2 Corinthians 7:1-16

God shows his Power when we are Weak

2 Corinthians

Philip Smith

Chapter 7

v2 Be sincere with us. We have not done wrong things to anyone. We have not made anyone behave wrongly. We have not cheated anyone. v3 I am not saying this to *condemn you. I have said before that you are special to us. We are ready to live or die with you. v4 I am very sure about you. I am so proud of you. You comfort me. In all our troubles, my joy gets greater and greater.

Paul now continues what he was saying in 2 Corinthians 6:13. He again asks them to be sincere. The *Gentiles thought that his message against *idols was too strict. The *Jews thought that he was not strict enough! He says that he had not done wrong things to them in any way. He had not taken their money to use it himself. He was not *condemning them. Other people said that he had faults. He loved them so much that he was willing to live or die with them. He considered that he could trust them. He was actually very proud of them. They comforted him and they made him joyful although he had many troubles.

v5 When we came to Macedonia, we could not relax. We had trouble wherever we went. People attacked us and we were afraid. v6 But God, who comforts sad people, comforted us by the arrival of Titus. v7 It was not only his arrival that comforted us. It was also the fact that you had encouraged him. He told us how much you want to see me. He told us how sorry you are. He also said how worried you are about me. As a result, my joy is greater than ever.

In 2 Corinthians 2:13, Paul said how very anxious he had been. Titus had not arrived in Troas. As a result, Paul sailed to Macedonia. There he waited for Titus to come. During this time, Paul suffered greatly. Perhaps he was unable to sleep. He had trouble from those who opposed him. Perhaps he worried about Titus’s safety. However, God brought him comfort when Titus arrived. Titus brought good news. The Christians at Corinth were sorry about the wrong things that they had done. They were sorry about what they had said. They were worried about Paul. This news gave Paul great joy.

v8 Even if my letter made you sad, I am not sorry about it. I was sorry at first. I saw that my letter had hurt you. It only upset you for a short time. v9 Now I am happy. This is not because I made you sad. It is because your *sorrow led you to change your ways. You were sorry in the way that God wanted you to be. Therefore, we did not hurt you. v10 When God makes people sad, they have a change of attitude. That leads to *salvation and nobody is ever sorry about that. When the world makes people sad, the result is death. v11 Because God made you sad, you now have the right attitudes. You became serious. You wanted to defend yourselves. So you became angry and afraid. You felt a strong desire to take action. You became so eager to punish the person who did wrong things. You have shown that you are without fault in the whole matter. v12 I did not write to you because of the man who did wrong things. Nor did I write because of the man who suffered as a result. I wanted you to see in front of God how much you care for us.

Paul now explains the real reason for his worries at *Troas and *Macedonia. It was about the severe letter that he had written to them. He wondered how it would affect them. He was sorry that he had to write it. It had hurt them, although that was only for a short time. However, it had an encouraging result. They were really sorry and they changed their ways. They wanted to be free from their *sin. They wanted to do what God wanted. This was different from other people’s attitudes. Many people only feel sorry because of the trouble that their *sin causes. They do not hate *sin. They only hate the problems that come as a result. Compare the stories of Peter and Judas at the death of Jesus.

• Peter said that he did not know Jesus. Afterwards, he was very sorry and he wept.

• Judas was only sorry about the results of his evil deed. He was not sorry that he had given Jesus to his enemies. In Judas’s case, the fact that he was sorry caused his death.

Paul then makes a list of the ways that the Christians at Corinth had changed. They wanted to show how much they supported Paul. They punished the man who had done wrong things. Paul did not write the letter because of the man who had done wrong things. He did not write it because of the man who suffered as a result. He wrote it so that the Christians at Corinth could understand their true thoughts. They had a helpful attitude to Paul as Christ’s *apostle. Therefore, they accepted his good news. They did not accept the message of those who opposed him.

v13 That is why we have comfort. In addition to our comfort, we had great pleasure. We saw how happy Titus was. You had encouraged him. v14 I told him that I was proud of you. You have not disappointed me. We have always spoken the truth to you. And now you have proved that our proud words about you to Titus were also true. v15 His love for you grows even greater. He remembers how *obedient you were. He remembers how you greeted him with fear and *uncertainty. v16 I am glad because I have complete confidence in you.

Paul was very pleased that Titus was so happy. This was because of the way in which the Christians at Corinth had greeted him. He had told Titus how proud he was of the Christians at Corinth. They had proved that his words were true. The Christians at Corinth did their very best to please Titus. Paul writes like a father who is proud of his children. Notice that Paul now feels a great relief. This was after he was so anxious in Chapter 2.

condemn ~ to say that someone is guilty.
Gentiles ~ a name for all groups of people that are not Jewish.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything that belongs to a Jew.
Jews ~ people of the Hebrew people or religion.
Hebrew ~ a member of a group of families originally from Israel; or, the language of the Hebrew people.
idols ~ stone or wooden images of false gods.
Jews ~ people of the Hebrew people or religion.
Hebrew ~ a member of a group of families originally from Israel; or, the language of the Hebrew people.
sorrow ~ when a person feels sad, they have sorrow.
salvation ~ when God frees a person’s spirit from sin.
sin ~ an evil deed; or what is in us that causes us to do sins; to sin means to do evil deeds.
Troas ~ the main port for travellers from Asia to Macedonia, near the old city called Troy.
Asia ~ the area of Asia Minor similar to modern Turkey.
Macedonia ~ the northern part of modern Greece.
Macedonia ~ the northern part of modern Greece.
sin ~ an evil deed; or what is in us that causes us to do sins; to sin means to do evil deeds.
apostle ~ a person whom someone sends to do a special task. In the New Testament, an apostle was someone who had met the risen Jesus.

New Testament ~ the second part of the Bible with 27 books about the life of Jesus and the Christian message.

risen Jesus ~ Jesus, after he died and became alive again.

'obedience, obedient ~ when you obey.
uncertainty ~ a feeling of worry when someone is not sure about something.