2 Corinthians 1:12-12:11

Two Points

I like to stay with one theme in a short blog but there are two points from this passage today that I believe need to be mentioned.

The first point is a verse that just floored me some thirty years ago. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22) “He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” At this point I had only been seriously walking with the Lord for a little over five years. This sentence just jumped off of the page at me as I realized the dramatic change that had taken place in my life over the previous five years. Then I realized, “This is the deposit, the guarantee.” 

This was exciting because as much as I had changed it was just a deposit on the magnificent transformation that ultimately awaits. It was also exciting because the same God whose Spirit had produced the change thus far was the God who had promised to finish the task of transforming me into the image of Jesus Christ. This sounds almost blasphemous except for the fact that He said it, not me.

The second point concerns Paul’s instruction to forgive the sinner. This was apparently the same man Paul had instructed them to put out of the fellowship in his first letter. It seems that they did put him out with the result that he came to repent. Now, apparently, there were those unwilling to allow him back into the fellowship. 

We Christians can be such flakes. At first they were willing to overlook gross sin. Then they took action against the sin for the purpose of bringing the sinner to repent. Then after the sinner repents they won’t accept him back. This reminds me of Casey Stengel’s famous quote while managing the hapless 1962 New York Mets, “Can’t anybody here play this game?”

We often find it very difficult to mix opposition to sin with the love of God. We also often find it near impossible to mix clear thought with passion for Christ. But we will. We will all get there. We will all get there because God says we will and He has given us His Spirit as a deposit and guarantee.