Today’s passage: 2 Corinthians 12:11-21
Helpful thoughts:
- Paul concludes this difficult section of 2 Corinthians with a clear warning. The way some in the Corinthian church are acting is the way of the world. The way they are speaking to one another and about one another looks like a list of actions associated with the lost.
- Paul’s sadness if he should find the church to be living this way would not be for his own rejection, but because it would mean they were still lost and dead in their sins.
- If the last several paragraphs of scripture have made you feel a little gross, like Paul was acting inappropriately, that’s a good thing! That’s his point. It appears he has been imitating the methods of those arguing in the church, holding up a mirror so they could see themselves.
Questions to consider:
- How should we speak to each other in the church? How should we approach each other to resolve conflicts? What does it look like to speak the truth in love, not be so easily offended or fearful, etc.?
- When a church gets busy speaking selfishly and treating one another poorly, what aren’t they doing? How long will a church remain alive if it only looks inward and quarrels?
- What would have been the right response of those in the church Paul was addressing after hearing this letter being read? What would be their temptation? When we refuse to repent after honest rebuke, what is it we want more in those moments than to please the Lord, to pursue righteousness, and the health of the church?