A Cause Of Deep Sorrow?
A CAUSE OF DEEP SORROW?
2 CORINTHIANS 12:19-21
Has our Christian faith changed our lifestyle?
The previous section took as its guide what Paul writes at 8:21: “for we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord’s sight but also in the sight of man” (ESV). Both elements in this statement are important, but if it came to a question of priority, Paul makes it clear that so long as his motives are pure in the sight of God, that is the main concern (2 Timothy 2:15), and in the end it is the approval of God which counts, even if people misinterpret and misrepresent (12:19). After all, the apostle has nothing personally to gain as he seeks, above all, the wellbeing of the Corinthians.
This thought of the church’s growth in grace leads him to express the fear of its sorry state at the time of his writing his earlier letter (2:3-4; 7:8,12). 12:20-21 are the fullest description we have of the state of affairs that called for the “severe letter.” We have here a picture of a Christian congregation which contained people who have retained worldly ambition, and have not been cleansed from motives of self-seeking and moral laxity. Indeed, the word pictures conjured up by these verses make us think of professed Christians who practiced a sub-Christian morality, as sins of the spirit (12:20) and sins of the flesh (12:21) are regrettably joined to form a whole. Which group of sins is more detestable in the sight of God?
It is small wonder therefore that Paul has to write so severely to them, rebuking such un-Christian moods and practices as are listed. A large part of his concern for the “upbuilding” (12:19; see 13:10) of the church requires the eliminating of these malpractices, and the rooting out of every wrong spirit which prompts them. His great fear (12:21) is that his stern words will be misunderstood, and his authority further defied, so that again he may be humiliated before them, and in place of a legitimate pride in his converts’ growth in holy living he will have only a cause of deep sorrow.
Note 12:20-21: for this list of vices compare Galatians 5:20f.; Romans 1:29ff. Corinth was infamous for such moral loose living, especially due to the cult of Aphrodite practiced there.