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.

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.

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.

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.”