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Surveying the Text: 2 Corinthians

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Introduction

We are called to great glory, but we are called to great glory out of a great mess. God is in the process of restoring a remarkable ruin—say of a cathedral—and the greatness of this undertaking is seen when we consider how great the ruin is. Man was created as the image bearer of God, and the fall shattered his ability to reflect that image accurately. It still does so—you can still make it out—but the image of God in man must be restored. This image is the face of Jesus Christ, and this face is manifested in the preaching of the gospel.

The Text

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:3–6).

Brief Background

You should remember from our treatment of 1 Corinthians that this letter was probably written in the autumn of 56 A.D. A severe letter had been sent to the Corinthians in between 1 Corinthians and this one, and it is apparent from all the issues being addressed that no Christian in his right mind should want to belong to “a New Testament church.” Paul is still addressing the problem of factions that plagued the church at Corinth.

Summary of the Text

If the gospel is hidden, it is hidden from those who are lost. In other words, the gospel is not lost, but rather the people who are lost cannot find it (v. 3). The gospel is home, and you cannot be lost at home. The reason these people are lost is that the god of that age (aeon, not cosmos) had blinded their minds. Otherwise the light of the glorious gospel would shine on them (v. 4). Paul confesses that he does not preach “himself,” but rather Christ Jesus the Lord, and himself and others with him as simple servants (v. 5). For God was the one who commanded light to shine out of darkness in the creation (v. 6), and He has done the same thing again in the conversion of sinners. He gives the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (v. 6).

Trajectory of Glory

A distinction has to be made between where Paul is in the writing of this letter, and where Paul isgoing. The church continues to have practical troubles. Paul is still seeking to reconcile people in the church (2 Cor. 2:2-11), make arrangements for the collection for the poor (2 Cor. 8:1-9:15), and defend his apostolic authority (2 Cor. 11:1-29). His schedule is full of daily challenges. But the theme of where Paul is going is glory—and he fully intends to take the Corinthians with him. The subject of glory comes up in this letter again and again. “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Cor. 1:20).

Win or Lose

The point is glory, win or lose. When things are going well, when things are prospering, when all the breaks are going your way, what are you instructed to do? “But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (2 Cor. 10:17).

But we do not serve a God who operates like a vending machine. He is a personal God, and He dispenses every kind of providence, whether hard or soft. What are we to do when it is hard? The answer is the same—we are to lean into the glory.

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17).

And How is This Done?

So we are to lean into glory? How are we to lean into glory? We do this when we worship the Lord. Remember the ultimate law that is operative here—we become like what we worship. In Psalm 115, idolaters make deaf, dumb, and blind statues, and “those that make them are like unto them.” When we finally see the Lord Jesus full on, we will become like Him, because we will see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).

And that is what we find here in 2 Corinthians as well:
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).

We are to worship the Lord with an “open face.” When we worship the Lord truly, we are doing so under the preached Word, which means that we are having the visage of the Lord sketched for us. Remember our text—preaching Christ offers to you the “knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Do you see this? When you come to a service where Christ is preached, and you do so with “open face,” you are privileged to look upon the open face of Jesus Christ as He is offered in the gospel. And when you look upon Him, face to face like this, what happens? The same thing happens as happened to Moses earlier in chapter 3—and is what could not happen to the Israelites under the older covenant. Moses saw the Lord face to face in one sense (Ex. 33:11), but not in another (Ex. 33:20-23). And the people saw the face of Moses radiant, and Moses would put on the veil so that they would not see that the glory would fade. But we have a glory that does not fade.

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Surveying the Text: 1 Corinthians

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

The theme of this book is the battle between division and unity. But we must follow the wisdom of God. Not only are false division and true unity at odds, so also are true division and false unity at odds. Unity with idols is division. Division from evil is righteousness and real unity.

The Text

“For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:21–25).

Brief Background

Around 50 A.D. the apostle Paul left Macedonia (northern Greece) and came to Corinth. An ancient city on that spot had been leveled by the Romans in 146 B.C., and was a pile of rubble for a century. In 44 B.C. Julius Caesar re-founded the city as a colony. The replanted city prospered, and by the time of Paul’s arrival there it was five times bigger than Athens, and was the capital of the province. The ancient travel writer Strabo (64/63 B.C.—24 A.D.) was the source of the report that the temple to Aphrodite there was staffed by a thousand sacred prostitutes.

When Paul arrived in Corinth, he moved in with Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:1-4). He was not confident when he first got there (1 Cor. 2:3). Silas and Timothy then arrived with good news from Macedonia (1 Thess. 3:6), which strengthened Paul’s preaching. At some point in their time here, Priscilla and Aquila risked their lives for Paul’s sake (Rom. 16:3). There apparently had been some significant trouble, such that God made a point of reassuring Paul in a vision (Acts 18:9ff).

The most likely reconstruction of Paul’s dealings with the Corinthians is this. What we know as 1 & 2 Corinthians are probably 2 & 4 Corinthians. A lost communication to the Corinthians precedes 1 Corinthians (1 Cor. 5:9ff), and another lost letter, a “severe letter,” was sent before our 2 Corinthians (2 Cor. 2:4. 1 Corinthians was probably written in 55 A.D. and 2 Corinthians was written in the autumn of the year after.

Summary of the Text

God determined that the world, with all its wisdom, would not be able to use that wisdom to come to know God (v. 21). Rather God chose to accomplish this great thing by means

of the foolishness of preaching (v. 21). Jews want a sign, and Greeks want graduate seminars in philosophy (v. 22), and God says no to both. The divine answer is the proclamation of Christ crucified (v. 23)—calculated by God to trip up the Jews and to seem like idiocy to the Greeks. God did not make this thing seeker friendly. This cross divides unbelieving Jews and Greeks from the community of the faithful. But to those who are called, Jews and Greeks both, Christ is both the power and wisdom of God (v. 24). In all this we see that God’s folly towers above man’s wisdom, and God’s weakness isstill omnipotent (v. 25).

Wrongful Division

The church at Corinth was full of factions. These factions were based on a number of false standards. They were divided over things like the status of various social groups, disputes at law, food issues, accommodation with idolatry, sex tangles, spiritual gifts, and the Lord’s Supper. Paul’s great concern is the reconciliation of these divisions between God’s saints, but in order to accomplish this, there must be division from sin. Unless you break with sin, you will eventually break with everything else. Unless you declare war on sin, you will eventually be at war with everything else. To make peace with wolves is to declare war on sheep.

The Divine Strategy

The plan for the church is a harmonious building. You are God’s building, Paul says (1 Cor. 3:9). The word is oikodome.
The plan for the church is a harmonious family. The phrase brother or sister is used by Paul around 40 times in this letter. This is clearly related to the theme just mentioned, that of a house or building.

In order to have this true unity, there has to be a sharp break from Egypt. The sea was divided, and so it was that Egypt and Israel were divided. But that division still needed to be pursued. Not only did there need to be an Exodus of Israel from Egypt, there also needed to be an exodus of Egyptian ways from Israelite hearts (1 Cor. 10:7ff). Otherwise, all we have done is plant a colony of Egypt in the wilderness.

To Return to the Text

In order to accomplish this great miracle of deliverance, Jesus had to die. Since it involved external bodies, a powerful deity like Zeus could have gotten Israel out of Egypt. But in order to get Egypt out of Israel, the Son of God had to die. Right after Paul warned the Corinthians not to fall into the same trap the Israelites had fallen into, he reminds us that the foundation of our unity as Christians is the fact that Christ was broken. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread” (1 Cor. 10:16–17). Christ was one, and was broken, so that we who were broken might become one.

What kind of sense does this make? It is the folly of preaching. It is the folly of the cross. God takes a glorious unity and breaks it on the cross so that all our brokenness might be placed on Christ, and in that breaking, be made whole. Christ crucified is Christ for the world. Christ crucified is the only kind of Savior that can help the world—meaning He is the only kind of Savior that can save.

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Surveying the Text: Romans

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Introduction

The book of Romans is the Magna Carta of the human soul. The book of Romans contains as thorough a statement of genuine liberty as can be found anywhere in all of human literature. The book of Romans is a book of life, a tree of life. The book of Romans is a three-foot-thick vein of gold in a mountain range of glorious Scripture. The book of Romans is a book filled with inexpressible joy, anchored forever in the decrees of the everlasting Father. What should we think about the book of Romans?

The Text

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:16–17).

Brief Background

The letter is likely written from Corinth around 57 A.D. Compare 1 Cor. 16:1-7 with Romans 15:25-26. The book of Romans is a fund-raising letter, showing a marked difference between Paul’s way of doing that kind of thing and ours (Rom. 15:17-29). He emphasizes what he has been doing, and what he teaches, with a glance at the need. Unfortunately, we tend to reverse this. And what is the result? Apart from whether it helped on his mission to Spain, Paul wrote a fund-raising letter that is arguably the most influential book in Christian history. We should meditate on that for a moment.

Summary of the Text

Paul begins here by declaring that he is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ (v. 16). The gospel therefore is something we should not be ashamed of, but it is something that provokes the world into trying to make us ashamed of it. If you found a cure for cancer, you would not say “I am not ashamed.” If you invented a perpetual motion machine, you would not say “I am not ashamed.” If you wrote an epic poem that won the Nobel Prize for literature, you would not say “I am not ashamed.” But if you found a cure for sin, given the nature of sin, you would have to make this your constant refrain—“I am not ashamed.” This is because sin always pushes back. Whenever sin is attacked, there is always blowback, and one of sin’s central technique is the ever-popular coolshame.

But we are not ashamed because the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, whether Jew or Greek. By this powerful means, the righteousness of God is made manifest, from beginning to the end. And why? How? It is manifested through how the just live their lives, which is by faith (v. 17).

Overview of the Book

The first three chapters outline man’s dilemma for us. Man is trapped in sin, trapped in himself, trapped by his idols. Chapter 1 shows us that the Gentiles are under sin, despite God’s revelation of Himself in nature. Chapter 2 shows us that the Jews are under sin, despite God’s revelation of Himself in the Torah. Chapter 3 shows us that the Jews and Gentiles are together under sin, trapped in the same way. Sin has them both by the throat.

In the next two chapters, we have two different cases made for the gospel. The first is an exegetical case in Chapter 4, showing us how Abraham was justified by faith. In Chapter 5, we have a theological case outlining the gospel. We are shown that Christ is the last man, delivering us from the death brought down upon us by the first man.

The gospel always generates objections, and so then Paul begins anticipating and answering them. The form of the book of Romans is what was called a diatribe in ancient times—where you are dealing with an imaginary opponent throughout (see Rom. 2:1-5; 17-24; 8:2; 9:19-21; 11:17-24;14:4, 10).
In Chapter 6, he shows us how liberation from sin does not liberate us to sin. In Chapter 7, he shows what the law is for then, now that we have learned that it is not for our justification. In Chapter 8, Paul describes what life in the Spirit looks like, now that we are freed from the law.

At the end of Chapter 8, Paul exults that nothing can separate God’s elect from His love for them in Christ Jesus. But wasn’t the old Israel elect? What about that? In Chapter 9, Paul shows how God’s sovereignty extends through both kinds of election, both covenantal and individual. Is there no place then for ethnic Israel? In Chapters 10 and 11, Paul shows how God’s gifting and calling are irrevocable.

In Chapter 12, Paul turns to the practical ramification of living how this glorious gospel. In this chapter he addresses issues of spiritual gifts and government.

In Chapter 13, he talks about our relationship to the civil authorities. In Chapter 14, he turns to keeping the peace within the church over “debatable matters.”

In Chapter 15, we have an outline of gospel mission, and in Chapter 16, he wraps up and then extends his greetings to the saints.

Not an ‘Improve Your Golf Swing’ Gospel

As you reflect on how the gospel is presented in this great book of liberation, notice how death features in the goodness of this powerful gospel. Our problem was Adamic death, and Jesus Christ came to this earth in order to die in such a way that this shared death of ours could finally die, and be raised to life again. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 6:3). In Adam, we live in a living death, and in Christ we are finally able to crucify that way of living death. And because it is finally crucified, it can be brought to life again. That is what the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus does.

So this is not a message that pats the back of your hand and encourages you to start living your best life now. If a man wants to follow Jesus, at least according to Jesus, he has to take up his cross daily and follow Christ. Whatever could that mean? Well, guess. The only way out of the hellhole of self is to have that wretched selfish ego hanged on a gibbet until dead. That is final freedom.

Why? Because in our poverty, Christ brings His riches. In our darkness, He is the only pure light. In our swamp of misery, He brings the solid ground of joy. In the midst of our cursing, He brings His blessing. In our uncertain vagaries, He brings His everlasting and predestinated love—the only kind of love that could do us any good. When our blind eyes were staring at the outer darkness, He opened our eyes, turned us from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. When our fists were clenched against Him, His hands were opened wide toward us, and with a nail hole in each one.

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Surveying the Text: Song of Solomon

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Introduction

As we consider the Song of Solomon, or Song of Songs, there is much of spiritual value that we can gather from it, even though we might not grasp the overall narrative thread. This intensely emotional and very erotic love poem is very much like the way of a man with a maid—everybody knows what is going on, and nobody quite knows what is going on.

The Text

“There be three things which are too wonderful for me, Yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; The way of a serpent upon a rock; The way of a ship in the midst of the sea; And the way of a man with a maid” (Prov. 30:18–19).

Literary Options

Interpretations of this book are legion, but there are three main options to choose from. The first is to take the book allegorically. This is what the ancient rabbis did, and is part of the reason the book managed to be included in the canon of Scripture—that, and Solomon’s authorship. The rabbis waxed eloquent about Yahweh’s love for Israel, and Christians, not to be outdone, were fully their match on Christ’s love for the Church. But this, obviously, can sometimes get out of hand—consider the rabbi who thought that the Shulamite’s belly, compared to a heap of wheat, represented the Great Sanhedrin. Or the Christian interpreter who thought her two breasts represented the Old and the New Testaments. In 550 A.D., one church council forbade any interpretation that was not allegorical. But sometimes the best hermeneutical move is to put your head between your legs and breathe into a paper bag.

The second option is to interpret the book as a dramatic representation. This option divides into two groups—one which holds it to be a love poem between Solomon and one of his brides, and the other taking it to be a three-way drama—Solomon wooing the Shulamite, with the Shulamite remaining faithful to her shepherd lover back home.

The third option, and the one I commend, is to take it at face value for what it is, a related series of intense erotic poems, which also have typological significance. With typology, it is easier to maintain the straightforward meaning of the type, while understanding the role of the antitype. With allegory, it always tends to go straight to the “real meaning” up in the sky somewhere. But typology takes in a larger meaning, without doing violence to the text. If every marriage represents Christ and the Church (Eph. 5:23-33), then surely this marriage, contained in the pages of Scripture, should represent it as well.

Speaking of Marriage . . .

Some people like to pretend that this is not a married couple, but that is plainly contradicted by the text. He refers to his lover clearly as his bride several times (Song 4:8-12; 5:1). And this is very important, as we shall see later.

The Goodness Of . . .

We don’t want to limit it to just these things, but as we consider the value of the Song of Songs, we learn, or should learn, of the goodness of certain gifts from God.

First, the goodness of marital love. God approves of sex. He invented it. And He did not do so as an afterthought, or postscript, or footnote. The establishment of mankind, male and female, is found at the crown of the creation week, and it is here that the image of God is fully displayed (Gen. 1:27). In our text from Proverbs, we see that no one fully understands the way of a man with a maid, and we also see from Ephesians that the way of a man with a maid is a “great mystery.” But you don’t need to understand all the ramifications to know that it is good. And recall that when the serpent broke into the garden, notice that he did so in order to attack the crown, to steal the crown, to dishonor the crown of all creation. Perhaps, when it comes to our marriages and sexual lives, we ought to be more protective than we are.

Second, we learn the goodness of natural dominion, the goodness of gardens. The Song of Songs is crammed full of pastoral images, and these images are not primarily about natural wilderness(although there is some of that), but rather about nature tamed. The images include fountains, gardens, orchards, vineyards, and so on. The lovers can have a tryst in a forest room (1:16-17), or in lush gardens (6:2-3), or under an apple tree (8:5). In contrast, while urban settings have their grandeur, they are also more threatening or foreboding.

And third, we can see the goodness of poetry and metaphor. This book is filled with imagery—similes and metaphors abound, and the poetic concentration in this book is intense. The Song of Songs is not just about erotic intensity; by example it declares the goodness of poetic intensity. The mundane and pedestrian approach—that which would traffic in such sentiments—is given the back of the hand. “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.” (Song of Solomon 8:7).

The Ultimate Point

Marriage is not the gospel, just as sermons are not the gospel. But marriage is intended to declare and exhibit the gospel, just as a sermon is supposed to do the same thing. Marriage is not the gospel, but marriage lived out as it ought to be lived out is most certainly a carrier.

The man initiates and the woman responds. The man bows and the woman curtsies. The man loves and the woman respects. The man gives and the woman gives back, thirty, sixty and one hundred fold. The man dies and the woman rises. The man gives and the woman glorifies. And in all this the gospel is enacted and declared. Christ has a bride, and it is through this that we can plainly see the nature of the gospel.

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Surveying the Text: Ecclesiastes

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Introduction

Most cheerfulness in the world is superficial and shallow. Much deep thinking is melancholy. This great Hebrew philosopher calls us to joy—but joy which thinks deeply. Our word profound comes from the Latin profundus, which means deep, and so we are invited to profound joy, not joy that skims along the surface of things. He calls us to meditation, but to a meditation which does not despair. Only believers can enjoy the vanity.

The Text

“The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity” (Ecc. 1:1–2).

Solomonic Authorship

The author never calls himself Solomon by name, but rather Qoheleth. This means “gatherer,” “assembler,” or “preacher.” Nevertheless, Qoheleth identifies himself here as a son of David, and as a king in Jerusalem. Without entering into a detailed description of the debate, I can see no good reason not to attribute the book to Solomon. The book certainly fits the pattern of Solomon’s life.

Solomon was given great wisdom by the Lord, but nevertheless fell into great and enormous sins. In his apostasy, he introduced the idolatry of some of his foreign wives into Israel. This book was written in his old age, as a repentant rejection of his previous declension and apostasy.

Unlike the liberal, we should assume a single voice throughout the text. Unlike the pietist, we should reject the temptation to accept the edifying passages and skim over the apparently “difficult” ones. And unlike the heretic, we should reject an elevation of the “difficult” texts at the expense of the pervasive orthodoxy of the book.

Summary of the Text

Ecclesiastes has four basic sections, or divisions. The first division is found in Ecclesiastes 1:2-2:26—Solomon’s experience shows that satisfaction cannot come from anything within man’s grasp or power. The second division is contained in Ecclesiastes 3:1-5:20: God is sovereign over everything; Solomon answers objections to the doctrine, and as you should know, it is a doctrine that engenders objections. Objections grow on this doctrine, like flowers in a meadow in the springtime. The third section is Ecclesiastes 6:1-8:15. Solomon applies his doctrine that the sovereign God alone gives the power to enjoy vanity. Without Him, without this power, the world is nothing but vexation of spirit. And the last division is Ecclesiastes 8:16-12:14. This last section removes various obstacles and discouragements, and addresses numerous practical concerns.

The Two Great Refrains of the Book

Instead of viewing the book as a series of disjointed and sometimes contradictory statements, we must first look for those themes which integrate all the teaching of the entire book. Two great refrains are:

Under the Sun—this phrase occurs numerous times, and is extremely significant. “Under the sun” is the realm where vanity reigns. This is not the vanity of philosophical nihilism, but rather the vanity of endless recurring cycles. Just the way it is.

Consider what occurs “under the sun.” Work has no profit (1:3; 2:11; 2:22); nothing is new (1:9); everything is vain (1:14; 4:7); work is distressing (2:17); labor is hateful because someone else gets the fruit (2:18); a fool might receive the benefit of the work (2:19, 20); church and state are corrupt (3:16); men are oppressed (4:1); the unborn are at an advantage (4:3); popularity is in constant flux (4:15); riches destroy their owners (5:13); the wealthy are unable to enjoy their wealth (6:1); future generations are unknowable (6:12); men rule others and destroy themselves (8:9); work is incomprehensible (8:17) both good and evil men die alike (9:3); our emotions perish with us (9:6); time and chance happen to us all (9:11); ungrateful men despise the benefits of wisdom (9:13); and rulers establish egalitarianism (10:5).

The Great Gift of God—Under the sun, vanity is God’s scepter (5:18; 8:15; 9:9). For those who fear Him, God gives the gift of being able to enjoy the futility. This is the gift of God. Notice how this point is hammered home, again and again.

“Nothing is better . . .” (2:24);
“I know that nothing is better. . .” (3:12-13);
“So I perceived that nothing is better. . .” (3:22);
“Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting. . .” (5:18-19); “So I commended enjoyment . . .” (8:15);
“Go, eat your bread with joy. . .” (9:7-9).

All these things are done by those who fear God under the sun, just as the miserable labor under the sun. But the distinction, as always, is found in the sovereignty and grace of God.

Eat Your Peaches

God frequently gives men many external blessings without giving them the spiritual taste buds to enjoy them. This is a sore affliction from the Lord. We see a man without taste buds who can afford the finest of restaurants. We see an impotent man married to a beautiful woman. Guard your hearts. Don’t envy them. Don’t want to become like them. The people you envy are frequently the most miserable people on the face of the planet. It would have been better for them to have never been born.

The blessings of this life—and there are many of them—are like cans of peaches. To His beloved, God gives them both the can and the can opener. To the others, He gives just the cans. What does it profit a man to have the whole world but with no ability to taste? Who is wealthier? The man with one can of peaches and a can opener, or a man with a thousand cans of peaches and no can opener? Without Christ, the most a rich man can do is lick the label, trying to get some kind of taste from the glue.

We live in the same world of vain repetitions as do the non-believers. Our dishes get dirty again, our lawns need to be mowed again, our lives cycle around as do theirs. The rain falls on our heads too. But their vanity, their shepherding of the wind, becomes—because of unbelief—what we might call philosophical or nihilistic vanity. Our vanity, our experience of the very same things, becomes a wild ride, the best you will ever have. Nothing is better. This understanding of Ecclesiastes is the foundational precondition of all contentment.

So eat your bread, drink wine, and rejoice. Work hard. God has already accepted you. He has already accepted your works, which He has done in the perfect work of Jesus Christ. Believe the gospel as it is preached and declared. This truly is the gift of God.

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