Years ago, when Patty and I first came to Red Deer with our newborn daughter Andrea, the church was at its earliest beginnings. That was over 41 years ago. After witnessing the amazing growth of the church over 10 years, we resigned and moved to Seattle, Washington. Three years later, we were confronted with a very agonizing and significant decision not only affecting our lives, but two congregations. I was at that time leading a new church plant in the greater Seattle area, and seeing God bring people into his kingdom. Meanwhile, the church here had experienced a terrible conflict and was now without a pastor. I was asked to consider returning, which created a difficult and agonizing decision. As I was studying our text today, I gained a new appreciation for why Paul left Troas and the ‘open door’ of ministry there to discover what was transpiring in Corinth.
In addressing the criticisms levelled at his apostolic ministry, particularly his boldness in correcting the Corinthians, Paul explains the nature of what true Christian ministry is all about. When I speak of ministry, I’m not just speaking of Christian leadership or ministry but also include each of us, who are followers of Jesus, who communicate God’s message to others. This includes our communication to those we lead, parent, coach, and mentor. It is also the communication we share with one another, discipling and encouraging people in their relationship with God. At times it means not only affirming, encouraging, but also correcting those we love when we can see sinful behavior that is destructive, not only to the individual but also before God and its effect on others. One of the most difficult things to bear is the criticisms from those we love, particularly when we are being misjudged when trying to speak into their lives.
What can be discovered from 2 Corinthians 2 is the conflicted emotions between two significantly important situations in Paul’s ministry. We see Paul’s deep desire to know what is happening in the life of the church in Corinth in response to his latest letter correcting their sinful behavior. He also is conflicted in knowing what to do with the amazing opportunity in Troas as the gospel is transforming people’s lives. Obviously, one situation was far more fulfilling and joyous, while the other was creating deep anguish and concern in his heart.
We may also have experienced conflicting emotions when torn between two concerns. Some of you may be bearing the weight of caring for elderly parents, while at the same time navigating through your child or children’s teen years. Paul, in defense of his absence in coming to Corinthian, is explaining why he addressed them from a distance and the heart behind such a strong, direct, and confronting letter in which he was calling for their repentance. Paul agonized over causing them pain but then rejoiced over their proper and godly response to being corrected and renewing their expression of love for him.
David Garland in introducing this segment of 2 Corinthians explains:
On the one hand, harking back to his aborted mission to Troas reinforces his point that his failure to visit them as planned was not because he did not care for them but because he was overwhelmed with sorrow regarding them. It also makes clear that he does not make changes in his plans lightly; he was weighed down by anguish. On the other hand, it provides a transition for the discussion of his many afflictions which have caused some in Corinthians to question his suitability and qualifications as an apostle.[i]
Paul gives three responses that will impact the lives of others during times of criticism, anguish, and suffering in our lives. These responses create an aroma that can both be attractive but also be found offensive to others.
THE FIRST RESPONSE WHICH CREATES AN IMPACT UPON OTHERS IS THE FOCUS OF WHAT IS CAUSING OUR ANGUISH
We will all experience emotional pain in life; the question is what is causing this deep pain in our soul? Where is the focus? Is it based on ourselves or our concern for others? Is it about us and our needs or about others and their needs? How does our anguish shape our decisions and impact on the lives of others? Paul’s response to the criticism is to explain the deep anguish of his soul as he is torn between two concerns both of which relate to positive outcomes for others. While Paul had written to the Corinthians, he went to Troas to find Titus but also took advantage of the opportunity while waiting for Titus’ ship to arrive to preach the gospel there. He found a spiritual hunger and described the situation as “the Lord opening a door.” He saw God at work in the lives of the people in this seaport city. Yet, there was something affecting Paul’s mind, which was his concern regarding the spiritual condition of the Corinthians. How had they responded to his letter of correction? Were they being diverted in their faith to follow false messengers and a false message leading them away from Christ?
David Garland gives a plausible context for what Paul had done and why he had not followed through on going to Corinth.
He left for Macedonia perhaps after he realized that Titus was not on the last boat of the season (now autumn) and would now have to travel by land through Macedonia. …Paul candidly shares his anxiety, “my spirit could not rest,” because he wants to convey how devastating his conflict with the Corinthians was. It sends the message to them how deeply he cares for them. Paul was burdened by worry because he did not know how they would respond to his letter, and that worry was compounded when days passed with no word from Titus. The unexplained delay may signify that all was not well at Corinth. Paul’s worst fears may have been realized, and the situation had worsened. With no high-speed communications system in the ancient world, waiting anxiously for news could be excruciating. Paul was therefore torn between Troas and Corinth, between putting out a brush fire in a church conflict as a pastor and kindling the embers of new faith as an evangelist. Most ministers know firsthand that the demands and pressures of the ministry can pull them in different directions. Thus they may sympathize with Paul, who could not put his distress about Titus and the Corinthians out of his mind. This spiritual unrest so distracted him that it inhibited his work in Troas, so he was forced to make “a reluctant and solemn farewell.[ii]
It is interesting to me that when Paul describes the great suffering and intense pressure he felt in ministry, he speaks about the deep anguish in his concern for the churches and he people who are being led into sin. He anguishes over those situations.
I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.[iii]
THE SECOND RESPONSE WHICH CREATES AN IMPACT UPON OTHERS IS OUR ATTITUDE
When we are going through difficulties, can we remain grateful to God? How do we handle life’s challenges? What should be our attitude in times of anguish, difficulty, and suffering? Paul uses the metaphor of a triumphal procession and describes how he perceives himself in it. Paul is grateful for the privilege of bringing God’s amazing message of grace to others, despite the challenges, difficulties, and stresses he is faced with.
A. The metaphor of being taken captive by Christ.
But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.[iv]
The NIV translates this text with the idea that Paul describes himself as a captive and not a conqueror. While the KJV translates it as if Paul is a victor, however, the context and the Greek language seem to indicate that this understanding of being a captive best helps Paul’s argument here. David Garland explains what is transpiring and why Paul uses this image.
The imagery presupposes God’s prior victory and fits well with Paul’s theology that before becoming followers of Christ we were all “enemies of God” (Rom 5:10). Paul himself bemoans his past as a persecutor of the church of God who sought to destroy it (1 Cor 15:9; Gal 1:13). Christ had to conquer him and did.[v]
B. The metaphor needs to be understood as being under a new authority in our life.
Paul recognizes his defeat but celebrates Christ’s grace. Even as many of the captives were immediately killed right after the procession, others were spared and taken into slavery. David Garland explains how powerful this metaphor really is as it pertains to victorious Christian living.
The metaphor also fits Paul’s self-identification as a slave of Christ. Being captured makes a man a slave, says Dio Chrysostom (Orations 15.27). In 5:14 Paul says the love of Christ “constrains” me. The verb synechō could also mean “to take or hold captive,” but the striking combination of words makes clear that “Paul is not ‘led in triumph’ by a vengeful deity.” He has been captured by love. That love revealed to him that deliverance can only come from the defeat of the old life. God rescues us by shattering the fortified walls of our own strength, wisdom, and rectitude and making us slaves to Christ. Paul’s image therefore accords with what those captured by Christ have recognized through the ages. Martin Luther said: “God creates out of nothing. Therefore until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him.”[vi]
What is being conveyed is that when we come to Christ, God must remake us. We have been marred by sin, but often that is unseen to us during pride, self-confidence, and success. So, God allows brokenness, which are the consequences of our independence and rebellion toward Him to humble us. God must remake us after His image and only then can He really use our lives.
C. The metaphor explaining the irony of weakness and death to self in the spiritual life.
True victory and strength are manifested in human weakness. God became man, born as an infant, which are expressions of weakness. The ultimate expression of course, was Christ’s shameful and humiliating death as a falsely accused criminal.
As Christ triumphed by dying a humiliating death on a cross, Paul triumphs with God as one who has been defeated. With this metaphor, Paul subtly refutes any criticism of his ministry by turning it into a cause for thanks to God. Paul’s critics regard him as inferior and weak. He concedes his weakness but will not concede that he is inferior.[vii]
For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?[viii]
“Paul is not the source of the aroma. It comes from his message about the cross of Christ.”[ix]
The same holds true for us. It is only when we are sharing the message through our lives and words that the aroma of the gospel is communicating God’s presence. This idea of an aroma in these processions was certainly understood by the people of that time.
David Garland explains the significance of this aromatic fragrance.
The image of a sweet aroma could have other associations in Paul’s culture, and his first readers would have made the connections. In ancient religious ceremonies, fragrances conveyed the ethereal yet keenly sensed presence of the deity. During religious festivals when the image and accouterments associated with a deity were carted through cities in processionals, cult personnel would spread incense or other aromatic substances along the way to announce the approach of the deity.
The use of the present participles, “those who are being saved” (tois sōzomenois) and “those who are perishing” (tois apollumenois) would argue against any idea that they have been predestined for one or the other. They are being saved or destroyed because they choose to accept or reject the message.[x]
THE FINAL RESPONSE WHICH CREATES AN IMPACT UPON OTHERS IS OUR SINCERITY AND CONFIDENCE
It begins with genuineness and integrity. When we are authentic, it is compelling. People respond to that kind of sincerity. This is not self-confidence but a confidence in God and in the ministry that He has entrusted to each one of us.
Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.[xi]
Kent Hughes explains that Paul’s communication of God’s word was not what he received from it but rather to be faithful to make it known to the benefit of the hearers.
Therefore, Paul affirmed his sufficiency negatively and positively. Negatively, he declared, “For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word” (2:17a). This denial was pointed at his detractors who actually did trade in the Word because the word “peddle” references traders who would dilute their wine with water or use false weights—all suggesting tampering with the Word or watering it down for personal gain. Paul never watered down God’s Word to make it more palatable. He never looked to see which way the wind was blowing. He never practiced the homiletics of consensus. He never held back.[xii]
We cannot change the message without destroying God’s intention. God’s message is unchanging, and it is lifesaving. To tamper with the message to make it or the messengers more acceptable is to seek humanly acceptable outcomes. We diminish its purpose and power to cause us to conform to His word.
Paul goes on to say that our competency does not come from ourselves but from God. The message is an internal and spiritually empowering and transforming message. It brings life. It is not designed to create external, legalistic, and manipulative pressure; rather it is a pressure that comes to our conscience and heart.
Scott Hafemann challenges us with the significance of what Paul is saying in defense, that apparent weakness diminishes the message of the cross when it is congruent or consistent with that message.
Paul understands that for believers, and especially for his own calling as an apostle, the suffering of this life becomes a conduit for the revelation of God’s presence and power (2:14b). Far from calling his apostleship into question because of the “missed opportunity” it caused in Troas (2:12–13), Paul’s anxiety is the very means God ordained to express Paul’s sufficiency for the gospel ministry (2:16a). Paul is sufficient for the life-and death-producing proclamation of the cross because in his suffering he embodies the “fragrance” of Christ’s death. It is precisely through Paul’s suffering that the reality of Christ’s person, the reliability of God’s Word, and the restoration of the Spirit are made known. Paul’s life is an embodiment of the gospel he preaches. It follows then that those who reject the cross of Christ as the power of God (cf. 1 Cor. 1:17–25) will also reject Paul because of his suffering (2:15–16a). Hence, one’s reaction to Paul is a reflection of one’s spiritual condition.[xiii]
In our age of materialism, we find it almost impossible to fathom that God would not only use suffering as the vehicle for manifesting the presence and power of his Spirit, but also actually lead someone to death for the sake of revealing his glory and spreading the gospel (2:14). Instead, we strive hard to give the impression that Christians overcome suffering and want, rather than finding Christ strong in their very evident weakness.[xiv]
It was Tertulian (155-220 AD) that wrote: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
God still works in what we would classify as disastrous, difficult, and weak things of this world to manifest His power, grace, and salvation.
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[i] David Garland, 2 Corinthians, The New American Commentary, Vol. 29, (Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1999), 132.
[ii] David Garland, 2 Corinthians, 133-34.
[iii] 2 Corinthians 11:27-30.
[iv] 2 Corinthians 2:14.
[v] David Garland, 2 Corinthians, 142-43.
[vi] Ibid, 146.
[vii] Ibid, 145.
[viii] 2 Corinthians 2:15-16.
[ix] David Garland, 2 Corinthians, 148.
[x] Ibid, 148-49.
[xi] 2 Corinthians 2:17.
[xii] Kent Hughes, 2 Corinthians: Power in Weakness, (Crossway Books, 2006), 58.
[xiii] Scott Hafemann, 2 Corinthians, (Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), 118-19.
[xiv] Ibid, 121.
