2 Corinthians 1:1-2 ~ 20171008 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

10/08 2 Corinthians 1:1-2; Authority and Identity; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20171008_2cor1_1-2.mp3

Paul makes his words count. Every word is significant. I want to invite you to read with me, to meditate with me on the words of holy scripture.

2 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul begins even in the greeting to address some of the issues he will take up in more detail in the remainder of his letter.

Paul, Apostle

2 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, an apostle [1 Παῦλος ἀπόστολος]

As we will see later in this letter, Paul's role as apostle was under attack in Corinth. Here in the introduction he simply states the facts as they stand. In other letters he refers to himself as a bond-servant or slave of Jesus Christ; here an apostle. The first word is 'Paul'; the second 'apostle.' Apostle means sent; one sent out as a witness and representative carrying the authority of the one who sent him.

The office of Apostle was one who bore witness to Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. When the 11 apostles in Acts 1 decided to select someone to fill Judas' place, they gave these criteria for who was qualified:

Acts 1:21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”

So an Apostle, one of the 12, had to be an eye witness of Jesus' ministry, from his baptism through his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Paul was not one of these original 12, but he was uniquely appointed by the Lord Jesus as:

Acts 9:15 ...a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

Paul was personally sent by Jesus himself. In 1 Corinthians 15, in defense of the physical resurrection of Jesus, Paul lists the eyewitnesses; Peter, the 12, a group of 500, James, all the apostles, and then he says:

1 Corinthians 15:8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Paul did not consider himself worthy to be called an apostle. He was not worthy. (None of them were!) But he was called to serve as an apostle by God's grace. God is a God who gives good gifts to those who do not deserve them. God's grace made him what he was.

Of Christ Jesus

2 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus [ἀπόστολος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ]

Paul was an apostle of Christ Jesus; the Messiah Jesus. Christ is the Old Testament title of the anointed one, the promised, long awaited, hoped for King. In Corinth in Acts 18:

Acts 18:5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.

The fulfillment of the whole Old Testament, the long awaited Messiah was Jesus.

By The Will of God

2 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, [διὰ θελήματος θεοῦ]

Paul was apostle of Christ Jesus through or on account of the will of God. Paul traces his apostleship back to God's will, not his own. He was no self-appointed apostle; actually it was against his own will; he was, in his own words 'a persecutor and an insolent opponent' (1Tim.1:13) of the followers of Jesus, but Jesus apprehended him on the Damascus road and enlisted him in his service. Paul was 'convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth ...in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities' (Acts 26:9-11). Jesus took this one, chose this one, appointed this one to be his witness. Paul didn't sign up for this. His conversion was, in the words of John 1:13 'not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.' God blazed from heaven and knocked Saul down to the ground, blinded him, and when he had his full attention asked “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul asked “Who are you, Lord?” to which the Lord responded “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:3-6; 22:6-8; 26:13-15). Paul was an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.

Timothy Our Brother

2 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, [καὶ Τιμόθεος ὁ ἀδελφὸς]

Timothy was a partner in ministry. Paul and Silas recruited him on the second missionary journey in Lystra, a city in Galatia (Acts 16:1). Timothy rejoined Paul shortly after he came to Corinth (Acts 18:5). Later he sent Timothy and Erastus from Ephesus into Macedonia (Acts 19:22). In the writing of 1 Corinthians, Paul expected Timothy to visit Corinth (4:17; 16:10), probably from Macedonia. He refers to him as

1 Corinthians 4:17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

He considered Timothy as almost equivalent to himself. If Timothy were there, he would remind them of Paul, Paul's ways, Paul's methods in ministry. Timothy was his co-worker. Paul wrote two New Testament letters to Timothy to encourage him. Here, to the Corinthians who knew him well, he is simply referred to as 'Timothy the brother.'

It is worth noting that Paul included others in ministry. He did not often work alone, in fact it seems he did not like to work alone. When he escaped from persecution in Berea and was brought to Athens alone, he gave a 'command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible' (Acts 17:15). It says 'Paul was waiting for them in Athens.' When he came to Corinth, he quickly connected with Aquila and Priscilla, while he continued to wait for Silas and Timothy. Paul writes in this letter about his travel to Troas to preach the gospel, but 'my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them...' (2Cor.2:13).

Paul did not fly solo. He strategically included others in ministry with him. He used life and ministry as an opportunity to disciple, to pour into others, to encourage them in the faith, to equip them for ministry. He gave them opportunity to step out and do ministry. He entrusted to them significant responsibilities. He multiplied his own ministry by investing in his co-workers. Timothy was well known to this church, and he is with Paul as he writes to this church.

To The Church of God Existing in Corinth

2 Corinthians 1:1 ...To the church of God that is at Corinth, [τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ οὔσῃ ἐν Κορίνθῳ]

Paul writes to the church of God that is at Corinth. Paul is careful to identify who this church belongs to. It is not his church, even though he planted it. It is not Apollos' church, even though he watered it. It is not Gaius' church, even though it appears to have met in his home (Rom.16:23). It does not belong to any prominent local leader. It is the church of God. It is God's church, God's gathering, God's assembly. God owns it. It belongs to him. It exists for God, to bring pleasure to God. The church exists primarily to honor God. The church is to meet together to glorify God.

This is the church of God that is at Corinth. The church of God which exists in Corinth; which has has its being in Corinth. God's church is a global church that includes every true Jesus follower throughout history. That is the universal church. Here he is looking at God's church as it exists in Corinth. This is a local geographical temporal expression of the broader church of God. God's church is made up of local churches in specific places. It should have been a stunning evidence of grace that God's church took root and began to have a local existence in a wicked city like Corinth. God encouraged Paul through a vision when he was at Corinth, telling him 'I have many in this city who are my people' (Acts 18:10). It is a beautiful thing when God's universal church expresses itself in a new location. Do not cease to be amazed at God's glorious grace that we can say that God's church exists in Ephraim; God's church exists in Gunnision Utah.

With All the Saints Who Exist in the Whole of Achaia

2 Corinthians 1:1 ...To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia: [σὺν τοῖς ἁγίοις πᾶσιν τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ Ἀχαΐᾳ·]

Achaia included the entire isthmus and the nearby city of Cenchrea where a church in mentioned in Romans 16:1; doubtless there were many believers and even home churches scattered around this Roman province whose capital city was Corinth. Paul addresses not only the church in the capital city, but all the believers in the whole region.

Notice how he addresses them. The saints; literally the holy ones; the set-apart ones. Paul is not now addressing a subset of the church, the really spiritual ones. No, each and every born again believer in Jesus is referred to here as holy, set apart. Remember, it is all of grace. It is not through effort and sacrifice that we attain to the level of saint. It is God''s free gift to those who don't deserve anything, and yet he says 'you belong to me; you are set apart as my own prized possession.' This is not based on performance or personal righteousness. This is grace. We find this beautifully expressed in 1 Corinthians 9:

1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

'And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.' Notice the personal effort in that verse? It's not there! It says nothing about what they did. It says everything about what God did to them. God takes a sinner and washes him and sets him apart and clothes him in Christ's own perfect righteousness; he takes a sinner and makes him a saint.

From the two letters we have that he wrote to this church in Corinth, we learn that this church was a mess. There was sin in the church. There was division. There was immorality, idolatry, pride, greed. He says in 1 Corinthians that 'when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse (1Cor.11:17). It would be better if you didn't gather as the church at all! And yet Paul does not address his letter 'to all you messed up sinful wretches in Corinth'. No, he calls them by their true identity. You are saints. You may not be acting like saints right now, but you are holy. You have been made holy by the precious blood of Jesus. And I am going to write to you so that by God's grace you will grow in holiness. He writes to the church of God; to the saints.

Grace to you and Peace

2 Corinthians 1:2 Grace to you and peace [2 χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη]

This is standard letter writing form in the ancient world. From; to; greeting. The usual Greek greeting was χαίρειν (Acts15:23) – be well; be glad; the equivalent of our 'hello'. Paul takes χαίρειν and makes it χάρις ὑμῖν; grace to you. Grace – all God's good gifts freely given to undeserving sinners. He takes the usual greeting and infuses it with precious gospel truth.

Grace; all the good from God you don't deserve, and peace. Shalom is the typical Hebrew greeting. But it is much more rich and deep than our word peace. It means so much more than the absence of hostility. It carries the ideas of wholeness, well-being. It is the positive experience of all is well. God's peace comes as a result of God's grace extended to sinners who have no hope outside of him.

From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

2 Corinthians 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. [2 χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.]

Grace, this good gift freely given; and peace, a right relationship with God comes to us from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. God is our Father; Jesus taught us to pray 'Our Father...' Because, as Romans 8 and Galatians 4 and Ephesians 1 teach us that through the new birth we have been adopted into his family. We can now legitimately call him Father. He chose us to be his own children. God is personal, he cares deeply about us, we can enjoy relationship with him.

Grace and peace come as good gifts from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord – κύριος in the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament translates the Hebrew YHWH, the personal name of God, the self-existent one; the one who is. Jesus is Lord; YHWH, fully God, equal to his Father, yet distinct from his Father.

Jesus is here identified intimately with his Father; God's free gift of grace, and the subsequent peace with God we enjoy are given to us by both the Father and the Son. They together are the givers of these precious gifts we enjoy. Paul asks God to pour out his grace and subsequent peace on this church, who, like us is in desperate need of it.

What greater gifts could we desire than a restored relationship with God, a new identity, a new purpose, a new community,

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org