II Corinthians 2:14

II Corinthians 2:4

“That Ye Might Know the Love”

2 Corinthians 2:4 says, “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.” God is love. God wants everyone to know the love, the eternal love of Jesus Christ which increases as it has increased from everlasting to everlasting. The affliction and the Branch; the affliction of the Branch. Oh the incense and the sweet savour of the myrrh and the bitterness of the wormwood of the myrtle tree upon which Christ suffered and died for the sins of the world, for your sins; should reveal to you how much Christ loves you.

In second Corinthians chapter 2 Paul was writing to Christians who were both persecuted and who had fallen into sexual sins. The important truth to notice is that Paul gave the Words of God to them with a love in the Spirit. But these Words of God, these words of wisdom and knowledge and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ to Christians where given, “out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears.” When a Bible, a book of the Bible, a page from the Bible, a verse from the Bible is brought to a country like China, or the middle east, or Africa, or even to someone rotting on welfare in America; or when a verse by verse sermon of law and grace in Christ is given unto a Christian by the Spirit of God you know it is come out of much affliction and anguish of heart with many tears. Lamentations chapter 5:9 says, “We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.”

The apostle Paul wanted the Corinthians to know how much he had suffered to provide for them the words of God. But He told them so that it would be a help to their joy and not to cause them to sorrow for him. This is the reason that Paul wrote in the end of chapter 2:14-15, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish.”

Whenever a Christian has the opportunity and benefit of grace to hear the Word of God and learn the Word of God it is good to know how much anguish and suffering those who are bringing the word to them, have endured so that they will appreciate and listen to Word of God and keep it in their hearts and strengthen in their faith in Christ. Proverbs 17:8 says, “A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.”

Whenever you hear of the sufferings of other Christians and their sacrifices so that you might grow in the word of God it should not be a burden to you but it should be an encouragement to your walk and to your daily cross that bear for Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:4 says, “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.”

This verse even teaches a way to try the spirits whether they are false teachers or truly a gospel preacher. When you hear of the sufferings of other Christians and how they suffer for the gospel it should not become a burden to you that causes you sorrow but a burden that causes you joy; the joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Joy comes from love and the Words of God will always cause you to increase in your love for Christ if you are a Christian and your love for other Christians: a love in the Spirit not in the flesh. “The love which I have more abundantly unto you.”

2 Corinthians 2:4-5 says, “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I more abundantly have toward you. But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.”

Sin causes grief. When you sin even when you commit sexual sins you are not just causing yourself suffering but you are causing others suffering especially those that love you in the Spirit. To overcharge means to overburden or to place upon someone a weight they cannot bear. I Thessalonians 2:9 says, “For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto you, we preached unto you gospel of God.” The Burden is for the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you have this burden then you will never overcharge others.

When a person falls into sin they fall more into their own selfish nature. This can damage a Christian’s love in the Spirit for others. One of the ways to restore this love in the Spirit is to consider not your own grief but the grief you have caused others from your sexual sins.

2 Corinthians 2:5, “But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.” Paul grieved because of another’s sexual sin but his grief was only in part because Paul did not commit the sin another did. This as well should be a lesson for those to consider who go out and sin sexual to hurt others or to get revenge on them. Committing sexual immorality to make others jealous or to usurp power over others only results in your suffering. You will always cause yourself more suffering than others when you sin sexually.

2 Corinthians 2:6 say, “Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.” The punishment is the sorrow and the grief of sin and separation from other believers because a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Matthew 13:21 says, “Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the Word, by and by he is offended.” In regards to the sowing of the seed of the Word of God and the building up of the faith of other believers we should keep in mind that in the by and by, that is to say in the immediate, most people will not grow in the faith. Therefore when it comes to sexual sin we do not want to overcharge those who have repented of their sins.

2 Corinthians 2:7 says, “so that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.” Forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ is the most important possession to have. It means eternal life, and for a Christian who needs forgiveness it means restoration of fellowship in the Spirit.

Because of the sorrow cause from the grief of sexual sufferings forgiveness and comfort are needed. “Lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.” Be it sin, or sodomy, rape or willing immorality a person can easily be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow from such suffering of the soul.

That ye might know the love which Christ abundantly has toward lost sinners and especially towards those that submit unto the love of Christ we preach this gospel. The gospel is the gospel of mercy and judgment through the Cross of Jesus Christ and through the judgment of the white throne of one who girds His sword upon His thigh. Turn to Jesus for Salvation. “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.”

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