Dear Student of the Word,
I am in Seattle heading home. Below is the next to the last study from Corinthians. Why not send a gift subscription for these studies to someone as we end Corinthians and begin Timothy. Just go to the site where these are posted and enter the email address for the gift on the right side. Then send that person an email to let them know so they can click on the confirmation link that will be sent to them.
As we finish Second Corinthians, we see that Paul continued to struggle with his position in the church there. He had founded the church, yet some considered him a failure and too weak to have any additional influence. As Paul tried to convince them that God was with him and his work, he wrote about his thorn in the flesh.
This week I wrote:
Once again, we see that Paul was “low ego.” That is quite a contrast to many today who are “high ego” and even egomaniacs. How would Paul have done on Christian television? Probably not very well. I wonder if the truth that John wrote hasn’t carried over into ministry, including my own:
For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:15-17).
I like the translation from The Living Bible for those verses:
Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love these things you show that you do not really love God; for all these worldly things, these evil desires-the craze for sex, the ambition to buy everything that appeals to you, and the pride that comes from wealth and importance-these are not from God. They are from this evil world itself. And this world is fading away, and these evil, forbidden things will go with it, but whoever keeps doing the will of God will live forever (1 John 2:15-17).
v. 7 – There has been much debate over Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” Some have felt it to be a sickness or disability. I had a seminary professor who made a case that it was the persecution, particularly those who followed Paul, urging people to ignore Paul and follow the Law of Moses. I like that interpretation, although we will never know for sure.
What we do know is that God blessed Paul, by His grace, to see and do magnificent things. For Paul’s own good, God afflicted him with some unknown problem so that Paul would remember that he was human, just like everyone else. Does this sound reasonable?
If 1 John 2 that I quoted above is true, and it is of course true, then we can slip into sinful habits even when we are doing righteous things. Paul’s revelation could have caused him to think that he was someone special. He was, but his special-ness was due to the grace of God, not his own worthiness. I have often heard people slip into this subtle mindset: “I have what I have because I pray or because I give a lot of money or because I fast.” No, you and I have what we have by God’s grace. Even the disciplines that we follow, like giving, fasting and praying, are a result of God’s gracious work in our lives.
Remember that the Bible study archives of 14 other New Testament studies can be found on my website along with The Faith Files, a study of every verse on faith in the New Testament. You can unsubscribe by clicking on the link below. You can give a gift subscription by going to the site where these studies are posted every week.
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