2 Corinthians 12:1-5 - Homiletics

"It is not expedient," etc. These verses present two subjects of thought.

I. APOSTOLIC PSYCHOLOGY . The words reveal certain ideas which Paul had concerning the human mind. He had the idea:

1 . That whilst here it is capable of existing separate from the body . "Whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell." If he had been certain that the soul could not exist whilst here apart from the body, would he have spoken thus? And who is not conscious of the mind having experiences in which the body does not participate? Paul speaks of himself as entering regions far away.

(a) The atmospheric, There the clouds travel and perform their functions.

(b) The starry. There the sun, moon, and stars appear.

(c) The heavens that lie beyond the heavenly orbs; where God and his holy angels are supposed to have their special residence. Up to this" third heaven" Paul was caught.

2 . That whilst here it is capable of receiving extraordinary revelations apart from the body . "Heard unspeakable words." Things of the soul may be unutterable either from necessity or from impropriety . The deepest things of the heart are unutterable in any language. Perhaps what Paul saw and heard in the spirit was neither possible nor proper to communicate. There are but few of us who have not received impressions of distant things. We are often caught away to distant scenes, and see and hear extraordinary things.

3 . That whilst here it may exist apart from the body and the man not know it . "Whether in the body, I cannot tell." He was so charged with spiritual things that he had lost all consciousness of matter and his relations to it. The man whose soul is flooded with the higher elements of being does not know for the time whether he is "in the body" or "out of the body."

4 . That wherever or however it exists it constitutes the man . "I knew a man in Christ." That which had these wonderful revelations he regarded as the man . To the apostle the body was the costume of the man, which he put on at birth and took off at death. In fact, he regarded the body as his not him, the soul as himself.

II. APOSTOLIC PIETY . There are three things concerning piety here.

1 . Humility . That the man of whom Paul here speaks is himself scarcely admits of a doubt. Why should he speak of himself in the third person? It is because of that modesty of nature which is ever the characteristic of a truly great soul. Humility is an essential attribute of piety.

2 . Christism . "A man in Christ." To be in Christ is to live in his ideas, character, spirit, as the atmosphere of being. He who lives in the spirit of Christ becomes a man.

3 . Transport . His soul was borne away in ecstasy. The time when the revelation occurred is specified—"fourteen years ago." Strange that he did not speak of it before. Piety has its hours of ravishments, ecstasies, and transfigurations.

2 Corinthians 12:6-10 - Soul schooling.

"For though," etc. These words teach us several things concerning soul discipline.

I. THAT THE EXERCISE OF SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE IS EXPEDIENT FOR THE BEST OF MEN . Paul required it. He says, "Lest I should be exalted above measure."

1 . Pride is a great spiritual evil . This is implied in the discipline with which the apostle was now visited. "To be exalted above measure [or, 'overmuch']" is, of course, to be proud, and to be proud is to be in a position inimical to soul progress.

2 . Good men have sometimes great temptations to pride . Paul's temptation seems to have arisen from the "abundance of the revelation" of which he speaks.

II. THAT THE MODE OF SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE IS SOMETIMES VERY PAINFUL . Paul was visited with a "thorn in the flesh." What the thorn was is a question for speculation; our object is practical. Two things deserve notice here.

1 . That suffering stands connected with Satan . This painful dispensation was a "messenger from Satan." The great original sinner is the father of suffering.

2 . Both suffering and Satan are under the direction of God . He uses them as his instruments for good. Satan himself is the servant of the Holy One.

III. THAT THE MEANS OF SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE ARE SOMETIMES MISUNDERSTOOD . Paul prays to be delivered from that "thorn in the flesh" which was sent for his good, and he does so frequently—"thrice." Notice:

1 . The ignorance which sometimes marks our prayers . We often pray against our own interests. There are some blessings which are positively promised by God, such as pardon for sin, etc., for which we may pray incessantly; and there are others which we may esteem desirable, but which are not promised. These we must seek in submission to his will.

2 . The kindness of God in not always answering our prayers . He knows what is best. The great Father may refuse the cry of his children for toys here, but he will give them estates in the great hereafter.

IV. THAT THE SUPPORTS UNDER SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE ARE ALWAYS ABUNDANT . "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Observe:

1 . The nature of the support. "Strength." What matters the weight of the burden it the strength is equal to bear it with ease?

2 . The principle of the support. "Grace." It comes, not from merit, but from grace free and unbounded.

3 . The influence of the support. "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." "Rest upon me." Spread over me like a tent to screen me from the scorching sun. "I glory in my infirmities." The cup may be bitter, but it has curative virtues. Tempests may toss, but those storms will purify the atmosphere round the heart and bear us away from scenes on which our hearts are set. All prayer is answered when the mind of the suppliant is brought into cordial submission to the Divine will.

2 Corinthians 12:11-21 - Paul's state of mind concerning his past and prospective connection with the Church at Corinth.

"I am become a fool in glorying," etc. These verses throw light upon Paul's state of mind, both in relation to his past and prospective connection with the Corinthian Church.

I. HIS STATE OF MIND CONCERNING HIS PAST CONNECTION WITH THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH .

1 . He remembers the ill treatment which forced him to speak with apparent boastfulness of himself . "I am become a fool [I am become foolish] in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing." Dean Plumptre's remarks tend to illustrate Paul's state of mind. "The verse opens with a somewhat thrilling abruptness, 'I am become insane—it was you who compelled me.' The words are partly ironical, partly speak of an impatient consciousness, that what he had been saying would seem to give colour to the opprobrious epithets that had been flung at him. The passage on which we now enter, and of which we may think as begun after a pause, is remarkable for the production in a compressed form of most of the topics, each with its characteristic phrase, on which he had before dwelt. The violence of the storm is over, but the sky is not yet clear, and we still hear the mutterings of the receding thunder. He remembers once more that he has been called insane, that he has been taunted with commending himself, that he has been treated as 'nothing' in comparison with those apostles extraordinary, who were setting themselves up as his rivals. 'I,' he says, with an emphatic stress on the pronoun, 'ought to have had no need for this painful self-assertion. You ought to have acknowledged my labour and nay love for you.'"

2 . He remembers the work which he had done amongst them, and which raised him above all the apostles . "Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." Paul possessed supernatural power and wrought supernatural results in their midst. Of this they must have been aware and could not deny. Referring to his ministry there he says elsewhere, "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and. of power" ( 1 Corinthians 2:4 ). In this respect he was, therefore, not only not behind "the very chiefest apostles," such as Peter, James, and John, but immeasurably superior to the false teachers, his traducers. Can a man who was conscious of such power as this be charged with egotism in proclaiming it in the presence of his detractors? Does he become "a fool in glorying"? Nay, nay, a wise man.

3 . He remembers that for his labours amongst them he had not sought any temporal assistance . "For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other Churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong." Probably it had been insinuated by his traducers that Paul cared less for the Churches at Corinth than for those at Macedonia, because he had maintained his independence and sought no gifts. He seems to intimate that this was some disadvantage to them, and he asks their forgiveness. And, indeed, it seems to me it is a spiritual disadvantage to any Church not to contribute to the support of its minister; for there is more good in giving than in receiving.

II. HIS STATE OF MIND CONCERNING HIS PROSPECTIVE CONNECTION WITH THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH .

1 . Here are loving resolves . "Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you." We have no record of a second visit, but this does not disprove its existence; for no doubt there is more omitted of Paul's history than recorded. He resolves that in this third visit he would not be burdensome to them, but pursue the same conduct of independency towards them as he had done all along, taking nothing from them, but giving to them. "I seek not yours, but you." Act as a father generally acts towards his "children," "lay up" for them, not they for him, and gladly spend and be spent for them. And all this, whether they love him or not. What noble generosity breathes in all these resolves!

2 . Here are painful memories . "I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile." This, again, is ironical. You say that, although I made no demand on your purses for myself, I want a collection for the "saints," and that out of that collection I will craftily take what I want. He seems to fling back upon them their accusation of his being crafty and catching them "with guile." "Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you? I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?" Nay, neither they nor he had ever sponged on them, but had maintained their high independency. In saying this he deprecates the idea that he was amenable to them for his conduct, but to God only. "Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying." Thus, in the prospect of visiting Corinth once more, most painful memories of his traducers arose.

3 . Here are anxious apprehensions . "For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not." His tender nature seemed to shrink at the supposition of the old evils still rampant there. "Lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults." He was too brave a man to dread perils, or toils, or death. "None of these things moved" him, but from such evils as "strifes," "envyings," "wraths," "backbitings," "whisperings," "swellings," "tumults," "uncleanness," "fornication," "lasciviousness," his pure and pious nature shrank with horror. The great thing to be dreaded is sin. It is the "abominable thing," the soul destroying devil of humanity.

CONCLUSION .

1 . Do not judge any minister by the opinions of his brethren . Paul was the best and the most useful of men, but the opinion of his brethren was that he was the worst and the most pernicious.

2 . Do not cease in your endeavours to benefit men because they calumniate you . The worst men require your services most, the "whole need no physician."

3 . Do not sponge upon your congregation . Do not seek theirs, but them. Do not study how to increase your pew rents, swell your collections and offertories, but how to increase the spiritual intelligence, freedom, and true blessedness of the people.

4 . Do not cower before anything but sin . Sin is the Apollyon of the universe.