The Second Epistle to the Church at Corinth

Chapter 12:14-21

14 Behold, the third time I am ready to come unto you, and yet will I not be slothful to your hindrance: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the fathers, but the fathers for the children.
15 And I will most gladly bestow, and will be bestowed for your souls: though the more I love you, the less I am loved.
16 But be it that I charged you not: yet for as much as I was crafty, I took you with guile.
17 Did I pill you by any of them whom I sent unto you?
18 I have desired Titus, and with him I have sent a brother: did Titus pill you of any things? walked we not in the selfsame spirit? walked we not in the same steps?
19 Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ. But we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.
20 For I fear lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I would: and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: and lest there be strife, envying, wrath, contentions, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, and discord.
21 I fear lest when I come again, my God abase me among you, and I shall bewail many of them which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness, and fornication, and wantonness which they have committed. (a)

Editor’s thought - Re: vs 21 - herein Paul admonishes the church at Corinth for committing acts of unrighteousness, (for which this epistle was written), and have not yet repented of their actions. His warning is this time is written, and is an advance notice so to speak that if they have not  yet done so by the time he arrives, the will openly condemn them in person.

The Second Epistle to the Church at Corinth

Chapter 12:11-13

11 I was a fool to boast myself: ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing was I inferior unto the very chief Apostles, though I be nothing.
12 The signs of an Apostle were wrought among you with all patience, with signs, and wonders and great works.
13 For what is it, wherein ye were inferiors unto other Churches, except that I have not been slothful to your hindrance? forgive me this wrong.

The Second Epistle to the Church at Corinth

Chapter 12:7-10

7 And lest I should be exalted out of measure through the abundance of revelations, there was given unto me a prick in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, because I should not be exalted out of measure.
8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect through weakness. Very gladly therefore will I rejoice rather in mine infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (a)
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in anguish for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

(a) Editor’s thought - Re: vs 9 - Key is power See Psalm 62:11-12

The Second Epistle to the Church at Corinth

Chapter 12:1-6

1 It is not expedient for me no doubt to rejoice: for I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
2 I know a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether he were in the body, I cannot tell, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth) which was taken up into the third heaven.
3 And I know such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth.)
4 How that he was taken up into Paradise, and heard words which cannot be spoken, which are not possible for man to utter.
5 Of such a man will I rejoice: of myself will I not rejoice, except it be of mine infirmities.
6 For though I would rejoice, I should not be a fool, for I will say the truth: but I refrain, lest any man should think of me above that he seeth in me, or that he heareth of me.

The Second Epistle to the Church at Corinth

Chapter 11:22-33

22 They are Hebrews, so am I: they are Israelites, so am I: they are the seed of Abraham, so am I.
23 They are the ministers of Christ (I speak as a fool) I am more: in labors more abundant: in stripes above measure: in prison more plenteously: in death oft.
24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
25 I was thrice beaten with rods: I was once stoned: I suffered thrice shipwreck: night and day have I been in the deep sea.
26 In journeying I was often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own nation, in perils among the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren,
27 In weariness and painfulness, in watching often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and in nakedness.
28 Beside the things which are outward, I am cumbered daily, and have the care of all the Churches.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?
30 If I must needs rejoice, I will rejoice of mine infirmities.
31 The God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.
32 In Damascus the governor of the people under King Aretas, laid watch in the city of the Damascenes, and would have caught me.
33 But at a window was I let down in a basket through the wall, and escaped his hands

The Second Epistle to the Church at Corinth

Chapter 11:16-21

16 I say again, Let no man think that I am foolish, or else take me even as a fool, that I also may boast myself a little.
17 That I speak, I speak it not after the Lord: but as it were foolishly, in this my great boasting.
18 Seeing that many rejoice after [the] flesh, I will rejoice also.
19 For ye suffer fools gladly, because that ye are wise.
20 For ye suffer, even if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take your goods, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.
21 I speak as concerning the reproach: as though that we had been weak: but wherein any man is bold (I speak foolishly) I am bold also.

Today’s Reading

The Second Epistle to the Church at Corinth

Chapter 11:5-15

5 Verily I suppose that I was not inferior to the very chief Apostles.
6 And though I be rude in speaking, yet I am not so in knowledge, but among you we have been made manifest to the uttermost, in all things.
7 Have I committed an offence, because I abased myself, that ye might be exalted, and because I preached to you the Gospel of God freely? (a)
8 I robbed other Churches, and took wages of them to do you service.
9 And when I was present with you, and had need, I was not slothful to the hindrance of any man: for that which was lacking unto me, the brethren which came from Macedonia, supplied, and in all things I kept, and will keep myself, that I should not be grievous unto you.
10 The truth of Christ is in me, that this rejoicing shall not be shut up against me in the regions of Achaia.
11 Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.
12 But what I do, that will I do, that I may cut away occasion from them which desire occasion, that they might be found like unto us in that wherein they rejoice.
13 For such false apostles are deceitful workers, and transform themselves into the Apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel: for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing, though his ministers transform themselves, as though they were the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.

(a) Editor’s thought - Re: vs 7 & 13 - Herein is where I find some of the TV evangelists, and those of the mega-churches, run into trouble. Do they have a love for God; Yes. But somewhere along the way they become as the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and Scribes, in the time of Christ. They take joy in the praise of men, and forget that it is only, as mentioned yesterday, that they should only glory in God, and in the spreading of the Gospel. He is the final arbitrator of their wages.