2 Corinthians 1:12-21 The Genuine Article
2000 years ago, as Jesus stood trial before the Roman and Jewish Powers, Pilate asked a question – “What is truth?”
Today we have the same question on our lips. In our world of fake news, information overload, and self-proclaimed Facebook experts it can be hard to decipher fact from fiction.
Because of this we must think carefully about who we can trust, and what information is reliable.
In today’s reading from Corinthians Paul finds himself under the scrutiny of the Corinthian church as they question his witness and ministry. Paul in this section of the letter defends himself and paints a picture of why his ministry can be trusted and why he is the real deal.
This passage invites us too to think about what genuine Christian ministry looks like. So, let’s dig deeper into it together.
Over the past couple of weeks, we have explored the introduction to this letter and some key themes. It’s written to the church at Corinth – a successful, prosperous Roman city bustling with commerce, sports, religion, and art. There is conflict between Paul and his version of the Gospel and some members of the church at Corinth. In today’s passage we get some more clarity on what was happening.
Context in Corinth.
We’re going to jump forward and start with verse 15 and 16 because it paints a picture of what was going on and a central part of the conflict between Paul and the Corinthians.
“15 Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. 16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea.”
Paul addresses his change of plans here. It seems that there was some kind of ministry trip in the pipeline and plans had to be changed.
For the Corinthians it seems that there was a feeling that Paul had broken his promises.
Have you got one of those friends who often cancels or pulls out from a social occasion at the last moment? Or one who hits the “maybe” buttons on Facebook events?
There’s always that flaky friend who keeps their social options open until the very last minute in case something comes up that’s better.
In today’s reading from 2nd Corinthians Paul is accused of being that flaky friend. In fact, Paul is defending himself from charges of being a flaky Pastor. The Corinthians are upset with him for planning a visit to them and then changing his plans.
This led some of the Corinthians to conclude that Paul was dishonest, and that he had mixed motives in his ministry.
Paul defends himself.
Paul then lays out an argument for his ministry and we see him sketch several elements of what genuine Christian ministry looks like and what it is grounded in.
In verse 12 Paul takes some time to boast.
2 Corinthians 1:12–14 (NRSV): 12 Indeed, this is our boast, the testimony of our conscience: we have behaved in the world with frankness and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God—and all the more toward you. 13 For we write you nothing other than what you can read and also understand; I hope you will understand until the end— 14 as you have already understood us in part—that on the day of the Lord Jesus we are your boast even as you are our boast.
It’s hard for us to pick up the tone of what Paul is getting at here.
In New Zealand society we are totally allergic to boasting. It’s a kind of social death to boast about oneself. In our egalitarian society, we tend to frown upon those who quote “blow their own trumpet.”
But Paul uses this word confidently in his writings.
2 Corinthians is the letter in which we find the highest frequency of this word in Paul’s letters.
So, what does Paul mean when he talks of boasting?
The terms for boasting that Paul uses here are used positively in the Old Testament.
In the prophet Jeremiah we find this:
Jeremiah 9:23–24 (NIV): 23 This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, 24 but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.
It seems that there is according to Jeremiah a kind of boasting which is good and right and a kind which is wrong.
We tend to view boasting as wholly negative – we think of arrogance and self-aggrandizement.
Paul rather locates boasting in its proper place. Rather than boasting about his own achievements, Paul boasts in the Lord.
Here we see the first lesson in genuine Christian ministry:
GENUINE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY doesn’t boast in self, it boasts in God.
This is why in the conflict with the Corinthians, Paul doesn’t so much focus on himself but rather the message itself, which is about Jesus.
It seems that Paul has been accused of trying to deliberately confuse or deceive the Corinthians. So, Paul insists in his simple and sincere approach.
Paul is asking the Corinthians to take him at face value.
As the message puts it:
“Don’t try to read between the lines or look for hidden meanings in this letter. We’re writing plain, unembellished truth, hoping that you’ll now see the whole picture as well as you’ve seen some of the details. We want you to be as proud of us as we are of you when we stand together before our Master Jesus.”
Paul is clear here – he is being straightforward with the church. He isn’t relying on fancy language or eloquence to convince the people of his message. He is unpretentious and sincere. Paul doesn’t rely on his own wisdom but rather on God’s grace. In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul declares that he has come to preach the gospel “and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross Christ be emptied of its power.”
GENUINE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY is not about the strength and talents of the one ministering but rather about God working in and through us.
In line with this, Paul moves the attention away from himself in his dispute with the Corinthians and he focuses on God himself. We see that for Paul:
GENUINE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY IS THEOCENTRIC. IT FOCUSES ON WHO GOD IS AND WHAT GOD IS DOING.
Here in this passage Paul points to the good promises of God.
Paul emphasizes the faithfulness of God, the God who has made promises all throughout the Scriptures and brought them to fulfilment.
Numbers 23:19 – “God is not a human being, that he should lie, or a mortal, that he should change his mind. Has he promised, and will he not do it? Has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”
Paul then points out that the ultimate fulfilment of all God’s promises is found in Jesus.
This is what Paul means when he says:
2 Corinthians 1:19-20 (NRSV): 18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not “Yes and No”; but in him it is always “Yes.” 20 For in him every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.” For this reason it is through him that we say the “Amen,” to the glory of God.
GENUINE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY IS CHRISTOCENTRIC
We see God’s Yes in Jesus Christ – The promises of God are fulfilled in Jesus.
Paul has become absolutely convinced of this. He wasn’t always convinced. Early on Paul was famous for being a serious opponent of the first followers of Jesus. He was convinced they were on the wrong track and was responsible for disrupting them and persecuting them.
It wasn’t until his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road that things took a turn.
Paul meets Jesus and then he starts to unpack the story of the Old Testament in light of Jesus and realize how he has fulfilled the hopes and promises to Israel. The Biblical scholar C K Barrett put it well saying:
“Jesus is the counterpart of Adam (Rom. 5:14; 1 Cor. 15:22, 45–9), the fulfilment of that to which the figure of Adam could only point; he is the seed of Abraham to whom the promise was made (Gal. 3:16); he is Wisdom and Torah. He constitutes the goal to which the whole history of Israel pointed—the end of the law with a view to righteousness (Rom. 10:4), himself the divine gift of righteousness, the necessity of which the law could show, though it lacked the life-giving power actually to achieve it (Gal. 3:21).”[1]
Jesus stands at the centre of the Bible.
Genuine Christian ministry will be Christocentric, it will have Jesus at the centre.
Like John the Baptist, genuine Christian ministry points to Jesus.
GENUINE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY IS SPIRIT FILLED…
After pointing to the centrality of Jesus, Paul then goes on to speak of the Holy Spirit:
2 Corinthians 1:21-22(NRSV):
21 But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, 22 by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first instalment.
God’s faithfulness is demonstrated in the giving of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers.
Paul uses three pictures here:
1) Anointed
2) Sealed
3) Guaranteed
Anointed – We are anointed by the Spirit. In the Old Testament this language is used for the commissioning to a particular role – we see it with the kings. In this context it seems to be referring to how the Spirit equips believers for mission and service.
Seal – In Paul’s world something would be sealed or stamped to indicate ownership. So here we see that the sealing of the Spirit marks out that believers belong to God as his secure possession, bought with a price.[2]
First instalment/Guarantee – The Holy Spirit is as first instalment, a taste of what is to come in the future.
As we reflect on what Paul is doing here we can see a Trinitarian shape to his logic. We see the Promises of God the Father, fulfilled in Christ the Son, and guaranteed by the Holy Spirit.
In sum, Paul when attacked by the Corinthians focuses his defense on what genuine ministry is all about. He shifts the frame of reference for the argument.
In the background of Corinthians are various factions with different ideas about what it means to be the church. Rather than buying into this framework, Paul reframes ministry entirely pointing to the activity of God.
This is what matters.
This is what defines all genuine ministry.
THE MINISTRY WE ALL SHARE IN
1) GENUINE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY doesn’t boast in self, it boasts in God.
2) GENUINE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY is not about the strength and talents of the one ministering but rather about God working in and through us.
3) GENUINE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY IS THEOCENTRIC. IT FOCUSES ON WHO GOD IS AND WHAT GOD IS DOING.
4) GENUINE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY IS CHRISTOCENTRIC
5) GENUINE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY IS SPIRIT FILLED…
Paul speaks of his own ministry as an apostle. However, the principles that Paul applies are not just for apostles alone. They are instructive for our ministry as churches today.
I am working with the assumption that each of us are called to ministry – that it is a shared task to which the church is called. God ministers to us and through us.
Often we can be self-effacing. We are not inclined to boast in anything, let alone boast in Christ. I wonder if a serious challenge for us is to have the courage and to have the boldness to minister to a world in need of Jesus.
The great thing about the way that Paul frames it is this – it isn’t about him.
We don’t have to be anything special, and if we minister out of our own strength it will go belly up anyway.
Rather, we are called to be available, to say Amen, that is, to say YES to God’s YES to us in Jesus Christ.
[1] C.K. Barrett “Black’s New Testament Commentary: 2 Corinthians”
[2] 1 Corinthians 6:20