A
BLATANT CASE
OF
BOTCHING GRACE
.
THE APOSTLE
PAUL wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:1 and 2, "We then, as workers
together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God
in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the
day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time:
behold, now is the day of salvation.)" The verse right before (5:21) highlights
this grace with the words, "For he [God] hath made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin: that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
Here, in his appeal to the Corinthian Christians, he meshes some Old Testament
Scriptures together to get his point across. Since the fall of man, the
New Testament age is the most acceptable and desirable of times in which
to be alive. The Savior has come, and mercy and grace have been extended
to sinful mankind. Grace is unmerited favor. By it we are forgiven, we
are no longer under condemnation, and by it we enter into a relationship
with God whereby we are cushioned as we grow stronger to get the victory
over sin. In such a setting there is no reason why anyone should not make
a go of it in the Christian life. Everything is in our favor. But in spite
of all of this, the church at Corinth was in a mess. Many of the Corinthians
were, in essence, botching the grace of God. They were not letting it accomplish
what it was intended to accomplish in their lives. They were in danger
of receiving the "grace of God in vain" (although some say today that a
person cannot "fall from grace"). Grace is no license to sin (Romans 6:1,2);
but should be a driving impetus to do that which is right (Titus 2:11-14;
Ephesians 2:8-10).
.
The epistle of 1st Corinthians was written
to address many of these problems in the church at Corinth, and 2nd Corinthians
is a follow-up letter to this. Some of these problems were glaring irregularities
of overt sin in the church, which, if persisted in, would result in the
loss of their salvation. Let us notice some of the more flagrant ones,
and what is said in reference to the practice of such.
.
Sectarianism
.
Finding little for which to compliment the
Corinthians in his salutation, save the grace of God that they had received,
Paul hits head-on a very conspicuous wrong that was in their midst, religious
division and partyism. Different sectarian groups were rallying around
human names, "I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas…" (1 Corinthians
1:10-13). Paul fires several questions at them: "Is Christ divided? was
Paul crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" In chapter
3:4 he says, "For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos;
are ye not carnal?" He goes on in this chapter to speak of preachers as
builders on the foundation of Christ, not men to be looked upon with fleshly
sectarian pride. Then developing this thought further, we are told that
the material (converts) the preachers had built on the foundation would
be tried by fire to see what kind it was ("gold, silver, precious stone,
wood, hay, stubble"). If it turned out that some did not pass the test,
the preacher’s works (errant professing Christians) would be burned, but
the preacher (builder) would be saved in spite of this. Paul goes on to
say, "If any man defile the temple [the church] of God, him shall God destroy;
for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye [plural, speaking collectively]
are" (3:17). This section ends with the warning, "Therefore, let no man
glory in men…" (3:21; Notice Isaiah 42:8; 48:11). All of this was written
in context of dealing with their division and sectarianism. To continue
in such a course would be infringement upon the grace of God. God would
not "put up" with it. (So, what does God think about the denominational
spirit and denominationalism today?)
.
Immorality
.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "It is reported
commonly that there is fornication among you" (1 Corinthians 5). In the
ancient world, Corinth was notorious for its sexual immorality. There was
a saying that not every young man should go to Corinth. Here was the temple
of Aphrodite, overlooking the city from the Acrocorinth, and served by
1,000 temple prostitutes. Highlighting sexual immorality in chapter 6:9,
Paul wrote, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate [submitting homosexual], nor abusers of themselves with
mankind [asserting homosexuals]…" Then he continues, "And such were some
of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (6:11). Paul
speaks of such sins being in the past tense in their lives, since they
now were Christians. But the devil doesn’t give up that easily, and the
flesh is weak if one has been given over to such sins. The report was not
good coming from Corinth. Simple immorality was there, but it was even
exceeded by incest "that one should have his father’s wife" (thought to
be his stepmother), 5:1. Evidently they were coming to church in this unholy
union. But the church was "puffed up," too preoccupied with their fleshly
sectarian rivalry to hardly notice this. Paul instructs them to disfellowship
these people, in an effort to bring them to repentance, so "that the spirit
may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" (5:5). Left like they were,
they would be eternally lost. Grace does not overlook such practices. (And
with the loose morality [immorality] rampant in our society today the church
needs to put its foot down, rather than simply going along with the world
to pad its pews with unrepentant bodies).
.
Other
Problems
.
The church had other problems that were not
quite as pronounced as these that we have just noticed, but they were nonetheless
pointing in the wrong direction. There was the matter of Christians taking
fellow Christians before the courts of the land instead of simply settling
problems among themselves (6:1-8). There were questions involving marriage
dealt with in the 7th chapter. In the 8th chapter questions involving eating
meats that had been offered to idols are answered. Various warnings are
stated and restated in chapter 10. The abuse of the Lord’s supper is dealt
with in chapter 11. Some had abused the Lord’s table to the point that
they may have been eating and drinking damnation to their souls (11:29-32).
Chapters 12 through 14 deal with misunderstandings and abuse of spiritual
gifts. Other things could be pointed out, but this should suffice to make
us realize the grace of God is to be taken seriously. It is not a cheap
grace to be taken lightly. Sin is still sin.
.
A
Call to Repentance
.
Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians was
a call to repentance. God has no delight in a person being lost, and it
is His desire that we get our lives back on track. Hebrews 4:16 admonishes,
"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." John informs us that "the
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Then tells us
how this comes about, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1
John 1:7,9). Like the Lord warned a church in Revelation 2:5, "Remember
therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works;
or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick
[the church] out of his place, except thou repent," the church at Corinth
had this ominous option before them. From reading 2nd Corinthians, it seems
that the church, for the most part, had repented following Paul’s somber
letter. But there were a few who were still holding out on the Lord.
.
Repentance
to Salvation
.
Listen to Paul in 2nd Corinthians as he hopefully
surmised the situation. "For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do
not repent [regret it], though I did repent [regret it]: for I perceive
that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance:
for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage
by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not
to be repented of: [regretted]: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what
carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what
indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal,
yea, what revenge [vindication]. In all things ye have approved yourselves
to be clear in this matter" (2 Corinthians 7:8-11). It even seems that
the ones involved in incest had repented and now were to be received back
into their fellowship (2 Corinthians 2:4-9).
.
Of
Whom Is Paul Speaking?
.
In reference to repentance, it is good to more
carefully examine 2 Corinthians 7:10, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance
to salvation not to be repented of [regretted]: but the sorrow of the world
worketh death." In the context, of whom is Paul speaking when he says this?
He is talking about erring Christians repenting (the Corinthians). Repentance
would be "to salvation" for erring Christians. It is implied that in their
unrepentant circumstance they were not right with God, nor were they in
a state of salvation. Grace didn’t cover them in their persistent practice
of sin. They botched it and were in danger of having received the grace
of God in vain. Only in being really sorry for their sins, and returning
to God in genuine repentance, would it bring about "repentance to salvation."
.
Some
Holdouts
.
Even after his words of jubilation in chapter
7, Paul was aware that there were some still holding out on him. This bothered
him. When he came to Corinth again he planned to have a showdown with these
people. He wrote, "When I come again," that he would personally confront
"many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness
and fornication and lasciviousness [lewdness] which they have committed"
(12:21). In drawing the second epistle to a conclusion, he goes on to say,
"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove [test] your own
selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
ye be reprobates [disqualified]" (13:5). "What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that
are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Romans 6:1,2). (Let us get
down to business for the Lord, too, lest we have received the grace of
God in vain).
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