Second Corinthians 1:7

The Bible says in Second Corinthians 1:7-9, “And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing, that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.” In this part of the first chapter we are getting into some serious things about the life of Paul and the heart of Paul the Apostle. One thing is for sure: Paul did not waver in his determination to do anything for Christ even in the face of great sufferings.

We know that there were great persecutions against Christians in the Roman Empire of the first century. Paul was not immune from these persecutions, and he says here that he came close to death. He even had a death sentence and he was quite certain that he was going to die. Paul seems to indicate two benefits from being so close to death. One of them he already mentioned: when you suffer you gain a comfort and a consolation from Christ that no one else can experience. Bernard of Clairveau wrote, “The love of Jesus, what it is, none but His loved ones know.” Paul wrote in Philippians 3:10, “That I might know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings.”

The other benefit of facing death for the cause of Christ is what Paul said in Second Corinthians 1:9, “that we should not trust in ourselves.” If you are facing death, you will have the best opportunity of all human circumstances to realize that you cannot trust in yourself. An extremely difficult circumstance is an opportunity to trust in the Lord. Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding.” If you are facing death, there are only two possibilities: you are either going to die in that circumstance or you are going to survive and be delivered from death. If you survive, it is because God caused you to survive because He still has something for you to do on the earth. If you do not survive, then it is time for you to go on and be with the Lord. Remember that you serve the God who “raiseth the dead.” That is why you came to Christ: to have life after death. If this is your time to die or the time for someone that you love, then so be it. With Christ it will be much better on the other side.

Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 1:10, “Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.” Notice that all three tenses are covered: past, present, and future. God delivered in the past from sufferings that came our way. He is delivering us right now from anything that we are facing, and in the future no matter what happens to us He will deliver us from that also. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”

Earlier in this chapter we were told that He will comfort us in any trouble. Now we are told that He will also deliver us from any trouble, even facing death. In other words, while we are going through the trouble, He will be there to go through it with us and to comfort us in ways that only the Lord can. Jesus said, “I will not leave you comfortless.” And He also said, “I will be with you always even to the end of the world.” Yes, if we are going to serve the Master, we will suffer for His sake. But any individual trouble does not last forever. Each trouble has an end to it, and we simply need to endure the trouble until we are delivered from it. Many Christians have caused themselves needless sorrows simply because they did not wait for God’s deliverance.

A couple of the things that God uses to help deliver us are prayer and Christian fellowship and mutual concern. Second Corinthians 1:11 says, “You also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.” God answers prayer. Prayer changes things. Some things only happen because believers prayed about them. Evidently one of those things is deliverance from troubles.

In Second Corinthians 1:12 Paul mentioned several important things that describe the type of person that he was and the type of person that we all should be who are believers in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wrote, “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.” Paul had just been talking about the fact that he had been suffering so greatly even to the point of death. But as this verse shows, he still found things to rejoice about. Maybe he did not rejoice about his circumstances, but he did rejoice knowing that God’s work was being done.

The first thing that Paul rejoiced about was the testimony of his conscience. Your conscience is what you know about yourself compared to your standard of right and wrong. Make sure that you have the best standard of right and wrong so that your conscience will be an account reflection of where you are spiritually. What really counts is what kind of person that you are. If you are serving God, if you are rightly related to God through Christ, and if you are doing everything that you can to be the person that you ought to be, then your conscience will not condemn you. You can rejoice for such a blessing. Not many people have that. Without a clear conscience you cannot live by faith, and without faith you cannot please God or serve Him.

Basically what Paul is saying in Second Corinthians 1:12 is that you must have simplicity and godly sincerity in order to have a good conscience. Simplicity is in contrast to duplicity: in other words a singleness of purpose and heart. There are a lot of Christians in our society who live double lives. They are one way when at the church or when they are around other Christians, but they are another way when at work and around non-believers. “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” You must have a resolve and a determination to follow the Lord and to serve the Lord no matter what. Then when the troubles of life come against you, you will keep serving the Lord.

If you are going to be the person that you need to be in the service of the Lord, then you must be sincere. There must not be anything phony about you. The message about Christ that you bring to the world must come from the genuine feelings of your heart. If you have other motives based upon self-interest or some personal agenda, the world will spot you. You cannot fake sincerity.

Paul said that to have simplicity and godly sincerity, but you must not have fleshly wisdom. The flesh refers to physical human life separated from God. The wisdom of the world is the same as fleshly wisdom. It is the wisdom that man gathers as he studies the world around him without being connected spiritually to God through Christ. This fleshly wisdom is man-centered instead of God-centered. It is a wisdom that is based upon the temporal instead of the eternal. The wisdom of the world is called wisdom, but it is really foolishness. Anything that leads man away from Christ is the ultimate foolishness. The Bible speaks of the wisdom of the world in First Corinthians 3:19-20 where it says, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they are vain.”

Instead of relying upon human intelligence and the wisdom of man, Paul said in Second Corinthians 1:12 that he did what he did “by the grace of God.” If anyone had reason to trust in their intellect, it would have been the Apostle Paul. Of course, if he had done so, he would have lost his spiritual impact on others. The work of God is not done because of the intellect of man. Those who have trusted in the wisdom of man are probably the ones who have created heresies and false doctrines. They think that they know what they know and that they do what they do because of their education and how smart they are. That sounds like fleshly wisdom. No matter what he had learned or studied or come to know, Paul knew that he was totally dependent upon the grace of God through Christ Jesus.

Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 1:13-16, “For we write none other things unto you, than what you read or acknowledge; and I trust you shall acknowledge even to the end; As also you have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as you also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that you might have a second benefit; And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judea.” What is always obvious in the life of the Apostle Paul is how much his life was wrapped in the lives of other Christians. What Paul obviously understood was how important it was to influence others and to help others become Christians and to become better Christians. That is what life is all about. That is one of the things for which we will be judged. How did we influence others for good and for God? How did we teach them, encourage them, pray for them, and be an example to them? That is why Paul said that these believers were his rejoicing. That rejoicing will especially take place “in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Paul knew that when he was rightly related to God that God spoke through him to the benefit of the hearers, and that is why he was hoping to see the believers in Corinth one more time.

Notice the use that Paul makes of the words “yea” and “nay” in the next four verses. The Bible says in Second Corinthians 1:17-20, “When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay? But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”

In order to properly understand this use of the words “yea” and “nay,” it might help to go back to the sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:37 where Jesus said, “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” If you say, “Yes.” You should mean “yes.” If you say “no,” you should mean “no.” We have some similar sayings in our cultures: shoot straight. Do not speak with a forked tongue. Be a man of your word. Paul was emphasizing the fact that he always told the truth to the Corinthians. He came to them bringing them the truth. If you are going to be believed by the people who listen to you, then you must be a person who has a reputation that you tell the truth. If people lose confidence in you from that standpoint, then they will never be swayed by your message. The words of many human beings cannot be trusted, but that must not be the case for the servants of God and of Christ.

If you are going to preach the true message from God, then these verses remind you what that message must contain. Paul said, “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us.” Jesus Christ must be the central theme of what you preach: the name of Jesus Christ, the person of Jesus Christ, the work of Jesus Christ, the teachings of Jesus Christ, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the return of Jesus Christ. If you preach all of these things, but do not preach that Jesus is the Son of God, then your preaching will be in vain. If you read through the Koran, then you will see that it accepts the fact that Jesus came from God, was born of the virgin Mary, died on the cross, and rose from the dead; but it denies that He was the Son of God. Because of that one false teaching, those who accept the Koran remain in spiritual darkness and know not the truth.

The heathen become Christians by hearing about Jesus Christ the Son of God. There is salvation in no other name. Jesus said, “If I be lifted up I will draw all men to myself.” Christians become better Christians by hearing about Jesus Christ. Jesus said to His disciples, “Follow me.” Notice that it is a positive message that they must hear. That is why in these verses Paul spoke of the “promises” of God. The promises are the good things that God has told us. There is plenty of bad news in the world. But the good news, the best news of all, is the news about Jesus Christ the Son of God.

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