Second Corinthians 1:21

The Bible says in Second Corinthians 1:21-22, “Now he which establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God; Who has also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” These verses tell us four wonderful things that God has done for us if we are true believers. God has established us, He has anointed us, He has sealed us, and He has given us the earnest of the Spirit.

It is a very important thing to be established by God. It speaks of a constancy and a foundation that is assured. If you are not established on a strong foundation, then you are in the very dangerous situation of being on sinking sand. Jesus spoke of the importance of having the right foundation for your spiritual life. Jesus said in Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it.”

Concerning this great spiritual foundation that is so important the Bible says in First Corinthians 3:11, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” The foundation is Jesus Christ. You must be connected to Jesus through faith, and then you have the foundation. You have the same foundation that everyone else has who is a true believer. You are established. You cannot be moved. God did it for you in Christ. “Now he which establishes us with you in Christ…is God.”

God has established us, and He has anointed us. The word “anoint” comes from the same word as the word Christ, which means the anointed one. Jesus is the anointed one because He is the holy and divine Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world. Because of Christ we also are anointed in a somewhat different way as the sons of God. Because we are redeemed from our sins through Christ, we are set apart and we are chosen to be His servants in this world.

It is a wonderful thing to be a Christian. He has established us, He has anointed us, and He has sealed us. If you are sealed, it means that you are protected by the Almighty God. Nothing can get to you to corrupt you or to destroy you. If you are sealed by the eternal God, it means that you have been given an assurance and a security that He will always keep you. You should believe in eternal security because of the doctrine of salvation and because of Bible verses like these that remind us in every way possible that He has us in His hands and He will protect now and forever.

We are established, we are anointed, and we are sealed through Christ. These things speak somewhat of our eternal destiny. What about our lives right now? What has God done for us that is a result of His salvation right now in this life? Second Corinthians 1:22 says, “He has given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” The word “earnest” means down payment. All of these good things that God has done for us through Christ are just the start. Giving us the Spirit is the first thing that God has done for us. There will be much more to come. We are the objects of God’s great love that He will shower upon us forever. First Corinthians 2:9 says, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for them that love him.” Romans 8:18 speaks of the same great theme and says, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

But until that day comes, we have the earnest of the Spirit. The same Spirit who drew us to Jesus dwells within us. The Spirit does so many things for us that unbelievers can never experience, and it is just the first taste of heaven. The Spirit teaches us to pray. The Spirit reveals to us more and more the love of God in Christ. The Spirit leads us. The Spirit gives us gifts to use in the service of the Master. The Spirit comforts us. He is the great Comforter. When we walk in the Spirit, the Spirit causes the fruit of the Spirit to be manifest in our lives. These are the fruit of the Spirit according to Galatians 5:22-23; “Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.”

Paul wanted to go to Corinth and teach the believers there about these things. He wrote in Second Corinthians 1:23-24, “Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth. Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith you stand.” Corinth was a church that had some problems: probably not unlike many of the churches today. Paul had to spend some with church discipline, making sure that the believers in Corinth dealt with their problems. In spite of that Paul cared greatly for the believers in Corinth; and he believed deeply in the equality of believers. Even though he was the great Apostle Paul, he was not a dictator. He knew that his role was not to dominate or to control or to rule over them. Paul was a teacher, not a control freak.

He said in these verses that he was a “helper.” Actually Paul used the first person plural and said, “Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy.” It was not just Paul who did not have dominion over them: it was anyone else also. God is our Father, and Jesus is our Master. They have dominion over us, but no one else does.

Paul was not a dictator or a ruler, so what was he? Notice the phrase that he used here. He said that they were “helpers of your joy.” The great Apostle Paul called himself a helper. We should all do the same. We should all ask ourselves the simple question, “What can I do to help?” Paul said that he was a helper of their joy. Paul knew that joy, wonderful joy and happiness were possible for every believer. Jesus wanted His disciples to be cheerful. He said to them on several occasions, “Be of good cheer.” Cheer up. Do not let anything steal your joy. Sin will steal your joy. Sin will leave you with sorrow and regret. You can fix that by confessing your sins. Unbelief will also cause you to lose your joy. You must believe if you are to have victory. “This is the victory that overcomes the world: even our faith.”

Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 2:1-3, “But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness. For if I make you sorry, who is he that makes me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me? And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.” In the past there had been some things about which Paul had to be fairly blunt with the believers in Corinth. He had to talk about some things that were probably difficult for them to face up to. For example, in First Corinthians 5:1 Paul wrote to them, “It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.” It very well could be that such open rebuke caused sorrow among some in Corinth. What Paul is saying here in Second Corinthians is that the Corinthians caused such joy for him that he did not want to bring them sorrow for any reason.

Paul had such a great love for the believers in the city of Corinth. If you wonder how was it that Paul was so effective as a missionary for Christ, then just look into Paul’s heart. He expressed his love for the Corinthians in a very meaningful way in Second Corinthians 2:4. Paul wrote, “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.”

There was a time when Paul had to rebuke some of the believers in Corinth, and the church had to exercise discipline on those that had erred. There is a time to rebuke, and there is a time for repentance; but there is also a time for forgiveness and time to let bygones be bygones. That is what Paul is going to be talking about in the next several verses: the importance that believers learn to forgive one another. Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 2:5-10, “But if any have caused grief, he has not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. So that contrariwise you ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him. For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether you be obedient in all things. To whom you forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgive any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ.”

Paul gives two reasons that a person should be forgiven after there has been a time of rebuke, grieving, and undoubtedly repentance. Paul said that if such a person was not forgiven, then “such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.” Everyone needs forgiveness from time to time because everyone sins. It is a good thing to know that you are forgiven. It is one of the great benefits of Christianity. Christians should be able to forgive others because they were forgiven by Christ. That is why Paul said, “for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ.”

If you have a hard heart or a proud heart, and thus an unforgiving heart, there will be some very negative consequences to that. Christianity is based upon the concept of the forgiveness of sins: not just God forgiving you, but you forgiving others. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:15, “But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” A root of bitterness can come up between people if they do not learn to forgive. It can happen in marriages, and it can happen between Christians. Be careful. Learn to forgive, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices,” as the Bible says in Second Corinthians 2:11.

What Paul was doing in every city that he went to was spreading the good news of the forgiveness that God gives through Jesus Christ. Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 2:12-13, “Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preached Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from there into Macedonia.” There is a very important thing to notice about the preaching of the gospel that Paul did in the city of Troas. The reason that Paul had the opportunity to do so was made very clear. He said, “A door was opened unto me of the Lord.” The Lord is the one who opens a door and no man can shut it, or shuts a door and no man can open it. That is what Jesus said to the church of Philadelphia in Revelation chapter three. Those who have found the open door of God’s opportunity to preach the gospel and who went through it will be thankful forever that they were allowed to work with God in the spread of the gospel. Those who did not go through such an open door because of selfishness or lack of wisdom will find that they have caused themselves many sorrows and many wasted years.

Already in Second Corinthians Paul had said several things about what he had suffered for the sake of the people in Corinth and for the sake of spreading the gospel of Christ. For the Apostle Paul there were battles, there was opposition, and there were trials to overcome. Concerning the difficulties that he encountered, Paul said this in Second Corinthians 2:14, “Now thanks be unto God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ, and make manifest the savour of his knowledge in every place.” Paul was thankful. He always saw the glass as half full instead of half empty. The reason that Paul considered himself to be triumphant in Christ was because the knowledge of Christ was being manifest “in every place.” In other words the Great Commission was being fulfilled and Paul was having a part of it. That was victory.

Everyone likes to be on the winning side. Everyone likes to be triumphant. You can be if you are in Christ. Everyone can know this victory just like Paul did. It is one of the many great promises of the New Testament. “Now thanks be unto God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ.”

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