2 Corinthians 6:2 - Homilies By R. Tuck

This text immediately follows upon the full declaration of the truth in Jesus, the free offers of Divine mercy, and the earnest pleadings of 2 Corinthians 5:1-21 . St. Paul understood well that there was this sad and strange tendency in men—they are ever disposed to shift into the future the most serious duties of life. In the time of disease they will not send for the doctor until they absolutely must. They put off making their wills until the very power to make them is gone. How is the tendency to be explained? It is one of the forms in which man's hopefulness expresses itself, The future always seems to be richer and better than the present; though, when that future is reached, it very seldom realizes our hope. It is, however, a mischievous form of hopefulness if it lifts us off from the performance of present duty. Then it becomes procrastination, "the thief of time."

I. THE INCOMPARABLE ADVANTAGES OF TIME PRESENT . The " now " By this term is properly meant that moment in which any duty stands right before us. Observe:

1 . Its security. We have it; it is here; it is ours. The only thing in all the world that is or ever can be ours. The only sphere for the activity of our will. We "act in the living present." Nothing really belongs to us except that which we have at this moment. The past is gone. The future may never come. When we put off duty to the future, we deal with something that is not our own. We have no future until God gives it to us and makes it present. We have only the now, and on it may hang eternity.

2 . Its peculiar suitability for action. Because the whole nature is aroused, awakened, interested, prepared, and action can be taken so easily and so heartily, now . You can never again be sure of the same interest, and, if neglected duties do ever get done, they must push into the place of some other duty, and push it aside. Now we have the assistance of all aiding impulses. We are helped by an awakened conscience, by deep emotions, and by the urgings of the Divine Spirit. Now is the time of our opportunity. Illustrate by the boats waiting for a wave to help them ashore. How the men watch, and at last say, " Now, now !" as they bend to the ear! The times when the claims of Christ come home to us are just such times; then why not now be flooded over all hindrances and difficulties unto the harbour of salvation?

II. THE SERIOUS PERIL INVOLVED IN THE NEGLECT OF TIME PRESENT . Notice:

1 . The insecurity of the return of such another opportunity. Others we may have, but this precise one will never come again. There is only one round of seasons in each life. Spring time never comes but once, with its encouraging assurance, "They that seek me early shall find me. Summer time and autumn time come but once, and by and by we may have to wail and to say, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."

2 . The burdening of life with the sense of unfulfilled duty. That may indeed be made an impulse to higher activity, but usually it presses as a hopeless hindrance.

3 . The injury done to our moral nature by resisted spiritual influences. There is a disease whose special feature is the ossification of the heart, the turning of its flexible walls into hardness and bone. It is the disease which they suffer from—in its spiritual form—who neglect the golden opportunities offered them in the time present. Illustrate by the man on the Royal Charter, who was on the stern half when the vessel broke in two, and had but a moment in which to leap for dear life. Yet how men resist the claims of God to their immediate attention! Some wilfully put off the matter, deliberately finding excuses for delay. Surely no other proof of human depravity is needed than this. Men will hang their immortality on the thread of life, and even dally with the offered mercy of their God. But some honest hearts may be in real difficulty as to the claims of Christ upon them now . They think they are too young, or that they have not been anxious long enough; or they are waiting for a deeper sense of sin, or, it may be, for more faith. But all these are subtle ways in which we show our desire to manage our own salvation. If we were really willing that Christ should save us, we would be quite willing that he should save us now . — R.T.

2 Corinthians 6:3-10 - The holy power of character.

The subject occupying the attention of the apostle is the "ministry of reconciliation;" the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God unto the forgiveness of sins and restoration of man to the Divine favor. This ministry has been entrusted to him. He had, indeed, no "letters of commendation" to rely on, as had some other teachers, but he could appeal to the character of his ministry, to the sufferings he had endured in fulfilling it, and to the Divine benedictions which had rested upon it. He does, in a sense, commend himself; but how? He looks back on his life of labours and sufferings, and challenges comparison. Can others, with their letters of commendation, point to anything like this? Dean Stanley divides the means by which the apostle commended himself into four classes:

I. THE PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL MUST SHOW ITS POWER ON HIS OWN CHARACTER AND LIFE . Illustrate by a man offering an infallible remedy for a skin disease, from which everybody could see he was still suffering. The gospel is life for dead souls, and he who preaches it must be himself "alive unto God." The gospel is healing for sin-sick souls, and he who proclaims it must be able to tell his own experiences of the Balm of Gilead. The gospel provides a regeneration of character, and what it can do for men we expect to see in the men who commend it to us. As a fact, the men who show the power of the gospel in themselves are the men who alone can wield the power of the gospel on others. The preacher must be an ensample of them that believe.

II. AS EXAMPLES OF THE CHRISTIAN SPIRIT , MINISTERS MAY EXPECT UNUSUAL TESTINGS . These come in several ways:

III. THEIR EXPERIENCES WILL GIVE THE TRUE POWER TO THEIR PUBLIC PLEADINGS . Illustrate in the case of the Apostle Paul, who could not have written such letters if he had not passed through such trials. Experience is the secret of power. It gives the tone of tenderness and sympathy to a minister's work. It gives confidence in speaking of the comforting and sustaining power of Divine grace. It is the true power on our fellow men to be enabled to speak to them of "that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life." But if all this be, in high degrees, true of the recognized ministry, it is true of all who seek to influence others for God and goodness. The world which we long and strive to save very properly asks of us this most searching question, "What has this gospel done for you? "—R.T.

2 Corinthians 6:12 - Where are men straitened?

The apostle, in an intense outburst of feeling, bad just said, "O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged." He was referring to that opening of his ministry, and disclosure of his love for them, which filled the previous part of the chapter. And so he is led to ask from them a worthy response. He would have his love quicken love. He wanted it to break down the barriers and enmities and prejudices which were so sadly limiting the confidence of the Corinthians in St. Paul. So he pleads with them, "Ye are not straitened in us;" there is no limit of our love to you; "but ye are straitened in your own bowels," your own affections, which are sadly kept in bondage by your passions and prejudices and antipathies; by misrepresentations of me and my doings, and the influence of unworthy teachers. Then he urges them to break the bonds, to be enlarged, and to let their hearts express the love they feel. What they needed in their spiritual life was breadth and expansiveness of affection. There is suggested by the apostle's words a series of contrasts between—

I. THE LIMITED IDEAS AND AFFECTIONS OF MEN . Who are straitened by ignorance, imperfect character, prejudice, false sentiments, readiness to misjudge and to impute bad motive, etc.

II. THE BROAD IDEAS AND AFFECTIONS OF APOSTLES . Who see in men souls to be redeemed unto God, and, labouring for men's spiritual and eternal well being, can rise above the smaller occasions of difference and separation.

III. THE SUBLIME IDEAS AND AFFECTIONS OF GOD IN CHRIST . Who would have all men saved; who loved the world; whose love found expression in self-sacrifice; and whose invitations now are sent to whosoever will. No man is straitened in God. "When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." In his heart and home there "yet is room." Men are straitened, limited, in themselves, not in God, not in the gospel, not in Christian teachers. They forge, and fix on, their own bondages.—R.T.

2 Corinthians 6:14 - Christian friendships.

The Bible would not be a complete book, adequately representing all phases of human life and experience and associations, if it contained no instance of close, personal, sacrificing friendship. But we have the very beautiful illustrative case of David and Jonathan. Christianity would not meet us at every point of our need if it had not something to say about the choices the changes, and the claims of friendship.

I. ON THE CHOICES OF FRIENDSHIP . Our friendships are not always gained by choice; they are sometimes determined by outward circumstances; sometimes by felt affinities; and sometimes they are started by some impressive or generous deed. But friendship ought always to be put to the decision of our will, seeing that it bears so directly on our character and on our life. It sounds chilling to the freshness and warmth of our love to say that we must decide who is to be our friend, and put into careful consideration the qualities and habits and probable influence upon us of the person towards whom we are drawn. Yet, surely, as we would not trust our property to a man whom we did not know, or our child to an education that we had not carefully selected for him, so we would not give our hearts to one whom we were not sure that we might fully trust. Moreover, as Christians, we guard against the approach of evil in every form, and nothing will more directly affect our Christian spirit than the influence of an unworthy friend. He may be a scoffer. He may be one whose sneer at all we love and seek may hurt and wound us far more than the scoffer's open speech. He may be an indulgent pleasure-seeker, whose disposition will be sure to nourish the worldliness and self-loving of our spirit. And, on the other hand, few things will help us more than a well-chosen Christian friendship. Many a doubt is scattered by the contact of a friend's faith, and many a sliding step is steadied by the influence of a friend's firmness. Two things lie at the basis of a worthy and lasting friendship, viz. a certain felt sympathy and a certain recognized equality.

II. ON THE CHANGES OF FRIENDSHIP . Sometimes friendships are broken through changeableness of disposition. Others are broken by the wrong doing or unfaithfulness of one of the friends. And at other times friendships are broken by the rude, rough hand of death.

III. ON THE CLAIMS OF FRIENDSHIP . All associations of men together bring claims and responsibilities. If we have the privilege of a loving friendship, it claims from us two things.

1 . Unfailing confidence in our friend. And this involves openness one with the other. Close natures, that can keep secrets, seldom know the full joy of friendship.

2 . Mutual self-sacrifice, readiness to spend our best for our friend, and to put forth our best efforts in his behalf. Foote well says, "Be thankful if God has given you a sympathizing friend, one who can share with you your deepest griefs, who is one with you in all your interests for time and for eternity, whose heart answers to your heart. This is one of God's best gifts; be thankful for it and use it right, for he may deprive you of it, and leave you grieving,—Would I had prized it more! It is a most sweet and blessed fellowship; use it—use it for the high ends of mutual, spiritual good, and the Divine glory."—R.T.

2 Corinthians 6:17 - Christian relations with the world.

This verse is a partial quotation from Isaiah 52:11 , which reads, "Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord." The first reference of these words is to the captives in Babylon, who were thus counselled to prepare for their return to Canaan, and to see to it that they carried back with them none of the evils of the idolatrous land in which they had so long sojourned. "The local and historical meaning has for the apostle passed away, and the 'unclean thing' is identified with the whole system of heathenism." Since we are counselled to be separate from the world, it will be well for us to understand what is properly meant by "the world." Some have thought that they were called to separate from the world of creation, and compel themselves to find no interest in field, or flower, or song, or the thousandfold charms of nature. Others have thought that "the world" must mean the mass of humanity, and so a true religious life could only be lived in convent or hermit cell. Others, again, think that "the world" must mean the common scenes and pleasures of life, and that we can only live for God by resisting every pleasure and severing ourselves from every form of personal enjoyment. But "the world," in the New Testament sense, is not a thing or a set of things, but a spirit and disposition—it is worldliness . It is none of these things, but it may be in them all . It is all these if we persist in having them without God. This green earth, with its vales and hills, apart from God, is just "the world." But with God, seen as God's, it is no longer "the world;" it is the footstool of the eternal throne, the dwelling place of the Divine majesty, the garment of the all-glorious King. The mass of humanity, without God, is just "the world;" but in the light of God's relation, it is the Father's family, the Father's school. The common cares and pleasures of life are filled with an infinite meaning and importance when they become the testing scenes out of which God purposes to bring his children, "faultless in the presence of his glory." Whether a thing is worldly or not depends simply on this—Can you see God in it? To the Christian man God is in everything, and if he finds anything into which he cannot bring the thought of God, then he calls that worldly and shrinks from it. The "world" is that act, that scene, with which we feel the cherished thought of God does not harmonize. It is heaven where God is; it is earth where he is not: it is hell where he will not come.

I. THE CHRISTIAN MUST BE IN THE WORLD . He cannot, he may not, get free from outward and physical relations. His present sphere of life and duty is earthly; and his Master did not pray that his disciples should be taken "out of the world."

II. THE CHRISTIAN NEED NOT BE OF THE WORLD . In the sense of adopting its principles or its maxims, yielding to its fashions or seeking its ends.

III. THE CHRISTIAN MAY BE ABOVE THE WORLD . In the sense of having a Divine life, which masters worldly principles, resists worldly influences, and even makes him a quickening and healing power on the world, as Christ himself was. This is expressed in plain terms by the apostle, in Romans 12:2 , "Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." The separation from the world is not to be effected by any mere watching of our acts and habits. Let us realize the higher transformation in the renewal of our minds, and we shall find it easy to reach a true nonconformity to the world. He who glorifies God in the spirit will be sure to glorify him in the body too. He who is daily more renewed in mind will most readily discover, in practical details, what is the "good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."—R.T.

2 Corinthians 6:18 - Proving sonship by obedience.

Then—if ye fulfil my commands in separating yourselves from the unclean thing, then I "will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." The thought to which we now direct attention is that a merely abstract relationship is of very little value apart from the fulfilment of those duties which are involved in the relationship. It is a very little thing for a man to stand in the abstract relation of a citizen to this great country. It is a very great thing for a man to fulfil, nobly and cheerfully, the duties of citizenship. It is a very little thing to stand in the mere relation of a husband, a father, and a master. It is a great thing indeed that we are earnestly striving to meet the responsibilities and fulfil the duties that belong to those relationships. So the name of a "son of God" will save and bless no man apart from the spirit of a son manifested and proved in an obedient, humble, devoted, and faithful life. Only the obedient sons can have the comforting sense of the Divine fatherhood.

I. THIS WAS TRUE OF CHRIST , THE FIRSTBORN SON . God said of him and to him, "This is my beloved Son, in whom," evidently meaning, in whose obedience, "I am well pleased." Each of the relations in which men stand to each other has some one thing which is its essential characteristic. The essential of kingship is the spirit of judgment. Of fatherhood, is loving authority. Of motherhood, is self-denying affection and service. Of sonship, is obedience. Whatever other expressions childhood may find, all are worthless if there be no obedience. I have no right to the name of a son, save as I obey. I show, I prove, my sonship in this—that I obey. We take, then, the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, and seek it for the signs of what we know to be the very essence of sonship, and we receive surprising impressions of the completeness of his obedience. Jesus when a boy gained and settled the principle of life: "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" Painting and poetry gain truest insight of his spirit when they represent him dutifully working at the carpenter's bench. When weary at the well of Sychar, he was beyond the interest of earthly food; "his meat and his drink were to do the will of his Father." And when the sorrows of an awful conflict and agony were gathering thickly over him, he could utter the perfect devotion of a Son, saying, "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." Watching that life of cheerful, hearty, loving Obedience, who of us is not prepared to say—We know now what it is to be a son or a daughter of the Lord Almighty? Let us not, however, fail to observe that the obedience of his sonship was not a mere series of acts; it was that series of acts instinct with the cherished spirit of obedience, done in the freeness of the will, under the impulse of holy affections and resolves. A life full of obedient acts will no more make a real sonship than a wealth of apples, tied on, will make a fruitful tree. They must be the genuine utterances of the soul's life of obedience.

II. THIS IS TRUE OF US , THE YOUNGER SONS . "Now are we the sons of God." "Ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." What is the value of a right without fitness; of a title without preparation to fulfil its claims; of the name of a son without the spirit and obedience of the son? "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ"—that is, the sonlike spirit of Christ—"he is none of his." "If ye be sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts." How, then, are we proving our sonship? Are we breaking free from the old worldly bondages? Are we separating ourselves from all unclean things? Are we perfecting holiness in the fear of God? Can God meet our daily practical obediences of his will by saying, "I will be a Father unto you"?—R.T.