Reflections on 2 Corinthians 7

2 Corinthians 07 (Contemporary English Version)


1. My friends, God has made us these promises. So we should stay away from everything that keeps our bodies and spirits from being clean. We should honor God and try to be completely like him.
2. Make a place for us in your hearts! We haven't mistreated or hurt anyone. We haven't cheated anyone.
3. I am not saying this to be hard on you. But, as I have said before, you will always be in our thoughts, whether we live or die.
4. I trust you completely. I am always proud of you, and I am greatly encouraged. In all my trouble I am still very happy.
5. After we came to Macedonia, we didn't have any chance to rest. We were faced with all kinds of problems. We were troubled by enemies and troubled by fears.
6. But God cheers up people in need, and that is what he did when he sent Titus to us.
7. Of course, we were glad to see Titus, but what really made us glad is the way you cheered him up. He told how sorry you were and how concerned you were about me. And this made me even happier.
8. I don't feel bad anymore, even though my letter hurt your feelings. I did feel bad at first, but I don't now. I know that the letter hurt you for a while.
9. Now I am happy, but not because I hurt your feelings. It is because God used your hurt feelings to make you turn back to him, and none of you were harmed by us.
10. When God makes you feel sorry enough to turn to him and be saved, you don't have anything to feel bad about. But when this world makes you feel sorry, it can cause your death.
11. Just look what God has done by making you feel sorry! You sincerely want to prove that you are innocent. You are angry. You are shocked. You are eager to see that justice is done. You have proved that you were completely right in this matter.
12. When I wrote you, it wasn't to accuse the one who was wrong or to take up for the one who was hurt. I wrote, so that God would show you how much you do care for us.
13. And we were greatly encouraged. Although we were encouraged, we felt even better when we saw how happy Titus was, because you had shown that he had nothing to worry about.
14. We had told him how much we thought of you, and you did not disappoint us. Just as we have always told you the truth, so everything we told him about you has also proved to be true.
15. Titus loves all of you very much, especially when he remembers how you obeyed him and how you trembled with fear when you welcomed him.
16. It makes me really glad to know that I can depend on you.
    
    

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    Paul, in chapter 7, appeals to the Corinthians to "Take us into your hearts." (7:2) Though Paul has to this point defended the gospel he had preached to them and cautioned them, as he did in chapter 6, against being "mismatched with unbelievers" (6:14) or bringing idols into their relationship with Christ, they were not actually doing these things but were being tempted with it by the false teachers in their midst. The real issue was that these false teachers were denouncing Paul and his message as a means of convincing them to accept them and their message. Paul's response to this in chapter 7 is to appeal to their personal affection for him. "Take us into your hearts." he says, "We have wronged no one, corrupted no one, defrauded no one." (7:2) And in turn, he assures them of his affection toward them: "for I have already said that you are in our hearts. . . I have great confidence in you; I have great pride in you." (7:3, 4) If they will keep Paul in their hearts they will also keep his message in their hearts and turn away the false teachers.
    
    We see in verse 5 and following that an earlier letter from Paul to the Corinthians, now lost, strongly addressed their issues of Christian conduct, grieving both the Corinthians and Paul. But now Paul rejoiced because of his report from Titus that this strong letter had brought repentance among the Corinthians. Though Paul had been grieved because of the letter, he did not regret it because of the repentance it had brought. We may conclude, then, that the present letter is not so much about their conduct, concerning which they had already repented, but about the threat that they will be drawn away from the gospel Paul had preached to them. This was a very real threat, for it seems the charges against Paul by the false teachers had planted seeds of doubt in the minds of the Corinthians. "Paul is not really an apostle, now is he?" We can hear them saying. "After all, where are his letters of recommendation?" Without Paul there to defend himself the Corinthians didn't know what to think. And no doubt these false teachers had with them their own letters giving some sort of recommendation. Should the Corinthians reject Paul's authenticity as an apostle, the new covenant he preached would be rejected along with him.
    
    But Paul expresses his confidence, later in the chapter, that this will not happen: "I rejoice that I have complete confidence in you." (7:16) He has turned from a logical appeal to a personal appeal which, in the end, will carry more weight than logic.