“2 Corinthians 4:1-6”

Saturday, May 26, 2018

“Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

---End of Scripture Verses---

Wow! What a sublime passage of inspired Scripture! Go back and read these verses again and just let them sink in. Let’s read what Eric wrote in his lesson book about this passage:

“Paul’s conclusion to his former argument prefaces chapter 4. He calls together the evangelists of the new covenant as administers of the gospel of righteousness. Being entrusted with the gospel was a gift of mercy for Paul and Timothy – so it remains an expression of God’s mercy for all workers in the kingdom. They could have lost heart because of the false allegations being made against them; they could have given up and made shipwreck of the faith like others had; but they pressed on. As he faced the heretical men at Corinth, he speaks candidly about their true motives – they adulterated the word of God (cf. 2:17). The motives of a God-fearing man were seen in the emptying of oneself to his brothers and sisters through the distribution of God’s most precious gift.

“Paul utilizes diatribe beginning in v. 3 by addressing the response of the false teachers without even needing to hear their arguments. The accusation of a veiled gospel is answered by demonstrating that the veil only appeared when people were unwilling to accept the pure milk of the Word (cf. 3:15f). Satan drew the veil as he and his cohorts disguised themselves (cf. 11:13-15) as apostles of Christ and servants of righteousness. In stark contrast, Paul and those without the veil were given the light of the gospel, which illumined their path to God.”

Let’s stay with these same 6 verses for tomorrow. I would like to add some additional observations as well. Read verses 1-6 again and we will delve a little deeper into the details on Sunday, Lord willing.

Have a super day!

- Louie Taylor

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