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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 1:23-24; 2:1-11
In this message we shall consider 1:23—2:11. In these verses Paul gives the reasons for his delay in coming to Corinth.
In 1:23 Paul says, “But I call on God as a witness against my soul, that to spare you I have not yet come to Corinth.” For Paul to spare the Corinthians was to forbear. The apostle would not come to visit the Corinthian believers with a rod for discipline, but would come in love and a spirit of meekness for building (1 Cor. 4:21). In order to avoid any unpleasant feeling, he refrained from coming. He treated them leniently and would not come to them in sorrow (2 Cor. 2:1). He did not like to lord it over their faith, but longed to be a fellow-worker of their joy (1:24). This is the truth. He calls on God to witness this for him.
According to verse 23, Paul called upon God against his soul. The apostle called on God to be a witness against his soul, that is, against himself, if he was speaking falsely.
To call on God is not only to pray to God or ask Him to do something for us. To say, “O God,” or, “O Father,” is not just to pray; it is to call upon God. Many Christians today do not have a calling spirit, a strong spirit in which to call upon God. If the circumstances or situation allowed it, I would like to call, “O my Father,” or, “O Lord Jesus,” continually. There is a difference between calling and praying. For example, someone may pray like this: “Father God, You are faithful. You never change. Help me to be faithful and unchanging also. I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.” Although this is a good prayer, it may not be very living. We may also pray to the Lord Jesus in a manner that is not so living. We may say, “Lord Jesus, I thank You that You love me. Lord, I also love You. But, Lord, You know that I am weak. Lord, please help me in my weakness.” Many Christians pray like this, but they may pray with little heart and with no exercise of the spirit. They may not even understand what it means to exercise the spirit in prayer. In John 4:24 the Lord Jesus said, “God is Spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and reality.” Worshipping God includes praying to Him. Since to pray is to worship, and since the Lord Jesus says that our worship of God must be in spirit, then our prayer must be in spirit also. The words we use to express ourselves in prayer are secondary. The primary matter is that we exercise our spirit to contact God. When we pray, we need to call on God, exercise our spirit, and say, “O Father, O my God, my Father.” This is to call upon God.
God the Father is happy to hear us calling on Him. According to the Lord’s word in John 4, the Father today is seeking those who worship Him in spirit.
I do not know of a better way to exercise the spirit than to call upon God. It is not necessary to call aloud. Often it is not convenient or suitable to call aloud. For example, others may be working or sleeping, and your calling in a loud way would disturb them. Even by calling in a very quiet way, our spirit is exercised.
Paul wrote all his Epistles in a careful manner and with much consideration regarding the use of words. In 1:23 he did not say, “I ask God”; neither did he say, “I pray to God.” Instead, Paul said, “I call on God.” This calling upon God implies the exercise of the spirit. Paul was a person who lived in spirit and who worshipped God in spirit. If we do not live in spirit, it certainly will be difficult for us to worship God in spirit.
In verse 23 Paul called upon God as a witness against his soul. This means that he called upon God to witness for him in a negative way. Here Paul seems to be saying, “Brothers in Corinth, I did not behave in the soul. If I had done this, God would witness against me. I am not a person living in the soul and behaving in the soul. I did not resolve in the soul to come to you. If this had been my situation, God would be a witness against me.”
It is interesting that Paul did not say, “I call on God as a witness for my spirit to testify that I resolve in my spirit to come to you.” On the contrary, he called on God to witness in a negative way against his soul. He called upon Him to testify that he did not resolve anything in the soul, that is, in the self. God would witness against such a resolving in the soul. This kind of negative witness is sometimes stronger than a testimony from the positive side.
The reason Paul did not come to Corinth was that he wanted to spare the Corinthians. It was not because he was fickle and was saying yes and no at the same time. Paul did not want to come to Corinth with a rod to discipline them; rather, he wanted to spare them and come to them in love. He called upon God to witness of this concerning him.
Paul is a good example for us to follow. By the Lord’s mercy, we all need to learn of him and follow him. Paul was a wonderful person. He was spiritual, he was constituted of Christ, he was experienced, and he was mature in the riches of Christ. As such a person, he wanted to spare the Corinthians and for this reason had not yet come to Corinth.
In verse 24 Paul goes on to say, “Not that we lord it over your faith, but are fellow-workers of your joy; for in faith you stand.” For the believers to stand in the objective faith (1 Cor. 16:13), subjective faith is needed. To lord it over their subjective faith weakens it, but to be a fellow-worker of their joy strengthens it.
In 2:1 Paul says, “But I determined this in myself, not to come again to you in sorrow.” On the one hand, Paul called on God as a witness against his soul; on the other hand, he tells us that he determined something in himself. Is this not a matter in the soul? In 2:1 Paul’s self is a spiritual self, a spiritual soul, a soul under the control and direction of the spirit. In a human way, Paul determined in himself not to come again to the Corinthians in sorrow. This determination was not inspired by the Spirit; it was a human matter determined by Paul in himself. We need to remember, however, that this was determined by one who was under the control and direction of the spirit. This is another example of the principle of incarnation. This principle is found in Galatians 2:20. The principle of incarnation always operates in this way. The Lord Jesus, as a man, performed miracles, but it was God who did these miracles and not the Lord Jesus Himself. This is what we mean by the principle of incarnation.
In verse 2 Paul asks, “For if I cause you sorrow, who then is the one that makes me glad, except the one who was made sorrowful by me?” This sentence is very philosophical, logical, and spiritual.
In verse 3 Paul continues, “And I have written this very thing, that coming I should not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.” The word “written” refers to what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in the first Epistle.
In verse 4 Paul says, “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you through many tears, not that you should be made sorrowful, but that you should know the love which I have more abundantly to you.” Here Paul refers to himself. Some so-called spiritual people insist that we should never talk about ourselves. During my years with the Brethren, I was told that the believers should never say anything about themselves. I adopted this practice for a number of years. Later I learned that this is not always right. Whether or not we speak about ourselves depends on our motive. In 2 Corinthians Paul had much to say concerning himself. In this introductory section he not only speaks about himself — he also argues on his behalf and vindicates himself. Sometimes we need to speak about ourselves. Christ needs witnesses. Christ is the reality, and we are witnesses of this reality. As witnesses, we should be neither proud nor humble. When the time comes, we need to testify for the Lord honestly and boldly. This is exactly what Paul was doing here when he told the Corinthians that in the first Epistle he wrote to them out of much affliction and anguish of heart, and that he wrote through many tears. He wrote to the Corinthians in this way, not that they should be made sorrowful, but that they should know the love which he had toward them.
Verse 5 says, “But if anyone has caused sorrow, he has not caused me sorrow, but in part (lest I be burdensome) all of you.” Paul was careful not to exaggerate. He wrote in a cautious way, using the phrase “in part.” To be burdensome here is to press too heavily, to say too much. Paul says that the offender in part caused all of the church to have sorrow. He says in part, lest he press too heavily, or say too much. This indicates that he was a tender, cautious, and considerate person.
In verse 6 Paul says, “Sufficient to such a one is this punishment by the majority.” This indicates that, after reading Paul’s first Epistle, the majority of the believers in Corinth rebuked and punished the one who had committed incest. Here Paul points out that this punishment by the majority has been sufficient. Therefore, in verse 7 he goes on to say, “So that on the contrary you should rather forgive and encourage him, lest somehow such a one should be swallowed up with excessive sorrow.” To forgive here also means to deal graciously. Instead of rebuking, there is now the need for encouragement and forgiveness, also for soothing and the binding up of the wounds. Therefore, in verse 8 Paul says, “Wherefore I beseech you to confirm your love to him.”
Verse 9 continues, “For to this end also I have written, that I might know your approvedness, if in all things you are obedient.” To “know your approvedness” means to “put you to the test.” Approvedness is a tried quality, an approved character. Paul’s goal in writing the first Epistle to the Corinthians was to know their approvedness. He wrote that he might test them to see whether or not they would be obedient. Now Paul realizes that the Corinthians were obedient and approved. Their obedience to the first Epistle approved them to Paul.
Verse 10 says, “But whom you forgive anything, I also forgive; for what I also have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it is for your sake in the person of Christ.” Some may think that to forgive in the person of Christ means to forgive on behalf of Christ. Those who hold this view may refer to the Lord’s word in John 20:23 about the disciples having authority to forgive sins. According to this interpretation, to forgive a sinful brother means to forgive him on behalf of the Lord and as the Lord’s representative. This understanding is not wrong, but neither is it an accurate interpretation of what Paul says in verse 10.
Literally, the Greek word rendered person means face, as in 4:6. It is the part around the eyes, the look as being the index of the inward thoughts and feelings to signify the presentation of the whole person. This indicates that the apostle is one who lives and acts in the presence of Christ, according to the index of His whole person expressed in His eyes. Second Corinthians 1:1 through 2:11, as the first section, is a long introduction to this Epistle, which follows his first Epistle to the disorderly believers in Corinth. Paul received information (7:6-13) that they had accepted his rebukes in the first Epistle, and that they had repented. This information caused him to be comforted and encouraged. Thus, he writes this Epistle to comfort and encourage them in a very personal, tender, and affectionate way, so much so that this Epistle may be considered to some extent his autobiography. In it we see a person who lives Christ, according to what he wrote concerning Him in his first Epistle, in the closest and most intimate contact with Him, acting according to the index of His eyes; a person who is one with Christ, full of Christ, and is saturated with Christ; one who is broken and even terminated in his natural life, softened and flexible in his will, affectionate yet restricted in his emotion, considerate and sober in his mind, and pure and genuine in his spirit toward the believers for their benefit, that they may experience and enjoy Christ as he does for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose in the building up of Christ’s Body.
We have pointed out that the word “person” here denotes that part of the face around the eyes, that part which is the index of a person’s thoughts and feelings and which thereby signifies the presentation of the whole person. If you want to know how someone feels toward you, whether he is happy or sad, satisfied or dissatisfied, you do not look at his face in a general way, but at that part around the eyes, which is the index of the person’s thoughts and feelings. When Paul forgave that sinful brother, he did so by looking at the index of the eyes of the Lord Jesus. If the index of the Lord’s eyes indicated that He was not pleased with Paul’s forgiving that brother, Paul would not have forgiven him. He would have realized that the Lord was not happy with what he was doing. As Paul was forgiving the brother, he was looking at the Lord Jesus and realized that the Lord was encouraging him. Therefore, Paul could say that he forgave in the person of Christ. This indicates that Paul was one who lived and acted in the presence of Christ.
In 1940 Brother Nee pointed out that Deuteronomy may be considered the autobiography of Moses and 2 Corinthians, the autobiography of Paul. In 2 Corinthians Paul speaks a great deal about himself. In fact, he talks more about himself than about Christ. In this autobiographical writing Paul witnesses of Christ. In this book we see a person who lives Christ according to what he wrote concerning Him in 1 Corinthians. Paul lived in the closest and most intimate contact with Christ, acting according to the index of His eyes. He was truly a person who was one with Christ, full of Christ, and saturated with Christ.
In verse 11 Paul says, “That we may not be taken advantage of by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his thoughts.” This verse discloses that the evil one, Satan, is behind the scenes in everything and works in everything. The Greek word translated thoughts here means plans, plots, devices, schemes, designs, wiles, intentions, purposes. Even in the church life, Satan may be behind the scenes. Do not think that the matter of forgiving a brother involves only the church and does not involve the devices of Satan. Even behind such a matter as this, Satan may be crouching, looking for a way to execute his evil plans and devour the weak ones.
In these verses we see that Paul was personal, spiritual, and alert. He took care of the saints in an intimate way, he lived in the index of Christ’s being, and he was on the alert regarding the enemy’s subtle plots behind the scenes in the church life. We all should learn of Paul to care for the saints, to live Christ, and to be aware of the subtlety of the enemy.
