Year 2, Week 45, Day 1 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 45, Day 1

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of 2 Corinthians 7-9.

Today’s reading continues Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, which is probably the most personal and autobiographical of all of Paul’s letters. Paul expresses not only the nature of his Apostolic ministry, but also some of the severe affliction that he experienced in connection with his ministry. 2 Corinthians 7 expresses, through several aspects, the confidence and joy that Paul had in relationship to the believers at Corinth: “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…I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you” (2 Corinthians 7:4,16). 2 Corinthians 8, along with chapter 9, begins a short segment that revisits the issue of the collection for the poor believers in Jerusalem [that Paul gave instructions about in 1 Corinthians 16]. 2 Corinthians 8 begins the topic of giving by highlighting the example of giving taken up by the believers from Macedonia: “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 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” (2 Corinthians 8:1-2). The generous giving on the part of the Macedonian believers, even amid their poverty, reflected the evidence of God’s grace in their lives. 2 Corinthians 9 concludes the topic of giving by differentiating forced giving from willingly giving: “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:6-7).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the remarks that Paul declared from the opening verse of our passage: “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” (2 Corinthians 7:1). These opening lines of 2 Corinthians 7 actually contain the conclusion and summary of what Paul had begun discussing at the end of the previous chapter (and previous day’s reading): "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 6:14a). This segment of Paul’s letter provides instructions about separation. Followers of Christ are to be separate from, that is distinct from the world. However, being separate from the world is not the same as being isolated from the world, for the church's mission involves going into the world for the promotion of the Gospel: “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18). Paul is not calling for isolation but separation.

Often the notion of being “unequally yoked with unbelievers” is often associated most immediately with marriage, that is, a believer should not marry an unbeliever. While this is certainly a legitimate implication from the text, the meaning should be understood in a much broader fashion. Earlier Paul discussed “unbelievers” as spiritually blind to the Gospel: "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4). The mention of “unbelievers,” or those lacking true faith, is likely a reference to intruders in the church at Corinth who were compellingly drawing the genuine believers back into the mindset of the old age and thus away from the purity of the doctrine and life: “For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?” (2 Corinthians 6:14b-16a).  When Paul speaks of being “unequally yoked” with unbelievers, he is exhorting the true believers to preserve themselves from infectious mingling with professing Christians who are not in accord with the true gospel of Christ.

Paul appeals to believers as God’s Temple: "For we are the temple of the living God” (2 Corinthians 6:16b). God dwelt in His Temple. Thus, the Temple of the Lord should not be defiled: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). The fact that God dwelt in them as His Temple was a truth that Paul invoked to stir them on to holiness: “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.” Drawing from the Book of Leviticus, Paul reminds the believers at Corinth that was was true about the LORD dwelling in their midst in the Old Covenant corresponds to Christ dwelling within His people in the New Covenant: “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:16b-18, with quote from Leviticus 26:11-12; Isaiah 52:11; and Isaiah 43:6). The wonderful reality that God has drawn near to His people, indwelling them, means that His people must be ever mindful of the incompatibility with things together, such as: righteousness and lawlessness; light and darkness; Christ and Satan; believers and unbelievers; Temple of God and idols. The thought of these combinations should be revulsive to followers of Christ.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe