Search
Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 6:11-13; 7:2-4, 12-16; 10:1-2, 7-12; 11:1, 5-31; 12:1, 11-19
If we read the verses above carefully again and again, we can see what kind of spirit this man, the apostle Paul, had. Paul wrote fourteen Epistles in the New Testament, but not one of these Epistles gives us a picture of Paul’s spirit in the way that 2 Corinthians does. As we have pointed out already, 2 Corinthians can be considered as an autobiography of the apostle Paul. In this chapter I want to point out what kind of spirit the apostle Paul had when he was serving the church. I am not referring to Paul’s attitude, thinking, knowledge, or emotions but to his spirit. Our spirit is the deepest part of our being. It may also be considered as the genuine, real part of our being. A genuine man is a man in the spirit. We may be kind to others, but we are kind falsely because we are kind in the soul, not in the spirit. Sometimes we love others, but we love them falsely, because we love them in our soul, not in the spirit. When we do things in our spirit, we are real and genuine because our real man, our real being, is in the spirit. Sometimes we talk with people in the soul, not in the spirit. When we speak in this way, we are merely saying something to fit the situation, and our talk is worldly. When we speak to others in the spirit, we are real and genuine. In this chapter we want to see nine aspects of the wonderful spirit of Paul. I am not referring to the Holy Spirit but to the human spirit of Paul (Acts 17:16; 19:21; Rom. 1:9; 2 Cor. 2:13).
Based on the Scripture reading, the first characteristic, the first virtue, of the spirit of this writer is its openness. This man Paul has an open spirit. It is not easy to have an open spirit. On the contrary, it is easy for us to close our spirit, to shut our spirit up. It could be that most of the time we are closed in our spirit. The more we are fallen, the more we are closed in our spirit; the more we are delivered, the more we are saved, the more we are open in the spirit. For the church life we need an open spirit.
You may open your mind, open your emotion, and even open your entire heart, yet you would still not open your spirit to others. When you open your spirit, you are fully, thoroughly open to others. In today’s society, hardly any person is open to another person. They are open to one another at most in the soul, not in the spirit. Among the Christians it may be the same. For the church building, for the church life, we have to be open to one another in the spirit. I have to open to you in the spirit, but this needs the Lord’s grace, and this needs the working of the cross. Our natural man has to be broken; then we will be open in the spirit one to another.
Are you really open in your spirit and from your spirit to the brothers? Although this is not easy, there is the need of such an openness in our spirit toward others. It was not so easy for the apostle Paul to be open in his spirit to the Corinthian believers. When you are welcomed by a group of people, it is easy for you to be open in the spirit to them. When you are criticized, opposed, and looked down on by others, however, you will become as closed as “a snail.” You will withdraw your whole being into a “hard shell” and hide yourself there. When others criticize you, you will remain in the shell. When others welcome you, you will come out to greet them. The shell into which we withdraw when others despise and criticize us is the shell of the self. When we withdraw into this shell, no one can touch us. If the members in a local church are all “snails,” how can the church building be prevailing? For the Lord’s sake and for the building up of the church, we have to be open one with another. We have to open ourselves to the other members. I have never seen two snails working together. Every snail is individualistic. There is the need of the divine breaking to break the shell of the self so that we may have an open spirit.
The verses in the Scripture reading also show us that Paul was a man with a frank spirit. Today in the church it is difficult to see some brothers who are really frank. I have met some so-called spiritual people who spoke well concerning me to my face, but eventually I discovered that they spoke about me behind my back in a very bad way. This is not frank. In the church life we should not lose our temper, but we have to be frank with one another. We should not be political in the church life but should always say something to a brother’s face. We should not be backbiters (Rom. 1:30; Gal. 5:15). The apostle Paul was a frank person with a frank spirit, and we need to be the same. Sometimes when we would be frank with others, they would think that we are mad with them. In today’s American society people have learned to be political. Even some Christian ministers and Christian teachers have become politicians. They may highly appraise a person to his face and yet speak something behind his back. This is something devilish. In the church life we should not be angry with one another. Anger does not accomplish anything for the Lord, but we have to be frank.
When you see that I am wrong in a certain matter, you have to tell me frankly in love, in a proper spirit. One brother may even come to another brother to ask him if he is wrong in a certain matter. If the other brother replies that he is not wrong and then behind his back speaks evil things concerning him, he is like “a serpent with two tongues.” You should not speak behind someone’s back what you cannot speak to his face. If your spirit does not allow you to say something, you should not say it. If you say something, you should say it truthfully, frankly. Paul was so frank that he even told the Corinthians, “I have become foolish; you yourselves have compelled me. For it is I who should have been commended by you” (2 Cor. 12:11). We have to get rid of all the elements of the cunning serpent within us. In the local expression of the church, of the Body of Christ, we have to be so faithful and frank. If I am wrong, tell me that I am wrong in love. Otherwise, you should not say anything.
The apostle Paul was also one who had a pure spirit. If you never say anything, it is easy for others to think that you are pure. But once you begin to speak, either your purity or lack of purity becomes manifested. In 2 Corinthians the apostle Paul opened himself up and spoke many things, yet we are impressed with how pure his spirit is. We may now be clear that we have to be frank, but if we are going to be frank, we have to be pure. A frank spirit has to be matched with a pure spirit. If you are not pure, your frankness will damage me. If I come to tell a brother that he is wrong in certain things, I have to test myself — is my spirit pure? If it is not pure, I should not be frank, and I could not be frank. I have to be frank with a pure motive. To speak to a brother with a pure spirit edifies. Otherwise, if you are frank without purity, you will damage and destroy the saints. In the church life we need such a frank and pure spirit.
Paul also had a bold spirit. In American slang we would say that Paul was not a “chicken.” He was like a tiger. He told the Corinthians, “I have previously said and I say beforehand, when I was present the second time and being absent now, to those who have sinned before and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare” (13:2). This is a real servant of Christ. We need to have a bold spirit, not a timid spirit. This is why Paul told Timothy that “God has not given us a spirit of cowardice” (2 Tim. 1:7).
Paul’s spirit was bold, and yet it was also humble. If your spirit is bold and yet not humble, that is dangerous. You may kill all the brothers because you are so bold. Boldness needs the balance of humility. On the one hand, you have to be bold; on the other hand, you have to be humble. We are either very bold or very humble. When we are bold, we do not know what humility is, and when we are humble, we do not know what boldness is. We are like the unturned cake referred to in Hosea 7:8. These characteristics of humility and boldness in our spirit are necessary for the church life.
Sometimes the sisters are keener than the brothers in noticing things that are wrong. They have this ability to see what is wrong and what is off, but most of the time they are not bold. They may find out that something is wrong, but they dare not tell the brothers. They may use the excuse that they are the weaker vessels (1 Pet. 3:7). To be humble is proper, but sometimes the sisters have to exercise a bold spirit. There was a certain sister who was a co-worker who saw certain mistakes that the brothers did not see, and she would come to us with boldness with tears on her face. She said, “Brothers, I have to fellowship with you because we are wrong in a certain thing. Though I am a sister under the covering, I have to say this.” Many times her fellowship became a deliverance from the Lord for us. This shows that we need a bold spirit with humility and a humble spirit with boldness.
Paul spoke bold words, but his words were full of a loving spirit. Paul’s spirit was a loving spirit, a spirit always stretching out to love others, to take care of others. I do not mean that we need a love which has its source in our emotions, but we need a loving spirit, a spirit within us that always loves others. The reason why I would be so frank in my spirit with you is because there is a lot of love in my spirit for you. What a person says with his words may be very different from his spirit. Someone may say that he loves you, but by discerning his spirit you know that he really does not love you. On the other hand, someone may tell you that he does not like you, but you realize that he loves you in his spirit. Many times mothers tell their children that they do not like them and they get upset with their children, but the children know that the mother loves them. A person’s words may be loving, but his spirit is not. We have to learn to know the spirit. Whether I highly appraise you or say something to rebuke you, you have to discern my spirit, not just my words. For the building up of the church life, there is the need of such a loving spirit.
Another characteristic of Paul’s spirit is that his spirit was tender. We can speak boldly in words yet still speak with a tender spirit. We need to be dealt with by the working of the cross so that we can be a person with a tender spirit like the apostle Paul.
Paul’s spirit was not self-seeking. Second Corinthians shows us that he had a spirit that never sought anything for himself. He had a spirit fully, wholly, and thoroughly delivered out of the self. Whatever his spirit sought was for the good of the church and for the interest of Christ. Such a spirit is greatly needed in today’s church life. Whether or not the church in our place will be built up adequately depends upon our being a person with a spirit possessing all these characteristics. If we would look to the Lord for His help in His grace to have the same spirit as the apostle Paul, spontaneously the church life would be built up. We need a spirit that does not seek anything for the self.
The final characteristic of Paul’s spirit is that his spirit was always coordinating with others. Our spirit might be tender, pure, and loving, yet not so cooperating or coordinating with other saints. The verses in the Scripture reading show us that Paul’s spirit was always coordinating with his co-workers, coordinating with the local churches, and even coordinating with those believers who did not treat him so well. He was coordinating all the time, trying to be one with the saints, one with the local churches, and one with the co-workers. He was so coordinating in the spirit.
In this chapter we have seen nine aspects of this man’s spirit: his spirit was open, frank, pure, bold, humble, loving, tender, not self-seeking, but coordinating. It would be helpful to pray-read all the verses in the Scripture reading with these nine points in mind. The more we pray-read all these verses, the more we will see that these nine points are so significant. These are the real characteristics of a person’s spirit who lives in the Holy of Holies. We need such a spirit for the building up of the Lord’s Body. Without such a balanced, adjusted spirit, the church life could never be realized by us regardless of how many doctrines and how much knowledge we possess. For us to realize the church life, we need such a balanced and adjusted spirit. May we all look to the Lord that we may have such a spirit.
