- 2 Corinthians
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7
1 Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.*“Perfecting holiness in the fear of God”—how long since you heard, or preached, a sermon on that?
Titus, and the first letter
Introduction
2 Make room for us; we have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you are in our hearts, whether to die together or to live together. 4 I have great confidence in you; I do a lot of boasting about you. I am filled with encouragement, overflowing with joy in spite of all our affliction.
Enter Titus
5 Now indeed, when we came into Macedonia we had no physical rest, but were surrounded by affliction—conflicts on the outside, fears on the inside. 6 But the God who encourages the lowly encouraged us by the coming of Titus; 7 and not only by his coming, but also by how much he was encouraged over you as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal in my stead, so that I rejoiced even more.
The effect of the first letter
8 Even though that letter caused you sorrow, I do not regret it (though I almost did), because I perceive that the letter made you sorry, though only for a while. 9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry as God intended, so as not to be harmed by us in any way.†The implication is that it is possible for those in spiritual authority to cause harm, through the misuse of that authority. I imagine that we have all seen this sort of thing happen in fact. 10 Now godly sorrow produces repentance into salvation without regret, but the world's sorrow produces death.‡The Creator made us with emotions, which when properly used are beneficial, but that under the world's control are destructive.
11 Just consider your own being caused to sorrow in a godly manner, how much diligence it produced in you—what self-defense, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have demonstrated yourselves to be clear in the matter. 12 So even though I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the wrongdoer, nor for that of the victim, but, before God, so that your real commitment to us might be made clear to you.§God's agenda in dealing with us often includes several objectives. 13 We have been encouraged by all this.
Titus again
Because of your*Instead of “your”, perhaps 3% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘our’, to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc. encouragement, we rejoiced all the more over the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. 14 Because wherein I boasted to him about you, I was not put to shame, but just as everything we spoke to you was true, so also our boasting to Titus proved to be true. 15 Also, his affection for you is all the greater, as he remembers your collective obedience as you received him with fear and trembling. 16 I am so glad that I have complete confidence in you.†Paul knew how to ‘accentuate the positive’, as we used to say.

- 2 Corinthians
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- 7
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*7:1 “Perfecting holiness in the fear of God”—how long since you heard, or preached, a sermon on that?

†7:9 The implication is that it is possible for those in spiritual authority to cause harm, through the misuse of that authority. I imagine that we have all seen this sort of thing happen in fact.

‡7:10 The Creator made us with emotions, which when properly used are beneficial, but that under the world's control are destructive.

§7:12 God's agenda in dealing with us often includes several objectives.

*7:13 Instead of “your”, perhaps 3% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘our’, to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.

†7:16 Paul knew how to ‘accentuate the positive’, as we used to say.

© 2016 Wilbur N. Pickering, ThM, PhD