2nd Corinthians Lesson 10

2 Corinthians 2:12-

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Listen to Lesson Audio:

---

Lesson Transcript

Opening

Good evening. Please open your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. We’ll be starting in a moment in verse 12, where we left off last time. We’re still looking at Paul’s explanation for his change in travel plans, which we’ve been looking at now for several weeks. And he’s going to continue with that and then transition into another section of the letter.

Verse 12 - The Open Door at Troas

Verse 12: “Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord.”

This verse and the next one are a transition from Paul’s defense for failing to come as he had earlier planned to come. And his defense of his boldness in proclaiming Christ, which we’re about to move into, and his defense of his afflictions that came from his boldness in proclaiming Christ.

Paul doesn’t complete the account here of the relief he felt when he finally met up with Titus in Macedonia and received the good news that the Corinthians had repented and the good news of their godly sorrow and their renewed zeal for Paul. He’s going to come back to that in chapter 7. Instead, here in chapter 2, Paul returns to the theme of the grief he suffered on that earlier visit.

Why Mention Troas?

Why does he mention Troas here? Well, on one hand, he may be pointing back to his, what we’ll soon see here, is an aborted mission to Troas to reinforce the point that his failure to visit them as he’d originally planned was not because he didn’t care for them, it was because he was overwhelmed by grief because of what had happened. I think it also makes it very clear that he didn’t change his plans lightly at all, as they had accused him, but he was weighed down by this anguish he’d been talking about.

But another reason it mentioned, I think it may also provide the transition for the afflictions that he’s going to be talking about and his defense of those. You know, it seems strange you’d have to defend yourself from being afflicted, and yet that’s the position that Paul finds himself in here because the Corinthians are questioning his authority and his suitability because of his persecutions.

Paul’s Purpose in Troas

Well, why did Paul go to Troas? Well, he may have traveled there to wait for Titus. We know he was going to meet up with Titus. He wanted to meet up with Titus and hear what had happened. And that may be why he went there.

But when he was there, I mean, we all know Paul, right? And there’s no way he could resist the urge to proclaim the gospel. So he’s in Troas, he’s waiting for Titus. What to do, what to do. Proclaim the gospel, and that’s what Paul did there in Troas.

In fact, the gospel of Christ is what controls Paul, it’s his catalyst. His purpose was to take the gospel to places where it had not been before, Romans 15:20. And here he tells us of a door that had been opened unto him.

The Opened Door

“Of the Lord” in that verse may indicate both the means by which the door was opened, that Christ opened the door for him. And it also may express the sphere in which this opportunity presented itself in Christ, in the Lord. Whatever it means, he stormed through that door. Paul went running through and seized the opportunity to proclaim the gospel in Troas. And as we’ll see in a moment from Acts, he left about seven days later. It was a very brief visit.

But like Paul, we also need to be on the lookout for those open doors, because sometimes, like the one here, it opens and then it closes. And when it opens, we need to run through and proclaim the gospel.

Verse 13 - No Rest for Paul’s Spirit

Verse 13: “I had no rest in my spirit because I found not Titus my brother. But taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.”

Paul again is very candid here. He says, “My spirit could not rest.” Found no rest of his spirit. He again wants the Corinthians to understand the anguish he was going through because of them. That’s why. He wanted to hear from Titus and hear how things were going there.

This sends the message to them how deeply Paul cared for them. Paul was burdened by worry because he didn’t know how they would respond to that letter. He was worried because he hadn’t had a word from Titus. You know, there was an unexplained delay from Titus. Maybe that meant all was not well in Corinth, that things had gone wrong. Maybe Paul’s worst fears had been realized and the situation had gotten a lot worse instead of getting better. Paul didn’t know any of this.

You know, we’re so used to this high-speed communications. It’s hard to envision a situation like this where Paul had no way of finding this out. And the waiting must have been excruciating for him, waiting for Titus.

Paul Torn Between Duties

But we see here that Paul was torn between Troas and Corinth, between Troas and Titus, in Macedonia, where he would meet up with Titus. He wanted, I’m sure, to stay in Troas and continue proclaiming the gospel there. But there was this brush fire in Corinth, and he had to also worry about that and try to put that out.

I mean, most preachers can testify, I’m sure, of the demands and the pressures on them as they’re pulled in different directions. And I’m sure they can sympathize with Paul, who could not put his distress about Titus out of his mind, but he wanted to stay with Troas and also proclaim the gospel.

These verses also explain to the Corinthians why Paul is writing to them from Macedonia. Paul, why are you in Macedonia? Well, it seems like he left for Macedonia after he realized that Titus was not on the last boat, probably coming in to Troas, probably the last boat of the season. That means he wasn’t coming until at least the next year. So that may be why he figured, well, Titus will travel by land through Macedonia, so I’ll go there to meet him.

The Impact on Paul’s Ministry

This spiritual unrest that Paul talks about here, we can see it was inhibiting his work in Troas. He could have stayed there a lot longer, but he was so upset that he left. Now we know that he did have some good things happen there. He proclaimed the gospel in Troas. You can read about it in Acts chapter 20. Verses 6 through 12, he was there seven days. And in fact, if Paul had not been there, we would not have the patron saint of the long-winded preacher. Eutychus, which happened in Troas.

This sad account where Paul is upset and leaves. It really shows how interconnected Christians are. We’re not just these little individual islands of congregations. We’re a body. We’re a body, and we’re interconnected. And no doubt Paul did not want to abandon a place where a door had been opened to him, but his uneasiness over the Corinthians, over Titus, and his spirit could not rest, he just had to leave, and he went, he left.

The Wider Impact of Discord

I think there’s an implication here for the Corinthians that Paul wants them to pick up on, and that is that their dispute was behind this failure of Paul to be able to take advantage, full advantage, of this golden opportunity that had opened for him in Troas. Why did he leave? Because of this unrest, this dispute, all that was going on in the city of Corinth.

So, you see, what was going on in Corinth was affecting people in Troas. And you can see the church is interconnected. We are a body. And I think you can see Satan’s design at work here. The conflict with Corinth had caused this open door to not be fully taken advantage of as it might have otherwise.

Strife in the body of Christ never speeds the advance of the gospel. In fact, it does just the opposite. It slows down the advance of the gospel. That’s why it’s so important that the household of God be united and of the same mind.

We’ll learn later in this letter that Paul’s anxiety was later transformed into joy. Into joy when he met with Titus. But here, Paul breaks off this account and won’t pick it up again until he gets to chapter 7.

Verse 14 - The Triumph Metaphor

Verse 14: “Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place.”

It’s a beautiful verse. But there’s the word “triumph” there has long puzzled commentators. There are a lot of different opinions on that. The setting of this, the setting of this triumph is the elaborate celebration of victory that a conquering Roman general would have when he paraded through Rome after conquering some foreign enemy, usually with that foreign enemy in tow, about to be executed. That was called the triumph, and all the Roman generals wanted to have that wonderful triumph as they were paraded through the city of Rome.

Now, normally the verb here translated “triumph” is intransitive, which means it would mean to celebrate a victory by means of a triumph. But there are rare cases where the verb is transitive, and that’s what we have here. In that case, it means to lead captives in the triumphal procession, to lead the captives in the triumph.

Calvin’s Misinterpretation

Now many commentaries can’t really understand why Paul would picture himself as a defeated captive. And so they try to change the meaning here so that Paul is not a captive, a defeated captive, but Paul is a fellow foot soldier in the triumph celebrating along with the general.

Calvin, for example, in his commentary on this, he asked, “How could Paul praise God for leading him as a vanquished and dishonored prisoner? How could he liken himself as an apostle to one chained and marched in disgrace to his death before the conqueror?” And that led Calvin to then argue on those grounds rather than what the language actually says. Calvin said, “Oh, what’s really meant here is that Paul’s saying, I triumphed with God, I’m not being led captive by God.”

Well, that’s not what it says. That’s not what it says. Paul is picturing himself here as being led captive. He’s not picturing himself as a foot soldier in God’s victorious army. And I might add that that’s not the only time Calvin decided the text meant something other than it said. He seemed to have kind of a penchant for that. And he certainly did that here.

We need to look at what the text says and to figure out what’s going on here.

Understanding the Captivity Image

Now, one commentary I think correctly said: “when followed by a direct personal object, the verb means to lead as a conquered enemy in a victory parade.” What the word means here. It’s not referring to someone who’s just a member of the procession.

If that’s the case, we need to ask ourselves: why is Paul picturing himself as a conquered prisoner being put on display, as opposed to, for example, a foot soldier in God’s army as God leads the parade into town.

Well, we know already that Paul is just a master at word paintings. I mean, he’s just so wonderful at that. And the metaphors he uses, I mean, later in chapter three, we probably won’t get to that tonight, but later in chapter three, we’ll see that he pictures the Corinthians themselves as letters of recommendation with it written on their hearts. So, beautiful, beautiful word picture. And I think that’s what Paul’s painting here.

Lessons from the Triumph Metaphor

And I think there are a lot of lessons we can learn from this. One lesson I think we can learn is that I think this illustration of the triumph shows that before becoming followers of Christ, we were all enemies of God. We were all enemies of the cross before we became a follower of Christ. Paul himself, in fact, bemoans his past as a persecutor of the church, persecutor of Christ. He does that in 1 Corinthians 15 and in Galatians 1 and elsewhere. Christ had to conquer him, and Christ did.

The purpose of the Roman triumph was to do what? It was to give the idea that that Roman general, that that Roman emperor, whoever it was, was favored by the gods and was divine and had all power and all authority, and he’s the one, and that sort of thing. It was all focused on that Roman general. They were exhibited so that all could see them and understand their power and their majesty. And I think maybe Paul here, in fact, I know that Paul here is applying that part to God. That God is, in fact, in that role, showing that the true power, the true authority, that true victory belongs to God. And then Paul, I think, then pictures himself as a previously defeated enemy of God, being led in triumph to herald God’s majesty and power. It fits perfectly with how the Roman triumph worked.

Paul’s Sufferings as Evidence

I think a second lesson we can learn here, and this fits the context well, is that this could illustrate Paul’s sufferings, his sufferings, which we know Paul is talking about. And that he wants to justify to the Corinthians because they have looked on his sufferings as evidence that he’s not a real apostle.

The Corinthians were enamored with success and with power and with prestige, and to them Paul’s suffering was an example of weakness, and that cast doubt on Paul. And I think that may be a reason that Paul is using this here.

And in fact, we see this elsewhere. 1 Corinthians 4, verses 9 through 13. Verse 9 says, “For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death. For we are made a spectacle unto the world, unto angels, and to men.” That verse is describing a Roman triumph because that’s exactly what happened to the defeated prisoners. They were led to their death as a spectacle before all, for all to see.

And in fact, here in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 9 and 10, Paul will say, “persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.” I think that’s also the imagery that Paul is wanting us to see here. He’s always being led to death, he says.

Defending Ministry Through Suffering

And some in Corinth must have asked, how can God’s power be revealed in someone with such adversity? Such affliction, such misfortune. The Corinthians, we read in 1 Corinthians 4, had many guides, it says, and these Corinthian dissidents must have said, “Well, look, Paul’s not even here. He’s absent. He’s somewhere else. He didn’t even baptize us,” they would say. “And he seems so flawed in comparison to these false apostles. And he seems so handicapped by that unrelenting suffering he’s going through. How can he be a servant of God?”

And Paul, I think, is showing himself here in that suffering as a servant of God. Paul is showing that his suffering doesn’t discredit him at all, but it proves something about him, that he is God’s servant.

The Central Argument

The central argument here in this section, I think, is that God’s glory can be made manifest through suffering. That’s our theme. That’s our theme in this letter of 2 Corinthians. Power through suffering, strength through weakness. I think that’s what we’re seeing here.

God does not make Christ’s followers winners as the world defines winners. But instead, he captures them and he leads them as prisoners. But Paul would rather be God’s prisoner, God’s slave, than Satan’s vice regent in some promenade that Satan is leading to hell. And so I think Paul pictures himself here in this triumph.

As Christ triumphed by dying a humiliating death on the cross, which was the victory, Paul triumphed with God as one who had been defeated. The cross, I think, is central here and determines the message that Paul is giving. It determines Paul’s ministry, which Paul is about to defend. Those who preach Christ crucified cannot expect to be crowned with glory by this world. They cannot expect to be crowned with glory by the same world that crucified their Master.

Paul as Slave of Christ

I think a third lesson we can see here is that Paul is identifying himself as a slave of Christ. Being captured makes someone a slave. I think that’s the picture here. In chapter 5, verse 14, Paul will say that the love of Christ constrains him. And that word “constrains” means to take or to hold captive. Paul is held captive by the love of Christ. Not by some vengeful deity, but by love. Paul was captured by love.

God rescues us by shattering those walls of our own strength, of our own wisdom, and instead making us slaves to Christ. I think that’s another lesson we see here.

Assurance of Final Victory

A fourth lesson we see here may be Paul’s assurance of the final victory, the final rescue that he will have. These prisoners of war that I mentioned that were carried along in the triumph and were sent to their execution and were killed. Sometimes they were spared. Sometimes the Emperor would look out at them and say, “Thumbs up, you’re spared. We will not be executed.”

And that may also be here because Paul would then be picturing that act of grace, that grace where he is spared. Through nothing that he deserves or merits, just through the wonderful grace of God. And that may also be something we see here in this beautiful illustration.

The Paradoxes of Faith

Paul, there’s so many paradoxes we see here. In fact, the whole theme of this letter is a paradox, right? It’s strength from weakness. I mean, what a wonderful paradox. But we see here that Paul is suffering with Christ in order to be glorified with Christ. Victory comes in defeat. Glory comes in humiliation. Joy comes in suffering. The wise become fools to become truly wise. The rich become poor, so that the poor might become rich. Those are all things we see in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.

So many wonderful paradoxes find their home here in these two letters. And nowhere in this letter is there a better description of the theme of this letter, which is strength from weakness, than in this illustration of the triumph. Of the triumph here that we see in this verse.

The Aroma Metaphor

But Paul has another metaphor in this verse. He’s not through yet. He also talks about the aroma or the savor of the knowledge of him spreading everywhere. That’s also here in verse 14.

One commentary said, “Just as perfume spreads everywhere into the atmosphere, so the divine revelation is all-pervading.” You recall the parable of the sower, and some of that seed fell on ground that it could never even take root. Others fell on ground where it took root, but it was destroyed quickly, and some fell on good soil. It’s very similar here, I think, with the aroma of the gospel. It permeates everything. Everyone is forced to take some notice of it. But with some, it’s just an aroma of death, and with others, it’s an aroma of life, a sweet aroma. It’s similar to the seed being sown.

Verses 15-16 - Life and Death Aromas

Verses 15 and 16: “For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the one we are the savor of death unto death, and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?”

In verse 14, Paul used that metaphor we looked at, where he was carried around as God’s display of Christ to the world, and then we saw the mention of savor in verse 14. Here in verse 15, he switches again to the aroma of Christ that’s pleasing to God. The noun changes from fragrance, which is a neutral term in verse 14, to really aroma, a sweet savor, an aromatic aroma in verse 15, and then it will change back to fragrance in verse 16.

Now, of course, Paul is not the source of this aroma, it comes from his message about the cross of Christ. Now, this imagery most likely comes from the Old Testament. We recall the pleasing aroma after the flood and the sacrifice there. But Paul also talks about this fragrant offering in Ephesians 5:2: “Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

So I think the central message here is Christ’s sacrifice. And this sacrifice shows us God’s love for us. And it shows us that that was the sum and substance of Paul’s preaching: the love of God shown most clearly in the cross of Christ.

The Crisis of Decision

And the smell of death permeates Paul’s preaching and his ministry. And that smell, that aroma, creates a crisis of decision in anybody’s life. It did then, it does today. No one can remain neutral. No one can just adopt a wait and see attitude. They have to decide.

In 1 Corinthians 1, which we studied a while ago, we saw Paul making a similar appraisal. To some who are being destroyed, the word of the cross is foolishness. To others who are being saved, it is the power of God. A decision, a decision.

How a person responds to the gospel determines their eternal fate. Eternal life or eternal death. The use of the present participle here, those who are being saved, those who are perishing, there’s no predestination. There’s no predestination, individual predestination. This one verse is enough to show us that’s not the case. This is happening as they make the decision, as they make the decision when they are confronted with the gospel.

Paul says that to some, we reek of death. It’s not surprising. The message of Christ crucified, to some, it’s foolishness. And we know they were always being given up to death for Christ. Paul has said that.

Death to Death, Life to Life

Some modern translations, I think, miss an important nuance here, which the King James had that I read a moment ago. That is the smell “from death to death.” The smell “from life to life.” Some modern translations just have the smell of death and the fragrance of life. They miss the “death to death” and the “life to life.”

What does that mean? I think it means that the preaching of Christ’s death on a cross is the first smell of death. And for those who see it as just a smell of death, it eventually leads to their death. But to those who see it as the smell of life, it leads eventually to their life. Death to death, life to life.

Paul also concedes here that many see in him and recoil from him as having the smell, the stench of death about him. Some see that in Paul. They don’t see the smell of life. To some, he doesn’t smell like life. And perhaps we should recall the epigram that he smells not sweet, who always smells sweet. If he always smells sweet, he’s probably wearing too much cologne and trying to cover something up.

And Paul sometimes smelled of death to some, sometimes smelled of life to some. But to those who knew the gospel is the power of God, Paul smelled of life, the life that comes through Christ. And I think that’s what Paul is talking about here.

The Awesome Responsibility

There’s an awesome responsibility of preaching a message that has such eternal consequences. And it’s such a heavy burden to bear. For some, the word about Christ opens up a way of life. For others, it causes them to become more hardened, more resistant, more hardened to the wonderful message of the gospel.

And it causes Paul to ask here at the end of this verse: who is equal to it? Who is equal to this burden? The noun “equal” here means to be sufficient, large enough, or large in number or quantity, to be fit, appropriate, competent, qualified, able, worthy, who? Who is sufficient for this? Who is equal to this task?

Paul is going to come back to that question in chapter 3. Paul is going to come back to that in chapter 3.

Verse 17 - Peddlers of God’s Word

Verse 17: “For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but sincerity, but as of God in the sight of God, speak we in Christ.”

Paul refers here to those who were selling the Word of God. The word “corrupt” that I read there is often translated “peddlers,” and that’s a better translation than corrupt. It really refers to a retail dealer of wares in a marketplace, someone just peddling, someone just out to make a living, peddling whatever the customer wants to see. And if the customer gets tired of that, they’ll find something else. And if the customer wants a change in what they’re selling, then they’ll make that change. Customer is always right, the product can always be changed. That’s a peddler.

And that’s what Paul’s referring to here when he says some people are treating the Word of God as a peddler. Well, that hadn’t gone anywhere, has it? I mean, that in a nutshell is the essence of most false teaching. Changing the message to suit the hearer, the tickling ears of the hearer. And I think that may be what Paul is pointing to, particularly with regard to these false apostles in the city of Corinth.

Closing

Next week, we’ll pick up verse 17. We’ll finish chapter 2. I will, at that point, ask if there are any questions or comments on chapter 2. So, if you have any, you’re certainly free to ask at any time, but you’ll have an opportunity then. And then we will continue on into chapter 3. Let’s have our closing prayer.