Tag Archives: 2 Corinthians 5-8

Daily Bible Study

December 4, 2023 Bible Study — Giving Generously and Ensuring No One Thinks the Funds Were Misused

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Corinthians 5-8.

I thought about covering several things in today’s passage, but then I came to what Paul wrote about giving in order to aid the Lord’s people who are in need.  First, he commends the Macedonian churches for giving as much as they were able, sometimes even going beyond that level.  Not only did they give willingly, but they plead with Paul for the opportunity to give.  Paul then goes on to commend the church in Corinth for being the first not only to give, but the first with a desire to give.  He encourages them to continue giving according to their ability, and makes special note that God does not call us to give beyond our means.  So, while Paul praised the Macedonian churches for giving beyond their means, he discourages others from doing likewise.

Paul then warns the Corinthian Church that Titus is on his way to them on his mission of collecting for the relief of Believers in need (from elsewhere I believe this to be Believers in Jerusalem who were suffering economic hardship).  This warning is not as a threat, but rather so that they will not be embarrassed by being unprepared to give when Titus gets there.  However, I want to point out the more important point Paul makes here.  He tells them that Titus is accompanied by men who were appointed by the churches which had given to the cause.  The men accompanying Titus were chosen so that no one could claim that Paul or Titus misappropriated the funds.  Paul makes it clear that he encouraged this arrangement so as to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 4, 2022 Daily Bible Study — Now Is The Day Of Salvation

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Corinthians 5-8.

Today’s passage begins with Paul continuing where he left off in yesterday’s passage.  Today he discusses how our earthly bodies are designed as temporary homes, tents, but that we will be resurrected into heavenly bodies which will be designed to be permanent, houses, if you will.  In our current bodies we are, to a degree, separated from God.  That separation comes about because of sin, but Christ died on the cross in order for us to be united with God, to be reconciled with Him.  We are separated from God because we did wrong, nevertheless, God took the action to be reconciled with us.  God has offered to make us anew if we are willing to be reconciled to Him.  This letter represents Paul’s attempt to do the same with the Believers in Corinth.  He writes that he regrets that he hurt them by his previous letter, but that he does not regret what he wrote because it lead them to repent from their sins.  Paul writes that he bears them no ill-will about the incident which led him to write that letter and asks that they hold a similar feeling towards him, and towards those involved in that incident.  Paul tells them, and us, that now is the time to be reconciled to God, and to each other.  It is not something we should put off for another day.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 4, 2021 Bible Study — Do Not Partner With Unbelievers

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Corinthians 5-8.

Throughout his letters Paul references how our resurrected bodies will be different from our current bodies.  Here he compares our current bodies to a tent, contrasting that with an eternal house which will serve as our permanent homes after our resurrection.  I think his metaphor here does a wonderful job of making his point.  A tent can certainly be home, and a place where we have great comfort.  But a permanent building, a house, has much greater possibilities for comfort.  In the same way, we have a certain comfort living in our bodies, but we should desire the much greater comfort of living in the bodies which God will give us.  We should seek to live as Paul did, eagerly awaiting leaving our home in this physical body to be at home with Christ.  That means living in this body so as to prepare ourselves to spend time with Him.

In this passage Paul tells us not to be yoked together with unbelievers, a passage which when I was young was interpreted to me as meaning that a Christian should not marry a non-believer.  While the idea that a Christian should not marry a non-believer is correct, I have come to realize that is not what Paul is writing about here.  Rather, Paul is warning us against partnering with unbelievers to accomplish the ministry which God has given us.  One example of what he was writing about comes to my mind.  Many years ago, when I was still a young man, some young women I knew became active in an organization of Christian women who were fighting against pornography.  Some time after they became active in this group and had risen to leadership positions within it, they were approached by a secular feminist group which also was working to oppose pornography for the two organizations to work together.  The two organizations made common cause to combat pornography.  Because the two organizations were composed primarily of women (perhaps entirely, it has been too many years for me to remember one way or the other), their focus became the ways in which pornographers exploited women.  After another period of time the secular feminist group began using the partnership to advocate for abortion.  The Christian women failed to recognize that the secular feminists with whom they had partnered did not care about the immorality of pornography and opposing it was merely one more way of promoting their ideology.  This is but one example of where a group of Christians made common cause with non-believers to work on a goal which served God’s will only to have the cause coopted to for other purposes.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 4, 2020 Bible Study As Long As We Live We Can Serve The Lord, But Death Will Bring Something Better

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Corinthians 5-8

Paul makes a point here that the physical bodies we will have in heaven will be different, and better, than the physical bodies which we have here on earth.  He makes the point that we should not fear death because it will only be after the death of our earthly body that we will be able to live in our heavenly bodies.  In fact, Paul was eager for death so as to leave his earthly body and enter into his heavenly body.  As we live in these earthly bodies we continuously experience death, but once we enter into the heavenly bodies which God will give us we will never experience death again.  However, Paul was content to continue to live because as long as he lived he could serve God.  As long as we live in these earthly bodies we must seek to live not for ourselves, but for Christ.  Let us seek to make every action we take, every word we speak, bring glory to God.

When I began the previous paragraph I had a clear idea of what I wanted to write, and I thought it would be utterly clear.  I sought to make the point that we should not fear death, instead we should eagerly look forward to it.  This does not mean that we should seek out death for death’s sake, but what awaits us on the other side of death is more desirable than anything we have here.  We should not seek out death because as long as we live we can further serve Christ, which will bring us joy.  The great thing about Paul’s message here is that it provides us with the basis to not fear the consequences of serving Christ.

Daily Bible Study

December 4, 2019 Bible Study –Living For Christ As We Wait For Our New Bodies

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Corinthians 5-8

In yesterday’s passage Paul wrote that our heavenly bodies will be different from our earthly bodies in ways which we cannot comprehend, much the same way that a plant differs from the seed from which it grew (and this is about as far as that particular metaphor can be taken on that subject).  In today’s passage he writes about how he longs to be clothed in that new, heavenly body, not because of any desire to be rid of his current body, but because the heavenly body will be with Christ.  We should share Paul’s desire to leave our earthly bodies and enter into our heavenly bodies.  This desire should remove all fear of death from us.  Our desire for our future heavenly bodies should inspire us to serve Christ in all that we do.

We believe (well, I believe, and hope that you do as well) that Christ died for everyone.  This belief means that I must strive to live not for myself, but for Christ.  Living for Christ leads me to strive to be His ambassador to the world, calling on all I meet to come to God and receive His gift of life transforming salvation.  

Daily Bible Study

December 4, 2018 Bible Study — Ambassadors For Christ

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

9Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Corinthians 5-8.

    Ordinarily I do not speculate much on what we will experience after death, but what Paul writes here is important. Especially considering how it follows on his earlier writing about the place o the resurrection of the dead in our faith. Here Paul tells us that we will experience a true resurrection, but not of bodies subject to aging and decay like the ones we live in today. Instead, we will be resurrected into new, perfect bodies. We will spend eternity in a physical world, a world which is not subject to decay and destruction like the world we currently live in.

    One of the things which Paul talks about again and again in his letters is the transformation which we go through when we become believers. The Holy Spirit transforms us into new creatures when we accept God’s gift of salvation. One of the ways in which Paul describes this transformation is by describing us as God’s ambassadors. It is important to understand how an ambassador was viewed when the government was a monarch. The ambassador was the person of the king. Anything said or done to the ambassador was viewed as if it was said or done to the king he represented. If you honored the ambassador, you were honoring the king who had sent him. If you dishonored the ambassador, you dishonored the king who had sent him. As a result, the ambassador was expected to only say and do things which he knew had the approval of the king he represented. Further, an ambassador was expected to act in a way which brought honor, and not dishonor, to the king he represented. We should live, speak, and act so as to bring honor to God and to avoid bringing dishonor to Him.

Daily Bible Study

December 4, 2017 Bible Study — Seeking To Put On Our Eternal Bodies

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Corinthians 5-8.

    At the end of yesterday’s passage, Paul wrote, “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” In today’s passage he continues that thought with a mixture of two metaphors. He compares our earthly bodies to tents which are temporary dwelling places which provide limited shelter from the elements and then compares our resurrection bodies to buildings which are permanent dwelling places which provide much better shelter from the elements. Just as a building is far superior to a tent as a place to call home, so our resurrection bodies will be far superior to our earthly bodies. Paul then transitions to comparing our earthly and resurrection bodies to clothing. He describes how our faith should lead us to desire death and resurrection, not as a desire to die and leave our earthly bodies but as a desire to enter into our resurrection bodies. Our only reason for desiring the death of our earthly bodies is to put on our resurrection bodies. Paul teaches that we should not seek death, yet we should welcome it when it comes, not just for ourselves but also for our fellow believers.

    A little further on Paul writes that a believer should not team up with an unbeliever. I remember when I was growing up this verse was often used to indicate that a believer should not date, let alone marry, an unbeliever. While that is very true, it is not what Paul is talking about here. This is a much more general instruction. I think that everyone needs to think about how this applies to their own lives, but I can think of examples of bands and business partnerships which foundered because believers partnered with unbelievers. As the band or business started to prosper, the believers and the unbelievers discovered that their priorities were in conflict. Paul continues on by describing how we are a temple to the living God. In light of this Paul tells us that we should cleanse ourselves of all impurity, of anything which could make us unfit to house the Spirit of God. By following Paul’s instruction to act out of our fear of God and work toward complete holiness we can go back and evaluate how Paul’s instruction to not team up with unbelievers applies in our lives.

Daily Bible Study

December 4, 2016 Bible Study — What Does It Mean To Be Christ’s Ambassador?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Corinthians 5-8.

    Paul tells us that we are Christ’s ambassadors in this world. An ambassador is someone sent on behalf of a sovereign to deliver that sovereign’s message to those who do not currently accept that sovereign’s rule. I want to bring up two important elements of an ambassador’s role. The first is that the ambassador is obligated by his sovereign to always act and speak in ways which bring honor to that sovereign. The second is that the sovereign will view anything said or done to the ambassador as if it was said or done to himself. So, as ambassador’s of Christ we are obligated to carefully consider ALL of our actions and words to determine if they bring honor and glory to Christ. And, when our actions do this, than anything which anyone says or does to us is directed at Christ, not us, and God will respond to it accordingly.

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    While Paul is explaining what it means to be ambassadors for Christ he writes some great lessons for us. We should act to bring glory to God even if that causes people to think we are crazy. Actually, the way I read it, if our actions are bringing glory to God there will be a large number of people who think we are crazy. However, there are times when we need to explain our actions and show people that we are not crazy. We do not do this for our benefit. Rather we do it for those to whom we are speaking. God has reconciled us to Himself. He has given us the task of showing other people how they can be reconciled to God. In order for them to accept this message they must see that we are not crazy. They must see that our actions which appear crazy are the logical consequence of the new people into whom Christ has transformed us. We no longer live for ourselves. Instead we live for Christ and our lives should reflect both the responsibility this entails and the joy that results from doing so..