the basis of grace. Giving is always with grace, no strings, not gimmicks, it depends strictly upon the condition of the soul.

In verses 7-15 we have a new section. We go from Macedonian giving to Corinthian giving. In verses 7-9 there are three things to encourage Corinthians giving. The first of these is in verse 7, the consistent function of GAP.

Verse 7 — “Therefore, as ye abound in every thing.” Literally, this is ‘Moreover just as in everything you super abound.” Perisseuw means to super abound. There are two areas in which they abound: a) doctrine or spiritual things; b) material things. God has blessed the Corinthians as He has blessed few of the early churches, they have both spiritual and material wealth; “every thing” is a prepositional phrase — e)n plus the locative of paj. This means ‘in the sphere of every thing.’

Next we have those things which are necessary for giving and not one of them refers to money. Each one is given in the locative case.

“in faith” — pistij which refers to inhale and exhale. The inhale is a part of GAP, the exhale is a part of faith-rest. It refers here specifically to converting gnwsij into e)pignwsij.

“and utterance” — logoj, Bible doctrine found in the Word; ‘in the sphere of doctrine.’

“and in all diligence” — spoudh which is application. This implies that e)pignwsij is in existence.

“and in your love” — a)gaph, a relaxed mental attitude indicting some results, they are a growing group.

“that” — i(na; “also in the sphere of this grace [xarij]” — grace giving.

Translation: “Moreover just as in the sphere of every thing you super abound, in the sphere of faith, in the sphere doctrine, in the sphere of application, in the sphere of your love from you to us, with the result that also in the sphere of this grace [giving] you super abound ” — perisseuw, present active subjunctive. It is potential whether they extend their spiritual wealth to ‘this grace’ or not. It depends upon their volition.

The fifth principle of giving

1. Christian giving is an extension of stability in the spiritual life.

2. Christian giving is an extension of the daily function of GAP.

1968 2Corinthians 8:                                                                                   Lesson #44

44 07/18/1871 2Cor. 8:8–9 GIVING SPECIAL: Principles of giving (#6–7)

2Corinthians 8:8 I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.

2Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Verse 8 — “I speak not” is a present active indicative of legw which means to communicate categorically. The present tense here means to keep on communicating categorically, this is linear aktionsart. The negative means there is one thing that you never do in connection with the subject of giving. You never push people into it.

“by commandment” — ‘by’ is kata, the preposition of norm or standard; ‘commandment’ is e)pitagh and it means to be forced into something. The prepositional phrase actually means, “I am not speaking according to the commandment.” Giving is never a matter of being commanded to give.

The sixth principle of giving

Giving must never be forced or coerced, it must be the result of grace orientation. We have love giving rather than law giving. Giving must become a category #1 response. Giving is the result of the intake of doctrine, of the function of GAP. It must be an expression of the priesthood of the believer. Giving is always an expression of your category #1 love response to God.

“but,” conjunction of contrast, “by occasion of the forwardness of others” — dia plus the genitive of spoudh, “but through diligent application of others.” ‘Others’ refers to the Macedonians; “to prove the sincerity of your love” — literally, ‘testing the genuineness of your love.’ There is no word here for ‘sincerity.’ This is a reference to the diligent application of doctrine on the part of the Macedonian believers. Giving is never a matter of command. The Macedonians are an example for the Corinthians and the reason they were a good example was because the Macedonians did not have any money. The Corinthians probably thought that they would be tapped for money because they were so wealthy. So this is a perfect illustration for the Corinthians that it is not the amount donated but the spiritual concepts involved, the response to God’s love through the intake of Bible doctrine.

“provoke” is a present active participle of dokimazw, to test for the purpose of approving. This means that the whole idea of testing is so that you can be approved.

“sincerity” — gnhsioj means ‘genuineness.’ It is a noun that connotes reality. Giving is designed by God to test your love response, to test the reality of your love for the Lord.

Translation: “I am not speaking according to the norm or standard of a commandment, but through the diligent application of others, testing the genuineness of your love.”

Giving is a test of the genuineness of your love of Jesus Christ, of God the Father, and even your love of God the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the sixth principle says in effect that Christian giving is love giving, not law giving.

Verse 9 — “For” is gar, here used as a causal particle. It introduces an intimate detail or principle. Therefore it should be translated “now” rather than for.

“Now ye know” — present active indicative of ginwskw which means the experience of studying or taking in the Word of God. Behind ginwskw is the experience of concentrating. ‘Now you know from the experience of study [GAP].’ The believer must know grace before he can give the Bible way.

The seventh principle of giving

Giving depends on grace orientation. Grace orientation depends on the intake of doctrine and the beginning of the erection of the ECS.

“the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” — the word for ‘grace’ is xarij.

The doctrine of grace

1. Grace is all that God is free to do for man on the basis of the cross. Therefore grace is the plan and work of God on behalf of man. Grace is the policy of God’s plan.

2. Grace depends upon the essence or the character of God. Therefore grace depends on who and what God is, grace is what God can do for man and still be consistent with His own character.

3. The believer must sort out the difference between grace and legalism. Legalism is man’s works or ability intruding upon the plan of God.

4. The greatest thing that God can do for the saved person is to make him exactly like His Son, Jesus Christ. This is accomplished in three stages, all of which are related to the angelic conflict. Stage one or positional sanctification: every believer enters into union with Christ. Stage two is the construction of the ECS through the consistent use of GAP, the intake of doctrine. This is spiritual triumph of the believer in the angelic conflict, and this is experiential sanctification. Stage three is ultimate sanctification in which the believer receives a resurrection body, minus the old sin nature and minus all human good. At this point the believer is physically superior to all angelic creatures.

5. The entrance factor of grace. Every believer has tasted the grace of God at least once — 1 Peter 2:3. This refers to the point of salvation when the believer receives at least 36 things which he did not earn or deserve, but he received them from God. The believer at salvation has passed the point of propitiation and therefore God can love that believer with a maximum love and at the same time not compromise His perfect character. Ephesians 2:8,9.

6. Disorientation to grace is the believer’s greatest occupational hazard in phase two — Galatians 5:4, falling from grace; Hebrews 12:15, not using the grace of God.

7. The divine attitude of grace is expressed in Isaiah 30:18,19. God is constantly waiting to pour out His grace on every believer in phase two.

8. Grace is phase one is expressed in many ways. It is always the same principle: salvation is believing in Jesus Christ, God has provided everything for salvation, man responds in a non-meritorious manner [faith] — Psalm 103:8-12; Romans 3:23-24; 4:4; 5:20; Ephesians 2:8,9.

9. There are many ways in which phase two expresses grace: Hebrews 4:16 — prayer; 2 Corinthians 12:9,10 — suffering; 2 Peter 3:18 — growth; 1 Peter 5:12 — stability; Hebrews 12:28; 2 Corinthians 1:12 — the modus vivendi of the Christian life; 1 Corinthians 15:10; 2 Corinthians 6:1 — production of divine good.

10. Grace and giving — 2 Corinthians 8:9. Grace orientation is the bona fide motivation and thought pattern for giving.

11. Grace is suffering — 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Grace is the only sufficiency for suffering in phase two. Through grace God is able to bless the believer in the midst of the pressures, the sufferings, and the adversities of life.

12. The implications of grace:

a) God is perfect, His plan is perfect.

b) A perfect plan can only originate from a perfect God.

c) If man can do anything meritorious in the plan of God it is no longer perfect.

d) A plan is no stronger than its weakest link. For this reason grace excludes all human merit, all human ability, all human good.

e) Legalism (human works) is the enemy of grace.

f) The works of human righteousness, therefore, have no place in the plan of God.

g) All human good is associated with the mental attitude sin of pride.

13. There are four areas in which pride rejects grace.

a) The pride of the believer who rejects the doctrine of eternal security. He thinks his sins are greater than the plan of God.

b) The pride of the believer who succumbs to pressure and adversity. He thinks his sufferings are greater than grace provision.

c) The pride of the pseudo spiritual. The believer who thinks his human system is greater than the power of the Spirit in his life.

d) The pride of the believer under emotional revolt of the soul. He thinks his emotions, his feelings, and his experiences are more important than Bible doctrine.

“though he was rich” — plusioj w)n. [w)n is a present active participle of e)imi] It should be translated “being rich.” E)imi is an absolute status quo verb, it indicates an absolute status quo of Jesus Christ as God in eternity past. There never was a time when Jesus Christ was not rich. Jesus Christ is God therefore the maximum concept of wealth lies in any person on the Godhead. Plusioj doesn’t mean wealthy, it means abounding in riches. It is a reference to the deity of Christ plus the perfect humanity of Christ. The verb to be here in participial form is called a concessive participle, it indicates that Christ was really wealthy at all times — ‘that he being wealthy.’

“for your sakes” — dia plus the accusative plural of su should be translated here ‘because of you all.’ This is substitutionary, it is Jesus Christ thinking of you and providing for you eternal salvation.

“he became poor” — aorist active indicative of ptwxeuw which means to actually come to the point of complete poverty, abject poverty. The aorist tense does not refer to the incarnation but to Jesus Christ on the cross, the three hours when He was bearing our sins. The active voice indicates that this was a voluntary act on the part of Jesus Christ, and the active voice gives us our illustration of giving. Jesus Christ gave of Himself. True giving today is the giving of yourself, to give as an extension of doctrine in your soul. The indicative mood is the reality of Christ being judged for our sins and therefore becoming totally poverty stricken.

The literally word order in the Greek is: ‘Now you know from the experience of study the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that because of you all he became poor, being wealthy.’

The next phrase refers to the Corinthians believers: “that ye” — i(na u(meij; “through his poverty” — we have an instrumental noun, ptwxeia, and it means ‘by means of his poverty.’ The word for ‘his’ is actually a demonstrative pronoun, e)keinoj, and this change of pronoun here is important. It is in contrast to the word ‘you all.’ This demonstrative pronoun is used to refer to a person previously mentioned, and a person who is the object of love. The principle is that the Corinthians love Jesus Christ, albeit with varying capacities.

“might become rich” — ploutew, aorist active indicative. This verb connotes all that God’s grace provides in both phase one and phase two. Hence, the entire plan of God is grace operated. Therefore giving on the part of the believer must comply with God’s plan. God’s plan is always grace. The aorist tense gathers into a single whole all of the grace provision of God from salvation to eternity. The active voice: the believer is the recipient of grace riches at the point of salvation.

Translation: “Now you know from the experience of study [GAP] the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he being wealthy, because of you all became poor [the cross], that you all by means of the poverty of him [the cross] might become rich.”

1968 2Corinthians 8:                                                                                   Lesson #45

45 08/01/1971 2Cor. 8:10–15 GIVING SPECIAL: Doctrine of manna

2Corinthians 8:8 I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.

2Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Verses 10 and 11 are an exhortation to complete the Corinthians offering. The offering was begun approximately a year ago but has never been completed.

Verse 10 — “And herein” is e)n plus the locative toutoj plus kai. It means ‘And in this.’ It is a reference to the principle of doctrine given in the preceding verse, the principle of God’s grace, the principle of Jesus Christ completing the plan.

“I give my advice” — in other words, on the basis of what has just been taught, the principles of giving, I have some advice to give. Paul does not give an order, he simply gives advice. The reason is that to give an order is to violate their volition at this point. Giving must always be a matter of volition. Giving must always come from you and not someone else’s demands. When you demand of volition that volition gives it is no longer giving. Giving demands free will. Paul is going to give them something, and this is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit — present active indicative of didomi which means to give. The noun for ‘advice’ is the accusative singular of gnwmh which means a suggestion as distinguished from a positive command or an injunction. It also refers to the mind or what the mind concludes, or what the mind possesses. So probably a better translation would be ‘opinion’ based on knowledge of doctrine. “And in this I give you my opinion [based on doctrine].”

“for this” — touto gar; “is expedient” — sumferw which means ‘profitable’ ; “for you.”

“who” — a compound relative used in place of a simple relative, o(stij. It actually means ‘you who are of such a quality as to be able to handle it.’

“you who have begun before” is incorrect. So far it should be, “And in this I give my opinion [based on doctrine]: for this is profitable for you, who not only to do but also to desire that which you began [at a particular time] a year ago.” The key here is ‘to do’ and ‘to desire.’ We have poiew for doing, and qelw for desiring. To do is an aorist active infinitive and to desire is a present active infinitive. So we have two infinitives expressing a purpose. But notice that in the aorist tense for doing and the present tense for desiring there is a difference. The desire stays with you to give whether you are actually giving or not. Qelw expresses a state of love. The believer priest who has Bible doctrine and who has the capacity to love God under category #1 always desires to give; it stays there, present tense. But the actual doing of it is in a point of time.

“who have begun before” — aorist middle indicative proenarxomai. It actually means to begin something at a particular time prior to the point when this word was written.

“a year ago” is literally, ‘from last year.’

Verse 11 — “Now therefore” is nuni de; perform — aorist active imperative of e)pitelew [e)pi = upon’ telew = to finish, or sometimes ‘beyond’]. Basically this says, “Now also finish doing it.” For a year now they have been qelw, present linear aktionsart. A year ago they started the offering. Now it is a year later and the desire is still there. So Paul is saying to finish what they started doing.

“that” — in order that; ‘as” — kaqaper which means ‘just as.’

“a readiness to will” — proqumia means a deep desire which becomes motivation; “will” is qelw and it is in the present tense again.

“a performance” — aorist active infinitive of e)pitelew. Here it means ‘to complete’ or ‘to finish.’

“out of that which ye have” — literally, ‘out from having.’ This is the preposition e)k plus the present active infinitive of e)xw which means to have, to hold, to possess. So, give out of what you possess.

Principle: God in grace has given you materialistic possessions as well as spiritual provision. “As God has provided, give” is the principle of percentage. The same thing is taught in 1 Corinthians 16:2. Tithing is out. “Give as God has prospered.”

Translation: “But now also finish doing it in order that just as [positive volition] to will, so also to complete [the giving] out from what you have.”

Hence, there is an issue of volition in giving. No one can put pressure on you to give. You should never give from emotion or because someone has pressured you into giving. Giving must come from what you are spiritually, the intake of doctrine and the use of the same.

Verse 12 — “For if” introduces a first class condition; “there be” — in not e)imi, it is not found here, it is prokeimai which means to have something on hand; “a willing mind.” What she be on hand at all times? Obviously you don’t always have money, but you can always have the basis for giving which is a willing mind. We have here proqumia which is positive volition based on doctrine. First class condition: and there is. A remarkable change in the Corinthians.

“it is accepted” — the words ‘it is’ are not found in the original. We have an adjective, e)uprosdektoj. It means ‘pleasing.’

“according to that” — kaqo which is according to the norm or standard.

“a man hath, not according to that he hath not” — literally, ‘of he has, or if he has not.’ In other words, giving is acceptable whether you have something to give or not to give if you have positive volition based on doctrine. This switches giving from what you put in the offering to what goes on in your soul.

Verses 13-15, a principle of equality.

Verse 13 — there is no “I mean” in the Greek. It is literally ‘For [o)u gar = the collection] is not that other men [other believers].”

“be eased” — the noun a)nesij which means ‘relief.’ “For the collection is not that there be relief to others from the responsibility of giving” is what it actually means.

“and ye burdened” — literally, ‘and you pressurised.” The pronoun ‘you’ plus qluyij which means pressure.

Translation” “For [the collection] is not that there be relief to others [from responsibility of giving], and to you pressure.”

Verse 14 — “But” is the conjunction that introduces the principle of equality in contrast to a Corinthian misunderstanding which is anticipated. Apparently the Corinthians were about to assume that they were going to carry the financial load for the early church.

“by an equality” — Paul now explains why the Jerusalem church, why no other church, and why this is necessary. This is e)k plus i)sothj, and this prepositional phrase should be translated, ‘out from fairness.’

“now at this time” — e)n tw nun kairw means ‘at the present time’; “your abundance” — the Corinthians are very wealthy; “to their want [poverty or lack].”

“that their abundance” — if the Jerusalem church is broke where do we get ‘abundance’? It so happens that the Jerusalem church was a great centre for a large number of young men with communication gifts. If the Jerusalem church is broke these men cannot train, cannot study. It takes money to sustain the Jerusalem church which at this point is really the seminary to provide pastors for all of the churches. They lack funds and therefore these must come from elsewhere.

“there may be” is a present passive indicative of ginomai which means to come to pass, to come into existence.

Translation: “But out from fairness, at the present time your abundance of money to their lack of money, that also their abundance [of spiritual gifts] may become to your lack [of pastors]: in order that there may come to pass balance.”

In other words, God did not provide in any one church everything that was necessary for local churches to function. In one area He provided a certain number of men, in another area He provided money. This means you have an interrelationship of team work. This is illustrated in verse 15 where we have a quotation from Exodus 16:18.

Verse 15 — “As it is written” — literally, ‘According as it is written,’ perfect passive indicative of grafw, written in the past with the result that it stands — Exodus 16:18.

“He that had much” — o( to polu, no verb here, ‘the the one much.’ This means ‘the one having gathered much.’

‘had nothing [left] over’ — aorist active indicative of pleonazw plus the negative o)uk. This is so strong that it means there never was an exception.

“he that gathered little had no lack.”

This illustration from the principle of equality is taken from manna for a reason. Manna, by the way, is taken from two Hebrew words man hu and it means What is it? When the Jews walked out of their tents and saw it for the first time they said, ‘What is it?’ Exodus 16:2-4, they got it because they complained. They started to complain and God provided. Giving is the application of the doctrine of equality. Remember that manna is grace. They didn’t earn it or deserve it. God gave on the basis of equality because God is fair.

The doctrine of manna

1. Manna came down every day, but it didn’t — Exodus 16:4,5,22-27. God provided manna every day except Saturday, the Sabbath. Therefore on Friday God told the Jews to gather double. If manna was kept overnight it spoiled but if it was kept overnight on Friday it was preserved for the Sabbath. The application: Some Bible doctrine is used daily, like Rebound and Faith-Rest. Some Bible doctrine is preserved in the right lobe for special circumstances — suffering, prosperity, love, service, etc.

2. Those who gathered a lot of manna did not have any more than those who gathered little manna. So whether you had a lot or a little it was always the same because a lot meant your capacity for a lot or a little matched your capacity for a little — Exodus 16:16-18; 2 Corinthians 8:15. This is the law of equality. God always matches capacity. Some people seem to get more than others but some people have more capacity than others. Those who gathered a lot of manna did not have any more than those who gathered a little manna because each person gathered according to his capacity, and each one therefore had that which satisfied his capacity. God will always meet your capacity and your capacity is based on doctrine. Capacity is Bible doctrine in the human spirit and in the right lobe.

3. Manna spoiled, but it didn’t spoil — Exodus 16:19,20. If kept overnight it spoiled. If kept overnight on the sixth night it was preserved. Therefore if anyone was going to enjoy manna he must follow divine instructions. He must have the divine viewpoint about manna. There is just one way, God’s way, and that is learning Bible doctrine. Doctrine must be more real to you than anything else in life.

4. Manna spoiled if kept overnight but it was preserved indefinitely in the ark of the covenant — Exodus 16:19,20; Hebrews 9:4; Exodus 16:33. Doctrine you learn through the function of GAP can be used to construct an ECS, to form norms and standards and viewpoint in the right lobe. That doctrine can reside in you forever. There never will be a time when that doctrine doesn’t reside there and the only thing that can ever destroy it is when you start going backward. You still have free will and you never stand still. You are either going forward or backward in your Christian life.

5. Manna melted, but it didn’t melt — Exodus 16:21. Only manna which has been gathered withstood the rays of the sun. The manna carried into the tent in those days remained all day but the unguarded manna outside of the tent melted when the sun came up. Only Bible doctrine absorbed under GAP can help in time of pressure or prosperity. Ungathered manna is like Bible doctrine still in the Bible. You have to gather it. The only manna that did any good was the manna gathered and brought into the tent. Only Bible doctrine absorbed is usable. This emphasises the daily function of GAP — Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3; Jeremiah 15:16.

6. Manna tasted good to some and bad to others. This illustrates positive volition toward doctrine. In Exodus 16:31 the people who were positive loved it, it tasted like honey. But to the people who were negative, Numbers 21:5, it tasted horrible. What was the difference? Attitude!

7. Manna came as a complaint from Israel — Exodus 16:2-4. Therefore manna is grace provision. The Jews did not earn it or deserve it — Psalm 78:18-25. God provided manna when the Jews were negative toward doctrine and generally in revolt. So regardless of how the Jews had sinned, how they had failed, or the condition of their soul, manna was delivered on schedule every day, except the Sabbath — Exodus 16:35.

8. The rejection of grace [manna] resulted in divine discipline — Numbers 21:5,6. God blesses the believer through grace, and when the believer decides he wants to operate outside of grace it is called falling from grace in Galatians 5:4, and failing grace in Hebrews 12:15. So God disciplines in grace those who do not like direct blessing from grace.

1968 2Corinthians 8:                                                                                   Lesson #46

46 08/08/1971 2Cor. 8:16 GIVING SPECIAL: Doctrines of the heart, Titus

Commendation of Titus

2Corinthians 8:16 But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you.

“But thanks” — ‘thanks’ is the word ‘grace.’ “But grace to God” — xarij de tw qew. Xarij = grace; de = the dividing line to show that this particular phrase is related to the previous verse; tw qew = dative of dignity or person. Grace belongs to only one person; we function under it. No man ever thought of grace, it is the monopoly of God. Grace is the character of God; who and what God is, never who and what man is.

“which put” is incorrect. God didn’t ‘put’ anything, He gave — present active participle of didomi. Linear aktionsart, He always gave, there never was a time when He didn’t give, He is always giving. That is because grace belongs to Him. Active voice: grace comes from God. Participle: it is a divine law. “But the grace to the God who is constantly giving.”

“the same earnest” — spoudh means intensity of character and it is translated ‘diligent’ — ‘the same intensity of character on you behalf in the heart of Titus.’

“for you” is ‘on behalf of you’ — u(per. What does Titus have in his heart that makes the difference? Bible doctrine. The heart refers to the right lobe.

The doctrine of the heart

1. The heart is the right lobe in the mentality of the soul.

2. The essence of the heart or the dominant lobe:

a) It has frame of reference with a memory centre. It is recalled from the frame of reference into the memory centre for utilisation.

b) We have what the Greek calls suneidhsij which means ‘to know with’ and is translated ‘conscience’ — norms and standards for life, and they generally come from knowledge in the frame of reference hitting memory centre to form the standards of life.

c) Viewpoint. This is the mental attitude toward life, or lack of it. Viewpoint can be divine or human.

3. The doctrinal content of the soul resides in the heart. The heart is designed to be the dominant lobe of the mentality of the soul and the dominator of the entire soul. The heart, therefore, is comparable to the right man and is the target for GAP. The heart, then, become vital in the function of GAP — 1 Kings 3:9,12; Proverbs 8:5; 15:14; Jon 38:36.

4. The right man is the heart, the right woman is the empty vessel known as emotion. The emotion is the woman of the soul and the heart is the man of the soul. That is why the emotion is empty unless it receives something from the heart. When the emotion dominates the soul you have a female soul. This is what happens under emotional revolt. On the other hand, whatever is in the heart or the right lobe, and this dominates, has response (and occasionally reaction) in the emotion. The emotion is a responder. So we have an analogy here to right man and right woman. As the dominant lobe the heart carries the authority of the soul and is therefore analogous to the right man. The emotions of the soul as responder and as appreciator are comparable to the right woman. Therefore they are linked in many passages — Psalm 26:2; Jeremiah 11:20; 17:10; 20:12.

5. The heart is directly related to capacity for life. The emotions as responders are designed to enjoy capacity for life but the heart as the dominant lobe is the initiator of that capacity. Capacity for life and everything related to life comes from the heart or right lobe. There are at least seven areas where capacity for life is related to the heart is the scripture: a) Love. Love is living, it is living in the heart — Deuteronomy 6:4; 11:13; Joshua 22:5.

b) Happiness is related to capacity in the right lobe or heart — Psalm 19:8; 28:7.

c) Dynamics in living originate in the heart — Job 9:4.

d) Sorrow — Leviticus 26:16; Nehemiah 2:2.

e) Pressure — Psalm 34:18.

f) Discouragement — Numbers 32:7,9.

g) Cowardice — Joshua 14:8.

Anything that makes you aware of life is a heart function.

6. It becomes obvious, then, that the heart is also an area of cursing — Lamentations 3:65; Deuteronomy 28:47,48. In that connection the heart is related to psychoses — Isaiah 13:7,8. Under emotional revolt of the soul mental attitude sins are related to the heart — Psalm 66:18. Your prayer life is related to your heart, and failure in your prayer life (iniquity in the heart) — Psalm 101:5; Proverbs 6:18; Matthew 12:35; 15:18,19; Luke 6:45; 24:25.

One of the great malfunctions of the heart is said to be revenge. Revenge starts with mental attitude sins under category #1 emotional revolt. It usually moves over to the lust pattern and it involves a function of the heart. We also have the heart functioning under emotional revolt so that it is said to be destroyed or deceived — Jeremiah 17:9.

7. The heart also is a way of life — Proverbs 14:10-15 cf. 23:7. Your way of life is what goes on in your heart and there are three areas where something can go wrong. As you increase doctrine and knowledge in general your capacity for life should increase — and as doctrine comes into memory centre to be utilised. Then you develop norms and standards that are compatible with God’s through doctrine, and you develop a divine viewpoint through doctrine. So what goes on in the right lobe is actually your way of life. All doing is dependent upon what you think, or don’t think. That means that the heart is related to grace function — Proverbs 24:17. The heart is related to grace orientation — Exodus 23:9. The heart is the basis for stability in a crisis — Psalm 112:7,8. The heart is related to happiness — 1 Samuel 2:1.

8. The heart, therefore, becomes related to motivation in life. Motivation in spiritual life — 2 Corinthians 9:7. Motivation in temporal life — Exodus 35:25,26,35; 36:8.

9. Since the heart is so vitally related to capacity for life it is also used as an anthropopathism. We have phrases where ‘the heart of God’ is used — 1 Samuel 2:35; Psalm 78:72; Jeremiah 23:20;30:24.

10. There is a relationship between the heart and positive volition. This is true in salvation — Romans 10:9,10.

11. On the other hand the heart is related to negative volition. The Pharaoh of Exodus hardened his own heart — Exodus 7:22,23; 8:15, 32; 9:34. Sihon — Deuteronomy 2:30. There are other cases — Deuteronomy 15:7; Psalm 95:8; Hebrews 3:8; 1 Samuel 6:6; 2 Kings 17:14; Jeremiah 7:26; 19:15.

12. The heart is also the basic area for happiness. We have two expressions which are found very frequently in the scripture. The gladness of heart — Judges 18:20; 1 Samuel 1:13; 1 Kings 8:66; 2 Chronicles 7:10; Esther 5:9; 1 Samuel 10:9; 16:7; 17:32. The merry heart — Proverbs 17:22; 1 Samuel 15:36; 2 Samuel 6:16; 13:28; 1 Kings 3:9,12; 8:17; Proverbs 15:13; Proverbs 17:22.

Titus

1. He was a theological student at Paul’s seminary — Titus 1:4. This is derived from the technical use of the Greek word teknon’ “child.” It also means student. A child must be under parental discipline, a student must be under academic discipline.

2. After Timothy failed in Corinth Paul sent Titus as the trouble shooter — 2 Corinthians 2:13.

3. He straightened out Corinth and returned to Paul in Macedonia — 2 Corinthians 7:5-7.

4. Between the first and second Roman imprisonments Paul and Titus visited the island of Crete — Titus 1:5.

5. Then Titus went on a mission to Dalmatia — 2 Timothy 4:10.

6. Prior to this Titus had been a test case in Jerusalem — Galatians 2:1-3.

7. The name of Titus is not found in the book of Acts, yet Titus was one of the greatest men on Paul’s team. Why? Because Titus and Luke were brothers — 2 Corinthians 1:18; 12:18.

8. Tradition indicates that Titus returned to Crete as its bishop, lived there until a ripe old age, and the end of his life was very similar to that of Jeremiah’s — tranquillity and peace.

“For indeed he accepted the exhortation.” The word for ‘accepted’ is the aorist active indicative of dexomai which means to welcome an opportunity, to receive an opportunity and to use it with aggressiveness. Titus is a very aggressive person and once he sees and opportunity he knows that this is the type of thing that happens once in a lifetime. Never again will Titus have the opportunity of being in an administrative team. His primary job and responsibility was pastor-teacher, the communicator of Bible doctrine. He is also a special type of pastor-teacher, he is a trouble-shooter. God opens a door for every believer sooner or later, and those believers who have Bible doctrine will walk through that door. Believers who do not have doctrine will not even know that opportunity knocks. When opportunity comes, and it will, your only preparation is Bible doctrine. When that day comes all of the doctrine you have ever learned will be brought into focus.

“the exhortation” — the noun paraklhsij which is a command that is stated in the form of a request.

God’s team functions on discipline. Discipline comes from doctrine.

“being more forward” — ‘being’ is present active participle of u(parxw and it means existing, to be in a status quo, to be in possession of, ‘more forward’ — the comparative adjective of spoudaioj which means diligent, a combination of mental attitude drive and the ability to carry it out. Titus existed in the status of more diligence, he had the mental attitude, the volition; he understood the issue. In other words, Titus was well motivated to carry out this mission.

“of his own accord” — a)uqeiretoj means one who chooses his own course of action and moves with aggressiveness and spontaneity.

“he went unto you” — ‘he went face to face with you.’ Aorist active indicative of e)cerxomai which means he ‘moved out’ toward the objective; plus proj plus the accusative, “face to face with you.”

Translation: “Because he welcomed the exhortation; and being in a state of more diligence [mental preparation and motivation], of his own spontaneous volition he moved out face to face with you.”

1968 2Corinthians 8:                                                                                   Lesson #47

47 08/15/1971 2Cor. 8:17–19 GIVING SPECIAL: Principle of giving (#8)

2Corinthians 8:17 For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest he is going to you of his own accord.

2Corinthians 8:18 With him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel.

2Corinthians 8:19 And not only that, but he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace that is being ministered by us, for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our good will.

Verse 18 — “And we sent with him.” The word to send is the aorist active indicative sumpempw [pempw = to go or to send; sum = in the company of]. This means that Titus did not go alone but he had Luke and an unknown believer with him.

“the brother” — if you want to make something very strong you omit the personal pronoun. There is a principle of Greek syntax, in fact it is an idiom, that the definite article is used as a personal pronoun in very special cases. This special case occurs twice in 2 Corinthians — cf. 12:18. “His brother” is the literal translation. Here in chapter 18 it is the same: “his brother.” This is Luke.

“whose praise” — e)painoj really means applause. It means to render an honour that can be heard and it is the expression of approval; “in the gospel throughout all the churches.” In other words, wherever he has gone he has been faithful and he is recognised by believers everywhere as one who is a great believer.

Verse 19 — “And not only,” literally, “but.” Not only is Luke commended for his ministry in disseminating the gospel but he has also been elected by the churches to travel with Paul.

“who was also chosen” — xeirotonew [xeir = hand; tonew = placing or stretching of hands]. So he was chosen by the raising of hands. In other words, public vote.

“of the churches” — under the churches, u(po, authority, ‘under the authority of the churches.’

“to travel with us in this grace” — he was a part of the Pauline team, and ‘with this grace’ is literally, ‘in this grace,’ the preposition e)n plus the locative of xarij — in the sphere of this grace. Notice Paul’s grace orientation. He even relates travelling in all of these countries “in the sphere of grace.”

“which is administered” — dative present passive participle from diakonew which means to administer; “by us.”

“to the glory of the same Lord” — ‘face to face with the glory of the same Lord,’ literally.

“and of your ready mind” — or literally, ‘face to face with our willingness of mind.’

Translation: “And not only, but who also was appointed by public vote under the authority of the churches as a travelling companion in this grace, which is being administered by us face to face with the glory of the same Lord, and face to face with our willingness of mind.”

The eighth principle of giving

1. Money given to the Lord’s work by the believer priest must be properly administered.

2. Reliable people must be appointed by the church to collect and account for the use of funds.

3. Money must be handled by more than one person to avoid any appearance of dishonesty or misappropriation.

4. Those who administer funds must be face to face with the glory of the Lord. In other words, they must be occupied with Jesus Christ and well motivated.

5. Therefore the administration of money includes everything from congregational appointment to strong category #1 love toward Jesus Christ. The administrator must be motivated by Bible doctrine, and his success as an administrator does not depend on human ability but on his capacity to love Jesus Christ and orient to the grace of God.

1968 2Corinthians 8:                                                                                   Lesson #48

48 08/22/1971 2Cor. 8:20–24 GIVING SPECIAL

2Corinthians 8:20 We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us,

2Corinthians 8:21 for we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man.

2Corinthians 8:22 And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters, but who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you.

2Corinthians 8:23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ.

2Corinthians 8:24 So give proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you to these men.

Verse 20 — “Avoiding this” — ‘avoiding’ is the present middle participle, the verb is stellw. Stellw in the active voice means to arrange, equip, set in order. In the middle voice it means to shun, avoid, withdraw from something. Here it means ‘constantly avoiding this.’ When it comes to giving there is something that must always be shunned or avoided.

“that” is two words in the Greek, mh tij. Mh is a negative; tij is a particle, and it should be translated ‘lest anyone.’

“should blame us” should be ‘find fault with us.’ The word to ‘blame’ is mwmeomai which means to censor or find fault. It is in the aorist tense, the point of time when an offering is being handled, when money is being handled. The middle voice is reflexive. The subjunctive mood is potential. It should be translated, “Constantly avoiding this lest anyone should find fault with us.”

“in this abundance” — e)n plus the locative of a)drothj which means a large amount of money being handled: ‘in the sphere of handling large amounts of money.’

“which is administered” — diakonew means to administer.

“by us” is ‘under our authority’ — u(po, the preposition of authority or responsibility: ‘being administered under our authority.’

Translation: “Constantly avoiding this lest anyone should find fault with us in the sphere of handling large amounts of money being administered under our authority.”

1. Money given by churches must be handled under good administration.

2. This administration of money on the local church demands a proper system of collection, a system which brings out the spiritual nobility of the individual without coercion.

3. There must also be proper accounting by those with administrative gifts.

4. There must be honesty in the administration of money which has been given from love as an expression and commemoration of grace.

5. The administration of money must be honest before the Lord and honest before man.

6. The procedures for handling money must be worked out ahead of time to ensure security and proper administration of the grace offering.

Verse 21 — “Providing” is a present active participle, the verb is pronoew [noew = to think; pro = before]. ‘Before thinking’ is actually to provide because of forethought, using forethought to provide. In other words, this is a word for good administration.

“for honest things” — kaloj here means valuable things: “Using forethought to provide for valuable things.” This means money. Why is it valuable? Because of the amount? No, because of the love, because it is given in love, because it is given in grace orientation. Grace money is the most valuable in the world whether it is a small amount of money of large. It is grace money. Therefore grace money must be handled with the utmost of care.

“not only in the sight of the Lord, but also before men.”

Verse 22 — Paul commends an unknown administrator. “And we have sent” — sunpempw, a verb of identification [pempw = send; sun = with]. With Luke and Titus there is an unknown believer called ‘our brother.’

“Our brother”

1. Interpretation: He is an unknown believer with the gift of administration. He has been sent along with Titus and Luke.

2. This is a case of emphasising a ministry of grace rather than a personality.

3. In the administration of the financial affairs of the local church it takes a lot of unknown and unheralded heroes of administration to accomplish the job in a manner pleasing to the Lord.

4. God knows them very well and blesses their efforts in His service.

5. Administration in the local church is a part of Christian service.

“whom we have oftentimes proved” — ‘proved’ is the aorist active indicative of dokimazw, and it means ‘tested.’ This means to test for the purpose of approval.

“diligent in many things” — spoudaioj indicates excellence, positive volition, excellent mental attitude.

“but now” — nuni de. This is very strong, it indicates even improvement; “more diligent” — this is the comparative of spoudaioj which indicates great improvement. He started out being good; now he is even better.

“upon the great confidence” is ‘by reason of his great confidence.’

“directed toward you.”

Translation: “But we have sent with them [Luke and Titus] our brother [unknown] whom we have tested for approval many times in many things, he being diligent, but now much more diligent, by reason of his great confidence toward you [Corinthians].”

Verses 23,24 — the endorsement of the delegation.

Verse 23 — “Whether” is e)ite e)ite — “whether or.” The first e)ite is translated ‘whether’ and this is an endorsement of Titus. The second e)ite is an endorsement of his collection team. “Whether of Titus” is u(per Titus, ‘whether on behalf of Titus.’

“my partner or with reference to you my co-worker” — Paul has delegated the authority to Titus and Paul is responsible for Titus and for the delegation.

“concerning you” — ‘with reference to you.’

Translation: “Whether on behalf of Titus my partner and with reference to you my co-workers: or our brethren [the delegation], agents of the churches, glory of Christ.”

“messengers” is a)postoloj, but it doesn’t mean apostle here. Sometimes this word is technical for the gift of apostleship but apostle also means agent. An administrator is the agent of the church, but an agent of the church is just as much in the glory of Christ as anyone else.

Verse 24 — “Wherefore” is thn o)un and it means ‘Therefore, in conclusion.’ The particle o)un can express either sequence or consequence. Here it expresses consequence.

“shew ye” — present active participle of e)ndeiknumai which means to demonstrate something you have. What is it that they have? Capacity to love Jesus Christ. That is the issue in the offering. “Therefore demonstrate the proof of your love.”

“the proof of your love” — ‘proof’ is e)ndeicij and it means proof or manifestation. The proof is giving.

“and our boasting [glorying] on behalf of you to them before the churches.”

Translation: “Therefore be demonstrating the proof of your love and our glorying on behalf of you to them before the churches.”

1968 2Corinthians 9:                                                                                   Lesson #49

49 08/29/1971 2Cor. 9:1–5 GIVING SPECIAL: Principles of giving (#9–10)

The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem

2Corinthians 9:1 Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints,

2Corinthians 9:2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them.

2Corinthians 9:3 But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be.

2Corinthians 9:4 Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident.

2Corinthians 9:5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.

Chapter 9

Verses 1-5, the Corinthian reception of the delegation.

Verse 1 — “For as touching,” is peri men gar. Peri is a preposition and a preposition usually has as an object a noun. The noun isn’t even in the first three words, it is diakonia in the genitive case. In between the preposition and its object are two particles, men gar. They are designed to get people who are half asleep to wake up. It is to alert people that a point is coming up. The word “for” is really “concerning.” This should be translated “For indeed concerning.”

“the ministering” — diakonoia. A better translation would be ‘For indeed concerning the ministry.’ The word diakonia means deacon when it is transliterated but when it is translated it often means ministering. Here in the context, since it has to do with helping the believers in Jerusalem, it means aid.

“to the saints” — e)ij plus a(gioj, every believer, but here it refers to a specific group of believers in Jerusalem. The offering is taken for saints in Jerusalem who at this time are at the point of starvation and have been dispossessed and persecuted and need financial help. So we translate: “For indeed concerning the aid to the saints.”

“it is” — present active indicative of e)imi, it keeps on being; “superfluous” — perissoj which means over and above or superfluous.

“for me” — dative of dignity and it refers to Paul as the human author. Superfluous describes the fact that Paul is going to repeat a principle which is well understood, which has even been applied by the Corinthians. The whole concept here is that even though members of the congregation understand the doctrine, have applied the doctrine, have properly used the doctrine, they don’t stop there, they go over and over it. Paul is going to do it again.

“to write” is a present active infinitive, the verb is grafw. The present tense is a dramatic present. The active voice: God the Holy Spirit uses human authors, the human author writing this is the apostle Paul, and the infinitive indicates purpose.

Verse 2 — the mental attitude of the Corinthians expressed.

“For I know” — o)ida, the perfect used as a present tense for absolute knowledge. It is a reference to the fact that Paul understands the original recipients of this epistle.

“the forwardness” — this word is very misleading. The noun is proqumia and it means ‘willingness.’ They are willing to cooperate. It connotes positive volition toward doctrine resulting in divine viewpoint in the frontal lobe and therefore a waiting to be told what to do in this case. They are willing, they are simply waiting for the proper instructions. Therefore Paul will provide through this delegation the proper instructions regarding this offering.

“of you mind” — the is no ‘your’ here and there is no word for ‘mind.’ Willingness is found in the soul and it is connected with the mind, so there is no need for the word ‘mind’ here.

“for which I boast of you” — he doesn’t boast at all. The word simply means he gives testimony concerning or on behalf ‘of you.’

“of you” is u(per, ‘on behalf of you.’

“to them of Macedonia” — Paul illustrates a biblical principle to the Macedonians by using the Corinthians as the illustration. The word ‘boast’ is kauxaomai which means to use as an illustration. Paul is in Macedonia preaching to Macedonians and when he gets to the subject of giving he uses the Corinthians as an illustration.

“that Achaia was ready a year ago” — Achaia is the province in which Corinth is located. ‘Was ready’ is not what he said. They are mentally prepared. It is the perfect passive indicative of paraskeuazw [para = the preposition of immediate source; skeuazw = to be equipped]. All Paul is saying is that they have been equipped to give from the immediate source of themselves. They were equipped by doctrine, by a divine viewpoint. When Titus had been there and started this offering they gave on the basis of the proper mental attitude. They were equipped to give on the basis of a true mental attitude, they were prepared to finish out the offering a year ago.

“and your zeal hath provoked very many” — ‘your zeal’ means their noble aspirations. Their nobles aspirations had “stimulated,” not provoked — e)reqizw, aorist active indicative. They were stimulated at the point in which they heard Paul talking to the Macedonian Christians and using the Corinthians as an illustration; “very many” — pleion. People everywhere had been stimulated on the basis of your mental attitude.

The ninth principle of giving

When carnality hindered the completion of the offering it was Corinthians rebound that again prepared them, but they had been prepared before. Doctrine prepared them in the first place; carnality hindered their mental attitude in giving. The Corinthians cannot give if they are carnal, so before they can give of their money they must rebound. Principle: Don’t part with your money unless you are in fellowship. Rebound is vital in the principle of giving, as is mental attitude. Nothing in the Christian life can be accomplished apart from the filling of the Spirit and the knowledge of Bible doctrine.

Translation: “For I know your willingness of mind for which I keep on giving laudatory illustration on behalf of you to the Macedonians, that southern Greece has been prepared a year ago by mental attitude; and your noble aspiration has stimulated very many.”

Verse 3 — the purpose of an advance delegation. “Yet” is the particle de which means “But.” Paul foresees a point of embarrassment: “I have sent” — aorist active indicative of pempw. It is a decision whereby he sends a delegation of three; “the brethren.”

“lest” introduces a negative purpose clause, i(na mh, ‘that not.’

“our boasting” is, again, ‘laudatory testimony’ — kauxhma; “of you” — u(per, ‘on behalf of you.’

“should not be in vain” — literally, “should not be falsified.’ “But I have sent the brethren [the delegation] in order that our laudatory testimony on behalf of you should not be falsified ...” The verb ‘falsified’ is kenow. In other words, Paul’s testimony is falsified unless the offering is completed on a biblical basis. The Corinthians could not complete the offering because of carnality. Now that they are back in fellowship they can complete it.

“in this behalf” is literally, ‘in this fragment’ — e)n plus the locative of meroj.

“that” — i(na introduces a secondary explanatory clause; “as” should be ‘even as’ — kaqwj; “I said” — imperfect active indicative of legw, ‘I kept saying.’

“ye may be ready” — ‘you have been prepared from the ultimate source of yourself.’

Translation: “But I have sent the brethren [the delegation], in order that our laudatory testimony on behalf of you should not be falsified in this fragment [of Paul’s message]; that, even as I kept on repeating, you have been prepared from the ultimate source of your soul.”

Verse 4 — the delegation gets Paul off the hook. “Lest haply” — mh pwj, ‘Lest in any way if.’ “If” introduces a third class condition which is undetermined but stated as the possibility.

“they of Macedonia” — simply the Macedononians; “come with me” — ‘accompany me’; “and find” — aorist active subjunctive of e)uriskw which means to discover.

“you [all]” — the Corinthians; “unprepared” — a triple compound noun, a)paraskeuastoj, which means prepared from the immediate source of self, and with a negative it means not to be prepared.

“we (that we say not, ye) — “that we, we do not say you should be ashamed” — kataisxunw. It means ‘we are embarrassed.' We would be embarrassed because we knew how you were at one time, then you were not that way. But when Titus went you recovered the doctrine necessary to do it as unto the Lord, and we are going to send this delegation down before anyone else gets out of fellowship.

“in this same confident boasting” is ‘in this assumption’ — u(postasij which here is an assumption. They assumed that the condition still exists, that the offering is completed because of the mental attitude. It may be completed, he doesn’t know at the moment.

Translation: “Let by any means that the Macedonians accompany me, and discover you unprepared (that we, we do not say you) would be embarrassed by this assumption.”

Verse 5 — the wisdom of the apostle Paul. “Therefore” is the particle o)un which shows a conclusion; “I thought” — the aorist active indicative of e(geomai which means here to make a command decision. “Therefore on the basis of possible false pressure to you and embarrassment to me I made an objective command decision.” The word ’necessary’ is the Greek noun a)nagkaioj. With e(geomai it forms and idiom: an objective command decision.

“to exhort” — literally, ‘to encourage’, parakalew; “the brethren [the delegation], that they would go before” — proerxomai which means to proceed. He wants an advance party to make sure that everything is secure in Corinth before he gets there.

“unto you” — e)ij means ‘toward you.’

Make up beforehand” is literally, ‘prepare in advance,’ aorist active subjunctive of prokatartizw, to equip or supply ahead of time; “your bounty” — e)ulogia which doesn’t mean bounty, it means blessing. The blessing belongs to the Corinthians who give out of the mental attitude. The blessing belongs to the believer whose mental attitude is doctrinal.

“whereof” is not found in the original; “ye had notice before” is ‘having previously promised’ — perfect passive participle of proepaggellomai which means a prior promise.

“that the same might be ready” — ‘might be’ is absolute status quo; ‘ready’ is e(toimoj which means prepared (already taken before we get there).

“as a matter of bounty” — literally, ‘as blessing.’ It must be prepared as a mental attitude thing or it is no good; “and not as covetousness” — literally, ‘and not as grudging (or giving pressure).’

Translation: “Therefore I made a command decision to the brethren, that they should proceed to you, and prepare in advance your blessing, which you had previously promised, that the same [the offering begun a year ago] might be prepared as a blessing, and not as grudging [or pressure] giving.”

1968 2Corinthians 9:                                                                                   Lesson #50

50 09/05/1971 2Cor. 9:6–7 GIVING SPECIAL: Principles of giving (#11–12); grace giving vs. legalistic giving

The Cheerful Giver

2Corinthians 9:6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

2Corinthians 9:7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Verse 6 — the law of giving. The background for this verse is the agricultural function of antiquity. “But this” — Touto de refers to the noun of the previous verse, ‘blessing’ — e)ulogia. The principle is that giving is classified as e)ulogia. Touto de is a Greek idiom for ‘reference to.’ It is actually showing that giving is classified as a blessing. The reason is because of the law of giving now stated. Paul has to defend something he said in the previous sentence. He has called giving a blessing. When people part with their money they may or may not regard that as a blessing. How is Paul going to defend the fact that he calls giving a blessing? He is going to do it by means of an idiom — “But this,” which means ‘How about this for an explanation?’

“He which soweth” — present active participle of speirw, and agricultural word which means the sowing of seed, the planting of seed. This is a present active participle to indicate the fact that this is a custom as old as the fall. We now have an analogy between sowing seed in an agricultural economy and giving.

“sparingly” — an adverb, feidomenwj. A good English word is ‘parsimoniously,’ which means to be miserly. The one sowing and holding back is what it really means. Then we go to the future tense, future from the time of sowing.

“reap” is qerizw, future active indicative. It means to harvest, and the harvest is in the future from the sowing. Therefore there is a law that comes from agriculture immediately. We have the same adverb used with the future active indicative, “shall harvest sparingly” or parsimoniously. This is a law and you can’t get around this law. If you are parsimonious in the amount of seed that you use and hold back you have a reduced harvest. “But this, the one sowing parsimoniously parsimoniously also shall reap [a harvest].”

“and he which soweth bountifully” — present active participle of speirw. But this time we have a prepositional phrase — e)pi plus the dative plural of e)logia. It should be translated, “but the one sowing on the blessing [on the principle of blessing].” Then the rest of the phrase, “on the principle of blessing also shall harvest.”

Translation: “But this [law of giving], the one who sows parsimoniously [give legalistically] also shall harvest parsimoniously [no blessing from legalism], the one sowing on the principle of blessing [grace giving] on the principle of blessing [grace] shall also harvest.”

You can harvest from grace, you can harvest from legalism. Legalism never gives you a thing. 1. They key is found in the noun e)ulogia, translated ‘blessing.’ It is found in verse 5, the previous verse.

2. E)ulogia refers to grace giving. This means that in an agricultural economy of the ancient world no sower ever earned the harvest. God supplies the seed, the sunshine, the rain, the chemistry of the soil, the protection from anything that would devastate the harvest. God provides everything that causes production.

The eleventh principle of giving: points 3-9

3. Giving according the principle of grace guarantees blessing.

4. In grace giving the person gives of self, the person gives of his mental attitude, and the person gives of his money. Money that is given in a grace basis is always accompanied by a mental attitude and is always connected with a motivation. The motivation is self. That is grace money.

5. In grace giving the believer sows in grace and reaps in grace. Therefore great blessing or e)ulogia.

6. In legalism giving the believers sows sparingly or gives to God with strings.

7. However there is no blessing in legalistic giving, regardless of the amount or the sacrifice involved.

8. Observe the amount of seed sown is not the issue. The issue, again, is in the word e)ulogia. That is grace giving. God only blesses on the basis of grace.

9. Therefore legalistic giving never blesses even though there may be great sacrifice or a large amount involved.

Verse 7 — amplification of grace giving. How do you give so that it isn’t the amount that counts but the condition of the soul.

“Every man” is not ‘every man.’ Giving is no an every man deal, giving is an individual situation. The first word is e(kastoj and the translation should be “each one.” Every believer is an individual and what you say for one believer doesn’t apply to another, whether it is money or anything else.

“according as” — kaqwj, according to the norm or standard. The norm or standard for giving is found in the soul, not in the pocket book. The amount and the act of giving is the extension of doctrine in the right lobe. Capacities of all kinds are based on doctrine, and it must be doctrine in the soul.

“he purposeth” — perfect middle indicative of proaireomai [pro = before; airew = to choose] which means to choose beforehand. It means to prefer and that means determination with volition or determination with motivation. “Each one according to the norm or standard as he has determined in his right lobe.” Why his right lobe? That is where the doctrine is.

“not grudgingly” — this is ‘not out from distress of mind,’ e)k plus luph which means ‘pressure,’ and here it means distress of mind. That means because you feel trapped, you feel forced to give.

“or of necessity” — e)k plus a)nagkh. This means pressure gimmicks, compulsion.

The twelfth principle of giving

1. Giving is a mental attitude.

2. Since giving is from the right lobe or heart it must be based on the daily function of GAP.

3. Ability to give the grace way depends, then, on Bible doctrine in the right lobe/capacity.

4. Therefore capacity for giving is the same as capacity for life and capacity for love — doctrine in the right lobe.

5. Doctrine in the source of all capacities in phase two.

“for God” — o( qeoj, the God, God the Father; “loveth” — present active indicative of a)gapaw, mental attitude love. He loves a principle here: grace.

“cheerful” — i(laroj which means gracious; “giver” — dothj.

Translation: “Each one according as he has determined by means of his heart, so give; not out from pressure of mind, not from compulsion of emotion: the God keeps on loving the gracious giver.”

Summary

1. For a believer to be a grace giver he must have Bible doctrine in the right lobe. In other words, a grace giver is a person who has capacity for life, for love.

2. Doctrine comes from the daily function of GAP.

3. Therefore capacity for grace giving is related to capacity for grace living and grace loving.

4. Therefore all worship and all capacity for life is based on Bible doctrine in the right lobe.

1968 2Corinthians 9:                                                                                   Lesson #51

51 09/12/1971 2Cor. 9:8 GIVING SPECIAL: Principle of giving (#13)

2Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

Verses 8 & 9, grace provision in giving.

Verse 8 — “And God.” The word ‘God’ is not God at all, it is “And the God,” o( qeoj. This generally refers to God the Father in the New Testament, the author of operation grace; “is able” — present active indicative of dunatew.

“to make all grace abound toward you” — aorist active infinitive of perisseuw which means to superabound. ‘God is able’ is a present active indicative and it is linear aktionsart, there never was a time when He didn’t have the ability and there never is a time when God doesn’t have the ability ‘to make superabound.’ But we change tense: the aorist active infinitive which means in any point of time. You could be broke right now and a millionaire tomorrow if God decided that is the way He wanted to do it. God has the ability ‘to make superabound.’ This means that you will never have a spiritual need that God does not provide. It also means that God will provide the other needs too. We have spiritual needs and we have material/monetary needs. Your spiritual needs are met through the daily function of GAP, the intake of Bible doctrine. Your material needs are met by grace. If you as a believer have anything to give, God provided one way or another.

The word “all” in front of grace simply indicates God provides not only spiritually but also materially. There are times when God does not provide materially for some kind of a test, something that needs to be emphasised in the spiritual realm.

“that” introduces a purpose clause; “ye always” — adverb pantote which means ‘at all times.’ This is talking about phase two; “having” is a present active participle, e)xw — constantly having; “all sufficiency” — one word, a)utarkeia, a technical philosophical term used by the stoics. The stoics always pressed to be self-sustaining in every way. The stoic sought to make each man an island and he said in effect that if you were completely independent of all human beings and things then you could have happiness. This word is taken from the philosophy of stoicism and is placed in the New Testament as a technical word. It connotes sufficiency, not self sufficiency but sufficiency within one’s self based upon grace, based upon Bible doctrine.

“in all things” is e)n plus the locative — ‘in the sphere of all things.’ All things refers to spiritual things as well as material things. In other words, God operates in grace on the basis of capitalism. Capitalism is what grace provides in the spiritual realm and in the material realm. God does all of the providing.

“may abound” — to superabound, the present active subjunctive. Now for the first time we have what might be called a discordant note; perisseuw means to superabound but it is in the subjunctive mood here. God may provide you with everything in the world materialistically. That does not mean that you are going to superabound. The only thing that superabounds is that which is given on the basis of your own grace character. Doctrine produces grace in the soul — grace orientation. When you give from grace you give on the basis of grace in your soul. This is the sowing, and whatever you give multiplies. Here the multiplication is in the realm of divine good.

“to every good work” — the preposition e)ij is directional, ‘toward good work’ which is divine good.

Translation: “And the God has the ability to cause all grace to superabound to you; that always having an all sufficiency in all things, you may superabound with reference to every good work.”

Thirteenth principle of giving

1. God provides in grace both spiritual and material blessings which are combined in giving. One cannot exist without the other.

2. The principle is that the inflow of grace should result in the outflow of grace.

3. In 2 Corinthians 8:7 reference is given to the spiritual provision of grace. The provision is patterned on the basis of grace at the cross — 2 Corinthians 8:9;9:15.

4. Giving is one of the greatest grace challenges in phase two. It takes more grace to give than almost anything else.

1968 2Corinthians 9:                                                                                   Lesson #52

52 09/19/1971 2Cor. 9:9–11 GIVING SPECIAL: Principle of giving (#14)

2Corinthians 9:9 As it is written, "He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."

2Corinthians 9:10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

2Corinthians 9:11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

Verse 9 — the documentation is taken from Psalm 112:9. “It is written” is a perfect passive indicative of grafw to indicate the principle of inspiration. The perfect tense not only implies the mechanics of inspiration (God the Holy Spirit providing information and this information being written by the writer of scripture) but it also indicates the permanence of the canon of scripture. The Word of God lives and abides forever, there never will be a time when the Word of God does not exist. So we generally translate this, “It stands written,” and this particular phrase is always a citation from the Old Testament.

“He that dispersed abroad” — aorist active indicative of skorpizw which means to disperse, to scatter, to give liberally. It was used of a sower sowing a lot of seed but it really means to give generously. This is a reference to God Himself and this is our testimony whether we recognise it or not. “He has given generously.” The aorist tense indicates eternity past. The active voice: God provided everything we would ever need at any time in our lifetime billions of years ago. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that we did not exist at the time He provided these things, that He knew what we would be like, that we would be undeserving and yet He provided them anyway. Everything that we ever need was provided in eternity past, not in time. God knew our needs and therefore He provided them on the basis of His character.

“He hath given” — a repetition but with a different verb, didomi, aorist active indicative. This is giving in time, when God’s giving is fulfilled in a point of time when we needed it.

“to the poor” — dative of advantage from penhj says it is to our advantage to be poor. This does not refer to poverty in the ordinary sense of the word; far from it. This is not poverty, this is helplessness. “Poor” here refers to the beneficiaries, all believers in the sense that they can earn or deserve or work for absolutely nothing. Since that is the case God must therefore provide everything.

“his righteousness” — dikaiosunh refers to righteousness as a virtue. It anticipates verse 10. We have this word used in verse 9 for God but we have the same word used in verse 10 for the believer priest in the process of giving. His righteousness means His grace virtue. He gives on the basis of grace.

“remaineth forever” — the word ‘remaineth’ is the present active indicative of menw, ‘keeps on abiding.’ God maintained His righteousness and gave on the basis of the cross, therefore God’s giving is virtuous; “forever” is e)ij ton a)iwna, a prepositional phrase, ‘with reference to the ages of the ages.’ This is an idiom for forever. In other words, God has found a way to keep His character intact and to give to us whether we deserve it or not. Application: Every time you and I give we must give on the basis of dikaiosunh. We may not have the character of God but when we give it must be grace virtue. We must give on the basis of who and what we are before the Lord as a result of the daily function of GAP.

Translation: “Even as it stands written, He has given generously; he gave to the poor: his virtue-righteousness abides forever.”

Anticipating verse 10

1. At the end of verse 10 we have dikaiosunh again. At that point we see the harvest of God’s virtue-righteousness in grace giving. The grace giving of the believer is a manifestation of God’s virtue-righteousness in providing.

2. God provides money in grace, the believer gives money in grace. But with that God first provides the spiritual power in the soul and the believer gives from and with his soul.

3. The believer’s grace giving results in increasing the believer’s grace-virtue.

4. The increase of the believer’s grace-virtue enlarges his capacity for life and love.

5. Therefore giving is often the key for capacity for life.

Verse 10 — the multiplication of grace through giving.

“Now he that ministereth” — present active participle. In verse 9 we have “He hath dispersed abroad,” the sowing of a large amount of seed. The word in verse 10 is not ‘ministereth’ at all, it is e)pixorhgew which means for a man to provide the money and the expense for the chorus in a Greek tragedy. First of all to do so he had to be a wealthy man. Secondly, he had to be totally interested in the whole purpose behind drama. This, then, is a verb which is going to be taken from Greek drama of the fifth century BC and placed in a new context of grace giving. It means to give generously and extensively and it is now linked up with the word ‘seed’ — sperma. The seed here refers to money, it is analogous to it. We have now gone from God’s grace-virtue in providing for our soul needs and our material needs to the believer’s function under this principle.

Fourteenth principle of giving

1. E)pixorhgew, the first verb in verse 10, plus skorizw, the first verb in verse 9, indicates that God is the source of the money we give.

2. But only that part of the money which is given (the seed being sown) is multiplied.

3. God does not multiply the money that is kept from the offering. God intends for you to keep money, to eat food, to wear clothes. The money for those things is not the money that is sown here. The only money that is being regarded here is that portion you give as unto the Lord.

4. The more money the believer sows or gives the more money God supplies for that.

5. God multiplies the seed being sown. The seed being sown in the harvest of divine good.

6. Therefore grace giving experiences the multiplication of grace rather than the addition of grace. Cf. Proverbs 11:24,25.

7. God adds seed (money) for living, but God multiplies what we give provided we give the Bible way.

“to the sower” — the sower now is the believer priest. This is the present active participle of speirw which is used as a noun. This is the money that God provides for you.

“both minister bread for food” — the word ‘minister’ is xorhgew which means to defray the cost of a chorus in Greek drama. It means to supply funds. The word bread is a)rtoj which means bread but it stands for necessities of life. Food is one of the necessities for life and obviously God is going to provide for the necessities of life, except under extreme pressure conditions where some other spiritual benefit is derived through grace.

“for your food” — this is a prepositional phrase with e)ij and brwsij which is the act of eating. So it is “bread for the purpose of eating.” In other words, God intends for you to live, He intends for you to eat bread, He provides the money for you to eat bread. It is not His intention for you to go without bread. That is added and it cannot be multiplied.

“multiply your seed sown” — future active indicative. It is a future tense used as a present tense. The future tense is used to show that one thing results in the other, and we have the word plhqunw which means to multiply. When the seed is in the hand of the sower it is called sperma, but once it is sown it is called spora. And spora multiplies.

“and increase the fruits [harvest] of your righteousness” — the word ‘increase’ is another future active indicative, used as a present tense, but the future indicates results. The word is a)ucanw. This is a multiplication type word, it means to increase from the seed sown. The word “fruits” is not fruits, it is a noun genhma which means ‘harvest.’ The harvest is dikaiosunh — grace virtue. The believer’s grace-virtue comes from grace giving.

Translation: Now he [God] that provides graciously the seed to the sower [the believer] provides graciously for the act of eating, and at the same time multiplies your seed sown, and even enlarges the harvest of your grace virtue.”

Verse 11 — “Being enriched” is the present passive participle ploutizw which means to become very rich. The passive voice means to receive riches; “in everything” — literally, “in the sphere of all things.” This is e)n plus the locative of paj. Our enrichment is both addition and multiplication. On the addition side we have the materialistic things of life which accumulate to us. On the multiplication side we have the divine good, grace virtue, and capacity for life. One is a priestly ministry and the other is a human survival concept.

“to all bountifulness” — the preposition e)ij should be translated ‘because.’ Then we have the accusative of paj plus a(plothj which means generosity of soul or mind.

“which causeth” — katergazomai which generally means something on the inside coming out. Giving is something on the inside coming out as a result — inside the soul.

“the act of thanksgiving to God through us,” literally. You cannot give without someone somewhere giving thanks.

Translation: “In all things being enriched because of your generosity of mind [or soul] which brings out as a result the act of thanksgiving to the God through us.”

Those who are the beneficiaries of the money are thankful to God.

1968 2Corinthians 9:                                                                                   Lesson #53

53 09/26/1971 2Cor. 9:12 GIVING SPECIAL: Principle of giving (#15); summary

2Corinthians 9:12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.

2Corinthians 9:13 By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others,

2Corinthians 9:14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you.

2Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Verse 12 — the word “administration” is diakonia in the Greek which has five different uses. It connotes service in some form. Secondly, it was used for the preparation of a meal — either purchasing it, cooking it, serving it. The third concept is service in the office of a prophet or teacher. In this sense diakonia is sometimes used of a pastor. The fourth use has the concept of the distribution of alms, aid, or support. The fifth use has to do with the administration of the office of deacon. The word used in this verse has to do with the distribution of alms, the administration of giving. The distribution of the money comes only after the collection.

“of this service” — the word for ‘service’ is leitourgia. This originally meant a public service discharged by a citizen at his own expense. Here is means a sacred service of some form. This is the word from which we derive the English word ‘litergy.’ This should be translated, “Because the administration of this sacred service.”

Between “service” and the next word, “not,” is the verb to be, the present active indicative of e)imi. It should read “in not.”

“supplieth” — present active participle projanaplhrow [plhrow = to fill or fill up a deficiency; a)na = again; proj = face to face]. Perhaps the easiest way to translate it in this context is ‘filling up a deficiency of what the saints lack.’ “Because the administration of this sacred service is not only filling up the deficiency of the lack of service ...”

“but also is abundant” — perisseuw in the present active participle: “constantly superabounding.”

“by many thanksgivings” — dia plus the genitive of polluj plus e)uxaristia, generally used for thanksgiving on the basis of something given in grace. That is why the Lord’s table is called the Eucharist.

Translation: “Because the administration of this sacred service is not only filling up the deficiency of the lack of the saints, but also superabounds through many thanksgivings unto the God [God the Father].”

Verses 13-15, the result of great giving.

Verse 13 — “Whiles.” There is no such word. The first word is dia plus the genitive — “through.”

“the experiment” — the genitive singular of dokimh which means testing for the purpose of approval. “Through the testing for approval.”

“of this ministration” — diakonia, ‘administration.’ This refers to the aid. First of all there is the giving, then there is the collecting, the transportation, and the distribution. That is administration.

“they glorify [the] God” — present active participle of docazw. The Jerusalem believers glorify God because this administration of giving has been tested and approved. It was tested at the point of giving, it had to be grace giving. It was tested at the point of administration, it had to be properly administered. It was tested at the point of transportation, it had to be properly transported from Corinth to Jerusalem. It was tested at the distribution point which was Jerusalem itself. The believers who had needs, those needs were provided from these funds.

“for your professed subjection” — incorrectly translated. This is e)pi th u(potagh thj o(mologiaj. The word e)pi means not ‘for’ but ‘upon.’ ‘Subjection’ is next in the Greek — u(potagh means ‘subordination’ to authority. ‘Professed’ is ‘acknowledgement.’ Literally this is, “upon the subordination of your acknowledgement.” O(mologew means to acknowledge, not confess; “to the gospel of Christ” is correct.

What is the Corinthian acknowledgement to the gospel of Christ? The gospel of Christ came to them in grace, they give in grace. This is a parallel between the gospel as a principle of grace and Corinthian giving as a principle of grace.

Fifteenth principle of giving

1. Giving is a test when you give to something you instinctively do not like. (The Corinthians are Greek Gentiles and instinctively they do not like Jews)

2. The Corinthians were the antithesis of the believers of Jerusalem. The Corinthians were indicted for antinomianism, the Jewish believers of Jerusalem were indicted for legalism. Antinomianism and legalism are antithetical. So there is a natural antagonism, both racial and functional.

3. However, diakonia + leitourghj giving is a service to the Lord. So when the Corinthians give they know where it is going but they still give as unto the Lord. The Jews know about the Corinthians but they still pray unto the Lord for them.

4. Giving is a sign of recognition of the authority of grace. The word for authority is u(potagh.

5. Grace giving demands grace authority.

6. Grace authority is found in the gospel.

7. The noun e)uaggelion refers to the doctrines of the gospel which are all grace doctrines.

“and for your liberal distribution” is literally, ‘through the generosity of contribution unto them.’ The word ‘liberal’ is a)plothj and it means generosity.

“unto them” is ‘toward themselves,’ e)ij autouj; “and toward all.”

Translation: “Through the testing for approval of this ministry [grace giving] they glorify the God upon the subordination of your acknowledgement to the gospel of Christ, through the generosity of the contribution toward themselves, and toward all.”

The epilogue principle

1. Emotional giving is not grace giving.

2. Emotional giving is rapport giving.

3. But grace giving is not motivated by rapport or computability.

4. Therefore grace giving is not emotional giving.

5. The Bible advocates grace giving but not emotional giving.

6. Both the filling of the Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine is the basis for grace giving.]

7. Emotional giving is human good, human viewpoint, and in opposition to Bible doctrine.

Verse 14 — “And by their prayer” is dehsij which means the act of intercessory prayer; “for you” is literally, ‘on behalf of you’ — u(per.

“which long after you” — the participle here is e)pipoqew which means a deep love — ‘having a deep love.’

“because of the surpassing,” not ‘the exceeding’, “grace of God.”

“in you” should be ‘upon you.’

Translation: “And by their intercessory prayer on your behalf, a longing after you with deep love because of the surpassing grace of [the] God upon you.”

Verse 15 — “Thanks” does not occur, it is Xarij tw qew — “Grace to the God.” Then we have the preposition repeated, e)pi again, ‘upon.’

“his unspeakable gift” should be ‘the indescribable gift.’ The word for ‘unspeakable is an adjective, a)nekdihghtoj, and it means ‘indescribable’ — beyond human language. The word for “gift” is dwrea which means free gift, no strings gift. It is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Translation: “Grace to the God upon the indescribable gift.”

1968 2Corinthians 10:                                                                                 Lesson #54

54 10/03/1971 2Cor. 10:1–2 GIVING SPECIAL: Paul's opposition and great mental courage

Paul Defends His Ministry

2Corinthians 10:1 I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!—

2Corinthians 10:2 I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh.

Chapter 10

Chapter 10 deals with the subject of thinking, it could be rightly entitled ‘the power of a thought.’ This is the dynamics of divine viewpoint. In the Christian life a thought can make you or break you. This is taught both in Proverbs 23:7 and in Isaiah 55:7-9. Mental attitude is one of the most vital principles in life whether a person is a believer or an unbeliever. It is simply amplified as far as the Christian life is concerned.

The chapter is divided into three parts. The first four verses deal with a briefing regarding the spiritual conflict. Verses 5-15 deal with mental attitude in the spiritual conflict. Verses 13-18 deal with divine viewpoint dynamics.

Verse 1 — “Now I Paul myself.” ‘I’ is a first person singular pronoun which should be used when necessary. It is good grammar and good sense to use it. Obviously it is going to offend someone somehow. “I myself” is about as strong as you can get, but you must remember that these words are written under God the Holy Spirit by a man in fellowship, and the greatest Bible teacher probably of all time. In the Greek it is A)utoj de e)gw Pauloj, even stronger than in the English. Literally, that translates, “I myself, even I Paul.” That is the way it starts because Paul knew his ground. He had absolute perfect confidence, spiritual confidence, confidence that is backed up by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Summary

1. This phrase begins the third section of the 2nd epistle to the Corinthians. In this third section Paul defends his authority and his ministry against his critics.

2. In this verse we begin with a very dogmatic phraseology and then Paul quotes Corinthians criticism which reflects their bad mental attitude plus their rejection of Paul’s authority.

3. The legalists of Corinth, as well as others, are trying to discredit Paul and his message through maligning, criticism, judging and slander.

4. Up to this point Paul dictates the epistle through an amanuensis, but starting in verse one the language means he has personally stopped dictating and has picked up the pen to write himself.

5. All of the criticisms which are going to be quoted throughout this chapter are an attack upon Paul’s authority, his ministry, his person, his message.

6. They are designed to destroy him in the area of his own mental attitude.

7. The Corinthians attack on Paul, however, does not reflect on Paul. It does reflect on the Corinthians who have been neutralised by scar tissue, emotional revolt and reversionism.

“beseech” is the present active indicative of parakalew. This word can mean one of two things: to comfort or to encourage. Here it means to encourage and comfort, both. When you put the two together you have exhortation.

“you” is ‘all of you.’

“by” is dia plus the genitive which means by or through; “Meekness” — prauthj. In Attic Greek prauthj meant meekness or humility. In the Koine Greek it is stronger, it means courtesy or mental attitude thoughtfulness, or mental attitude objectiveness. In the spiritual life it refers to grace orientation.

“and gentleness” — e)pieikeia. This word takes on a technical meaning also, not so much gentleness as graciousness. A better translation as far as its technical connotation is concerned is “grace application.”

“of Christ” — ‘of the Christ.’

Now he quotes the first criticism, but not the last. This is just a phrase to give us the idea of one of the critical statements about Paul. The relative pronoun here refers to Paul, he is quoting his critics: “who” — o(j. This is quotation, it is not Paul’s attitude about Paul. This is the Corinthians attitude toward Paul. These people, most of whom Paul led to the Lord, have turned against him: “who is presence” — kata proswpon [kata = according to; proswpon = face]. This is an idiomatic prepositional phrase for personal presence.

There is no verb here, it is very elliptical; “base” is the adjective tapeinoj which means groveling. Paul had a ministry of great sweetness in the early days of Corinth but they now describe his sweetness as groveling. It was a genuine sweetness and patience so necessary with new believers. But in their reversionism what to them was once Paul’s sweetness is now groveling. They are saying in effect that Paul was obsequious; “among you.”

“but being absent” — present active participle of a)peimi; “and bold” — qarrew which refers to mental boldness, mental courage, moral courage. The mental courage was expressed in the very content of 1 Corinthians; “toward you” is a directional pronoun e)ij. 1 Corinthians was toward the Corinthians originally.

Translation: “But I myself, even I Paul, exhort you all through the grace orientation and grace application of the Christ, I who in personal presence groveling among you all, but being absent have courage, even mental courage, toward you.”

Summary

1. In other words, the Corinthians critics claim that Paul was obsequious in their presence but has courage when absent and writing to them.

2. Paul, they say then, is a squeaking mouse when he preaches in Corinth but a roaring lion when he gets outside the city limits and writes a letter.

3. Hence, they claim that Paul the preacher and Paul the writer are two different people.

4. The criticism is subtle and biting but it is not true as demonstrated by Paul’s bracing of Peter in Antioch, recorded in Galatians 2 a long time before 2 Corinthians.

Verse 2 illustrates the principle that being misunderstood is a part of the pastor’s operation and function in the angelic conflict. We have again in the English, “But I beseech you.” But we do not have the same word as we have in verse 1, i.e. parakalew. Now we have deomai which means to make a request.

Anticipating the verse

1. Paul is making a request: “I request” — present middle indicative. The present tense is dramatic. The middle voice: if they listen to his request they will be benefited. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that Paul is making a request at this time. He is actually requesting a complete change of mental attitude on the part of his critics. He is not demanding it, he is requesting them to consider it so that it can become a matter of their own volition and not coercion from Paul.

2. In doing this Paul has already appealed to their grace orientation and to the doctrine they have learned in the past.

3. Paul continues to be absent from Corinth because he does not desire to come back and get face to face with them on a get tough basis.

4. Paul desires to return to Corinth under relaxed conditions which are ideal for teaching.

5. But the continual nit-picking, harping, criticism, gives Paul no freedom to communicate doctrine.

6. Therefore Paul writes to the Corinthians instead of coming personally.

7. Since Paul’s last visit to Corinth many believers have become involved in the principle of reversion.

8. The same concept is found in other parts of the Word of God — Jeremiah chapters 42-44; Hebrews 5:11-6:6; Galatians 5:4 — where believers through neglect of doctrine, neglect of the function of GAP, have retrogressed.

9. For this reason, because of the subsequent reversionism after 1 Corinthians [failure to respond to it] Paul writes instead of coming in person.

10. Paul’s attitude is that there are so many people who are relaxed and positive and who want the Word of God that life is too short to hang around the carping Corinthians. So he chooses to remain away from Corinth.

11. Their scar tissue and emotional revolt of the soul have rejected Paul’s authority, and rejection of Paul’s authority always substitutes some form of verbal antagonism and criticism.

12. This does not change Paul’s love for them but it does change his modus operandi. Paul now states that if he comes in person he will get tough unless there is a change of mental attitude.

“that” is not found in the original but it is found in the aorist infinitive, so it is a bona fide translation; “I may not be bold” is an aorist active infinitive from qarrew, plus the simple negative mh. Obviously this verb is used to describe Paul’s get tough attitude in 1 Corinthians. However, he does not want to use his moral courage and mental attitude at this time in a face to face situation. Therefore he says he is not coming back, “that I may not be bold when I am present.”

“with that confidence” — the instrumental case of a noun, pepoiqhsij. This is built upon the perfect tense stem of peiqw, it is about the strongest Greek word for confidence. The prefix has a reduplication of the perfect tense and therefore it means ‘strong confidence.’

So far the translation should read: “But I request not to be bold being present by means of the confidence.”

“wherewith” is with which; “I think to be bold” is I assume to be bold. The word think is logizomai, to assume; “to be bold” is this time it is tolmaw which is overt courage; qarrew is inner or mental or moral courage. Tolmaw means courage in face to face teaching. He has the courage to do it; he prefers not to do it. Therefore this passage should read: “But I request not to have the inner courage by means of great confidence when I am present, inner courage with which I assume to demonstrate overt courage upon [or, over] some.”

Summary

1. Paul through doctrine has great moral courage which is vitally necessary in teaching the Word of God.

2. Many Corinthian believers have reverted. They have gone from an ECS to an emotional revolt. Under reversionism they have become bullies, critics, nit-pickers, petty. They are anti-authoritarian.

3. But Paul has the moral courage whether present or absent from them.

4. Paul will be faithful to Bible doctrine.

5. Therefore in communication Paul will let the chips fall where they may, whether it is verbal or written.

6. It is an age-old principle that believers in reversionism react to Bible doctrine. This is illustrated in the days of Moses and also in the days of Jeremiah.

7. Moses, Jeremiah, and Paul were not only great communicators of doctrine but also possessed one other thing in common. They possessed qarrew, mental courage. They all faced emotional revolt in others and stood up to it.

The next phrase emphasises how reversion type believers express their emotional revolt — by judging Paul. They say he walks after the flesh and is high-handed in dealing with them. However, in reality Paul simply used his authority against reversionism. It was his critics in Corinth who were carnal, not Paul. Therefore Paul’s critics ascribe to Paul their very own tradition — carnality.

“which assume” [not ‘think’] — present active participle. Since they have entered into reversionism they continually logizomai. The present tense is linear aktionsart. They keep on assuming. Here is the destructive power of mental attitude sins. This is the rejection of Paul’s authority and Paul’s teaching, the expression of human viewpoint under the doctrine of reversionism.

“as if we” — when Paul says ‘we’ he is not only referring to himself, they have reacted to their other pastors — “walked according to the flesh.” Literally, “constantly assuming us as walking according to the standards of the flesh.” Sarc in the accusative singular is used for the old sin nature.

Translation: : “But I request not to have the inner courage by means of great confidence [in teaching] when I am present, inner courage with which I assume to demonstrate overt courage upon [or, over] some, who constantly are assuming us as walking according to the standard of the flesh.”

Summary of the doctrine of reversionism

1. Reversionism is the believer going from the ECS to the emotional revolt of the soul. For the unbeliever reversionism is going from the establishment in the conscience to emotional revolt of the soul. Unbelievers also suffer from reversionism.

2. This is accomplished when a believer begins to neglect Bible doctrine and fails to function daily under GAP — 1 Corinthians 10:12; 2 Peter 2 with regard to the unbeliever.

3. Illustrations:

a) The Mizpah crowd of Jeremiah’s generation — Jeremiah chapters 42, 43, 44.

b) The Exodus generation in their attitude toward Moses.

c) The Corinthians who are critical of the apostle Paul — 2 Corinthians 10:1,2.

4. The principle of reversionism is described by a phrase in Galatians 5:4 — “falling from grace.” (Failure to operate under grace)

5. Mental attitude sins are a major contributor to reversionism — Hebrews 12:15.

6. The recipients of the epistle to the Hebrews were involved in reversionism — Hebrews 5:11-14.

7. Reversion recovery demands not only rebound but the daily function of GAP in the field of basic doctrine — Hebrews 6:1,2.

8. Reversion recovery is impossible under circumstances of apostasy — Hebrews 6:3-6.

9. Reversionists always reject the authority of great Bible teachers, and by application, anyone who teaches the Bible. E.g. Moses, Jeremiah, Paul — their teaching was rejected by reversionist believers, Exodus 16:20; 17:3; Numbers 11:5; Jeremiah 44:16; 2 Corinthians 10:1,2.

10. Those involved in reversion are overpowered by their circumstances and suffer from a tortured soul — 2 Peter 2:7,8.

11. Reversionism is also described as an unstable soul — 2 Peter 2:14. Such a believer involved becomes classified as “cursed.” He buys the teaching of false teachers.

1968 2Corinthians 10:                                                                                 Lesson #55

55 10/10/1971 2Cor. 10:3–4 Doctrine of reversionism; spiritual weapons for spiritual warfare

2Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.

2Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

Verse 3 — the problem here is that there is no word for ‘though.’ The first word is gar, an enclitic particle designed to make a transition between the first two verses where Paul quotes his critics and to make a transitional answer. The answer is semantic in nature. It is also slightly sarcastic.

“we walk” — not found. This is a present active participle of peripatew and it should be translated “For walking around in the flesh.” Peripatew presents a concept called the true semantic value of interpretation. Semantics have been used since time immemorial for debater’s technique. So Paul is walking in the flesh, therefore he is alive, he is a part of the angelic conflict, but he is not carnal when he uses a club on the Corinthians — which is their accusation.

“in the flesh” — the preposition e)n plus the locative of sarc is ‘in the sphere of the flesh.’ “For walking about in the sphere of the flesh.” In using the word ‘flesh’ here remember that Paul often has used it for the old sin nature. That is where the Corinthians picked up the idea of using it for the OSN and using it as an additional criticism of Paul. The Corinthians were saying, ‘When he writes us a letter like 1 Corinthians he is in the sphere of the flesh, he is operating under the sphere of the OSN.’ They had the audacity to say that 1 Corinthians was written in part while Paul was carnal. There is no such thing as any writer of any book in the Bible being out of fellowship at the time of writing. Paul assigns to the word sarc on the locative its true semantic value, the human body.

Therefore Paul’s soul walking in the sphere of Paul’s body is in view here. As long as his soul is in his body he is alive. Note the contrast, however, coming up: “in the flesh … after the flesh.” Paul says we walk about in the sarc but not kata plus sarc. So we have a contrast of prepositions. The Corinthians said that Paul walked about according to the flesh — kata sarc. Therefore e)n plus sarc is a true statement in contrast with the critical statement, kata plus sarc.. It is true that Paul is walking in the sphere of the flesh. That is, the soul is in his body. It is not true that Paul is teaching according to the standard of the flesh — kata sarc. Kata sarc is old sin nature; e)n sarc is human body. Paul is walking in his human body but not according to the old sin nature. Paul teaches in the sphere of his flesh. His soul has to be in his body to teach.

Semantics is the science of meanings in contrast to phonetics which is the science of sound. The critics changed the semantics of sarc by using the preposition kata, but Paul uses not only a true statement but true phonetics. Paul assigns the true meaning to sarc by using the preposition e)n. By so doing Paul destroys the debater’s technique in the semantics and give a an accurate account of his teaching. To teach Paul must have a body (sarc) to house his soul. He does not teach, however, under the control of the old sin nature.

Just because Paul gets tough with his language to the Corinthians it does not mean that he is out of fellowship. Hard-nosed teaching is not carnal teaching. The Corinthian critics contend according to the standard of the flesh — kata plus sarc, but Paul correctly states that he teaches e)n plus sarc, in the human body.

“we do not war” — present middle indicative of strateuw. The present tense is linear aktionsart, we keep on warring or fighting. Here it is the spiritual warfare of the angelic conflict. Plus the negative, “we do not fight [in the angelic conflict] according to the standard of the flesh.”

“according to the flesh” — kata plus sarc.. At the end of verse 2 kata plus sarc quotes the criticism; at the end of verse 3 kata plus sarc rebukes the criticism.

Translation: “For walking in the flesh we do not fight [in the angelic conflict] according to the flesh [OSN].” So the criticism of Paul is not valid.

Verse 4 — spiritual weapons for a spiritual warfare. This is an amplification of e)n sarc. In the angelic conflict, since it is a spiritual warfare, it demands the use of spiritual weapons.

“For” is the enclitic particle gar, but this time it is a causal particle used in an epexegetic sense. It means to give additional explanation.

“weapons” — the word used here indicates that there is more than one, the nominative plural of o(plon. It is taken from the verb o(plizw which means to equip a hoplite (soldier in the Greek army). It is in the plural to indicate that God has provided numerous weapons in the angelic conflict.

“of our warfare” — the noun strateia means military conflict. Here it refers to angelic conflict.

“are not carnal” — sarkikoj again in the nominative plural. It means something material. In the angelic conflict we do not have human weapons, we have spiritual weapons.

“but” is a conjunction to set up what they really are — a)lla. This is a contrast now between human weapons and divine equipment for the spiritual conflict.

“mighty” — the nominative plural of the noun dunatoj which really means attributes of power, divine power here by way of contrast to human weapons.

“through God” — the instrumental case of qeoj, ‘by means of God’ or ‘through the instrumentality of God.’

“to” is not ‘to’ at all, it is the preposition proj plus the accusative which generally means face to face with, but if you are face to face with someone it can also mean against, and that is the meaning here.

“the pulling down of strongholds” or ‘against the demolition of fortifications.’ The words “pulling down” is kaqairesij which used in a military sense means ‘demolition, destruction.’

“strongholds” — o)xurwma which means a fortified position, a fortification.

Summary

1. The devil’s fortification system can resist any attack of human weapons, human viewpoint, human ability, human power. But God has provided in grace divine equipment, spiritual weapons, to demolish the cosmic defences of Satan.

2. However, scar tissue of the soul, emotional revolt, reversionism, cannot attack or succeed against Satanic fortifications.

3. Therefore we need spiritual weapons for spiritual warfare. We need grace equipment to assault the defenso systems of Satan in this intensified stage of the angelic conflict.

4. This equipment and weapons is supplied through the daily function of GAP which produces the divine viewpoint in the right lobe, produces the proper norms and standards, produces the vocabulary with which to think and apply. You cannot think and apply if you do not have a doctrinal vocabulary and also the divine viewpoint.

5. Therefore a corrected translation: “For the equipment and weapons of our conflict, not human attributes, but the attributes of power through God against the destruction of [Satan’s] fortification.”

6. The fortified systems of Satan are described in the next verse where an additional verb for destroying or demolishing is used, the command to demolish the Satanic system.

1968 2Corinthians 10:                                                                                 Lesson #56

56 11/14/1971 2Cor. 10:5; Isa. 55:7–9 Doctrine of mental attitude; Satanic systems of thought

2Corinthians 10:5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Isa 55:7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Isa 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.

Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Verse 5 — the idea of bringing every thought into captivity for Christ has been interpreted in as many ways as there are mixed up people in the Christian life.

“Casting down” is not bad, but the next word “imaginations” is entirely wrong. There is no word for imagination in the whole passage, the only imaginations are the distortions of the passage. “Casting down” is a present active participle of kaqairew [kaq is kata; airew = lift up, to lift up according to a standard]. Kata also means ‘down’ and with a)irew it means to lift up and tear down. So when kaqairew together it means lifting up and tearing down. However, this was used as a military word so it means to assault and demolish a fortification. The present active participle reads every believer into the angelic conflict. Whether you know it or not as a believer you have been drafted. Obviously not every believer s prepared for it, but that indicates a lack of doctrine. We are to take the offensive. However, we cannot take the offensive without proper equipment, and that is Bible doctrine. Here we are told to assault and demolish fortifications. This tells us that the devil during the Church Age is on the defense. Since the cross the devil has lost the offensive, but even though the devil is behind the fortifications of all his systems no new systems have been invented since the Church Age began. They have all existed in some form or another before the Church Age came into existence. If you succeed in assaulting and demolishing Satanic fortifications you do it through Bible doctrine. And if you do not succeed you fail because of the malfunction of GAP, because of your own negative volition, because of resultant scar tissue.

“imaginations” — Satan is too smart to function on the basis of imagination, and the Greek word here does not mean imagination. It is logismoj in the plural. It means systems of thought, reasoning, sophistries, sometimes even sentiments. But it means primarily systems of thought. Logismoj connotes reasoning powers, it never means imagination. Therefore it should be translated something like this: “Assaulting and demolishing cosmic systems of thought.” This puts the believer on the offensive. This is exactly what was wrong in Corinth. The believers were neutralised in their attack by carnality, by emotional revolt, by reversionism. How can you take the offensive without spiritual weapons? We must utilise spiritual weapons in the assault and in the demolishing of Satanic systems of thought.

So Satan’s outer perimeter of defense is called logismoj. His inner perimeter of defense is called “every high thing that exalteth itself.” In other words, we have two systems of defense. Satan is desperate today, the cross has made Satan desperate: the victory of the cross, the resurrection, ascension and session of Jesus Christ. Once Jesus Christ was seated at the right hand of the Father the devil was on the defensive. His defensive systems: the outer perimeter is thought — doctrines of demons, 1 Timothy 4:1; the inner perimeter is something else — “every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God.”

“every high thing” — the accusative singular of paj which means ‘every,’ and ‘high thing’ is actually translated by two words but it is u(ywma. It refers to obstacles of pride. The devil’s inner perimeter fortification is built up of obstacles of pride. Every obstacle of pride is human viewpoint. The devil keeps you out of his perimeter when you are filled with human viewpoint. So “every obstacle of pride” is a better translation than ‘every high thing.’ Certain systems of thought only have significance when a person is proud in connection with them.

“that exalteth itself” — present middle participle of e)pairw [airw = lift up; ep = upon], it means to assault, to attack. So human viewpoint and cosmic doctrine always stand on the inner perimeter and are ready to counter attack. And what do they attack?

“against” — kata here which means in opposition to “the knowledge of God.” Where does Satan attack doctrine? The word ‘knowledge’ gives us the entire picture. From his inner defense he does it at the point of gnwsij. Gnwsij is subject to counter attack. E)pignwsij is not. Gnwsij is doctrine in the left lobe, it is learned and understood by the Holy Spirit but cannot be applied. The only thing you can do with gnwsij is cycle it back down to the human spirit. The gnwsij type of doctrine is called ‘the knowledge of the God.’

A counter attack must be launched from a defensive position. From his defensive position Satan will occasionally throw out a counter attack and when he does he takes prisoners.

“bringing into captivity” is the counter attack, making prisoners. This is a present active participle of a)ixmalwtizw. It means to make a prisoner, and the present participle indicates that this goes on constantly. In every generation certain believers become prisoners. Bringing into captivity means to make a prisoner of.

“every thought” here means every system of thought again. However, the word is a different word for system of thought, it is nohma, a thought which is consolidated. When you make a prisoner of every thought you have staved off the counter attack. Satan does not succeed. Making a prisoner of every thought means every system of thought. That is why we have a change of word here. Before we had one system of thought, logismoj for when Satan is succeeding. But in staving off Satan nohma is what happens when you get away from human viewpoint. In other words, logismoj is human viewpoint and nohma is divine viewpoint or capturing these thoughts. Now how can you make a prisoner of every system of thought? It has to be done under authority.

“to the obedience of Christ” — the preposition e)ij plus u(pakoh which means authority, “towards the authority of the Christ.” In other words, every system of thought which Satan has can be captured and turned from logismoj into nohma. This is accomplished by doctrine.

Translation: “Assaulting and demolishing Satanic systems of thoughts, and every obstacle of pride attacking against the objective knowledge of the God, and making a prisoner of every human viewpoint system of thought to the authority of the Christ.”

This is accomplished simply by the doctrine of GAP.

What are some of these systems used in the counter attack?

1. One on the most common systems of thought is rationalisation, which some form of self-justification with the mentality of the soul. The mentality of the soul justifies wrong actions.

2. The anger adjustment to the problems and frustrations of life. Some people try to solve every problem in life by anger — a fit of temper, a tantrum, and so on. The direct attack has three concepts: a) To get attention. This attempts to satisfy approbation lust; b) To control people and the environment around them. This stems from power lust; c) To be spiteful and to be so strong in revenge that people simply stop right there. They are afraid to go on in any way because of revenge or spite tactics used. This is a part of a system of thought called direct attack.

3. Defense mechanism. A human viewpoint design to protect the soul against the pressures it is too weak to bear. The change of thought pattern leads to a change of behaviour pattern, and this is the person, for example, who becomes disillusioned with some local church and jumps into a wild social life as an excuse.

4. Denial. This is human viewpoint adjustment which ignores or attempts to ignore some difficulty or danger.

5. The most common is sublimation. Sublimation has two sides psychologically. Good sublimation is to pull is to pull a baby’s hand out of its mouth and substitute it with a rattle or something it can chew. There is a negative aspect. Sublimation is a human viewpoint adjustment through finding a new outlet for a drive or frustration. You are frustrated in some way so you go out and play golf. People who seek happiness through drinking or drugs, through some kind of a wild social life. In other words, trying to solve the problem of frustrations with some form of entertainment or something which really does not meet the problem.

6. Subjectivity in thinking. One of the greatest manifestations of this is the sensitivity training trend.

The doctrine of mental attitude

1. In the angelic conflict and during the course of man’s history there are always two mental attitudes in conflict. These two attitudes are discussed in Isaiah 55:7-9. Divine versus human viewpoint, a battleground. Human viewpoint will prevail apart from two types of restraint. The unbeliever is capable of one type of human viewpoint, anything that is related to the laws of divine establishment. The believer has the great battleground. He has the whole realm of doctrine which when inhaled and coming into his right lobe becomes the basis for establishing divine viewpoint. Doctrine as gnwsij does not help the believer to see life from the divine viewpoint. Doctrine as e)pignwsij is used for construction material. The only application of e)pignwsij is to build an ECS. It is the doctrine in the right lobe, in the frame of reference, in the memory centre for application, forming a new vocabulary, forming norms and standards, that leads to the divine viewpoint in the right lobe. “My thoughts are not your thoughts” indicates that there is a conflict in the soul of every believer. The conflict is divine versus human viewpoint. Every thought that you have either looks at life from the human viewpoint or the divine viewpoint. The situation varies according to the intake of doctrine.

2. With this in mind, what you think is what you really are. Therefore, mental attitude determines the life and the character of the person — Proverbs 23:7, “As a man thinketh in his right lobe, so he is.” It is the right lobe where the conflict exists.

3. The divine viewpoint is commanded to the believer in this passage — 2 Corinthians 10:5. However the principle is here, not the mechanics. The mechanics for divine viewpoint depend upon the daily function of GAP resulting in the ECS and maximum doctrine in the right lobe.

4. Since doctrine is called the mind of Christ, as per 1 Corinthians 2:16, intake of doctrine under GAP shapes the mental attitude and fulfills the principle of Philippians 2:5, “Let this thinking be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”

5. God’s plan, operation grace, demands a new mental attitude on the part of the believer priest — 2 Timothy 1:7; Romans 12:2. A major part of the Christian life is a reshaping of your thinking.

6. The inner happiness, +H of the ECS, produces capacity for divine viewpoint — Philippians 2:2.

7. Part of divine viewpoint is that confidence which results from the inculcation of Bible doctrine through GAP. Part of that divine viewpoint is the confidence which results from the inculcation of Bible doctrine through GAP — 2 Corinthians 5:1,6,8.

8. True stability, therefore, is a mental attitude, a consistent divine viewpoint mental attitude — Philippians 4:7; 2 Thessalonians 2:2.

9. Giving is a mental attitude — 2 Corinthians 9:7.

10. Love is a mental attitude of the soul — 1 Corinthians 13:5. Therefore capacity for love is resolved in the soul rather than in the body.

11. Worldliness is a human viewpoint mental attitude rather than overt activity — Romans 12:2; Colossians 3:2.

12. Evil is something you think rather than something you do — Matthew 9:4; Galatians 6:3.

13. Mental attitude sins produce self-induced misery — Proverbs 15:13.

1968 2Corinthians 10:                                                                                 Lesson #57

57 11/21/1971 2Cor. 10:6–8 "Garrisoning" your soul; national decay; PLEROO

2Corinthians 10:6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

2Corinthians 10:7 Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ's, so also are we.

2Corinthians 10:8 For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed.

Verse 6 — “And having, the present active participle of e)xw which means to have and to hold. The present active participle is not only linear aktionsart but calls for a way of life. Your way of life must be a guard mount. You must mount guard continually in your soul.

“in a readiness” — a military term which means to mount guard. This is e)n plus the locative of e)toimoj, ‘in the sphere of readiness.’ Readiness means security, a guard mount, an organisation designed to protect you. Here it is used for providing a garrison in your soul to prevent revolution in the soul. This is a warning against revolution in your soul. How can you have as a believer revolution in your soul? a) Negative volition toward doctrine; b) The buildup of scar tissue in your soul; c) Emotional revolt of the soul; d) Reversionism of the soul; e) General apostasy or human viewpoint of the soul. Every soul is subject to these things and there are only two systems of defense. The first is for the unbeliever: volition. The believer’s defense is volition plus doctrine. This passage is talking about the defense of the believer’s soul, the mounting of a garrison in the soul of the believer. In the angelic conflict it is the soul which is the primary battleground. It is what you think in the soul. From your frame of reference you move to an outer perimeter of doctrine, the norms and standards of doctrine, the viewpoint of doctrine. These form an outer perimeter but your inner perimeter is your frame of reference. Here is the guard mount of the soul. Here is what every believer must have or he will suffer revolution of the soul. Revolution of the soul is worse than carnality, it is the sum total of scar tissue, emotional revolt, reversionism, apostasy. It is inevitably the sin unto death, it has to be because when a person has moved into this area, the total takeover of the soul by cosmic doctrine, demon doctrine of the soul is more devastating in some cases even than demon possession of the body. Do not fear the one who can kill the body, fear the one who can control the soul. Satan has systems for controlling the soul of believers. Therefore this verse is designed to warn that this principle does exist and that God has provided a security system to protect the soul against revolution. Revolution is a bad word always. God has provided safeguards in the soul and it is Satan’s objective in the angelic conflict to make the believer’s soul a battlefield, and he already has a force on the battlefield. The old sin nature is a Satanic force already on the battlefield. However, the OSN can only produce carnality, human good, or motivation by the lust pattern. It takes an outside force coming in to really destroy the effectiveness of the soul, and that outside force coming in is Satanic doctrine, doctrine of demons — 1 Timothy 4:1. The only protection against it is Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine is the garrison that protects the soul. “Holding is readiness” is the garrison of doctrine.

“to revenge” — should be ‘to punish,’ the aorist active infinitive of e)kdikew. Here it connotes defense against Satanic attack.

“all disobedience” — the word for ‘disobedience’ is parakoh which doesn’t really mean disobedience, it means a deviation from authority or a deviation from obedience. Therefore it describes emotional revolt or any other revolution of the soul. The revolutions of the soul include: a) Volitional revolt — negative volition toward Bible doctrine; b) Scar tissue; c) In the emotions of the soul; d) There is a total revolt of the soul which we call reversionism. It includes some form of human viewpoint or some form of apostasy.

“when” is the adverb o(tan which means ‘on the occasion of.’ You cannot set up a garrison in your soul unless you invite the troops in.

“your obedience is fulfilled” is ‘the fulfillment of your obedience,’ or ‘when your obedience is fulfilled.’ The occasion of is specified as the point of knowing doctrine through the function of GAP. This is the basis for putting down revolt, the basis for a garrison force against revolt. ‘Obedience’ here is u(pakh which is simply the daily function of GAP resulting in the ECS. The ECS is the sign of a permanent garrison.

“is fulfilled” — aorist active subjunctive of plhrow which means to fill up a deficiency. In this case we have a deficiency of troops in the soul to garrison against Satanic revolt. It also means to fully possess. God intends for every believer to be fully possessed by doctrine which is the garrison that puts down cosmic revolt. The word also means to fully influence, and this is a daily function of GAP in establishing a garrison in the soul. The fourth meaning is to fill with a certain quality. God fills the believer with the top quality of divine viewpoint through the function of GAP. The aorist tense is a constative aorist which means to take in the Word of God day by day. That is the way you garrison your soul. The passive voice: the believer receives a garrison by taking in doctrine. He receives the defense of his soul. You and I, humanly speaking, do not have the ability to defend our souls against Satanic attack. They are unseen attacks. Satan already has his infiltrators through the OSN, therefore there is no human way we can resist. It takes something greater than we are and God has provided on the basis of volition the garrison. Always volition comes up because of the angelic conflict and every time you take in doctrine you are inviting another troop, another company, sometimes a battalion, to enter your soul to provide a divine garrison against the terrible things that could happen.

Translation: “Holding in readiness to punish all deviation from obedience [revolt], when your obedience [deficiency of doctrine] has been so fulfilled as to fully influence your soul.”

Verse 7 — superficial evaluation. One of the great dangers we face in the Christian life is to assume that we know something when we know nothing. If we know nothing and think we know something it is inevitable that we will confidently express what we think we know and which is not correct and which in reality we do not know. Verse 7 tells us in effect that even nothing can be dangerous. That is why some people can never get away from superficial evaluation.

Principle: The conflict in which we find ourselves is greater than any of us. We do not have the human ability to fight this conflict. Without this garrison you cannot hang in there, you cannot stand up against the pressures of disasters.

“Do ye look on things after the outward appearance?” But this is not a question, it is a statement. ‘Do ye look’ is the present active indicative of blepw, and it means ‘You do look.’ This is blepw, not o(raw. O(raw means you have doctrine, blepw means you can’t even look and understand. Blepw connotes a superficial glance. “You are in the habit of looking,” present active indicative, second masculine plural. You all are in the habit of looking. Present tense, you keep on doing it. Why? Because they have no garrison of the soul. The active voice: they do it themselves without a soul garrison. The indicative mood is the reality of soul revolt in these Corinthians. They have been in the habit of looking at things superficially, they have no doctrine.

“on things” is ta, and it refers to situations, circumstances, people, and who carries the big stick or who has the authority; “after” is kata, ‘according to a standard.’ The norm or standard is “outward appearance” — proswpon + kata means superficial appearance. That is the description of a believer in the Church Age alive but not having doctrine. Here is a soul overrun by the devil. The devil can overrun your soul. No demon can get inside of you, neither can the devil. But he can overrun your soul with false doctrine.

“If” introduces a first class condition; “any man” is tij which means ‘anyone,’ any believer. This refers specifically to Paul’s critics in Corinth; “trust” — perfect active indicative of peiqw means to have confidence; “to himself” — ‘regarding himself.’

“that he is Christ’s” — ‘that he belongs to Christ’ ; ‘let him keep on thinking this.’ In other words, the Corinthians have not lost one thing, the doctrine of eternal security. Logizomai, present middle imperative, “keep on thinking this palin [on the one hand].” Literally, “If anyone has confidence regarding himself that he belongs to Christ [and he does], keep on thinking this to himself on the one hand.”

“that as” — kaqwj, ‘even as.’ This sets up an analogy between Paul’s critics and Paul himself. These critics under emotional revolt have assumed that they belong to the Lord and that in rejecting Paul’s authority that Paul does not. So Paul is going to hit them with divine viewpoint. Not only does he belong to Christ, not only does he have the same eternal security that they have, but all people who have eternal security do not have the same rank or office. That is how he is going to hit them.

“he is of Christ, even so we” — Paul has taken his first step to toward throwing his rank at them. He establishes the fact that he is in the same army, that he is also a believer.

Translation: “You are in the habit of looking at things according to the standard of superficial appearance. If anyone has confidence regarding himself that he belongs to Christ [and you do], keep on thinking this to himself again, that as he is of Christ, even so we.”

Summary

1. All believers are in union with Christ, therefore all believers are the object of the Father’s love.

2. Therefore criticism, maligning, and judging of other believers is not only an infringement on their freedom and privacy but totally incompatible with Bible doctrine.

3. Another passage on that is Romans 14:4-10.

4. This is both sin and the violation of the priesthood of the believer.

5. In addition, Paul is a communicator of doctrine. This gives him special authority, as with all pastor-teachers — Hebrews 13:7,17.

6. Such criticism of Paul and nit-picking is a sign of no garrison of the soul, it is a sign of a total soul revolt, therefore a sign of reversionism.

7. Rejection of Paul’s authority is another sign of emotional revolt of the soul.

8. Paul as an apostle has the right to judge the Corinthians but the Corinthians as believer priests do not have the right to judge or evaluate him. His evaluation is from the Lord.

1968 2Corinthians 10:                                                                                 Lesson #58

58 12/12/1971 2Cor. 10:8 From reversionism to edification; doctrine of authority; edification

2Corinthians 10:8 For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed.

Verse 8 — “For” is the enclitic particle gar. This ties it all together. It is used to present the explanation on the right to judge in the case of one who possesses the communication gift; “though” — e)an introduces a 3rd class condition. It should be translated “if.”

“I should boast” — kauxaomai means to boast. Notice what he does say: “For if I should boast [maybe I will and maybe I won’t].”

“somewhat more” — perissoj means a lot more; “of our authority” — he puts it in the 3rd class condition because he doesn’t always have to; ‘of’ is peri, ‘concerning our authority.’ This refers to at least three people, Paul, Timothy and Titus, all who have communicated doctrine to the Corinthians. Paul’s authority was rejected and criticised, as was Timothy’s. To Titus they responded with the result that this letter was written. “For if I should boast a little too much concerning our authority.”

Summary

1. Paul is referring to his authority, to that of Timothy and Titus. In other words, to those who have the spiritual gift of communication.

2. Those who teach doctrine under a communication gift have their authority from God — Hebrews 13:7,17.

3. Paul now reminds his Corinthian critics of his authority. He throws his rank at them.

4. By using a third class condition Paul makes a principle of doctrine out of it. He is not ashamed of his authority any more than he is ashamed of Jesus Christ or that he is ashamed of the Holy Spirit who gave him his spiritual gift.

5. Paul’s critics wanted him to be ashamed of his authority so that he would not use the big stick against them, as he did in 1 Corinthians.

6. Emotional revolt and reversionism always reject the authority of the pastor-teacher.

7. The legalists at Corinth seek the deprecate and destroy Paul’s authority by making it appear as bullying.

8. Legalism must lure believers from grace by attacking the authority of those who teach grace. It is Paul who provides the guard mount for the soul, therefore Satan is attacking the one who provides the guard mount. For if these people respond to Paul’s teaching again they will recover from reversionism and their souls will be guarded by doctrine. 9. Therefore they also seek to discredit this authority by making it appear in a bad light. In other words, bullying.

10. However Paul’s authority in the writing of 1 Corinthians in chewing them out is definitely from God — 1 Thessalonians 5:12.

“which the Lord has given” — aorist active indicative of didomi. This authority is from the Lord; “for edification, and not for your destruction” — the word ‘destruction’ s reversion and this great revolt in the soul.

Translation: “For if I boast a little too much concerning our authority, which the Lord has given for the purpose of edification, and not for the purpose of your reversion.”

1968 2Corinthians 10:                                                                                 Lesson #59

59 12/19/1971 2Cor. 10:9; Prov. 8:1–36 Authority issue in inspiration of Scripture

2Corinthians 10:9 I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters.

Verse 9 — the authority issue in inspiration.

By way of anticipation:

1. As in the communication so in inspiration. The authority is provided by God the Holy Spirit. The ministry of communication is the ministry of the Spirit.

2. God the Holy Spirit who provided the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher also provides the source his message.

3. There God the Holy Spirit uses the writer of the scriptures to record God’s revelation.

4. In this verse the critics attack the human writer of scripture.

The Corinthians critics of Paul are saying that 1 Corinthians is a bullying instrument, that Paul is trying to bulldoze them, to terrify them. But they were also reading the Word of God, and since it is the Word of God it is obvious that this type of activity becomes necessary under certain conditions.

“That” is i(na and it introduces a purpose clause. Paul has a purpose, just as he did when he wrote 1 Corinthians. He now defends 1 Corinthians against the critics.

“I may not seem” — aorist active subjunctive of dokew. This verb is used for subjective thinking, therefore erroneous thinking. The Corinthians are doing the erroneous thinking, not Paul. Paul is using a verb which expresses their critical attitude.

Principle: When believers are critical of the Word of God and its teaching it often reflects their own subjective thinking. Subjective thinking is scar tissue thinking.

The reason Paul’s critics were critical of 1 Corinthians is because it is a highly critical epistle. It clobbers about every type of carnality that ever existed.

“seem” is not the best translation, probably here ‘appear’ is better — “That I may not appear as though [not ‘if’].” We have an adverb o(j here which should not be translated ‘if.’ The aorist tense of dokew is a constative aorist referring to continual subjective thinking on the part of the critics. They don’t constantly think of Paul but when they do in a point of time they always level criticism at him. The active voice: many of the Corinthian believers are criticising the apostle. The subjunctive mood indicates that this does not have to continue, all they have to do is to shape up.

Then he quotes the criticism: “I would terrify” — present active infinitive of e)kfobew. This is a compound verb [fobew = to fear, to frighten; e)k = out of] and to frighten out of one’s skin is really the concept. The present tense is linear aktionsart which says in effect the criticism is all Paul ever does, he tries to frighten. The active voice: they are claiming that Paul’s entire ministry never varies, it is one of trying to frighten them. The infinitive expresses what they claim is Paul’s purpose which is to intimidate everyone in Corinth. So obviously the Corinthian critics have lost track of Paul’s ministry.

“by letters” indicates 1 Corinthians, dia plus the genitive which is ‘through letters.’ Paul apparently wrote several letters, one of which was 1 Corinthians.

Principles

1. “By letters” [the plural of e)pistolh] indicates that the Judaisers are following Paul from place to place to undermine his authority.

2. The plural, therefore, refers not only to 1 Corinthians but to Galatians and other epistles as well.

3. This criticism is a challenge to Paul’s authority, not as a speaker but as a human writer of scripture. When they critics his letters they criticise the Word of God.

4. Obviously 1 Corinthians has a great deal of rebuke. However, this hard-nosed rebuke is conducted under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit under the doctrine of inspiration.

5. Certain portions of the Bible are designed to be harsh so as to warn believers to keep them out of emotional revolt, scar tissue, and reversionism.

6. But the severity and acrimony under fire from the critics is actually from the Holy Spirit using the human writer, the apostle Paul.

7. Both legalism and human viewpoint attack the communicator of doctrine and the writer of doctrine.

8. Paul has authority as a writer just as Paul has authority as a pastor-teacher. This authority is resolved by going back to the doctrine of inspiration.

(See Doctrine of Inspiration of Scripture)

1968 2Corinthians 10:                                                                                 Lesson #60

60 12/26/1971 2Cor. 10:10–12 Criticism of Paul, his answer

2Corinthians 10:10 For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account."

2Corinthians 10:11 Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present.

2Corinthians 10:12 Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

Verse 10 — “For his letters.” These are his epistles which include 1 Corinthians and are a part of the canon of scripture; “say they” — present active indicative of fhmi which means to allege rather than to say. “Because the letters, they [his critics] allege.” It does not say in the original ‘his letters,’ but this is also an attack apparently upon Peter, John and James, and others who have written. The word fhmi is used to indicate that this is nit-picking, maligning, rejection of Paul’s authority, and that these mental attitude sins that provoke this are definitely out of line.

“weighty and powerful” — two adjectives in the nominative feminine plural to indicate that they are attacking more than 1 Corinthians, they are attacking all of the epistles of Paul as well as the other apostles who have written for the Word of God. The first adjective is baruj which means burdensome, oppressive, severe or stern. Here it has the connotation of severity. His letters are severe, and by that they imply that Paul does not have any love. Their second criticism comes in the second adjective, i)sxuroj, translated ‘powerful.’ This word means ‘vehement.’ Both words are in the plural because they apply to all of his letters. Both words imply that Paul lacks love and compassion. Therefore they are criticising Paul as to his content, they say that he is harsh and unloving. They resent Paul’s dogmatism, his authority in teaching, and their own attitude reveals emotional revolt of the soul. “Because the letters, they allege, severe and vehement.”

1. From the critical attitude toward his message they move on to ridicule his personal appearance and public speaking ability.

2. Their lack of objectivity indicates both scar tissue and emotional revolt of the soul.

3. In the case of some there is undoubtedly reversion accompanying this subjectivity of attitude.

4. Judging is a sign of weakness of the soul, the inability of the soul to cope with truth. Ridicule reveals emotional revolt of the soul.

5. Their criticism is not only sinful but the accumulation of human viewpoint from the neglect of doctrine.

6. Negative volition toward doctrine not only reacts to the message but seeks to malign and belittle the messenger.

Next is the criticism of Paul’s person.

“but” — the particle de is used as a conjunction but it isn’t so much of a contrast as it is a change of subject. Therefore it should not be translated ‘but,’ it should be translated ‘and.’ The subject continues but it jumps from the message of Paul to his person.

“his bodily presence” — literally, ‘the presence of his body.’ This is a reference to his physical appearance and also his physical strength.

“weak” — a)sqenhj means ‘sickly.’ There are three outside sources from the Word of God describing the apostle Paul. The first is called “The Acts of Paul and Thekla.” It is a 3rd century manuscript. Someone decided to make up a good story about Paul and his right woman! In the description of the hero, who is the apostle Paul, he is described as “bald, bowlegged, with meeting eyebrows and a hooked nose.” About 100 years later someone else wrote about Paul, only this was in derision. In this he was called the “baldheaded, hook-nosed Galilean.” But you have to remember that the fourth century is moving toward the dark ages, and you can always tell when you are moving toward the dark ages because people put a lot of emphasis on male hair. The emphasis in the Bible is on the woman’s hair. And the woman is said to have two glories, one is her hair and the other is her right man. Just as soon as reversionism, apostasy and emotional revolt sets in you begin to get into dark ages. The worst apostasy of all occurred during mediaeval times and one of the signs was the fact that men started to let their hair grow long and they emphasised this. The ascetics of the day reacted to this and shaved their hair. To call a man baldheaded in the fourth century was really something. In the first century it didn’t mean anything. So in the fourth century this reference to Paul was an insult. Then, 200 years later in the 6th century, John of Antioch was describing Paul. He was very fond of Paul so he described him and gave an accurate description that had come down from the 6th century. He said Paul was round-shouldered, hooked nose, greyish eyes, meeting eyebrows. We have, therefore, three descriptions from three separate centuries, the 3rd, the 4th and the 6th. In each one they all agree generally on how Paul looked. To say the least, the apostle Paul was unattractive and possibly a little but repulsive. But Paul in the power of the Spirit and Paul in the power of the ECS was both spiritually dynamic and physically attractive, this is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. However, those who were negative toward doctrine not only reacted to Paul’s message but they used the opportunity to ridicule his personal appearance. Negative volition, human viewpoint, scar tissue, emotional revolt, emphasise the overt appearance. But remember that the Lord looks on the heart which is the right lobe of the soul — 1 Samuel 16:6-8.

“speech contemptible” — speech-wise Paul was a very poorly equipped public speaker, i.e. his voice. But it isn’t the voice that counts, it is the content of the message and the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. Paul has a high squeaky voice. The word here is o( logoj and it refers to Paul’s method of communication. “Contemptible” means crude and unrefined — e)couqenew [o)uqenew = to be nothing; e)c = to be out from]. This comes to be more than just contemptible, it means to be a total zero. So we could translate this, “and his speech has been rejected with contempt [as crude].”

Verse 11 — Paul comes back and says that he is consistent. “Let such an one think.” “Such an one” is toioutoj and refers to the critics in Corinth. It is in the plural and it means ‘such a one as.’ It refers to two kinds of people: a) The people who are Corinthians who have been under Paul’s ministry and have now reacted to 1 Corinthians, and b) The Judaisers who have come in to Corinth from the outside, who followed Paul all of his life and who always tried to destroy his ministry.

“think” — present active imperative of logizomai means that they are commanded to think this. Logizomai means to think logically, to ponder, to meditate. The present active imperative should be translated, “Let such ones [critics] evaluate [ponder] this.” In other words, they should observe some of the facts rather than think in terms of subjectivity and prejudice. Principle: Evaluate on the basis of facts. If you do not have facts withhold evaluation, withhold antagonism, withhold criticism. You must have facts.

“that” — o)ti is pleonastic, which means to recite another’s words. So the ‘that’ here is going to recite words of others. Paul is reciting the words of his critics. So o(ti is introducing a paraphrase of what the critics are saying.

“such as” is literally, ‘of what sort, of what kind.’ The word is o(ioj; “we are” — present active indicative of e)imi, ‘we keep on being.’

“in [the] word” — a reference to the communication of doctrine; “by letters” — dia plus the genitive of e)pistolh is ‘through letters,’ a reference to 1 Corinthians and the other Pauline epistles which became a part of the canon of scripture. Literally this should read” “Let such types [critics] consider [ponder] this [look at some facts] , that, of what sort we are in the word [communication of doctrine] through epistles.”

“being absent” — present active participle; “such types also we are being present in the action.” ‘Indeed’ is the locative case of e)rgon plus the definite article and refers to the action.

Translation: “Let such types [critics] consider [ponder] this [look at some facts], that, of what sort we are in the word [communication of doctrine] through epistles, being absent, such types also being present in the action [of teaching and being around].”

Paul says he is being consistent. He is saying in effect that if he was in Corinth he would say the same thing.

Summary

1. In other words, Paul is consistent. He will be just as tough when present with them as absent, if necessary.

2. Paul’s initial ministry to the Corinthians while present was tranquil.

3. It was not until the first epistle that Paul had to become harsh and severe, as it were, with them.

4. The contrast between Paul’s spoken ministry while there and his written ministry later on provoked the criticism.

5. When the situation demands it Paul will be tough whether present and speaking or absent and writing.

Verse 12 — “But” is the epexegetical particle gar. The purpose of this particle is to introduce an intimate detail of Paul’s circumstances. By the use of this particle Paul is taking the Corinthians into his confidence and he is getting into an intimate situation that exists in Corinth. That intimate set of circumstances: there exists a mutual admiration society in the Corinthians church. Paul begins by saying he dares not join that group.

“we dare not” — present active indicative of tolmaw which means to be bold. It connotes overt boldness. This verb, with the particle, is intimate sarcasm. Paul is speaking to his loved ones, the Corinthian church, through sarcasm. He is being sacrcastic about the boldness people who form mutual admiration societies.

“make ourselves” — aorist active infinitive of e)gkrinw [krinw = judge; e)g = preposition e)n] which means to judge one’s self in the same place or to judge one of the same rank.

“of the number” is not found in the original; “ourselves worthy” — in other words, I can’t even get into this kind of thing because I am not equal with them. They are far superior to me. If you don’t believe it just talk to them for five minutes and they will tell you how they are far superior to me! Paul is being sarcastic. He is saying he couldn’t get into an outfit like that, it is exclusive. The mutual admiration society is made up of the highest echelon. These people are super snobs! They are the aristocracy of criticism.

“or compare ourselves” — sugkrinw. This is actually a paronomasia in which we now have through sarcasm a bit of humour. Krinw is the description of what these people are doing, it means to judge. But when you put a preposition in front of it the meaning is a little different. It should read, “For we do not have the boldness to judge ourselves worthy [e)gkrinw], or to compare ourselves favourably [sugkrinw]with certain ones who constantly recommend themselves favourably.” While that is a literal translation it loses the paronomasia, it loses the humour.

“commend themselves” — sunisthmi, recommend themselves favourably.

“but they” — the Greek says ‘they alone’; “measuring themselves” — present active indicative of metrew which means they always do this; “by themselves” — this is an instrumental plus the preposition in the instrumental case. While these people are critics of Paul and full of scar tissue and emotional revolt of the soul, and are mostly in reversion or apostasy, it is easy for them to malign someone like Paul. At the same time they find others who do it and this causes an enlistment of an admiration society through approbation lust. These people recommend themselves by taking someone infinitely superior to them and criticising him.

“are not wise” — sunihmi is used in the New Testament for Bible doctrine in the human spirit, categorically stored, and applied from the right lobe. Here with the negative is stands for negative volition toward doctrine.

Translation: “For we do not have the boldness to judge ourselves worthy [e)gkrinw], or to compare ourselves favourably [sugkrinw]with certain ones who constantly recommend themselves favourably: but they, measuring themselves by means of themselves, or favourably comparing themselves to themselves, are not inculcated with doctrine.”

1968 2Corinthians 10:                                                                                 Lesson #61

61 01/09/1972 2Cor. 10:13–14 Authority of pastor–teacher in all areas of Bible doctrine

2Corinthians 10:13 But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you.

2Corinthians 10:14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ.

Verse 13 — “But” is a conjunction of contrast, it is a contrast between the human viewpoint of the mutual admiration society and the divine viewpoint of Bible doctrine in the soul.

“we will not boast” is a future active indicative kauxaomai which means to glory, to boast. Generally it means to have a legitimate pride where pride is simply ego and not pride.

“of things without measure” — this is a prepositional phrase that begins with e)ij and it should be translated ‘with reference to things not measured.’ “Things not measured” is a compound noun, a)metroj [a = not; metroj = measure] which means ‘not measured.’ The correct translation so far: “But we will not boast with reference to things not measured.” What does it mean? It has to be understood that he is discussing in this chapter divine viewpoint: ‘not measured by divine viewpoint.’ This is not in the translation, it is interpretation. In other words, if it is not divine viewpoint we will not glory in it or not boast in it. These are things which do not line up with doctrine and therefore do not line up with the divine standard. What Paul is saying in effect, then, is that any human viewpoint which his critics express, and human viewpoint from the mutual admiration society, is something that he will not glory in, it doesn’t measure up to divine viewpoint. Doctrine in the right lobe is the divine viewpoint of life, so these people, most of whom are believers, are minus something in the right lobe. God has not left us in the dark with regard to these norms, we have them. They are communicated by Paul, for example, and by anyone who has the gift of communication. They are communicated so they can be a part of the soul.

“but” — we have a contrast to the human viewpoint, the divine viewpoint; “according to” — kata means according to the norm or standard of; “the measure” — this time we have metroj in the accusative as the object of the preposition, and it means the norm or standard of divine viewpoint; “of the rule” — the word for ‘rule’ is in the genitive form and the noun is kanon from which we get the English word for the canon of scripture. It is derived from kanh which was a cane or a measuring rod. So it is a reference to doctrine in the scripture. This measure or rule has been rejected by Paul’s critics in their state of emotional revolt or state of reversionism.

“which God hath distributed” — ‘which’ is a relative pronoun referring to the canon of scripture; ‘God’ refers to God the Father, it has the definite article in front of it — o( qeoj. God distributes this through the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. The distribution is in the canon, not outside of it. “Hath distributed” is the aorist active indicative of merizw which means to share with someone, to distribute, to deal out.

“to us” — dative plural, personal pronoun, and it refers to the human writers of scripture. From the human writers putting it in writing it is preserved for us in every generation.

“a measure” — now we have a repetition of the word metron. This refers to doctrine which is the divine standard, the absolute criterion for the believer. This measure is always divine viewpoint. This time instead of a measure distributed it is a measure to reach. It is distributed in the canon, now it comes out of the Bible to us; “to reach unto you” — aorist middle infinitive of e)fikneomai [e)f = is e)pi, upon; neomai = to come, to pertain to, to benefit]. It means to reach someone with something which is important and to reach them by means of communication. So it is a reference to the written and the spoken Word, from the Word to you.

“unto you” is not correct. This is an adverb a)xri and it doesn’t mean ‘unto,’ it means ‘as far as you all.’ In other words, they are believers in Corinth, they have received prior to this time the divine standard, and they have rejected the divine standard for the persuasiveness of those who are Paul’s critics. This thing has infected the Corinthians church.

Translation: “But we will not glory with reference to things not measured by divine norms, but according to the norm or standard of the canon which the God has shared with us, a measure to reach even as far as you all.”

The malignings, the criticism, the judging of the apostle Paul came from many human sources. They came from people who loved Paul but who had been influenced by others. ut it was always backed by the principle that those who came into influence were apostate, negative toward doctrine. As a result they had scar tissue, they had emotional revolt, and in some cases even reversionism. The source includes the legalistic Judaisers, the mutual admiration societies, the zealous religionists, the cultural snobs, the power-mad persons. The divine viewpoint can only prevail where there is a daily function of GAP and where the authority of the communicator is recognised.

Verse 14 — a very personal illustration. Paul is really speaking of himself, it is an editorial ‘we.’ “For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure.” Actually he didn’t say that. This is very delicate and very difficult exegetically.

1. When Paul first came to Corinth in Acts 18:1 he used the absolute criterion of doctrine in the form of a pure grace ministry. What Paul communicated was God’s grace. What Paul communicated was correct, biblical, the absolute viewpoint.

2. Paul did not approach with legalism or human viewpoint. He did not seek in any way to water down the grace of God.

3. Paul presented these things — the gospel to which these people responded, and then teaching — in his own dogmatic way. He has not varied from that dogmatic way. Then he left them and then they became carnal. Then he was dogmatic about their carnality and they stopped responding immediately. That is the background for this passage.

4. The first word in verse 14, “For,” is a particle, gar. But it is not the ordinary gar, it is the epexegetic gar. ‘Epexegetic’ is a very simple designation for something which introduces an additional explanation. It means you’ve given the principle, now you give some elaboration on the principle.

5. What better additional explanation (epexegesis ) can be made than to illustrate from the salvation of the very Corinthians who now are seducers, slanderers, maligners of the apostle Paul.

6. The present active participle of e)fikneomai, ‘for we stretch not.’ We had this in the previous verse, we have it now. It means to reach someone with communication which is beneficial to them. It is a reference to the verbal communication of the gospel in this case.

So when he says “For we stretch not ‘unto you’ — personal pronoun plus e)ij. It should be translated ‘For not reaching toward you [with the gospel].’

“as we did not overextend ourselves” — overextend is u(perekteinw. Paul is really saying, ‘Look, when I came to Corinth none of you were believers. I came in dogmatically and laid it on the line for grace. Did I overextend myself? You have been critcising me for being too dogmatic. You claim I am going too far. Why didn’t you say that the day you accepted Christ by responding to my dogmatic presentation?’ Literal translation: “For not reaching toward you with the gospel, as we did not overextend ourselves.”

Summary

1. Paul and his gospel team when they came to Corinth did not go beyond the boundaries of the gospel when they presented it.

2. They did not emphasise legalism in communication, they presented salvation by grace through faith to the Corinthians.

3. This is remaining within the boundaries of Bible doctrine or what the canon of scripture has to say about salvation.

4. If Paul had overextended with human viewpoint, salvation by works, his critics would not be saved. But he wasn’t, he was dogmatic in standing for grace in salvation.

5. In another realm they are accusing Paul of exactly what he did not do. He did not go beyond the limits in rebuking them. When he taught them carnality in 1 Corinthians he did not go beyond the limits of doctrine.

6. At the point of hearing the gospel these critics responded to grace, but now as believers at the point of rebuke they react with emotional revolt.

7. Why? Not because Paul has changed but because they have changed.

8. They have gone negative toward doctrine, producing scar tissue, emotional revolt of the soul and probably in a few cases reversionism.

9. Instead of taking the rebuke, rebounding, and taking the road back from emotional revolt and scar tissue they have simply gone deeper and deeper in reaction. This affects their entire life. They have no capacity for love, for life, for happiness. And they are miserable. They are so miserable they need a patsy, and Paul is their patsy.

10. As a result of emotional revolt of the soul they have great capacity for being critical of one of the greatest men who ever lived.

There is a second particle “for” in this verse, the same word gar but it is used a second time to indicate reality. This is was might be called an historical particle. Paul is now going to give the historical facts of the case. The admonition, the hard-nosed language of 1 Corinthians was within the framework of doctrine, it was not an overextension.

“we are come” — aorist active indicative of fqanw which means ‘we have advanced.’ Now he uses that adverb he had previously used in sarcasm. Now this is the historical use of the adverb and it means ‘we have advanced as far as you.’ This indicates that grace was Paul’s motive for coming to Corinth in the first place, and he has not switched from grace to legalism because he was harsh in 1 Corinthians. He was still the same grace person. His subject called for his very strong, hard-nosed attitude. Only human viewpoint desires Paul to stop his advance when it comes to carnality. Paul advanced first to Corinth, first with a letter on carnality, and later on he will come back in person. In other words, Paul’s advance in his ministry to the Corinthians has never halted from the time he presented the gospel and they responded. It is 1 Corinthians that has raised all the fuss. During the advance, the writing of 1 Corinthians, the Corinthians were crossed and from that time on they became very critical. The true of a believer always comes out when someone crosses them. Paul is still advancing. Part of the advance was to rebuke them with regard to carnality, and part of their advance is to take that rebuke and be disciplined under the authority of the Word of God and under the authority of the pastor who communicates it. By way of application, what kind of a believer you are depends on the same principle. When the pastor’s message steps on your toes, what do you do?

“in the gospel of Christ” — Paul’s advance to Corinth with the gospel was strictly divine viewpoint, strictly a grace, dogmatic presentation. His presentation of the gospel therefore was divine viewpoint. His entire function of grace was divine viewpoint, there has been no change in his modus operandi, just a change in his subject. His subject is carnality, they resent it; his subject is some other aspect of grace, they like it. But their mistake is not to accept his authority in all things. Principle: You cannot accept the authority of the pastor in the things you choose. If he is faithful in teaching the Word of God you must accept his authority in all things or you are no better than the Corinthians.

Translation: “For not reaching toward you [with the gospel], as we did not overextend ourselves: for as far as you also we have advanced in the gospel of Christ.”

1968 2Corinthians 10:                                                                                 Lesson #62

62 01/16/1972 2Cor. 10:15–18; Jer. 9:21–23 Boasting; sanctified sarcasm; difference between human ability & God's grace

2Corinthians 10:15 We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged,

2Corinthians 10:16 so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another's area of influence.

2Corinthians 10:17 "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

2Corinthians 10:18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

Jer 9:21 For death has come up into our windows; it has entered our palaces, cutting off the children from the streets and the young men from the squares.

Jer 9:22 Speak: "Thus declares the LORD, 'The dead bodies of men shall fall like dung upon the open field, like sheaves after the reaper, and none shall gather them.'"

Jer 9:23 Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,

Verse 15 — “Not boasting” is a present active participle from the verb kauxaomai which means to boast, to glory, to exult. Boasting is human viewpoint concept and disorientation to God’s grace. In this particular verse boasting is a sign of three things as far as Corinthians believers are concerned. It is a sign of scar tissue of the soul, emotional revolt of the soul, and reversionism. Boasting depends upon human ability, real or imagined, and human accomplishment, real or imagined. Therefore boasting at best is related to human good, at worst related to mental attitude sins. Since human good has no place in the plan of God, is excluded from operation grace, and since boasting is related to mental attitude sins of pride and human good, it has no place in the plan of God.

“of things without measure” — this is a prepositional phrase, e)ij, a directional preposition and here it means with reference to something, plus a)metroj which means to things not measured. So this should be translated, “Not boasting with reference to things beyond measure [or, not measured].” Things not measured or beyond measure are those concepts, thoughts and principles which do not line up with Bible doctrine. In other words, human viewpoint. Paul refuses to boast in human viewpoint or anything which is not related to the grace of God and therefore the plan of God.

“of other men’s labours” — which is really ‘in the sphere of other believers labours [kopoj].” Kopoj means exhaustive labours — “other men’s exhaustive labours.” As the founder of the Corinthians church Paul is not boasting. Therefore Paul is not out of line with doctrine when he expresses confidence on the other side of the conjunction. He is going to express confidence in the Corinthians where Corinth had been in the sphere of his labours to the point of exhaustion, therefore he has the right of expectation and he has the right of confidence with regard to that.

“but” — the particle de which indicates Paul’s positive attitude or the attitude of the divine viewpoint in the matter; ‘Having” — present active participle of e)xw means having and holding.

“hope” — e)plij refers to confidence: ‘having and holding confidence.’

“when your faith” — literally, ‘your doctrine’ here, pistij plus the definite article here which means a recognition and acceptance of Christian teaching, that which is believed or the body of belief, i.e. doctrine.

“is increased” is literally, ‘being increased,’ the present passive participle of a)ucanw which means to grow or to increase. The passive voice means it receives growth through doctrine. In other words, Paul anticipates that the Corinthian critics will recover from emotional revolt and from reversionism through a change of attitude toward doctrine. This recovery will extend the ministry of Paul into their lives again, and as Paul says, “we shall be enlarged,” the aorist passive infinitive of megalunw which actually means to be magnified. The KJV says ‘we shall be magnified’ but the Greek says doctrine shall be magnified; “by you” is ‘in the sphere of you all,’ e)n plus the locative means in the sphere of.

“according to our rule abundantly” is ‘to the maximum,’ e)ij plus perisseia.

Translation: “Not boasting with reference to things beyond measure [the norms and standards of the Word], in the sphere of other believers’ exhaustive labours; but having confidence that when your doctrine is being increased [daily function of GAP], doctrine shall be magnified in the sphere of you all to the maximum.”

Paul has confidence in doctrine, not in boasting. Doctrine causes recovery from scar tissue, emotional revolt and reversionism. Therefore in verse 16 they will be back on the production basis from the divine viewpoint.

Verse 16 — “To preach” is an aorist middle infinitive of e)uaggelizw. This means to communicate good news and the infinitive connotes a second result based upon the fist infinitive which was megalunw, ‘doctrine shall be magnified.’ As a result there will be a great missionary outreach and there will also be an increase in effective witnessing. In the local church where doctrine is magnified through the daily function of GAP the result is the dissemination of the gospel, not only in that area but in the beyond.

“in the regions beyond” is literally, ‘with reference to the beyond of you.’ Beyond you means next door, down the street, across town, or ten thousand miles away.

“not to boast” — kauxaomai; “in another of the same kind line,” but the word for ‘line’ is the locative kanon which means rule, the rule or the canon of scripture again. Hence, Paul refers to the false norms and standards of the Judaisers who will go far afield with their legalism and their human viewpoint, and have now reached Corinth. Paul will not boast or glory in their legalism or human viewpoint, he won’t cater to it in any way. Instead, he knows that when this reversionism is cured by the daily function of GAP they will then move out with the gospel into other areas.

“of things made ready” is also incorrectly translated in the KJV. We have a series of prepositional phrases: “of” is the preposition e)ij and means ‘with reference to.’ Not things made ready but ‘things prepared,’ the things prepared by human viewpoint are out of phase with God’s Word, with Bible doctrine, and therefore there is no basis of glorying, boasting, or exalting in them.

Translation: “To proclaim the gospel to the beyond of you, not to boast in another believer’s false standards with reference to things prepared.”

What does this mean?

1. Both witnessing and evangelism must be biblically accurate and presented on a grace basis. Therefore no believer in scar tissue, in emotional revolt, in reversionism, can effectively communicate the gospel. He always has an axe to grind and the axe to grind is legalism. He always adds something to the gospel, he always confuses the issue for unbeliever and believer alike.

2. No believer must ever glory or boast in another man’s norm or standard prepared from viewpoint.

3. Those who criticise Paul are boasting of others who evangelise in a different way. They are boasting of legalism, gimmicks, etc.

4. Maddison Avenue, Mickey Mouse evangelism may be appealing but it is human viewpoint and is incompatible with Bible doctrine.

5. There is no place for human viewpoint in witnessing. Hence, there is no place for gimmicks which replace the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

6. Gimmick witnessing is false standard prepared from the human viewpoint of those who are under scar tissue, emotional revolt, or reversionism.

Verse 17 demands that we understand the quotation from Jeremiah 9:23,24. The Jeremiah passage warns believers about reversionism.

Five things about this verse:

1. This verse is quoted from Jeremiah 9:23.

2. In the Jeremiah passage the believer is warned of failure to pass the prosperity test, for failure to pass the prosperity test means reversionism.

3. There were three general types of prosperity mentioned in Jeremiah 9:23 — spiritual, success, economic.

4. In verse 17 2 Corinthians 10 only spiritual success is quoted but all are implied.

5. Failure to pass the prosperity test in the spiritual realm inevitably leads to failure to pass the prosperity test in the success realm or in the economic realm.

“But” is the particle de used for a conjunction of contrast; “he that glorieth” — present active participle of kauxaomai, it means to boast. This implies immediately failure to pass the prosperity test and resultant reversionism.

“let him keep on glorying” — if you are going to boast, don’t do it. Change your boasting to glorying “in the Lord.” How do you keep on glorying in the Lord? To keep on doing something you have to do it every day. What you do you must do consistently. You keep on glorying in the Lord by taking in doctrine every day.

Translation: “But the one boasting — keep on glorying in the Lord.”

Verse 18 — the word for ‘commend’ is sunisthmi and it doesn’t mean to commend, it means to recommend. The word ‘himself’ here is a reflexive pronoun referring to the Corinthians who had recommended themselves, and by so doing had manifested reversionism and emotional revolt. “For not the one who recommends himself for favourable attention is approved.” In other words, sunisthmi doesn’t mean just to recommend, it means to recommend yourself for favourable attention.

“is approved” — ‘is’ is e)imi, present linear aktionsart. Then we have dikimoj for approved; “but whom the Lord recommends for favourable attention.”

Translation: “For not the one who recommends himself for favourable attention is approved [for blessing], but the one whom the Lord recommends for favourable attention.”

1. Under grace no believer promotes himself.

2. Under grace no believer can take credit to himself.

3. Therefore, since the Lord does the promoting there is no place for human criticism or judging another believer — especially the apostle Paul. Romans 14:4,10.

4. If the Lord doesn’t promote you, you are not promoted.

5. No human viewpoint gimmick will ever promote a believer — Joshua 3:7.

6. There is no such thing in Christianity as peer evaluation. Peer evaluation is meaningless, it turns everyone into a hypocrite. All evaluation is in the Lord’s hands and therefore we do our job as unto the Lord — Colossians 3:16,17.

7. We can only do our job through the Word, as per Colossians 3:16. Therefore criticising, judging, slandering another believer, represents absence of doctrine, scar tissue, emotional revolt, reversionism.

8. Judging another believer interferes with divine prerogatives. Judging, then, becomes a part of the human viewpoint of reversionism.

1968 2Corinthians 11:                                                                                 Lesson #63

63 01/23/1972 2Cor. 11:1–2; Gal. 5:11–12 Sanctified sarcasm; right pastor/right congregation

Paul and the False Apostles

2Corinthians 11:1 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me!

2Corinthians 11:2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

Gal 5:11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.

Gal 5:12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

Chapter 11

The greatest chapter of sarcasm in the Word of God! There is no passage in the New Testament more difficult for translation from the Greek than this.

Outline of chapter:

Verses 1-11, Paul’s care for the Corinthians, stated sarcastically.

Verses 12-15, Paul’s warning of the Judaisers, stated sarcastically.

Verses 16-29, Paul’s comparison with his critics, stated sarcastically.

In verses one and two we have the first expression of Paul’s care, we have the principle of right pastor, right congregation. This is the principle that runs through the first past of this chapter.

Verse 1 — “Would to God.” We have a verb in the aorist active indicative but it is used as an interjection. The adverb form is o)felon, an aorist of o)felw and it means ‘O that.’ However, when you take a verb in the aorist tense, like this one, and change it to an adverb or an interjection in its meaning and try to translate it ‘O that,’ you still don’t know exactly what is being said here. What does this phrase, this interjection, really mean from the aorist? It actually expresses a wish in present time. At the time that Paul is writing these people he is expressing a wish. We could translate it, ‘I could wish.’ In other words, this is the beginning of sarcasm for Paul is saying to the Corinthians, his right congregation, ‘I desire or wish from you tolerance based on the fact that I am your right pastor.’ It must be understand that Paul has been faithful to them. He has been faithfully honest. 1 Corinthians is a very stern letter, at worst it is just chewing them out. But whatever you want to call it Paul is honest with them for their sake. Love doesn’t always say sweet things. Paul is saying they are the ones who are out of line, they are being impatient and intolerant of Paul. Paul is in line, he is patient with them, he is tolerant of them. Paul is interested in them; they are angry with him.

“to God” is not found in the original.

“ye could bear with me” — ‘you could bear’ is an imperfect middle indicative of a)nexomai [e)xw = to have and to hold; a)n = to have and hold again and again and again]. Paul says “I wish that I could wish that you could have and hold me again and again and again.” They had phased out Paul, they had rejected his ministry. They are antagonistic toward Paul, their right pastor. He is saying in effect, and this is enough to really arouse their antagonism, “I could wish that you could hold me again and again and again.” This is the utmost in sarcasm. All he is saying in effect is, if you are ever going to recover from reversion you are going to have to get with doctrine and I am you right pastor, you have to get it from me. Paul said that very simply with a couple of Greek words. He put this in the imperfect tense and the imperfect tense is a reminder so it has a double edge, because the imperfect tense is linear aktionsart in past time and he is reminding them that every time he taught them doctrine in the past by listening to him they were embracing him. He is reminding them that he is the one who led them to the Lord. They didn’t know Jesus Christ as saviour, they didn’t know anything until he presented it. Every spiritual blessing they have ever had they have had from him as their right pastor. So he very sweetly says, “I could wish that that you would embrace me again and again.” In other words, come back and listen. Now this word has been translated to bear or to endure patiently, but it means to have and to hold again and again. It means, therefore, to be patient with someone you love. In other words, a)nexomai is designed to express the fact that Paul is their right pastor, they are his right congregation, and by rejecting his authority, by rejecting the teaching of 1 Corinthians, they in effect have expressed reverse process reversionism.

“in a little folly” — the word for ‘little’ is mikroj and it means little in several senses: little or small, in size or age or time. Here it means little in quality. Paul is saying that whatever his foolishness is it is little in quality. The word ‘folly’ is a)frosunh which means to be without thinking in a matter. It is best translated ‘foolishness.’

Summary

Really it is Paul who is patiently enduring the foolishness of the Corinthians. But by making it visa versa Paul is using sarcasm. The little in quality foolishness of Paul is really his deep concern for the Corinthians who are now in scar tissue, emotional revolt, reversionism, and apostasy. And they have rejected Paul in the function of reverse process reversionism. They have become his critics, they have joined a mutual admiration society which is an anti-Paul society.

“and indeed” — a)lla kai should be ‘but also.’ The word ‘but’ or a)lla here is a conjunction, a strong conjunction of contrast. Again he uses a)nexomai but this time present active imperative: “but also keep on being patient with me [because you love me].”

Translation: “I could wish that you would be patient with me [because you love me] regarding a little of my foolishness: but also keep on being patient with me now [because you love me].” In other words, he is saying he is their right pastor.

Summary

1. In the last verb, translated in the KJV ‘bear with me’ but is really ‘keep on being patient with me,’ the present active imperative of e)xomai indicates the patience believers need toward their pastor when they are recovering from scar tissue, emotional revolt, or reversionism. So a very strong truth comes out of this sarcasm. If you are a believer sand you have phased out Bible doctrine you are in scar tissue, you are in emotional revolt, you are in a state of reversionism. In that state you are obviously antagonistic toward the pastor who taught you. Sarcasm is used to show that you will never recover from reversionism, scar tissue, emotional revolt, and attendant and resultant apostasy unless you in turn become patient with the one who teaches you. How do you become patient? Rebound and start coming to face to face teaching. The road back is one of great patience, but it is a patience you can bear because of love for the truth and a recognition of the authority of your right pastor. You don’t have to love or even like the one who teaches you but you do have to love the doctrine which he teaches.

2. At the same time the right pastor must be patient with them. He keeps right on teaching. He patiently plugs away.

3. However, Paul is not impatient but the Corinthians are the ones who are impatient.

4. The Corinthians in practising reverse process reversionism have a very difficult road of recovery. They have been very patient with inconsequential persons, they have been patient with apostates, they have been patient with Judaisers, they have been patient with those who have taught that which is false. Now, if they are to recover they must reverse the process again. They have been patient with inconsequential persons and they must direct that patience toward the apostle Paul who is their right pastor. To do this requires rebound, the filling of the Spirit, and understanding the principle of the solution which is Bible doctrine, face to face teaching.

5. However, the sanctified sarcasm teaches the principle of mutual patience while believers are recovering from reversionism. This is because there is love between them.

6. The reason for mutual patience is based upon the principle of right pastor, right congregation.

Verse 2 — “For” is gar, an epexegetic particle which means it introduces an expansion of the idea. In the last verse the sarcastic phrase was ‘be patient with me.’ In this verse Paul’s second emphasis of sarcasm if “I am jealous of you,” but he uses a word which can mean jealous and something else. It is the present active indicative of zhlow which means two different things. It means to be jealous or it means to be zealous. This is sarcasm through etymology, for here we have antithetical means for the same verb and both are true. Zhlow means top be devoted but it also means to be jealous. Paul is saying, ‘I keep on being devoted and jealous with an ardour and jealousy from God.’ The genitive is a genitive of source, so we know that the jealousy is not a mental attitude sin. Paul’s deep love for the Corinthians, who are his right congregation, has turned to jealousy which is really ardour or deep love because they have gone into infidelity toward his ministry. He is very deeply concerned and he expresses his concern by the word zhlow which means to have ardour or deep love. On the surface it comes out ‘jealous’ but behind the verb is love.

We go now to another analogy: Christ and the Church. The word “for” indicates a second epexigetical particle in this verse. It is the amplification of a principle.

“I have espoused you” — aorist middle indicative of a)rmozw which means to fit together, to unite in marriage. It means right man and right woman discovering this and getting married. So ‘espouse’ here means to give in marriage: ‘for I have given you in marriage to one husband.’ The ‘one husband’ is the dative singular of e(ij and it means there is only one right man, as it were, Jesus Christ. This is Church universal. There is only one saviour, there is only one head of the Church. When Paul led the Corinthians to the Lord God the Holy Spirit took every one of them at the point of salvation and entered them into union with Christ. ‘I have given you in marriage to Christ, you are one with Him therefore what are you doing in reverse process reversionism with these Judaisers who are not only unsaved but are false teachers?’ They are apostles of Satan, they are Satanic ministers. The principle is that there is one right man for one right woman, and this is used as a sarcastic illustration. The Corinthians critics in reversionism were designed for Jesus Christ, one right man, not for the Judaisers. The Corinthian critics also have one right pastor, but we must notice the distinction in the change. When we are talking about local church the analogy is the Corinthians and their right pastor, Paul. But when they are talking about universal church it is Corinthians in union with Christ; He is the one husband. All of the false teachers are pseudo lovers.

Next we have a purpose clause and a final analogy: “that” introduces a purpose clause; “I may present” is the aorist active infinitive of paristhmi which means to place beside, to put at someone’s disposal, to present, to represent, to demonstrate. Here it means ‘that I may place at his disposal,’ at the disposal of Christ.

“chaste” — a)gnoj which means pure. Pure here represents all that is involved in positional truth; the word ‘virgin’ is parqenoj which means you never lose your positional truth. You will always be in union with Christ. Why do we have the word ‘pure’ with it? Because it is possible for a woman to come to marriage as a virgin but not be pure. In her mind she is not pur, and that is the whole point. Through reverse process reversionism the Corinthians are chasing after false teachers.

“to Christ” — e)ij, directional.

Translation: “I keep on being devoted and jealous toward you with an ardour and jealousy from God: for I gave you in marriage to one nobleman, that I may place you at his disposal a pure virgin to Christ.”

Summary

1. Paul treasures the Corinthians as his right woman — his right congregation.

2. He led them to Christ which is the presentation in marriage to one nobleman, Jesus Christ. He placed them at the disposal of Christ as a pure virgin. The purity is actually the doctrine he taught them after they were saved.

3. The purity of the Corinthians has been besmirched by negative volition toward doctrine, scar tissue, emotional revolt, and reversionism.

4. Therefore reversionism distorts both human affection and capacity for love.

5. In this distortion of their love of Jesus Christ and their love of the apostle Paul they have accepted reverse process reversionism. They have made the object of their attention, their affection, false teachers. At the same time expressing maligning and judging of Paul which in turn in an expression and judgement of Paul, which in turn is an expression of their hatred, their bitterness, their cruelty, their implacability. At the same time they have even taken steps to hurt him, i.e. revenge tactics.

1968 2Corinthians 11:                                                                                 Lesson #64

64 02/13/1972 2Cor. 11:3–4 Satan's attack on authority; the "serpent" before and after the Fall; false teaching attacks the right lobe

2Corinthians 11:3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

2Corinthians 11:4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

Verse 3 — “But I fear.” ‘But’ is the particle de used as a conjunction of contrast. This particle is used as a contrast between the pure virgin given in marriage to Christ and the believer seduced by apostasy. This particular conjunctive particle, then, shows the contrast between the Corinthians when Paul found them and the Corinthians at the time that Paul writes. ‘I fear’ — present middle indicative of the verb fobew. This is the expression of Paul’s concern for the Corinthians who went negative toward doctrine, therefore turned against him. These have entered into the state of reversionism. This is the source of Paul’s fear. The present tense indicates that Paul continues to carry this fear. The middle voice indicates that Paul carries it himself as a rejected lover in reverse process reversionism.

“lest by any means” — mh pwj. Mh is a negative; pwj with a circumflex accent is called an enclitic particle. But without that this becomes at this point an adverb — ‘lest in any way.’ It is used to introduce an illustration by analogy which begins with the word ‘as,’ w(j.

“the serpent” — the noun ‘serpent’ is the subject for the first part of the analogy, for the illustration which will be completed by the analogy. The word for ‘serpent’ is o)fij which was used for both a real serpent and for an artificial. Artificial serpents were often sculptured because serpents were worshipped as a part of demon activity among the Greeks. It was used for the snake that functioned in the healings of the temple of Ascepolis at Epidarus. This was a famous demon centre. This word also was used in the Septuagint for Numbers 21:6-9 where we have the brass serpent. The noun is used in Revelation 12:9 and 20:2 for Satan himself. It is used by Paul for Satan, it is used for the serpent who seduced the woman. Here, of course, it is obviously a Satanic agent, the serpent who seduced the woman. O)fij refers to the serpent in his pristine form before judgement. He did not crawl on the ground. Whatever type of creature he was he was the most beautiful of all creatures. The category we know today did not exist until after the fall of man. The crawling of the serpent also makes the head of the serpent vulnerable to almost everything that stands up. He is vulnerable because he has to move on the ground. This is a part of the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 where the serpent would strike the heel of Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman, at the cross. But Jesus Christ would crush the head of the serpent by going to the cross. So the fulfillment of that also is in part the manner in which the serpent lives, moves about, and the way he looks at present.

“beguiled” — the verb e)capataw gives to the serpent certain types of ability that no longer exists in animal creation. The word means to fake out, thoroughly deceive, to cheat. The aorist tense refers to that part of time when the serpent was indwelt by Satan, and when Satan actually spoke to the woman through the vocal cords of the serpent indicating that the serpent was a superior type of creature within the realm of the animal kingdom. The serpent was in the animal kingdom but had special abilities that no other animal possessed. Man’s best friend in the Garden was not the dog, it was the serpent with its super ability. When the devil himself possessed the serpent it was the first time in recorded history that animals were demon possessed, but not the last. Demon possession of animals starts in Genesis 3 and goes all the way to Revelation.

“through his subtlety” — the preposition e)n plus the instrumental of panourgia which means ‘evil coming.’ It means craftiness in an evil sense. It also connotes pseudo wisdom, pride or an appeal to intellectualism. Panourgia is not only used for the serpent in the Garden but it is used for those intellectual snobs who have rejected Bible doctrine, believer or unbeliever. It is therefore used in an evil sense, evil craftiness. It also connotes here interest in false doctrine which comes as a part of reverse process reversionism. Believers not interested in true doctrine eventually get hooked up with false doctrine. Negative volition toward doctrine always leads to opening up of mataiothj, the attack upon the right lobe, the buildup of scar tissue on the left and right bank, the emotional revolt of the soul, the destruction of all or any part of the ECS which is known as reversionism. When the believer in emotional revolt reaches reversionism he takes an active interest in that which is false. That is exactly what happened in Corinth.

“so” — now the analogy is completed; “your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

The completion of the analogy: The Corinthians have reached reversionism, they are in the same status that Eve or the woman was after she had bought Satan’s package. Eve was Adam’s right woman just as the Church is Christ’s right woman. When this analogy pertains the Church is often called the body of Christ. Satan attacks not in the Garden, Adam, Adam was the man/creature in charge. As the creature in charge Satan did not seek to attack him because if Adam had fallen, having charge of everything, having the authority, all he would have to do is to order the woman to eat of the fruit and she will obey because Adam was in authority. Therefore the woman would not be guilty. Satan could not possibly attack the man. The woman could only be guilty is the sin from her own free will and to do so she must reject the authority of the man put over her and accept what Satan said. She must operate independently of God-given authority. God-given authority is the basic principle in establishment. Satan always attacks the establishment — from below! This is important in the analogy if you understand that man was over the woman and that he had the authority. But if the woman sinned first and tried to persuade Adam both would sin from their own free will. It is true that the woman in sinning was deceived and the man was not. It is true while the area of sin was different the woman is said to have been deceived and man was not, he knew what he was doing, yet both of them operated from their own free will and both of them partook of the forbidden fruit. Both of them became spiritually dead the moment they did.

Going back to the analogy, the man was placed over the woman, the man had the authority in right man, right woman. Satan attacks the one under the authority to get the woman out from under the authority of the man, and Satan uses the serpent because the woman had a pet, therefore always around and the best way to go about this. As Satan attacks not the one in authority but the ones under authority that is exactly what happened in Satan’s attack on Corinth. The authority was Paul as the right pastor. Satan does not try to destroy the Corinthians by attacking Paul. He did attack Paul but not to destroy the Corinthians. Paul is the authority, the apostle, he is analogous to the right man. But he attacks the Corinthians who are under the authority of Paul, and he attacked them through emotional revolt, through negative volition toward doctrine, and through reversionism. When Satan attacks one under authority he always undermines the divine appointment. It was God who made Paul an apostle. The authority which Paul possessed was from God and therefore Satan must attack those under his authority. For that reason it is probably true that there are great demon attacks on congregations where the Word of God is taught; of the individuals involved because they are under the authority of the pastor. And in making this attack there must be an attack upon the pastor’s authority. That is exactly what happened in this case. Therefore we have a perfect analogy. As Satan attacked the woman rather than the man in the Garden so Satan attacks the Corinthians rather than the apostle Paul.

And where does Satan launch his attack? Here we have the phrase “your minds.” That is not quite correct. The word ‘your minds’ here is nohma, a very important vocabulary word because it is a synonym for heart. It refers to the right lobe. The left lobe is called nouj, translated ‘mind.’ The right lobe is called nohma as well as heart. There are two words for the right lobe, here is the second one. So this is in the plural, referring to many Corinthians who have been subverted. Nohma refers to the right lobe or the heart, not the left lobe. False teaching attacks the right lobe.

“should be corrupted” — aorist active subjunctive of the verb fqerw. The word means to be seduced. It was used in several other ways, to be ruined financially, to be destroyed by misleading tactics. It is translated ‘corrupted.’ Actually, reversionism is spiritual seduction. Paul is rejected as the right pastor, the Corinthians have gone to the Judaisers who are inconsequential persons. They have been seduced by the Judaisers. This is a part of reverse process reversionism. The aorist tense is a constative aorist which means it didn’t happen all at once, they went to the Judaisers many times. As a result they picked up a system of false doctrine, not simply a point or two. The passive voice: the believers indicate that the believers received reversionism, they received seduction. The subjunctive mood indicates that they are believers who are still alive and therefore the situation can be corrected.

“from” — a)po, the preposition of ultimate source; “the simplicity” — genitive singular from a)plothj which means purity or probity of mind. Probity is a better concept if it is understood what probity means, integrity of mind; “that is” is not found in the original.

“in Christ” — e)ij is a directional preposition in Koine Greek and here it means ‘toward Christ.’

Translation: “”But I fear for you, lest in any way, as the serpent thoroughly cheated Eve by means of pseudo wisdom, so your right lobes should be seduced and corrupted from the integrity of doctrine and purity of life toward Christ.”

Verse 4 — “For” is a particle which expands the approaches of the false apostle. They are approaching, they are coming, they have come; “if” introduces the apodasis of a first class condition which is reality. “For if [and it is true].”

“he that cometh” — present active participle of e)rxomai which means ‘the ones coming here.’ This is the advance of the false teachers, the Judaisers, the apostates, into Corinth to seduce believers from doctrine.

“preacheth” — present active indicative of khrussw which means to make a very important announcement, to make a public proclamation, and here it is used for public communication. Here it is the public communication of “another Jesus” — another of the same kind here means the same historical Jesus, but they surround Him with the works of legalism and principles not compatible with grace. A)lloj is used here to show something interesting, that Jesus whom they present is the same historical Jesus that Paul presents. However they surround Him with false concepts. They said that not only do you have to believe in Him but you have to keep the law to be saved. They persuaded the people that they had to do more than is required by grace, for grace requires nothing and that always bothered the Judaisers.

“which we have not preached” — the present active indicative indicates that the Judaisers were constantly teaching these things right now in Corinth. But ‘we have not preached’ goes to the aorist tense of khrussw to indicate that Paul taught something different. Paul communicated Jesus Christ in the context of grace, never in legalism as the Judaisers. False teachers are the objects of pseudo love and reverse process reversionism, Paul was the object of true love as their right pastor. As long as they listened to Paul they had grace, as long as they followed the Judaisers and were seduced by them they hear legalism.

“or ye receive another spirit” — again we have the present active indicative of lambanw which indicates that right now the Corinthians are being seduced by Judaisers, they are flirting with the Judaisers, they are fornicating spiritually with the Judaisers. They are listening to the Judaisers, they are listening to their message, they are receiving false doctrine, while at the same time they are giving Paul the shaft of criticising , maligning, and so on. The word for ‘another spirit’ is e(teroj which means another of a different kind, and then the word pneuma. Pneuma would indicate life, sometimes breath, or human personality. When it is used technically we call it spirit but it can be translated ‘personality, state of mind, way of life, breath.’ Here it refers to the believer in reversionism, he has an entirely different personality. Now they have received a different personality. This is the function of the psycopathic personality. The Corinthians, like the Galatians, have welcomed a false gospel but they didn’t do so until they went for the Judaisers. Now in reverse process reversionism they have a different personality.

“ye might bear with” — we have two words here, the word a)nexomai which will be used throughout the rest of the passage. It demands some explanation since it is not correctly translated, only approximately. A)nexomai means to tolerate or the bear with someone you love or think you love. It will be used in this passage for loving the Judaisers, which is pseudo love. So it is going to be used for pseudo love in this passage. Along with the adverb is the word kalwj in the adverbial form and it means ‘honourably’ — ‘honourably you love them’ or ‘you tolerate them honourably.’

Correct translation: “For if the one coming [false teacher] publicly communicate another historical Christ, whom we have not publicly taught, or if you receive a different personality, which you have not received, or a different kind of gospel which you have not welcomed, you patiently endure them with honour.”

This is sarcasm. Here these Corinthians are very patient because they have a fanatical pseudo love for the false teachers. They are listening to the false teachers teach false doctrine and it isn’t even consistent, but because they are enamored with the false teachers, because they are in reverse process reversionism, they listen, accept, and buy things that are totally incompatible with Bible doctrine. Suffering from reversionism they are now in very serious trouble.

Genesis 1:26 — “God” is Elohim which is plural and refers to all members of the Godhead; they are having a conversation among themselves, therefore a part of the divine decrees.

“Let us make man” — the qal imperfect, first person plural from asah. Asah means to make something out of material. In this case the material is invisible, it is soul material. The soul is real but invisible. The Bible describes the characteristics of the soul but it is still invisible.

“man” here does not refer to man male, it refers to mankind, male and female; “in our image” — the preposition b plus the noun tselem which refers to not an exact image but an approximation. God has self-consciousness; man has self-consciousness. God has sovereignty; man has self-determination, volition. God has norms and standards; man has norms and standards. That is what is meant by ‘in our image.’ And then another phrase is added, “after our likeness.” This is the preposition k which means ‘according as.’ It has with it a first person plural suffix plus demuth, and demuth means pattern. Man’s soul is patterned on the basis of God’s essence. God’s essence is based on the first characteristic, sovereignty. Man is after the likeness of God in that man was created with free will. The basis of man’s existence is his freedom.

“and let them have dominion” — here man has authority over lower creation. When man is in degeneracy he worships lower creation because his soul is on the same level with it.

Verse 27 — “So God.” Now we have a different word, bara which means to create out of nothing; “created man in his own image,” tselem meaning the pattern — gave him free will, in other words.

“in the image of God [tselem] created he him” — qal perfect of bara again. This is on the sixth day, by the way. Notice what it says about the sixth day: “male and female” — now we have something different. Man is called here Adam. That’s mankind, like a)nqrewpoj in the Greek. But now we have a male sexwise, zakar. That means a male, sexually, and he is distinguished from someone else created on the sixth day, neqebah, a woman with emphasis on her sex. Notice that on day six “male and female,” zakar neqebah bara’d he them.”

Notice something. I man’s head is a soul activated, his own. His soul is zakar. In his head is the woman’s soul incubated — neqebah. He is only functioning on his own. The woman did not come into existence until some time after the sixth day. How do we know? There are a lot of things that have to be classified first.

Chapter 5:1 — “This is the book of the generations of Adam.” Adam is a race. The race was originally called Adam, we call it human race.’

“In the day that God created” — the qal infinitive construct now of bara; “man” — Adam; “in the likeness of God he made [asah] him.” This is a change of word again. Asah means that there is an impulse, invisible. The soul cannot be seen but it is real. The soul will never die either. It can be distorted in time, it can be neutralised by scar tissue, emotional revolt, reversionism, but the soul cannot be destroyed.

Verse 2 — “Male and female created [bara, qal perfect] he them.” This has the third masculine plural suffix. Bara this time is in the qal perfect but it has a suffix — masculine. When man was created on day six man was standing there is a human body [jatsar] and a human soul [asah], and asar + jatsar = bara. And he stood there with his own soul functioning in his own body, a genius and an incubator — the woman’s soul. But the woman was not created on day six. Her soul was in incubation but she was not in existence until sometime later. Here they are both there but only one is there.

“he blessed them” — even though the woman is still in the incubator; “and called” — the qal imperfect qara which means that’s still his designation; “their name” — third masculine plural suffix. He ‘called their name Adam.’

“in the day” — the sixth day; “when they were created,” the niphal infinitive construct of bara. They received creation. The niphal is the passive of the qal. This is the third masculine plural.

Back to chapter 2:7 — “And the Lord God” is Jesus Christ; “formed man” — jatsar. That is the creation of the body of Adam plus an extra rib; “of the dust” — aphar, the chemicals of the soil.

“and breathed into his nostrils the breath of chayim [lives]” — two people were created, one was in incubation and one was the first full-blown first male of the human race. He classified all of the lower creation and he got all of the rules straight before the woman came into the picture. First he had to have authority under the concept of right man, right woman. No man should ever marry his right woman until he has grown up. Marriage is not for babies or children, it is for adults.

“and man became a living soul” — he has two lives but he became a living soul. Here Adam [ha Adam] is not the human race, it is the male. Then we have the lenephesh — ‘unto a soul became.’ One soul was activated out of the breath of lives, one was not. Between verse 7 and verse 17 we have man in charge. Then in verse 18 “the Lord God said [Jesus Christ in contrast to Elohim] lo tobh — not good that man should be lebadh [alone].” The woman’s soul was resident in his head but not active.

“I will manufacture [asah] him” — that means that the soul is going to be taken out of Adam’s head and put in a special body designed by God for the man. It is literally, “I will make for him,” not a help meet, but ezer which means ‘help.’ Then we have a prepositional phrase, kenegedo, which with ezer means a ‘help over against him.’ This is a Hebrew idiom for responding to him — ‘a help responding to him.’

In verse 22, the rib. Adam had an extra rib. God put him to sleep, hauled out the extra rib and from that, it says, ‘made he a woman.’ No, banah, he ‘built’ the woman.

This is all an illustration of something. Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. As Paul said in 2 Cor. 11:2 his job as a pastor is to present his right congregation to Jesus Christ as a chaste virgin. The congregation is called the body of Christ — analogy. Christ is analogous to right man, the body of Christ is analogous to right woman. As long as the Church is on earth it is the body of Christ and the job of the pastor is to give the body response to Christ, for Christ can only be understood today in His absence through the Word, through doctrine. Christ has appointed the pastor-teacher. Pastor means authority, it means shepherd. Teacher is his function, pastor is his authority.

2 Corinthians 11:5 — “I suppose.” Paul didn’t suppose anything. This in the Greek is dogmatic. It is the present middle indicative of logizomai which means to put the thoughts together and come to a dogmatic conclusion. ‘I conclude dogmatically,’ present tense. Middle voice: ‘I’ve thought it all over and I know I am the chiefest.’ He is not talking about the apostles, he is talking about the Judaisers; “myself” — middle voice: an honest estimate of the situation under grace.

“I was not a whit behind” — the perfect active infinitive of u(sterew. The word means to be inferior to, not ‘a whit behind.’ It has a negative, mhdeij, which means ‘not one.’ “For I dogmatically conclude myself not to be inferior to one of...”

“the very chiefest” is u(perlian which refers to the preeminently superior, the super dooper apostles. This is sarcasm. The Judaisers have passed themselves off as super apostles. These are the Judaisers who went from place to place and claimed to be superior to Paul. Their entire ministry was to undermine and neutralise the ministry of grace. They were very effective both in Galatia and in Corinth, they were celebrity Jews, but as we shall see, Paul was a super Jew. The Judaisers were not actually apostles at all but false teachers, the emissaries of Satan to confuse believers and to neutralise the teaching of doctrine and to cut off Paul’s authority. They had to cut him off at the authority level.

1968 2Corinthians 11:                                                                                 Lesson #65

65 02/20/1972 2Cor. 11:5–6; Gen. 1:26–27 Creation of Adam; criticism of Paul by the Corinthians

2Corinthians 11:5 Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles.

2Corinthians 11:6 Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.

Verse 6 — language is used to communicate doctrine, it was never designed to be pedantic and scholarly, and to talk way up in the clouds so no one understands and every one has a good time. “But” is a conjunction of contrast; “though” — e)i for a 1st class condition, so it is ‘if.’ It introduces a first class condition to present more of the criticism of Paul and to turn it into irony. Irony is a combination of humour and sarcasm to imply that which is the opposite of the literal sense of the words. Here the words of criticism are parroted by the Corinthians from the Judaisers and are used to ridicule the stupidity of Corinthians criticism. In other words, Paul takes the words of criticism, ‘rude of speech,’ and turns it right around. Paul wasn’t rude of speech, he great of speech. But the Corinthians came out of Greek culture where you use nice Classical Greek words, words that were abstruse in their meaning, words that were so long and so technical that only the Judaisers could understand them.

“though I be rude” — the 1st class condition is the 1st class condition of supposition to parrot another criticism of Paul. The word ‘rude’ is i)diothj which means a person who lives in privacy. That is, a person who does not participate in public life. The word is taken from the Classical Greek of Attica where every Athenian citizen was a member of the legislature. Some Athenian citizens refused to come to the legislature and vote. Therefore they were regarded as i)diothj. They wanted to live in seclusion. Hence, a layman as over against a specialist is the meaning of the word. In other words, a person who is unskilled or devoid of special learning and technical knowledge, or who refuses to function within the framework of the Athenian democracy. One of the criticisms of Paul after the Judaisers arrived was that Paul was crude, he was i)diothj, he had his own private language of the street. Instead of communicating to them in the Classical Greek of a great orator he would speak to them in compound verbs, prepositional phrases, enclitic particles, and he was ‘crude.’ Language must communicate. So Paul used the language of the street. He avoided the ‘holy,’ nebulous, abstruse language of the Judaisers. His language was not considered to be befitting the ‘dignity of the clergy,’ it offended the legalist.

“yet not in knowledge” — the locative case of gnwsij which means here objective understanding. The pastor’s speech technique is not the issue, it is always his message. The content of speech is emphasised, not the eloquence of speech. Remember that the pastor makes love to his congregation by the content of doctrine, not by pretty speeches. His gift does not guarantee the content. He must study, study, study.

Summary

1. This translation emphasises the locative of logoj [speech/thought] and gnwsij. Gnwsij here is not technical as in GAP, it means here to be able to put your thoughts into words that communicate to the congregation.

2. The Corinthians under the leadership of the Judaisers have criticised Paul, especially his speaking ability from which they previously learned all their doctrine and from which they previously received an ECS.

3. They did not complain at the time that Paul taught them face to face, even though their background culture of Hellenism appreciated a more eloquent approach.

4. Not until the mutual admiration societies were formed by the Judaisers, not until the Corinthians were negative toward doctrine with resultant scar tissue, emotional revolt and reversionism, did they begin to criticise Paul’s speaking ability. It was when legalism came in that they got on their self-righteous high horse and became critical.

5. Paul, the object of their love, is now severely critcised while the Judaisers who had led them astray are the object of their affection.

6. The Corinthians are unfaithful to Paul while being led astray while being led astray by the apostates. This began with the emotional revolt of 2 Corinthians 6:11,12.

7. When the Judaisers came to Corinth Corinth entered into reverse process reversionism. They went for Jewish celebrities, the were suddenly intrigued with Judaism. Therefore they became celebrity fornicators.

“but” — the strong conjunction a)lla used for a conjunction of contrast. While crude of speech Paul has communicated accurately the whole realm of doctrine. From this point on the translation in the KJV does not follow the correct Greek order. So the Greek order is: “but in the sphere of all [doctrine], having made known by all means for your benefit.”

“but in the sphere of all” — e)n plus the locative of paj [all]. This means all doctrine; “having made known” is the aorist active participle of fanerow. Fanerow is used rather than didaskw because these things that Paul taught in doctrine were entirely new, they had never heard anything like this before and they were infinitely interested in what he had to say at the time.

“by all means” — e)n plus the instrumental of paj. This time it doesn’t refer to doctrine, it refers to different types of language; “for your benefit” is the preposition e)ij plus the accusative of su — ‘of you.’ Paul was there for their benefit. The Bible emphasises the content of doctrine rather than the mean of communication. Crudeness of speech communicates where pedantics do not.

Translation: “For if I also am crude in the sphere of speech, but not in the sphere of objective doctrine; but in the sphere of all doctrine, having made known by all means for your benefit.”

Up to this point Paul has made it very clear that he has fulfilled his objective, and they now have a choice to consider: true doctrine, crudely presented, or false doctrine beautifully presented. This is an issue that every believer must face at some time in his life.

1968 2Corinthians 11:                                                                                 Lesson #66

66 02/27/1972 2Cor. 11:7–9 Paul's humility; support from Philippians

2Corinthians 11:7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God's gospel to you free of charge?

2Corinthians 11:8 I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.

2Corinthians 11:9 And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.