"For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God." (v.20)
No matter how strong you are, it hurts when someone attacks your ministry. And in Paul’s absence from Corinth, there arose a growing faction of false teachers who had attacked his. They accused him of being a cruel liar, a con man, and even questioned his qualifications as an apostle. So, here in his second letter we see Paul defending his character and ministry.
The heart of Paul’s answer to these accusations is found in out text, “We are not writing any other things to you other than what you read or understand.” In other words, what you see is what you get. There is no hidden agenda. We mean what we say. In Christ our “Yes” is “Yes.”
If we read through the Bible and count, we would find there are over three thousand promises God has made to us. Promises about; health, happiness, peace, prosperity, freedom, finances, family matters, and security. Many of these promises were given in the Old Testament based upon a formula most of us are familiar with: "If" we keep the commands of the Lord -- "then" He will solve our problems, do amazing things, and take complete care of us (see Deuteronomy 11:21-23). The problem is we know that we don't always walk in His ways, and we don't always hold fast to Him. With this kind of reciprocal relationship, (grounded in the law) based on the "ifs,” we can't expect the "thens.”
However, in our passage today Paul tells us God already has done the "if" part through His Son, Jesus, who has given us the Holy Spirit so we can be absolutely certain of His guarantee. Jesus has done all the work. His blood was spilled and His life was given for ours. Therefore, we are now living in the "then" part of God's promises, and they are all Yes in Christ.
The Truth: “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Romans 8:3-4).
No matter how strong you are, it hurts when someone attacks your ministry. And in Paul’s absence from Corinth, there arose a growing faction of false teachers who had attacked his. They accused him of being a cruel liar, a con man, and even questioned his qualifications as an apostle. So, here in his second letter we see Paul defending his character and ministry.
The heart of Paul’s answer to these accusations is found in out text, “We are not writing any other things to you other than what you read or understand.” In other words, what you see is what you get. There is no hidden agenda. We mean what we say. In Christ our “Yes” is “Yes.”
If we read through the Bible and count, we would find there are over three thousand promises God has made to us. Promises about; health, happiness, peace, prosperity, freedom, finances, family matters, and security. Many of these promises were given in the Old Testament based upon a formula most of us are familiar with: "If" we keep the commands of the Lord -- "then" He will solve our problems, do amazing things, and take complete care of us (see Deuteronomy 11:21-23). The problem is we know that we don't always walk in His ways, and we don't always hold fast to Him. With this kind of reciprocal relationship, (grounded in the law) based on the "ifs,” we can't expect the "thens.”
However, in our passage today Paul tells us God already has done the "if" part through His Son, Jesus, who has given us the Holy Spirit so we can be absolutely certain of His guarantee. Jesus has done all the work. His blood was spilled and His life was given for ours. Therefore, we are now living in the "then" part of God's promises, and they are all Yes in Christ.
The Truth: “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Romans 8:3-4).
