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Reading 2 Corinthians 2:12-17 where Paul talks about looking for Titus in Troas, and how the sweet aroma of the gospel is sent out to every place. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
2 Corinthians 2 .14 says, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and manifest through us the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place when we understand the text.
This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Thank you for subscribing. And if this has ministered to you, please let others know about our program.
Here once again is Pastor Gabe Hughes.
Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of 2 Corinthians, still in chapter two. We've got a portion to finish up there, verses 12 to 17. And that's where I'm gonna put most of my focus today. But to keep things in context, let's go back to verse one.
I'm reading out of the Legacy Standard Bible. This is the word of the Lord through the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth. But I determined this for my own sake, that I would not come to you again in sorrow.
For if I cause you sorrow, who then makes me glad but the one whom I made sorrowful? And this is the very thing I wrote you, so that when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice, having confidence in you all, that my joy would be the joy of you all.
For out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears, not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have abundantly for you. But if any has caused me sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree, in order not to say too much, to all of you.
Sufficient for such a one is this punishment, which was inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary, you should rather graciously forgive and comfort him, lest such a one be swallowed up by excessive sorrow.
Therefore, I encourage you to reaffirm your love for him. For to this end also I wrote, so that I might know your proven character, whether you are obedient in all things. But one whom you graciously forgive anything, I graciously forgive also.
For indeed, what I have graciously forgiven, if I have graciously forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
Now, when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ, and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, not finding Titus my brother, but saying farewell to them, I went on to Macedonia.
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ, and manifest through us the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God, among those who are being saved, and among those who are perishing.
To the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not like many peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.
So coming back once again to the very beginning of this chapter, it was necessary to read this again, because of some things Paul says about looking for Titus and not being able to find him when he went to Troas.
This goes back to the start of the chapter where Paul had said he had written this tearful letter to the Corinthians and would not come to them while they were in sorrow over this letter that he had sent, because if he came to them, it would just compound their sorrow.
And then he would feel sorrowful because they're filled with sorrow. Rather, he wanted to experience joy from them. They needed to be in this time of lament. They needed to feel convicted over their sin so that they would repent of it and come back to righteousness and rejoice in the Lord so that when Paul comes to them, they would all rejoice together.
And he mentions in verse four, this tearful letter that he had sent, for out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears. He wasn't writing this tearful letter to them going, ha ha, this will show them.
And now I'll feel better about myself because I've made the Corinthians feel bad. And he goes on to say, not so that you would be made sorrowful, but so that you might know the love which I have abundantly for you.
I didn't write this to you to make you feel bad. I wrote it so that you would know the love I have for you, that you would recognize your sin and you would repent of it and you would continue to walk after Christ.
Now, there was this guy that was among the Corinthians who did not want to listen to the apostle Paul. We talked about this last week when we were in chapter two. And as Paul said to the Corinthians, in second Corinthians three, if there is anyone who will not listen to what we say in this letter, take note of that person and have nothing to do with him.
So if a person is rejecting a letter that is written by an apostle to a church, it's the same as if he is rejecting the word of Christ itself or himself, either way. The word itself, they're rejecting a word that came from God because Christ had assigned the apostles to be his mouthpiece, to go out with his word.
And whatever an apostle taught to the church, he was teaching under the authority of Jesus Christ. So to reject the word of an apostle is to reject the word of Christ. Therefore, you have this guy in Corinth who has done that very thing.
And so he's been punished for that because he would not listen to Paul, because he would not receive the word of an apostle. He gets put under church discipline and he gets removed from the church. He's been removed by the majority, as Paul says in verse six.
Now in verse five, he says, if he has caused any sorrow, he's caused it to you, not to me. Indeed, this man has rejected Paul's word as the word of an apostle of Christ, but this has caused sorrow to the Corinthians.
It's not that it's caused sorrow to Paul. So it's not like, now, Paul feels better about it because you got that guy out of the church. Instead, what Paul says is now you should graciously forgive him.
If you've forgiven him of anything, then I've also forgiven him. So test this man. See if he is sorrowful over what he has done. And if he is filled with sorrow over this, and Paul seems to indicate here that he is.
So even Paul knows this man regrets what it is that he's done. So restore him back to the church. I encourage you to reaffirm your love for him, he says in verse eight, as Paul is reaffirming his love for the Corinthians.
For to this end also I wrote, so that I might know your proven character, whether you are obedient in all things. So as Paul had rebuked the Corinthians over their sinful things, and they've been obedient according to what Paul has said to them, now he knows they are genuine in Christ because they've listened to this, they've been convicted by it, and they're determining to walk in obedience.
Well, so it is with this man. So as Paul has extended this forgiveness toward the Corinthians, so the Corinthians need to do with a member of their own church. But one whom you graciously forgive anything, Paul says in verse 10, I graciously forgive, for indeed what I have graciously forgiven, if I have graciously forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
It's in Ephesians chapter four, where Paul says, do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give the devil a foothold. Now, we often use that verse to talk about marriage, right? Don't go to bed angry with one another, resolve your differences, and that way you keep your marriage together.
That's often the way that verse is applied. But remember that Paul is writing to a church. So he's talking to a church here. There is a time in which it's good to be angry, if we're angry at the right things, and we handle that anger in a way that is in submission to Christ, the Holy Spirit who is within us, the word of God that has been given to us, which is the Bible.
If we are in submission to those things, like we're not in submission to our feelings, we're not being governed by our feelings, we're not being tossed to and fro by our shifting emotions, okay? But even our emotions are in subjection, in obedience to the word of Christ.
And if that's the case, then there is a time in which anger is right, can be justified. It is holy, it is a righteous anger. We read about God having a righteous anger, like in Psalm 711, where it says that he is a righteous judge who feels indignation every day.
God is certainly not doing or feeling anything evil because he would be angry at us for our sin. So likewise, we can be angry in such a way that is righteous and holy. As it says in Ephesians 4, be angry and do not sin.
Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give the devil an opportunity. So again, as Paul is writing that to a church, there's gonna be occasions when it is right, it's justified for a church to be angry at sin and to deal with that, but not to let the anger turn into bitterness and wrath or malice and deceit and all that kind of thing.
So that would give the devil an opportunity. Here, Paul is saying the same kind of a thing to the Corinthians, where he says to them that we do not let Satan have any advantage. We are not ignorant of his schemes.
So you've had a man among you who has sinned, you have dealt with that through church discipline, the majority even ruled upon it, but now you need to restore him and forgive him so that there's no bitterness that wells up in you and also so that this man would not be burdened by excessive sorrow is what Paul has said there.
We're not ignorant of the devil's schemes. He wants us to be divided, but here we have disciplined so that one may repent and we can be unified and the grace of God can be demonstrated among us in how he has forgiven and restored us.
So restore this man to your congregation, to your assembly. And that's what that's in reference to in 2 Corinthians 2. As I said at the beginning of this study in 2 Corinthians, often this section about this guy that is lamenting over his sin, it's in reference to the guy that had to be put out of the church in 1 Corinthians 5, but that's not the case.
Apparently what had happened there in 1 Corinthians 5, that man was wicked and we don't have anything about him repenting or being restored to the church. He was just evil. Sleeping with his father's wife, his stepmother in other words.
And so Paul says, purge the evil person from among you. There's nothing about that man that was godly at all. He called himself a brother, but he was not really a Christian. So we don't see the story of that man being restored because he probably wasn't restored.
That should be our conclusion there. So continuing on with this, as we look into this next section, verses 12 to 17, Paul says, now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ, and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother, but saying farewell to them, I went on to Macedonia.
Okay, so what's Paul referring to here? Well, he sent this tearful letter to the Corinthians via Titus. Titus is the one that has gone to Corinth with this tearful letter, letter C as we refer to it. It's a letter that was written between first Corinthians and second Corinthians.
Titus delivered the tearful letter to Corinth. And then when Paul came to Troas with an opportunity to share the gospel, that's what he means there when he says, a door was opened for me in the Lord. So he's there at Troas to share the gospel.
And when he comes there, the arrangement was that Titus would meet him there and Titus didn't show up. So Paul is getting concerned here. I expected Titus to be here. That means something's not going well in Corinth.
He was already troubled in his spirit by some of the things that he had to address was happening there at the church in Corinth. He was already troubled over that. Titus is sent with this tearful letter.
Paul goes to Troas. The arrangement was that Titus is gonna show up there at Troas and let Paul know that the letter was well received, but Titus isn't there. And so Paul says in verse 13, I had no rest in my spirit, not finding Titus, my brother, but I had to say farewell to them, those whom Paul was with there at Troas.
And he went on to Macedonia. Now we're gonna hear later on about Paul meeting up with Titus. In chapter seven, he talks about that. And then he's comforted by the news that Titus has to bring to him. And Titus also being comforted by the way that he witnessed the Corinthians receiving Paul's tearful letter.
So we'll get to that a little bit later on. In the meantime, we cover this final portion here of chapter two, verse 14. But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and manifest through us the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place.
Now, Paul may be saying that as it turns out, y 'all did receive this letter well when it came to you. I may not have had word of that when I was in Troas, but you received the letter well. And then I went on to Macedonia and I'm comforted because God comforts us in every place.
We go back to chapter one, right? Where Paul had been talking about God being the father of mercies and the God of all comfort. And so no matter where he goes, he's able to be comforted by God. The Corinthians are able to be comforted by God.
The Holy Spirit is not bound by time and space, but he can be anywhere at any time extending to us the comfort of the ministry of Christ. So Paul says, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ.
We triumph over these things. The devil does not get a foothold. And God manifests through us the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
That's verse 15. So Paul is using this illustration of being like a fragrant offering. Now, right away, you may think of the incense that's burned in the temple or in the tabernacle and that being a fragrant offering unto the Lord.
The book of Exodus where instructions were given to the priests on how to offer fragrant offerings, there would be the wave offering. So as the smoke is lifted up, it is a fragrant offering unto the Lord.
That may be where your mind goes when Paul makes that reference, but this was actually in reference to a Roman practice, more of a Greek practice, rather than the Hebrew practice that was going on in the tabernacle and in the temple.
Whenever the Romans would conquer a people, whenever they would be successful in battle, there would be a big parade in the city, probably whatever city was nearby. It could be the capital city of Rome, or it could have been the city that Rome had just seized, or it could have been the city that was most involved in that particular seizure, whatever it might happen to be.
There would be a parade in the city. And this parade, this procession of victory would include the burning of incense. And so that fragrant aroma, all of the senses are being pleased by news of the victory.
Yay, we won. So there's shouts of joy. There's good, pleasing colors and all kinds of visual things that symbolize our success against our enemies. They're probably eating a lot of good food and drinking wine in rejoicing.
And then there's also the burning of incense. So even our sense of smell is being satisfied with the victory. And so Paul is making a reference to that here, and not just with regards to the aroma of an incense offering, but also in the picture of the spices and things like that, which would be burned in an incense offering, they have to be crushed first.
So you would put them in kind of a bowl and you have the pestle, you know, and you pound it down, and so that it becomes a fine powder, and that's what gets burned and gives off this fragrant offering.
Well, remember that Paul is referring to himself as having been beaten for the sake of the gospel. He talks about the persecutions that he endured for the gospel back in chapter one, and he's gonna come into that again later on, all the things that he suffers and that he endures for the sake of the gospel.
The Corinthians were also crushed. They were crushed, not just by persecution that goes on around them, but they were crushed by Paul's letter, crushed though in such a way to build them back up. And so this is a good crushing.
Same with making incense, we're crushed and then set on fire that we may offer up a fragrant offering. So you have this picture of fragrance of Christ to God. We are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
So when you think about the fragrant offering as being some sort of victory offering, okay, the burning of incense, when you think of that as being something victorious, then to those who are rejoicing in the victory, boy, that aroma is sweet.
It's wonderful. It is lovely. But to those who have been defeated, the aroma is a reminder of their defeat. You've probably heard it said that smell, our sense of smell is the sense that is most closely tied to memory.
And so every time you would smell that fragrance, you would be reminded of the victory that they have, or to the enemies that were defeated by the Romans, whenever they smelled that scent, it would remind them of their defeat.
So we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. We're not talking about those who are sinners and unbelievers and eventually they will come to faith.
No, these are those that will never come to faith. Remember that Paul said back in 1 Corinthians 1 .18, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
So the message of Christ, the message of the gospel, which is being carried by the apostles to the churches and to the rest of the world, we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved.
It's good news. When the gospel comes to those who are being saved, it's good news. But when the message of victory in Christ is said to those who are perishing, they think it's foolish. And then verse 16, to the one an aroma from death to death and another an aroma from life to life.
So for those who are perishing, who do not believe in God, the message of the gospel is the message of a dead guy. Like they crucified a carpenter. I mean, what difference does that make to me, right?
Because once again, 1 Corinthians 1 .18, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. So they hear about a dead guy, they're not convinced about it and it just leads to their death.
They heard the message of the gospel, they would not believe, they die. It is an aroma from death to death. To the other, an aroma from life to life. We didn't just hear a message about a guy who was being crucified.
Although we did hear that message, he died as an atoning sacrifice for us, but then he rose again. And that was for our justification and we are risen again to new life. And so the message of the gospel is an aroma from life to life.
And who is sufficient for all of these things? That's a rhetorical question. The answer is God. He is sufficient for all of this. He is the one who will judge those who are perishing and he is the one who is saving those who have believed.
Verse 17, for we are not like many peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, as from God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ. We do this out of sincerity. As Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1, our motivation is not ourselves.
The aim of our charge is love. That issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith, 1 Timothy 1 .5. And then Paul goes on to say certain persons by swerving from these have wandered away into vain discussion.
So they do become peddlers of the word of God. They use manipulative tactics to get people to believe or follow them or whatever. Like the pragmatism that we see going on in the church, all of the different flashy ways in which Christ will be presented to get people to come to my church and give us money so we can continue to be this really popular church.
They're peddling the word of God instead of out of loving sincerity, preaching the gospel of Christ to all, for it is only the message of the gospel of Christ that has the power to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and restore us to fellowship with God.
Now, something I wanna do tomorrow as we come back to this, I wanna sit on that verse 17 a little bit as we jump into chapter three, and I'll give you a few more examples of the ways people peddle the word of God so that you can be wise to this and not be led astray by it.
Let's finish with prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the real gospel that came to us, raw as it may have been, to convict us of our sin and lead us to Christ, to look to him that our sins would be forgiven and we would have everlasting life with God.
May we be a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and even among those who are perishing. They may think we are foolish because we believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, but we know that it is through this gospel we have fellowship with God.
If God is for us, what can man do to us? Thank you for these words that we have heard today, and may they be a comfort to our spirits. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.
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