The Letter (i) | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: The Letter (i) | Previous Challenge Entry
By Stanley McMahon
02/24/16
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Second Corinthians should probably have been called Fourth Corinthians, for internal evidence would suggest that another two interim letters had been part of Paul’s correspondence with the church in Corinth. It was a church he knew well, in an area he knew well.

Paul’s was a westward vision. By choosing Antioch as his base, he decentralised Jerusalem. If his beloved Gospel was going to be taken to the ends of the earth, then it must break free of its formative shackles, into the freedom of the world-conquering Roman Empire.

The Empire had three main cities with Rome as its most northerly and European base, Alexandria as the African point and Antioch as the Middle-Eastern hub. They knew, like other conquerors before them, that to colonise properly you need to affect the culture. How better to do that than despise the cultural centre of Athens and replace it was Corinth as your Greek capital? Undermine everything.

That was exactly what had happened back in the Garden of Eden when the serpent persuaded Eve to undermine the word of God and cast a shadow on the character of God. It was happening again in Corinth with the super-apostles undermining the authority of Paul, his ministry and his Gospel.

This was a church that Paul had planted. It was under his skin and nestled deep in his soul. He cared for these light-bearers living in a dark place. His vision was to establish the Kingdom of Christ in the Empire of Rome, and out to the uttermost parts of the earth. But like any other church-planter, Paul faced heartache and joy in sometimes equal, sometimes disparate measures. It wasn't just about the believers, there was opposition from other quarters.

In his exasperation, Paul defended himself even though he didn’t want to. The Gospel can stand on its own two feet, but his enemies had made things difficult for him. He spoke about his sufferings for the Gospel, his love for the church at Corinth, and at one point, he uses language to convey things that are difficult to put into words. In spite of being uncomfortable sharing this experience, he tells his readers of his own ecstatic spiritual experiences. These egoistic super-apostles are no match for the humble, genuine apostle.

It’s not really the sort of letter you would find around today. Granted of course, it is Scripture, but today you are more likely to find less depth, less passion for the Gospel and for the readers in a letter from a Christian leader.

This is the generation of the x-factor, the superstar speakers who are praised for the oratory skills, their keen sense of fashion and their success. It might have been hard to point out Paul in a crowd. Unlike his infamous predecessor, the first king of Israel, he certainly wasn’t head and shoulders above everybody else. But in writing Second Corinthians he was almost painting a self-effacing self-portrait. Here is a man who loves deeply, walks closely, listens carefully, writes passionately and gives selflessly.

Lord, make me a man like that; a man who is more conscious of the Holy Spirit than self-conscious or crowd-conscious. Make me a living letter that exudes the aroma of Christ and, as someone has recently said, that I may live a life that can only be explained by the Gospel.

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