(8)
Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 6:1-13
In 2:12—3:11 Paul covers the ministry of the new covenant, and in 3:12—7:16, the ministers of the new covenant. The section in this Epistle on the ministers of the new covenant is much longer than the section on the ministry of the new covenant. The reason for this is that God cares much more for the ministers than He does for the ministry. In other words, God cares more for what we are than for what we do. This means that what we are is much more important to Him than what we do.
Today both in the Christian world and the secular world more attention is given to what people do than to what they are. Christians mainly pay their attention to work or ministry, yet neglect the being of the person who does the work. They pay attention to the work and the ministry much more than to the worker and the minister. But according to the Bible, God pays more attention to what we are than to what we do or to what we can do. He cares for the kind of person we are and for the kind of life we live. Therefore, in 2 Corinthians Paul first presents the New Testament ministry. Then he goes on to show that this excellent, marvelous ministry needs excellent ministers with an excellent life.
We need to be deeply impressed by the fact that God cares much more for what we are than for what we do. What we do must be measured by what we are. Furthermore, our being must match our work; that is, what we are must match what we do. Our being must match our doing. Thus, our being and our doing go together. If we care only for what we do and not for being the right kind of person, then what we do will not be very weighty. Our doing will be weighty only when it is matched by what we are in our being.
In 6:1 Paul says, “And working together with Him, we also entreat you that you do not receive the grace of God in vain.” “And” here indicates a continuation. In the last part of chapter five (vv. 16-21) the apostle told us that they, as the ministers of the new covenant, are commissioned with the ministry of reconciliation for the Lord’s new creation. From this verse to the end of chapter seven, he continues by telling us how they work. They work together with God by a life (not by any gift) that is all-sufficient and all-matured, able to fit all situations, able to endure any kind of treatment, to accept any kind of environment, to work under any kind of condition, and to take any kind of opportunity, for the carrying out of their ministry.
Some who read this may say, “This is a good word for co-workers and ministers, but it does not apply to me. I am a layman, not a minister.” But in the Lord’s recovery there are no laymen. Everyone is a minister, a co-worker, and even has the potential and the capacity of becoming an apostle. Elsewhere we have pointed out that the apostles are examples and patterns of what all believers should be. In Ephesians 3 Paul says that he is less than the least of all saints. Moreover, the name Paul means “little.” If Paul, who thought of himself as less than the least of all the saints, could be a minister and an apostle, how about you? We all have the capacity to be ministers of the new covenant. Concerning this, our emphasis should not be on what we do, but on what we are. Our capacity is not primarily a capacity for doing but for being.
I would say that in 6:1—7:16 we can see that the apostles work together with God by an all-fitting life. This portion of 2 Corinthians does not indicate that they work together with God by an all-sufficient power or by an all-wonderful gift. Today’s Christians, however, mainly devote their attention to power and gifts. Some may inquire, “Do you have power? Don’t you know that Dr. So-and-so is a powerful preacher? What gifts do you have? Oh, Dr. So-and-so is very gifted.” But among Christians today there is very little talk about life or about living. Those who do not have genuine power may pretend to be powerful. For example, in a presumptuous way they may pray, “In the mighty name of Jesus I bind all the demons!” But it is most interesting that in 2 Corinthians Paul does not talk like this. Actually he says very little about either gifts or power. As used in 2 Corinthians, gift does not refer to miraculous gifts, and power does not have the connotation commonly given by Christians today. If you read carefully through the entire book of 2 Corinthians, you will see that Paul’s concentration is on life. Hence, in 6:1—7:16 we see that he worked together with God by an all-fitting life.
Being a minister of the New Testament does not depend on gifts or power; rather, it depends on having a life which is able to fit into any kind of situation. To be sure, in 6:1-13 the word all-fitting is not used. But if you consider what is contained in these verses, you will see that they describe a life which certainly is all-fitting. As we shall see in a later message, here Paul mentions eighteen qualifications, three groups of items, and seven kinds of persons. Paul, therefore, was qualified to be a minister of the new covenant in all these ways.
In 6:1-13 Paul does not list among the qualifications such things as philosophy or psychology. If we would be proper ministers of the new covenant, we must have the eighteen qualifications mentioned by Paul and three groups of items, and we need to be seven kinds of persons. Only in this way can we be qualified to be a co-worker with God for His New Testament ministry.
In 6:1 Paul does not say that the apostles work together with one another. No, he says that they were working together with God. The apostles were not only commissioned by God with their ministry, but they also worked together with Him. They were God’s co-workers (1 Cor. 3:9). Paul and his co-workers were working together with God.
If we would have a proper understanding of what it means to work together with God, we need to recall what Paul said at the end of chapter five. Paul has already said that he has been commissioned by God with the ministry of reconciliation, that is, with the work of reconciling others to God.
Many years ago, I had a very limited understanding of reconciliation. My understanding was that before we were saved, we were enemies of God, and there was no peace between us and God. Instead of peace, we were at enmity with God. But when we repented and believed in the Lord Jesus, His blood washed away our sins, and we received God’s forgiveness. As a result, we were justified by God and reconciled to Him. Having been reconciled to God in this way, there was no longer enmity between us and God. Instead, we had peace with Him. This understanding of reconciliation falls far short of the full meaning of reconciliation in the New Testament. It is not the full significance of reconciliation as ministered by the Apostle Paul.
What is the reconciliation ministered by Paul? I have read a number of books which refer to this subject, but none of them pointed out that the ministry of reconciliation is not merely to bring sinners back to God, but, even the more, to bring believers absolutely into God. Hence, it is not sufficient simply to be brought back to God; we must also be in Him.
The last verse of chapter five, verse 21, says, “Him Who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf, that we might become God’s righteousness in Him.” According to this verse, we become the righteousness of God not merely through Christ, with Christ, or by Christ; we become the righteousness of God in Christ. From this verse we also see that we become not only righteous before God; we become the very righteousness of God. To be righteous is one thing, but to become righteousness is something else. For example, a certain thing may be golden, but it may not be pure gold. How wonderful that in Christ we may become the very righteousness of God!
Do you have the confidence to declare that you are in Christ? As genuine believers, we can testify that we are in Him. But are we in Christ in a practical way in our daily living? For example, are you in Christ when you are joking? When you make a joke, do you have the assurance that you are in Him? You must admit that you are outside of Christ at such a time. There is no neutral ground: we are either in Christ or outside of Him. Because we are not always in Christ in a practical way, we need further reconciliation. We need to be reconciled back into Christ.
Suppose you are in a situation where you must wait in line for a long time. As you are waiting, you may feel not at all happy. In fact, you may be extremely bothered. Are you in Christ at that moment? No, you are outside of Christ. Where, then, are you? You are in yourself. At times your situation may be even worse, for you may be in the flesh, perhaps in your anger. Therefore, you need the ministry of reconciliation to bring you back into God once again.
I do not believe that many readers of 2 Corinthians 5 have the understanding that reconciliation is to be brought back into God. Was this your understanding of reconciliation in this chapter? Nevertheless, this is actually what Paul means by reconciliation.
For years I read chapters five and six of 2 Corinthians without realizing how chapter six is the continuation of chapter five. In 2 Corinthians 5 Paul tells us that he was commissioned with the ministry of reconciling others to God. In chapter six Paul is carrying out this ministry in relation to the Corinthians.
The biblical understanding of reconciliation includes more than merely being brought back to God. It is to be brought back into Him. Therefore, according to the Bible, to bring others to God means to bring them into God and to make them absolutely one with Him. However, in much Christian teaching the matter of oneness with God is wrongly understood. According to the concept held by many Christians, to be one with God can be compared to a wife being one with her husband. In the case of a husband and wife, there is a kind of corporate oneness. But in the Bible to be one with God means to be mingled with Him. It is to be in God and to allow God to come into us. Biblical oneness with God is a oneness in which we enter into God and God enters into us. Therefore, the Lord Jesus said, “Abide in Me and I in you” (John 15:4). He did not say, “Abide withMe and I with you.” What a shame that some Christians oppose this wonderful biblical concept of being one with God by being mingled with Him!
Until we are wholly one with the Lord, being in Him and allowing Him to be in us absolutely, we shall continue to need the ministry of reconciliation, the ministry with which Paul was commissioned. Paul was commissioned with the work of bringing the believers into God in a way that was absolute and practical. Once we see this, we are qualified to understand the last part of chapter five and the first part of chapter six. As we have pointed out, the conjunction “and” at the beginning of 6:1 indicates that chapter six is a continuation of the last part of chapter five.
I urge you not to cling to your old, limited concept of reconciliation. You may have studied religious books or spiritual books and feel that you have the proper interpretation of reconciliation. But I would encourage you to take in this new, fuller understanding of reconciliation and see that to be reconciled is to be brought into God and that the ministry of reconciliation is the ministry of bringing others into God.
There were many problems among the believers at Corinth. All those problems were signs that those believers were not absolutely in God. In many particular matters they were not in God. Although they had been saved and born of God, they were not living in Him. For this reason, concerning many items in their daily living, they were outside of God. Therefore, Paul was burdened to bring them into God. This is to reconcile them to God.
Not only were the apostles commissioned with the work, the ministry, of reconciliation, but in bringing others into God they worked together with God. They knew that by themselves they could not bring anyone into God. They did not have this ability, this capacity. They needed to do this work with God.
In the past many of us said that we were working for the Lord. But when you are working for Him, did you have the sense that you were working with Him? There is an important difference between working for God and working with Him. Even in our human living, working with another person is different from simply working for that person. Let us take the example of a wife cooking a meal for her husband. A wife may enjoy cooking for her husband; however, she may not like to cook a meal with her husband. Instead, if her husband were to come into the kitchen and try to prepare the meal with her, she might say, “Please let me cook this meal for you. Don’t come into the kitchen to bother me. Sit down and rest until your food is ready.” This indicates that the wife prefers to cook for her husband, but not with him. The same may be true of working for the Lord. Often we like to work for the Lord, but we do not want to work with Him. Our attitude may even be that the Lord should stay in heaven while we work for Him on earth. If we work in this way, we shall not be able to reconcile others into the Lord. Because we are not in the Lord ourselves in a practical way in our work, we cannot reconcile anyone else into the Lord. Only by working with the Lord can we reconcile others into Him.
To work together with God means that we are in Him. When we are in Him, we can bring others into Him. Only a person who is in God can bring others into God. If you are not in Him, you certainly cannot bring anyone else into Him. Our closeness to God is the measure of the result of our work. If we are far away from God, we cannot bring others close to Him. The extent to which we can bring others to God and into God is always measured by where we are with respect to God. If we are those who are one with God, then we can bring others to the very place where we are. Therefore, if we want to bring others into the Lord, we must first be in Him ourselves. The more we are in Him, the more we can reconcile others into Him. May this matter be deeply impressed upon us!
In the latter part of 6:1 Paul says to the Corinthians, “We also entreat you that you do not receive the grace of God in vain.” This entreating is the work of reconciliation, as mentioned in 5:20.
Paul entreated the believers at Corinth not to receive the grace of God in vain. Grace is the resurrected Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit to bring the processed God in resurrection into us to be our life and life supply that we may live in resurrection. This means that grace is the Triune God becoming life and everything to us. By this grace Saul of Tarsus, the foremost of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15-16), became the foremost apostle, laboring more abundantly than all the apostles (1 Cor. 15:10). The grace of God always brings us back to Him. According to the context of 6:1, not to receive the grace of God in vain means not to remain in any distraction from God, but to be brought back to Him.
In 6:2 Paul goes on to say, “For He says, In an acceptable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I helped you; behold, now is a well-acceptable time; behold, now is a day of salvation.” The phrase “well-acceptable time” refers to the time of our being reconciled to God, in which He well-accepts us. Salvation in this verse, according to the context, refers to reconciliation. Reconciliation actually is full salvation.
In chapter five Paul speaks of reconciliation, and in chapter six, of salvation. Hence, the salvation mentioned in 6:2 actually refers to reconciliation. Only when we the believers, the saved ones in Christ, have been fully reconciled to God are we fully saved. Until then, we are only partially saved; we have not yet been saved in full.
In 6:1-13 we see a picture of a person who has been fully saved. We prove our full salvation by having an all-fitting life. In these verses Paul is a pattern of a believer who has been fully saved, a pattern of one who lives an all-fitting life. In the next message we shall consider the details of this life.
