II Corinthians Chp. 1
Chp. 1 Vs. 1-24
Vs. 1 Paul greets the people. He says that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. And Timothy, is with him.
Vs. 2 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ.
Vs. 3 Blessed be God, The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the God of all comfort.
Vs. 4 He is the One who gives comfort to us all in our times of trouble, so that we may have understanding for others who have troubles. We can give them comfort, because we can lead them to God’s comfort.
Vs. 5 The more suffering we have says Paul the more Christ has worked in us, and given us comfort.
Vs. 6. Paul says If he and those with him have suffered it was to bring comfort and salvation to those in Corinth and other churches. Paul says that he has also suffered trouble just like those believers in Corinth have suffered trouble.
Vs. 7 Paul says He hopes that the believers were stay true and faithful even in suffering and trouble. That God will comfort them, also.
Vs. 8 -10 Paul says He had trouble in Asia—-so much that it was almost more than they could bear. They felt they would die. But we trusted in God, who is able to raise the dead if needed. He did deliver us from death. We trust that He will keep us from death and continue to help us.
Vs. 11 Paul says Your prayers for us helped. We are thankful to you for the “gift of prayer” that you gave us.
Vs. 12 Paul says We know we came preaching to you and others with sincere hearts. We preached in simple words. God gave His grace.
Vs. 13 The things we write to you are the things that we know happened. What we teach is the truth as we understand God’s truth.
Vs. 14 You have said to us the we have brought you joy because of our preaching. You all bring joy to us.
Vs. 15-24 Paul had wanted to come to Corinth the second time. But he did not go.
Some felt that he made promises but did not keep them. Paul says that is not true.
He was planning to come to them. But the real reason he did not come them was because he would have scolded and rebuked them for some of the things they were doing. Vs.23
Paul did not want the visit to be about his scolding them for the wrong things. He wanted to encourage them and work with them to help them learn to follow Jesus better. He wanted his coming to be one of joy, and not one of a “scolding parent”.
Vs. 24 Paul says (King James Version) “We did not want to have dominion over your faith.”
In other words, Paul was not going to try to tell them exactly what to do in order to live out their faith and walk in obedience to God. He wanted them to be led by the Spirit and let the Holy Spirit teach them what they should do and how to do it.
(This is my advice: Be careful about belonging to certain groups where the leader or group of leaders have many rules to follow. They require you to do certain things or not do certain things and the list is long. You feel like you must answer to the leaders for everything you do. And if you do not do as they say, you will be out of fellowship or your salvation is in danger.
Paul is saying this is not what he wanted to happen. He did not think he should “dominate” them in their Christian walk.
First, our salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone and believing in that He died for our sins and He alone can forgive us of our sin. And in believing that when we ask for forgiveness He will forgive us.
Salvation has nothing to do with going to church of any kind. It is your faith relationship to God through Jesus.
Those who have had their sins forgiven and are true to walking with God will go to heaven even if they never were part of a church group.
Secondly, Paul was right to think that it is not the preachers job to “police” the believers. The Holy Spirit is the One who teaches us, shows us our sin, and keeps pulling us toward God.
There may be general rules of holy living if one is to be a voting member or to partake of certain ceremonies in the church. But that is not the same as “controlling “ various doings of the people.
In the end, God is the judge of your life. It is between you and God. If you read God’s Word you will know what He wants you to do.)