We have been walking through the narrative and circumstances of Paul writing this letter to the Corinthian church. We have read of how he had heard of the distress, tension and sin in the church. He wrote 1 Cor to them and heard bad news. Then he went down and had a worse experience. There was a painful visit that left him grieved. Paul then left them and wrote them a severe letter which he wrote out of much affliction and anguish. To let them know the love he had for them. So tonight’s narrative comes after having written that letter, and having Titus deliver that letter to them. This is Paul waiting for Titus to bring back news.
In this study, we will read of Paul’s heart for the church.
(A) Christian ministry involves painful love (2 Cor 2:12-13)
Paul is leaving Ephesus and is entering Troas. This is so that he can meet Titus somewhere in Macedonia to hear about how the Corinthian church was doing (2 Cor 2:12). What does he then experience in Troas? He preaches the gospel of Christ and a door was opened for him in the lord. What it means is that when Paul reached Troas, he saw positive responses and hearts that were being turned to Christ, being receptive of the gospel. He saw ministry success.
This is Paul coming into Troas with deep sorrow, experiencing failure in the ministry of the Corinthian church. He then reaches Troas, preaches the gospel and experiences success! The natural frame of mind is for us to experience happiness in success. But yet, he was restless and wanted to meet with Titus to learn about the response of the Corinthian church. Instead of feeling happy, we see him in the pits of despair. What an unnatural state to be in! It is the restlessness of deep anguish a restlessness that comes out of the deep love that he had for the Corinthians. Even though there had been a positive response in Troas, he gets up and leaves so that he can leave Titus sooner. Paul could not rest until he learnt about the condition of the Corinthian church. This might be something of a strange love, but there is a model for us of someone who has left comfort out of love for the lost. Apart from communicating the extent of his love for them, it was also a period of Paul’s life of failure and gloominess. This tells us that christian ministry involves painful love.
In Luke 15:1-5, we see an example of this. Paul’s love for the Corinthian church is a Christian love. It is a Christian love because it mirrors Christ’s love for us. It is a love that is not puffed up and distracted by shiny new things. It is a love that remembers those who need revitalization and restoration. It is a love that goes out to the feeble and the frail. Do we realise that the love that Paul had for the Corinthian church, is the exact sort of love that we have been pursued with?
(B) Christian ministry is triumph as a conquered captive (2 Cor 2:14-16a)
What then could have been the basis for Paul’s joy? Let us look at 2 Cor 7:5-7. He is teaching us that Christian joy does not merely come from a change in circumstances. Paul is employing the doctrine to his experiences.
In 2 Cor 2:14, he thanks God because God always leads him in Christ, and through him spreads the fragrance of Christ everywhere. We find emphasis on the word “always” and the word “everywhere”. What Paul is doing here is telling them that he had affliction in a particular time concerning a particular location, but his joy is grounded in what God does all the time and everywhere. Paul is showing us how his doctrine of God and God’s actions in his life is the radical and unshakable ground for his joy. That is the lens through which he understands his present circumstances, as painful as it may be. Paul’s joy is grounded in God’s actions and not his changing circumstances.
Let us look at the elements more carefully in 2 Cor 2:14-16. What does it mean when Paul says that God in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession? It is the idea of Paul experiencing triumph in Christ. The concept of the triumphal procession has its roots in the roman context. It is understood as a procession which a victorious roman general enjoys at the peak of his accomplishments. A sort of victory that absolutely crushes his enemy. It is a parade that happens through the streets of Rome on the way to the capital. There is fanfare and celebrating to receive a general sitting on a glorious chariot. In the hand of the general would be a grand scepter, and the army would come in with their decorations shouting “triumph!”. It is this magnificent imagery that Paul has in mind that brings him joy.
We also have to ask where is Paul’s place in this victory parade? The NIV reveals more. Part of the general’s victory involves the prisoners-of-war being led in his wake, testifying to his victory. Paul thus sees himself as a captive, and that may be confusing to us. Paul is showing us that God has triumphed over him, and is always leading him as a conquered captive of Christ. If we were honest about how we felt about our spiritual lives and identities, if we had a spiritual LinkedIn, what would we put in our description? Would we state our achievements of going to church or maybe our positions as leaders of bible studies? Or would we state that we were conquered captives? Paul finds joy in being known as a conquered captive.
The first thing that this suggests is that if Paul is now seeing himself as a conquered captive of Christ, he is telling us that there was a point in time that he was an enemy of Christ. What sort of enemy? Paul himself has written about how he was a persecutor of the church. However, he also lived his life with religious purity and zeal, but because he lived it in self-righteousness and for his own glory, he lived it as an enemy of Christ. This then is his joy, that Christ has conquered him. Christ has conquered Paul with a power that the world cannot replicate. Every roman general conquered with strength and wit, but never before has anyone conquered with the cross. There is great joy to this because the old Paul has died! It also means that the circumstances of affliction and failure cannot remove our joy. Christ has secured victory through the cross and his resurrection, and Paul can say that Christ is working out his goodness in Paul’s deepest afflictions, for Christ has conquered him by the cross. Paul is telling us that it is enough to be conquered by Christ and to be captive to his purposes.
This is the theme of 2 Corinthians. In 2 Cor 4:8-11, this identity is fleshed out. This is the joy of knowing that it was not a good thing to be an enemy of God, but he has conquered us and our old selves have died. Our lives now are bound to his. As much as there may be present disappointment, there is an eternal victory and an eternal joy, secured by sovereign grace and love. The first anchor of his joy is thus that Christ is always leading him as a captive in his triumphal procession.
It is not just his identity, but also what God is doing through him! He is being used all the time, everywhere, in order that the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ is known. Just like how fragrances permeate a room and fill the atmosphere, Paul is finding joy in the fact that his life is bringing that fragrance everywhere and it is a fragrance that points to the truth of the knowledge of Christ. In Christ, it is good to lay ourselves down, our guilt and our self-righteousness. For our sake God made Christ who knew no sin, to be sin so that we could have the righteousness of God. Is this not the rich fragrance of gospel truth? Paul knew it and it permeated his life and everything that he was doing, and so he had great joy.
The aroma of Christ to God in 2 Cor 2:15 is the sacrificial work that Christ did at the cross. It is the cross shaped work that Paul is bringing into the world which is pleasing to God, acceptable to God, and which brings God glory. But the interesting thing is that it is not dependent on results. It is an aroma among those who are being saved and perishing. There are only 2 possibilities, that you are saved, or you are not. The cross of Christ is either your peace and rest from yourself, or it is bitter and hostile to your ears. Paul’s simple point here is that God is accomplishing his purposes regardless. This is because God is glorified in both his just judgment of sinners and his gracious salvation of sinners as well. God’s glory will always be fulfilled, and there is rest in knowing that God is always accomplishing his purposes in his sovereignty.
Paul is thus telling us that our joy, despite our circumstances, is knowing that we are being triumphed over by Christ, as people who have been conquered by him, and God works all of this out for his sovereign glory.
What a comfort for those of us who are feeling that our Christian life is not going too great. We do not need to look at how ministry is fruiting or not, whether there are results. Paul is not primarily rejoicing in his fruit, but in the aroma that comes with spreading the gospel.
If we truly see ourselves as captives of Christ, joy is always in reach for us.
(C) Christian ministry is sincerely conducted in God’s sight as Christ’s representatives (2 Cor 2:16b-17)
In light of all these, Paul asks “who is sufficient for these things?” in 2 Cor 2:16b. Paul is pointing out the weight of what he has just said. The weight of eternities which are at stake, that everybody we come into interaction with is either an aroma of life or an aroma of death. This is a serious gospel. For that reason we know that we will never be sufficient for it on our own strength. Paul is saying that no man is sufficient for it except those who have been commissioned by God (2 Cor 3:5).
Paul also contrasts the work of the apostles with those who were peddling the gospel as a commodity, those who were not taking it with sincerity, people who were using it for their own purposes, and people whose lives did not carry the weight of gospel ministry (2 Cor 2:17). What does this mean for us today? It reminds us that any true Christian ministry is preaching a pure gospel, a sincere gospel. We should not dull its edges, or beautify it with tricks that we apply on our own. It is also one that is preached with sincere intentions. We should not dare to use it for personal gain because we do not speak it with just humans as our audience, but we speak these things in the sight of God as representatives in Christ. There are many real temptations to do just that, and here Paul is calling on the church to preach the gospel sincerely, by remembering their identity and the weight of the gospel.
If we were to reflect on our own heart and affection for the gospel, what sort of gospel would we see? It seems that there are 2 gospels out there being preached. The first one is that God loves us and has a wondrous plan for us to be happy. Then there is the gospel that says that God stands in righteousness, with wrathful judgment over sinners. At the cross of Jesus Christ there is payment for our sins, and there is life everlasting to be found in his resurrection. We belong to God. He gets all of the glory and we get all of the joy. Not mere happiness, but deep joy as our lives are transformed and lived more and more in conformity to Christ, as we put to death our selfish gain. We find our will subsumed to his. Which gospel do we believe in and preach?
To conclude, we have seen that Christian ministry is painful love which often feels like failure. But we can great joy that Christ has triumphed over us, and our lives are bound to his, and so we preach this gospel with sincerity.