2 Corinthians 2:12–17) - Corinthians MacArthur New Test

Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, not ﬁnding Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia. But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

(2:12–17)

The call to the ministry is an invitation to unparalleled blessing and unequalled privilege. But at the same time, it is an invitation to discouragement, diﬃculty, sorrow, pain, and despair. Every pastor, no matter how richly blessed his ministry may be, knows those dark times when he is disheartened and downcast. No less a man of God than Charles Spurgeon wrote,

Fits of depression come over the most of us.

Usually cheerful as we may be, we must at intervals be cast down. The strong are not always vigorous, the wise not always ready, the brave not always courageous, and the joyous not always happy. There may be here and there men of iron, to whom wear and tear work no perceptible detriment, but surely the rust frets even these; and as for ordinary men, the Lord knows, and makes them to know, that they are but dust.

(“The Minister’s Fainting Fits,” in Lectures to My Students, First Series [Reprint; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980], 167)

Some pastors become so disheartened that they leave the ministry, as the following letter reveals:

My dear Jim: I am through. Yesterday I handed in my resignation, to take effect at once, and this morning I began to work for the ________ Land Company. I shall not return to the pastorate. I think I can see into your heart as you read these words and behold not a little disappointment, if not disgust. I don’t blame you at all, I’m somewhat disgusted with myself. Do you recall the days in the seminary when we talked of the future and painted pictures of what we were to do for the kingdom of God? We saw the boundless need for an unselfish Christian service, and longed to be out among men doing our part toward the world’s redemption. I shall never forget that last talk on the night before our graduation. You were to go to the foreign field and I to the First Church, of ________ We had brave dreams of usefulness, and you have realized them. As I look back across twenty-five years I can see some lives that I have helped, and some things which I have

been permitted to do that are worthwhile; but, sitting here tonight, I am more than half convinced that God never intended me to be a minister. If He did, I am not big enough and brave enough to pay the price. Even if it leads you to write me down as a coward, I’m going to tell you why I’ve quit….

In these years I have found not a few earnest, unselﬁsh, consecrated Christians. I do not believe that I am specially morbid or unfair in my estimate.

So far as I know my own heart, I am not bitter. But through all these years a conviction has been growing within me that the average church member cares precious little about the kingdom of God and its advancement, or the welfare of his fellow men.

He is a Christian in order that he may save his soul from hell, and for no other reason. He does as little as he can, lives as indiﬀerently as he dares. If he thought he could gain heaven without even lifting his ﬁnger for others, he would jump at the chance.

Never have I known more than a small minority of any church which I have served to be really interested in and unselﬁshly devoted to God’s work.

It took my whole time to pull and push and urge and persuade the reluctant members of my church to undertake a little something for their fellow men.

They took a covenant to be faithful in attendance upon the services of the church, and not one out of ten ever thought of attending prayer meeting. A large percentage seldom attended church in the morning, and a pitifully small number in the evening. It didn’t seem to mean anything to them that they had dedicated themselves to the service of Christ.

I am tired; tired of being the only one in the church from whom real sacriﬁce is expected; tired of straining and tugging to get Christian people to live

like Christians; tired of planning work for my people and then being compelled to do it myself or see it left undone; tired of dodging my creditors when I would not need to if I had what is due me; tired of the aﬀrighting vision of penniless old age. I am not leaving Christ. I love Him. I shall still try to serve Him.

Judge me leniently, old friend. I can’t bear to lose your friendship.

Yours as of old, William.

(cited in A. T. Robertson, The Glory of the Ministry [New York: Revell, 1911], 24–27)

Like William, the apostle Paul was no stranger to discouragement. But unlike William, Paul persevered in his ministry until the end of his life (2 Tim. 4:7). After listing the physical suﬀering he had endured in his ministry he wrote,

“Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?” (2 Cor. 11:28–29). It was the Corinthian church above all others that caused Paul deep, disheartening disappointment. They had broken his heart by their immaturity, shallowness, sin, indifference, disaffection toward him, and even outright rebellion against his apostolic authority. Paul’s first inspired letter to the Corinthians is a sad litany of sin, selfishness, disorderliness, worldliness, and just about every other kind of spiritual disaster. The Corinthians, dragging into the church their former sinful patterns, tolerated the grossest form of sexual perversion, a man committing incest with his father’s wife (1 Cor. 5:1–8).

They fought each other, and hauled each other into court (1 Cor. 6:1–8). They were confused about marriage and singleness (1 Cor. 7). They abused their freedom in Christ and were arrogant about it (1 Cor. 8:1). Sin and selﬁshness stained their celebration of the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:17–

34). So twisted had their understanding of spiritual gifts become that when someone in their assembly cursed Jesus Christ in an unknown language, they thought it was the work of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3). In addition, some false apostles had recently arrived in Corinth telling lies about Paul and assaulting his character. In order to capture the church with their heresy, they sought to destroy the apostle’s credibility, and then replace him as the authoritative teachers in the Corinthian congregation. It broke Paul’s heart that some of the Corinthians were being deceived by them.

But in spite of all their problems Paul loved the Corinthians deeply and had invested at least eighteen months of his life ministering to them (Acts 18:11). The apostle’s intense love for them gave the Corinthians the potential to hurt him deeply—and they did (2 Cor. 12:15). His last visit to Corinth had been intensely painful (2:1), and Paul’s pain, grief, and discouragement are evident in this passage. Adding to it was the fact that things also were not going well in Ephesus, where he had recently ministered, and from where he wrote 1 Corinthians. His preaching had touched oﬀ a riot that could have cost him his life (Acts 19:23–41). He had also, as noted in chapter 1 of this volume, undergone a severe trial there, so that he was “burdened excessively, beyond [his]

strength, so that [he] despaired even of life; indeed, [he]

had the sentence of death within [himself]” (2 Cor. 1:8–9).

Not surprisingly, in light of all Paul was going through, there is an element of pathos and grief in 2 Corinthians.

The present text may be divided into two sections: Paul’s discouragement over the Corinthians and his encouragement because of Christ.

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^AUL’S

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ISCOURAGEMENT

After leaving Ephesus, Paul came to Troas. Troas was a seaport on the Aegean Sea in western Asia Minor, located in the province of Mysia near the mouth of the Dardanelles. It was about ten miles from the famous city of Troy, for which it was named. Troas was founded in 300 B.C., and Emperor Augustus had granted it the coveted status of a Roman colony.

The serious riot in Ephesus (Acts 19:23–41), sparked by Paul’s fearless preaching of the gospel, may have prompted the apostle’s departure for Troas. But more important, Paul hoped to meet Titus there. Paul had sent him to Corinth to ﬁnd out how the church there had responded to 1 Corinthians and, especially, to the “severe letter” (see 2 Cor. 2:3–4). Anxiously awaiting Titus’s report, Paul feared the worst, and his heart was heavy with concern. The apostle knew that Titus would pass through Troas on his way back to Ephesus from Corinth. Unable to wait any longer, Paul went there hoping to meet him and get his report sooner.

Paul had passed through Troas before, on his second missionary journey (Acts 16:8–11). On that visit, however,

the apostle apparently did not found a church. When Paul visited Troas on his way back from Macedonia and Corinth, there was a church there (Acts 20:6–12). Therefore, it seems likely that he founded the church at Troas on this visit.

While waiting for Titus, Paul, as he did whenever he had the opportunity, preached the gospel of Christ. His mission in going to Troas included evangelization, not merely meeting Titus.

Paul’s statement that a door was opened for him in the Lord further conﬁrms that the apostle preached in Troas while waiting for Titus. How else could he have known that the Lord had opened a door there for him unless he had been given the opportunity to preach and had positive responses? The apostle commonly used that phrase to describe ministry opportunities. In 1 Corinthians 16:8–9, Paul spoke of an open door at Ephesus: “But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; for a wide door for eﬀective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”

Returning to their home church at Antioch after the ﬁrst missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas “began to report all things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27). Paul urged the Colossians to pray “at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ” (Col. 4:3).

The door that was opened at Troas represented a divinely prepared opportunity, the kind Paul longed for and prayed for. But he was so overwrought and burdened by the situation at Corinth that he found it diﬃcult to focus on the opportunity; he had no rest for his spirit. The turmoil and discontent of his heart were debilitating and threatened to close the door that was opened for ministry at Troas. His intense concern for the Corinthian church raised troubling questions in his mind. Would they aﬃrm their love for him?

Or would they follow the false apostles? Would they deal with the speciﬁc issues he had rebuked them for: divisions,

strife, incest, marriage, singleness, divorce, the role of women, idolatry, spiritual pride, the abuse of the Lord’s Supper, misuse of spiritual gifts? Paul’s heart ached because he did not know the answer to those questions, and as a result he had no freedom to minister. Until he heard from Titus, the apostle feared the worst. He was so burdened by the situation at Corinth that he lost interest in the open door of ministry at Troas. Not ﬁnding Titus in Troas, Paul went on to Macedonia. He could wait no longer; he had to ﬁnd Titus to hear about the response of the Corinthians. So he headed for the province of Macedonia, bordering the northwest shore of the Aegean Sea, north of Achaia.

This was a dark hour in the apostle’s life. He loved the Corinthians so much that his heart was torn apart by concern for them, to the point that he was actually depressed (2 Cor. 7:5–6). But Paul did not quit. He was

“aﬄicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing” (4:8). He was discouraged but not defeated, and he still held on to hope for a good report when he met Titus.

Until then he was dealing with serious fears. Relief came when he focused on his Lord.

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NCOURAGEMENT

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

(2:14–17)

Verse 14 marks an abrupt change in Paul’s attitude and he launches into thanks … to God, the reason for which is not readily apparent in the text. It is true that he finally met Titus in Macedonia (7:5–7) and received a generally encouraging report about the situation in Corinth. That report certainly brought Paul some much-needed relief. Yet it was not the key factor in Paul’s joy and encouragement, or he would have mentioned it in this passage. Instead, he delayed mentioning it until chapter 7. And Paul knew there was still a recalcitrant minority in the Corinthian church that was hostile to him. The false apostles were still there, as was the baleful influence of the wretchedly sinful city of Corinth. The apostle was also wise enough to know that, having proved fickle once, the Corinthians could turn on him again. In any case, Paul obviously did not consider all the

problems at Corinth to be resolved, or else he would not subsequently have written the lengthy epistle of 2 Corinthians.

But Paul did not look to his circumstances for comfort, joy, and encouragement, but to the “Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (1:3). The cure for his discouragement was a thankful heart. Paul took his focus oﬀ his diﬃculties and put it onto his God.

The apostle used as a backdrop for verses 14–17 an important event in the Roman world, the Triumph. William Barclay describes it:

In [Paul’s] mind is the picture of a Roman Triumph and of Christ as a universal conqueror. The highest honor which could be given to a victorious Roman general was a Triumph. To attain it he must satisfy certain conditions. He must have been the actual commander-in-chief in the field. The campaign must have been completely finished, the region pacified and the victorious troops brought home. Five thousand of the enemy at least must have fallen in one engagement. A positive extension of territory must have been gained, and not merely a disaster retrieved or an attack repelled. And the victory must have been won over a foreign foe and not in a civil war.

In a Triumph the procession of the victorious general marched through the streets of Rome to the Capitol in the following order. First came the state oﬃcials and the senate. Then came the trumpeters.

Then were carried the spoils taken from the conquered land. For instance, when Titus conquered Jerusalem, the seven-branched candlestick, the golden table of the shew-bread and the golden trumpets were carried through the streets of Rome.

Then came pictures of the conquered land and

models of conquered citadels and ships. There followed the white bull for the sacriﬁce which would be made. Then there walked the captive princes, leaders and generals in chains, shortly to be ﬂung into prison and in all probability almost immediately to be executed. Then came the lictors bearing their rods, followed by the musicians with their lyres;

then the priests swinging their censers with the sweet-smelling incense burning in them. After that came the general himself. He stood in a chariot drawn by four horses. He was clad in a purple tunic embroidered with golden palm leaves, and over it a purple toga marked out with golden stars. In his hand he held an ivory sceptre with the Roman eagle at its top, and over his head a slave held the crown of Jupiter. After him rode his family; and ﬁnally came the army wearing all their decorations and shouting Io triumphe! their cry of triumph. As the procession moved through the streets, all decorated and garlanded, amid the cheering crowds, it made a tremendous day which might happen only once in a lifetime.

That is the picture that is in Paul’s mind. He sees Christ marching in triumph throughout the world, and himself in that conquering train. It is a triumph which, Paul is certain, nothing can stop.

(The Letters to the Corinthians, rev. ed. [Louisville:

Westminster, 1975], 183–84. Italics in original.)

That joyous picture is in sharp contrast with the discouragement Paul expressed in verses 12 and 13. He ﬁguratively went from the pit of despair to the exhilaration of marching in a triumphal parade.

In verses 14–17, Paul lists ﬁve privileges in which he was spiritually triumphant: the privilege of being led by a sovereign God, the privilege of promised victory in Christ,

the privilege of inﬂuence for Christ, the privilege of pleasing God in Christ, and the privilege of power in Christ.

PAUL WAS THANKFUL FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF BEING LED BY A SOVEREIGN GOD

But thanks be to God, who always leads us (2:14a) Recognizing the Lord’s sovereign leading is foundational to a pastor’s (or any believer’s) joy, and it is the undergirding strength of his ministry. Paul’s conﬁdent hope was that God … always leads believers, through every circumstance of life. No matter what trials or persecutions he endured in Corinth, Ephesus, or anywhere else he ministered, Paul rejoiced that God was in control.

The apostle never lost his sense of wonder at the privilege of belonging to the ranks of the sovereign Lord, of marching behind the Commander in Chief in His Triumph. To Timothy he wrote,

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. (1 Tim. 1:12–16)

Contemplating the marvelous privilege of being led by God instead of fretting over his circumstances contributed to turning Paul’s discouragement into joy.

Dalam dokumen Corinthians MacArthur New Test (Halaman 131-151)