Day 82 · 2 Corinthians 5; 8–9; 11–12

New Testament · Phase 3 · Paul's Missionary Journeys & Early Letters

Generosity, thorn in the flesh, apostolic authority defended

2 Corinthians 5

Our Eternal Dwelling

¹For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. ²For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, ³because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. ⁴For while we are in this tent, we groan under our burdens, because we do not wish to be unclothed but clothed, so that our mortality may be swallowed up by life. ⁵And it is God who has prepared us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a pledge of what is to come.

⁶Therefore we are always confident, although we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. ⁷For we walk by faith, not by sight. ⁸We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹So we aspire to please Him, whether we are at home in this body or away from it. ¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.

Ambassadors for Christ

¹¹Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is clear to God, and I hope it is clear to your conscience as well. ¹²We are not commending ourselves to you again. Instead, we are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you can answer those who take pride in appearances rather than in the heart.

¹³If we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. ¹⁴For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died. ¹⁵And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.

¹⁶So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!

¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

²⁰Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God. ²¹God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 8–9

Generosity Commended

¹Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the churches of Macedonia. ²In the terrible ordeal they suffered, their abundant joy and deep poverty overflowed into rich generosity. ³For I testify that they gave according to their ability and even beyond it. Of their own accord, ⁴they earnestly pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. ⁵And not only did they do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us, through the will of God.

⁶So we urged Titus to help complete your act of grace, just as he had started it. ⁷But just as you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in the love we inspired in you — see that you also excel in this grace of giving. ⁸I am not giving a command, but I am testing the sincerity of your love through the earnestness of others.

⁹For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. ¹⁰And this is my opinion about what is helpful for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give, but even to have such a desire. ¹¹Now finish the work, so that you may complete it with the same eager desire, according to your means. ¹²For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

¹³It is not our intention that others may be relieved while you are burdened, but that there may be equality. ¹⁴At the present time, your surplus will meet their need, so that in turn their surplus will meet your need. This way there will be equality. ¹⁵As it is written:

“He who gathered much had no excess,

and he who gathered little had no shortfall.”

Titus Commended

¹⁶But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same devotion I have for you. ¹⁷For not only did he welcome our appeal, but he is eagerly coming to you of his own volition.

¹⁸Along with Titus we are sending the brother who is praised by all the churches for his work in the gospel. ¹⁹More than that, this brother was chosen by the churches to accompany us with the gracious offering we administer to honor the Lord Himself and to show our eagerness to help.

²⁰We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this generous gift. ²¹For we are taking great care to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men.

²²And we are sending along with them our brother who has proven his earnestness to us many times and in many ways, and now even more so by his great confidence in you. ²³As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you. As for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. ²⁴In full view of the churches, then, show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our boasting about you.

God Loves a Cheerful Giver

¹Now about the service to the saints, there is no need for me to write to you. ²For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting to the Macedonians that since last year you in Achaia were prepared to give. And your zeal has stirred most of them to do likewise.

³But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove empty, but that you will be prepared, just as I said. ⁴Otherwise, if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we — to say nothing of you — would be ashamed of having been so confident. ⁵So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you beforehand and make arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. This way, your gift will be prepared generously and not begrudgingly.

⁶Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹As it is written:

“He has scattered abroad His gifts to the poor;

His righteousness endures forever.”

¹⁰Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your store of seed and will increase the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹You will be enriched in every way to be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will produce thanksgiving to God. ¹²For this ministry of service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanksgiving to God.

¹³Because of the proof this ministry provides, the saints will glorify God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ, and for the generosity of your contribution to them and to all the others. ¹⁴And their prayers for you will express their affection for you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. ¹⁵Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

2 Corinthians 11–12

Paul and the False Apostles

¹I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness, but you are already doing that. ²I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

³I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it very easily.

⁵I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.” ⁶Although I am not a polished speaker, I am certainly not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every way possible.

⁷Was it a sin for me to humble myself in order to exalt you, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? ⁸I robbed other churches by accepting their support in order to serve you. ⁹And when I was with you and in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. I have refrained from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do so. ¹⁰As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

¹²But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which they boast. ¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. ¹⁵It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.

Paul’s Suffering and Service

¹⁶I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. ¹⁷In this confident boasting of mine, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but as a fool. ¹⁸Since many are boasting according to the flesh, I too will boast. ¹⁹For you gladly put up with fools, since you are so wise. ²⁰In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face. ²¹To my shame I concede that we were too weak for that!

Speaking as a fool, however, I can match what anyone else dares to boast about. ²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. ²³Are they servants of Christ? (I am speaking as if I were out of my mind.) I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death. ²⁴Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.

²⁶In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers, ²⁷in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.

²⁸Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. ²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?

³⁰If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. ³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is forever worthy of praise, knows that I am not lying. ³²In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas secured the city of the Damascenes in order to arrest me. ³³But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.

Paul’s Revelation

¹I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to gain, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. ²I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows. ³And I know that this man— whether in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows— ⁴was caught up to Paradise. The things he heard were inexpressible, things that man is not permitted to tell.

Paul’s Thorn and God’s Grace

⁵I will boast about such a man, but I will not boast about myself, except in my weaknesses. ⁶Even if I wanted to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me, ⁷or because of these surpassingly great revelations.

So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul’s Concern for the Corinthians

¹¹I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing. ¹²The marks of a true apostle — signs, wonders, and miracles — were performed among you with great perseverance. ¹³In what way were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!

¹⁴See, I am ready to come to you a third time, and I will not be a burden, because I am not seeking your possessions, but you. For children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. ¹⁵And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?

¹⁶Be that as it may, I was not a burden to you; but crafty as I am, I caught you by trickery. ¹⁷Did I exploit you by anyone I sent you? ¹⁸I urged Titus to visit you, and I sent our brother with him. Did Titus exploit you in any way? Did we not walk in the same Spirit and follow in the same footsteps?

¹⁹Have you been thinking all along that we were making a defense to you? We speak before God in Christ, and all of this, beloved, is to build you up. ²⁰For I am afraid that when I come, I may not find you as I wish, and you may not find me as you wish. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, rage, rivalry, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. ²¹I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery.