2 Corithians 12:14-18 says,...
Today's verses are 2 Cointhians 12:14-18, which read,
v.14 - Here for this third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you; for I do not seek what is yours, but you; for children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
Paul is going back to the church in Corinth a third time. The first is recorded in Acts 18 and then there was a painful visit recorded in this book in chapter 2. Paul is coming for a third time and he will follow suit of what he has done before. He will not need their financial support to be there which has been an attack from the false teachers that Paul must not be a real teacher if he doesn't charge.
A great line is "...for I do not seek what is yours, but you;..." The reason Paul is coming again is not for what anything the Christians in Corinth could give him but for the purpose to be with them. Parents are to provide for their children in their homes during there growing up stage of life and it is not to be the other way around. Paul is using this in a spiritual sense. He, the spiritual parent, is to provide for the spiritual children who are growing up and so he is following nature when keeping with this practice of providing for them instead of them providing for him. Isn't it great though that as you parent and provide for your in house children that you also receive so much from them in other ways? This is also true when you are a spiritual parent to another.
v.15-18 - I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? But be that as it may, I did not burden you myself; nevertheless, crafty fellow that I am, I took you in by deceit. Certainly I have not taken advantage of you through any of those whom I have sent to you, have I? I urged Titus to go, and I sent the brother with him. Titus did not take any advantage of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit and walk in the same steps?
Paul is continuing to lay out before the Christians in the Corinthian church ways to evaluate his love for them. The false teachers have called him "crafty" in his way of deceiving them by not requiring money of them. Somehow this method was a way for Paul to draw them in by deceit and now he was going to turn the tables on them and that could have been the line of thought fed by the false teachers.
Paul replies to that with the opportunity that they had to also evaluate Titus and another brother who was sent to them. Did they follow Paul's example or did they follow the example of the false teachers? Titus' example was the same as Paul's and they received consistency in the message of the grace of God through the cross of Christ in word and in deed.
I am seeing that the Christians in Corinth really got their values flipped over by these false teachers to think that Paul because he didn't require money from them was taking advantage of them in a deceitful way. I guess an attack from Satan will come in many forms, sometimes even the most illogical ones. I can think of a few modern day examples of this starting with the legalization of abortion. Satan has taken the killing of another and made it into a right or the law of the land as okay. He is the "crafty" one.
We need to step back, as Paul instructed the Corinthians, and look at Christ and the Scriptures for our guidance through the values of this world so that we continue to live under the commandments of God. Sometimes they will clash and when they do, the Christian is to follow God despite the consequences that this world has set up. The Christian is also to follow God in the way we respond to that clash. May they find us responding with the truth in love from the Scriptures.
"Lord, Paul truly does love these Corinthians. He could have so easily walked away from all this opposition and wrote them off as a group he tried with but it didn't just work out. You kept him going back. Help me to see that when I can't let go of a situation that it could be that You have some more work for me to do in Your name even though it is tough going. Amen."
Pastor Adam
v.14 - Here for this third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you; for I do not seek what is yours, but you; for children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
Paul is going back to the church in Corinth a third time. The first is recorded in Acts 18 and then there was a painful visit recorded in this book in chapter 2. Paul is coming for a third time and he will follow suit of what he has done before. He will not need their financial support to be there which has been an attack from the false teachers that Paul must not be a real teacher if he doesn't charge.
A great line is "...for I do not seek what is yours, but you;..." The reason Paul is coming again is not for what anything the Christians in Corinth could give him but for the purpose to be with them. Parents are to provide for their children in their homes during there growing up stage of life and it is not to be the other way around. Paul is using this in a spiritual sense. He, the spiritual parent, is to provide for the spiritual children who are growing up and so he is following nature when keeping with this practice of providing for them instead of them providing for him. Isn't it great though that as you parent and provide for your in house children that you also receive so much from them in other ways? This is also true when you are a spiritual parent to another.
v.15-18 - I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? But be that as it may, I did not burden you myself; nevertheless, crafty fellow that I am, I took you in by deceit. Certainly I have not taken advantage of you through any of those whom I have sent to you, have I? I urged Titus to go, and I sent the brother with him. Titus did not take any advantage of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit and walk in the same steps?
Paul is continuing to lay out before the Christians in the Corinthian church ways to evaluate his love for them. The false teachers have called him "crafty" in his way of deceiving them by not requiring money of them. Somehow this method was a way for Paul to draw them in by deceit and now he was going to turn the tables on them and that could have been the line of thought fed by the false teachers.
Paul replies to that with the opportunity that they had to also evaluate Titus and another brother who was sent to them. Did they follow Paul's example or did they follow the example of the false teachers? Titus' example was the same as Paul's and they received consistency in the message of the grace of God through the cross of Christ in word and in deed.
I am seeing that the Christians in Corinth really got their values flipped over by these false teachers to think that Paul because he didn't require money from them was taking advantage of them in a deceitful way. I guess an attack from Satan will come in many forms, sometimes even the most illogical ones. I can think of a few modern day examples of this starting with the legalization of abortion. Satan has taken the killing of another and made it into a right or the law of the land as okay. He is the "crafty" one.
We need to step back, as Paul instructed the Corinthians, and look at Christ and the Scriptures for our guidance through the values of this world so that we continue to live under the commandments of God. Sometimes they will clash and when they do, the Christian is to follow God despite the consequences that this world has set up. The Christian is also to follow God in the way we respond to that clash. May they find us responding with the truth in love from the Scriptures.
"Lord, Paul truly does love these Corinthians. He could have so easily walked away from all this opposition and wrote them off as a group he tried with but it didn't just work out. You kept him going back. Help me to see that when I can't let go of a situation that it could be that You have some more work for me to do in Your name even though it is tough going. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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