To Encourage You

2 Corinthians 7:2-3 “Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.”

Have you ever asked this question: “Who wrote the Bible?”  If you did, what answer did you receive?  Of course, the answer is “men wrote the Bible,” i.e., men such as Paul, who penned the passage above.  But the answer goes beyond that, for we are also told that “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16).  We are likewise told that “No prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).  Indeed, the Bible is called the Word of God, for that is exactly what it is.  That’s an awesome truth, particularly when we read the words of Scripture in that context. 

For example, the words above from the apostle Paul to the church at Corinth were written as he was urging them to turn away from the false teachers who had been influencing them.  He affirms his godly motivation for ministering to them, and he then affirms his love for them in spite of how they had treated him. He tells them he is ready both to die with them and to live with them, which is an interesting word order; death before life – but isn’t that the way it is for every Christian?!  But then, let’s think about the fact that these words were not just coming from Paul and those who ministered with him. They can just as much be viewed as words coming directly from God Himself, for that is what they are.  Because that is the case, when Paul uses the word “we” in his letter, he might as well be referring to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father along with himself, for that’s exactly true about these words.  Just as Paul urged the Corinthian church to “make room in their hearts” for him, how much more does the Lord want us to make room in our hearts for Him?!  And just as Paul had not wronged anyone, corrupted anyone, or taken advantage of anyone, so the Lord has never in any situation at any time wronged, corrupted, or taken advantage of anyone, either.  Isn’t that a wonderful thought?  Isn’t that an incredible truth? Why would we want to ever do anything other than listen to, obey, and honor Him? 

But then think of the statement “I do not say this to condemn you.”  Though Paul may have been justified in condemning people in this church for their behavior toward him, he did not. Rather, he loved them.  He didn’t render mistreatment for mistreatment, but rather blessing. Think about how much more incredible it is that “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17), and “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). 

And then to think that just as the Corinthian church was in Paul’s heart, so every believer is in God’s heart! Listen to these wonderful words from Psalm 139:17-18: “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.”

But perhaps the most wonderful statement of all in the passage above is Paul’s love expressed in his desire to both die together and to live together with this church, for his love for them and identification with them was so deep. Think then of how that’s exactly what Jesus has done for us. He has died for us, and the fact that God has made a way for us to be identified with Jesus in His death means that just as Jesus was raised from death to life, so we will be raised to life as well.  Isn’t it wonderful that “If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him” (2 Timothy 2:11)? And then these wonderful words from Romans 6: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set freefrom sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Such awesome truths we have in these words from Paul, but not just from Paul, but also from the very lips of the God he served and on Whose behalf he spoke.

May God open our eyes to the wondrous things in His Law (Psalm 119:18), for they are there everywhere we look, if we only have eyes to see them.