And with this confidence I purposed to come to you previously, that ye might have a second favour;
Paul had promised the Corinthians a visit, and then he did not come. His critics used the broken plan against him, and here he starts to explain what he had really intended for them.
Paul has just pointed them to the day when everything will be judged. From there he turns to a charge his critics spread while he was away.
He has just reminded them, in moving terms, of that day when all actions get their final verdict. Nothing will win praise except what is proved to be from God. Now he turns to the charge of fickleness and insincerity. While he was away, some of his critics whispered it into the ears of the Corinthian believers, because he had put off his promised visit to that church. He had meant to return to them almost as soon as they received his first letter. By being with them, he could confirm the effect of his written warnings and give them the blessings of the gospel more fully.
Why would the visit have been a second gift of grace? The answer lies in the route Paul had mapped out.
Here Paul describes his journey round the Aegean sea. He meant to go up the west side to Macedonia, and then to come down the west side again. He did not do that. He came down the east side instead. He says it was to spare them that he did not go to Corinth. If he had gone, it would have had to be "with a rod."
Paul told them the plan had changed, but not why. That gap left room for someone else to supply a motive.
He had let his original plan become known at Corinth. Later he told them the plan had changed, without explaining why at the time. Satan skilfully used that silence to do harm… First he lets them know what they should already have understood: neglecting them was never in his heart. His intention had been to give them a double grace. He would not only pay the visit he seemed to grudge; he would also shape his journey into other parts with them specially in mind. But God had willed otherwise, and that for their sakes and for ours.
The delay looked like a weak, changeable mind. Something very different lay behind it.
This was the third time he had planned to go. Putting off the visit when he meant to make it is what gave rise to the charge of light-mindedness. The change was due to their failure, and in no sense to his. In love to them he preferred to be badly misread. So instead of explaining himself to others, he settled it in his own mind: he would not come back to them in grief.
What happens when a servant of God makes a plan and it collapses?
Even an apostle, you see, had plans disarranged and upset. God led him to record that fact for us in Scripture. The change was not exactly ordered by God, as we shall see soon, yet God overruled it for blessing in the end. Guidance may reach the servant in many ways. If he misses direct guidance, he may still find even his mistakes overruled for blessing.
Paul does not start by clearing his own name. He moves the argument onto ground the Corinthians stand on too.
Suppose it is so — I am fickle, but the One I preach is not. In Him is stability. In Him is yes. In Him is amen. The servant would exalt his Master, even if it seems to be at his own expense. There was no stability in the servant himself, except what he had in common with them all — the stability God Himself has given them by establishing them in Christ. He draws them away from looking at him. He turns them to the blessings they had in common with him as believers in Christ… Even if he had answered the charge perfectly, it would have done nothing to establish their souls.
- Confidence — The visit was planned out of confidence, not out of impulse.
- Double grace — He planned to pass through Corinth twice, so they would gain twice from his visit.
- Not neglect — His critics used his silence against him. Forgetting them was never in his heart.
- To spare them — He stayed away rather than come with a rod. Love paid the price of being misjudged.
- Christ, not Paul — A perfect defence would have settled nothing. Pointing them to Christ settled everything.
and to pass through to Macedonia by you, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and to be set forward by you to Judaea.
Paul had planned to visit Corinth twice on one trip — once going north, once coming back. The plan fell through, and his critics used that against him. So this short travel note opens a defence that ends with the faithfulness of God.
The verse sketches a loop around the Aegean Sea. One writer traces the route Paul meant to take, and the route he took instead:
Paul planned to go up the west side of the Aegean to Macedonia, and then to come down the west side again. He did not do that. He came down the east side of the sea instead. He says he stayed away from Corinth to spare them. If he had gone, he would have had to come "with a rod." But when Titus came, he heard that things were all right, or at least mostly so.
Macedonia lay to the north of Corinth, and Judea far to the east.
The verse sets out a double visit: Corinth would see him coming and going. Both stops were planned for their good:
First he lets them know what they should have understood already: neglecting them was never in his heart. He meant instead to give them a double grace. He would pay them the visit he seemed to be grudging them, and he would also shape the rest of his journey with them in mind. But God had willed otherwise, and that for their sakes and for ours.
Paul asks them to send him on his way to Judea. Writers link that phrase to a wider pattern of support for those who travel in the Lord's service:
It is right to support those who have gone out for "His Name's sake" and to help them on their way. Paul told the believers at Rome that he was confident they would send him on his way to Spain (Rom. 15:24. See also 1 Cor. 16:6; 2 Cor. 1:16 and Titus 3:13). The phrase "bring forward on their journey" suggests that God's people would meet the financial needs of the Lord's servants.
The visit never took place. One writer pauses over what that change teaches:
Even an apostle, you see, had his plans upset and thrown into disorder, and God led him to record that fact for us in Scripture. God did not exactly order the change, but He overruled it for blessing in the end. Guidance may reach the servant in many ways. If he misses direct guidance, he may still find that God overrules even his mistakes for blessing.
Paul had made the plan known, then dropped it without giving a reason. His opponents put that to use:
They hinted that this showed Paul to be a light man with shallow purpose: that he had no depth of character: that he would say one thing today and another thing tomorrow.
The answer lies in whose will decides a servant's plans:
Plans can be altered by God's will, even when an apostle forms them with the worthiest end in view. So with a man like Paul there could be no final "yes" or "no." He did not look at the future as a man who belonged to himself. He looked at it as a servant waiting for his Lord's orders.
The defence does not stop with Paul's character. It moves from his travel plans to the message he preached:
There is no shift of purpose, no uncertainty, in the gospel, whatever people think of the man. God Himself is pledged to it and involved in it. His glory and His grace are bound up with it, and His truth and righteousness just as much.
- Plan. Paul planned two stops at Corinth: north to Macedonia, back again, then on to Judea with their help.
- Purpose. The double visit was meant as a double grace to them, not a favour to himself.
- Partnership. To send a servant "on my way" is to meet the real costs of those who travel in the Lord's service.
- Providence. God overruled the broken plan for blessing. He can turn even a servant's mistakes to good.
- Permanence. A man's schedule may shift; the message does not. Paul answers the charge of fickleness by pointing away from himself to the God who is faithful.
Having therefore this purpose, did I then use lightness? Or what I purpose, do I purpose according to flesh, that there should be with me yea yea, and nay nay?
Paul promised the Corinthians a visit, then changed his route. His critics said the change exposed the man: he says yes one day and no the next.
The attack was aimed at his reliability, not his route.
Now those who were opponents used even this change of plans as a ground of attack. They insinuated that it showed Paul was a man of lightness and shallowness of purpose: that he had no depth of character: that he would say one thing today and another thing tomorrow. The Apostle knew this, and so he asked the question of verse 17. Was he a man swayed merely by fleshly impulse, so as to be pulled easily in this direction or that — saying yes today, and no tomorrow?
Behind the whispering, one writer sees an enemy at work.
He had let them know his original plan at Corinth. Later he told them he had changed it, but at the time he gave no reason. Satan cleverly used that silence to do harm. He never stops trying to sow discord among brothers, and his special aim then was to shake, if possible, the confidence of these Corinthian believers in Paul.
Older translations ask, "did I use lightness?" where the ESV has "Was I vacillating?" The old word names a specific fault.
The word "lightness" in verse 17 means fickleness. Was he fickle-minded? Was it merely the lightness and fickleness, a changing yes, yes, followed by no, no?
The change had a reason, and the reason was mercy.
Paul says it was not lightness. It was not uncertainty either. He stayed away from Corinth to spare them, and he wrote to them instead of going. He says, "not yes and no," not changing, not the lightness of a mere foolish human mind... He had intended to go by Corinth into Macedonia, and come back again by them, but he says, I will not do that now... And here he asks, "Did I use lightness?" No, it was another thing.
The second half of Paul's question asks whose will set the route. His critics assumed it was his own.
Had he shown weakness or unsteadiness in forming or dropping his purpose?... Some at Corinth were clearly not ashamed to draw such conclusions from appearances. But they judged in this way after the flesh, and measured Christ's chosen vessel by themselves. They did vex his spirit, but they would find that they condemned no one but themselves. Whatever they concluded from the facts, he would prove to their shame that he was neither the plaything of impulse nor the slave of his own will. His glory was to watch quickly and readily for his Master's eye.
The real target is our habit of quick faultfinding. The cure is a truth about who holds the will and the power.
The apostle here seeks to shame this hasty faultfinding into permanent silence. He reminds his brothers of a solemn truth we so easily let slip at all times: for the doing of good things, both the will and the power belong to God alone. Purposes, even when formed by an apostle and with the worthiest end, are subject to the changing operation of that will. So with someone like Paul there could be neither "yes" nor "no" in any final sense.
Paul does not stop at clearing his name. He answers in a way that steadies them.
See how the apostle meets the charge of fickleness against himself. It shows the skill of divine wisdom. Suppose it is so — I am fickle, but He whom I preach is not; in Him is stability, in Him is yes, in Him is amen. The servant would exalt his Master, even seemingly at his own expense... He draws them away from looking at him. He turns them to the blessings they shared with him as believers in Christ... Even the most satisfying answer to the charge would have done nothing to establish their souls.
Scripture records this upset plan for a reason.
Even an apostle, you see, had his plans disarranged and upset, and God led him to record that fact for us in Scripture. God did not order the change, but He overruled it for final blessing. Guidance may reach the servant in many ways. If the servant misses direct guidance, he may still find that God overrules even his mistakes for blessing.
- Charge. Critics turned a cancelled visit into evidence of a shallow character.
- Word. "Lightness" means fickleness. Paul stayed away for a different reason: to spare them.
- Will. He was neither the plaything of impulse nor the slave of his own will. The will and the power belong to God, so God may change even an apostle's plan.
- Turn. He does more than defend himself. He lifts their eyes to the One he preached, in whom there is stability, yes and amen.
- Use. Even an apostle had his plans upset. God overruled the change for blessing, and He can overrule our mistakes too.
Now God [is] faithful, that our word to you is not yea and nay.
Paul promised a visit to Corinth, then changed his route. Some took that as proof his word meant nothing, so he points them to God's own character and to the message they heard from him.
The suspicion at Corinth was about motive, not just travel. Paul's reply reaches past his travel plans to the nature of God.
Had he changed his mind for no good reason? Or were his first plans insincere? Was he indifferent about what plans he made and changed? No, he had really wanted to go to Corinth soon. In this matter he appeals to the very nature of God: as He is true, so their first word had been dependable, not "yes and no."
Older English versions translate the word here as "true." The thought is God's faithfulness, and that note runs on through the New Testament.
The New Testament puts special emphasis on the faithfulness of God… During the riot at Ephesus Paul experienced God's compassions. After this he could again write to the Corinthians about God's faithfulness (2 Corinthians 1:18; "true" in the King James Translation). So we could trace God's faithfulness through the New Testament: He is faithful (Heb. 10:23; Heb. 11:11) and remains faithful (2 Tim. 2:13).
Paul does not argue about his schedule. He asks the Corinthians to test him by what they heard him preach, and to let their own consciences give the verdict.
As usual, he turns straight from himself to Christ. It is as if he said: Judge me as you will. But ask yourselves meanwhile who and what this man is whose character and conduct you are examining. And how do we stand to each other in the sight of God? Content to be nothing in himself, he is still a witness and messenger of God. Suppose they did find him fickle, or that he seemed to waver. What had they gathered from his words when they heard him? To them and to their consciences he will appeal… Let them judge his ways by his teaching, and bring that teaching to their own consciences in the presence of the Lord. Tested by that standard, they would find him, if in appearance a deceiver, yet still true.
Commentators differ on what Paul is defending. Some point to the content of his preaching, others to the way he preached. Either way, the message rests on someone unchanging.
When he says, "Our word to you has not been Yes and No," he seems to be pointing to the way he preached. Then in the following verse he mentions the great theme of his preaching — Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In Him everything has been firmly established for God. In Him is eternal stability.
The gospel cannot blow hot and cold, because God has staked Himself on it — most of all at the cross.
In a spirit of grace, he turns from their veiled attacks on him to the doctrine he preached… The gospel has no shift of purpose and no uncertainty, whatever people may think of the man. God Himself is pledged to it and concerned in it. His glory and His grace are not more bound up with it than His truth and righteousness… Did He compromise His word? He accomplished it, letter and spirit, to the full. Did He abandon His holiness? Never was His complete separation from evil so clearly shown… There is no inconsistency in the work that the gospel rests on, and none in the preaching of it. Instead, it brings into harmony every fact and thought that nothing else could reconcile. Our only absolute consistency is in Christ and His cross.
Paul's argument works only if a man's life and his message match.
The character of the message is seen in the messenger, as Paul urges elsewhere. A "yes and no" preacher would not commend his preaching as a trustworthy "yes" (2 Cor. 1:17-19). A man who is not himself subject to God could not expect to lead others into subjection to God.
The same writer traces this steadiness to the company Paul kept.
To be with God must mean having God with us, and bringing His unchanging character into our ways. So the apostle, preaching no "yes and no" but a "yes and amen" Christ, can say of himself that with him also there is no "yes and no."
- Charge — Corinth read a changed travel plan as a changed character. Paul faces the suspicion instead of ignoring it.
- Anchor — He appeals to God's faithfulness. Older versions render the word "true"; the point is that God stays faithful.
- Evidence — He moves the test from his movements to his message. Their own consciences can judge whether his preaching ever wavered.
- Guarantee — The gospel cannot be "yes and no." God has pledged His own glory, grace, truth and righteousness to it at the cross.
- Result — The unchanging message shapes the man who carries it. Walking with God brings His unchanging character into our own ways.
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, he who has been preached by us among you (by me and Silvanus and Timotheus), did not become yea and nay, but yea *is* in him.
Paul promised the Corinthians a visit, then changed his plans, and some of them called him unreliable. He answers by pointing away from himself to the Christ he preached among them with Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy.
One writer notices what happens the moment Paul mentions Christ.
Now here we have an example of what we see in Paul: the moment he touches a certain string, off he goes on that string. His mind was so full of Christ that, if he touches that, he goes away into it all; it is so here. He mentions Christ, and away he is into a whole range of truth in Him.
Paul names two men who preached with him. One writer explains what that shows, and where the certainty of their message came from.
Notice that the apostle links others with himself. The grace and truth that came through Jesus Christ always enlarges the heart and gives lasting fellowship. The glory of the Person proclaimed answers to the certainty guaranteed. Doubt, difficulty, hesitation, or inconsistency can have no place in the Son of God, now the glorified Man, who suffered on the cross for the annulling of sin. The apostle and his companions knew and preached no other doctrine.
"Yes and no" is the language of someone who might mean either. Christ is not like that.
This leads the thoughts of the Apostle to Christ, the perfect pattern for all Christian conduct. Paul and his fellow-workers preached "the Son of God, Jesus Christ." With this glorious Person there is no uncertainty. There is no "Yes and no," no "It may be," or "It may not be." The truth set forth in Him, and by Him, does not change. In Him all was "Yes" — sure and certain.
Another writer draws out why a lesser message could be uncertain but this one cannot.
And He whom Paul's testimony set forth among them was not yes and no. Doubt and uncertainty may attach to a lesser name or an imperfect message. But the preaching of the Son of God is the declaration of positive and final Truth. In Him is "yes." He is the Word made flesh, attested by the Spirit as the Doer of the Father's will. He is the living and lasting affirmation of the finished love of God.
Man is fickle with God. Christ was not.
Man is fickle. With him it is often yes on one occasion and no the next. Moreover man is contradictory when it is a question of God and His will. Again and again he breaks down, and so cancels all that God desires for him. His reply to God's will is always "No." In Christ we find the opposite, for "in Him was yes." He said "Yes" to every purpose and desire of God.
A preacher's life should match his preaching. One writer finds that link beautiful in Paul.
It is beautiful to see how he insists that his life took character from his preaching, even in such details as he is speaking of. He himself, with Silas and Timothy, had preached the Son of God among them. Was He preached as One in whom there was yes and no, the author of a merely conditional and uncertain blessing? Certainly not. All in Him was certainty.
The same standard holds for preaching in any age.
Having such a theme, Paul's preaching was marked by a rock-like definiteness and certainty. The same definiteness and certainty should mark all preaching of the Word today. Preachers who follow the latest opinions can, by their very position, only preach ideas. Those ideas rest on the newest pronouncements of speculative science, which are for ever changing. Their word is emphatically "yes and no." Strongly affirmed today, their statements will be denied before many years have passed.
- Accusation — Some called Paul fickle for cancelling a visit. He answers by turning to Christ, and one mention opens a whole range of truth.
- Person — He preached "the Son of God, Jesus Christ." The glory of that Person guarantees the message.
- Certainty — In Him there is no "It may be" or "It may not be." A lesser name might carry doubt; this preaching is positive and final truth.
- Yes — Man's answer to God's will is "No." Christ said "Yes" to every purpose and desire of God.
- Consistency — Paul's life took its character from his preaching. Preaching that rests on an unchanging Christ should be just as rock-like today.
For whatever promises of God [there are], in him is the yea, and in him the amen, for glory to God by us.
Paul answers the charge that his preaching wavered. He does it by pointing away from himself to Christ. However many God's promises are, they all hold firm in Him.
Human teachers hedge and qualify. Paul did not, and the reason lies in the Person he preached.
He states plainly that his preaching, and that of his companions, had none of the wavering or conflict common to the schools of human opinion. The reason is that all truth finds its proof in Christ's Person. It has become yes in Him... Here all is sure, unclouded and settled. The gospel, as Paul preached it, allows no doubtful answer, and no double dealing. That is because it is revealed in the Second man. He has set aside the first man, with his darkness and doubt, as well as his guilt and corruption.
Behind that lies a deeper contrast: man against Christ.
Man is fickle. With him it is often yes one time and no the next. What is more, man is contradictory when it is a question of God and His will. Again and again he breaks down, and so cancels all that God desires for him. His reply to God's will is always "No." Christ is the opposite, for "in Him was yes." He said "Yes" to every purpose and desire of God.
God had spoken to Abraham and to Israel, but He did not leave the promises in human hands. He placed them in Christ.
God had made promises, whether to Abraham unconditionally, or to Israel at Sinai on the condition of obedience. But in Christ there were not promises, but the Amen to God's promises, their truth and realisation. Whatever promises there had been on God's part, the Yes was in Him, and the Amen in Him. God has established — deposited, so to speak — the fulfilment of all His promises in the Person of Christ. Life, glory, righteousness, pardon, the gift of the Spirit, all is in Him; it is in Him that all is Yes and Amen. We cannot have the effect of any promise whatsoever outside of Him.
That is why the promises have a single centre rather than many recipients.
So that, God acting in the way of promise, all the promises find their centre in Christ. "Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, 'And to offsprings,' referring to many, but referring to one, 'And to your offspring,' who is Christ" (Galatians 3:16)... So Christ is the Heir, the Seed, to whom the promise was made.
The verse uses two words. Commentators read them as two distinct things: agreement, then completion.
Not only was the Yes found in Him, but the Amen also. He does not only agree to all the will of God expressed in His promises. He goes on to carry it all out, and bring it all to full and final completion. In Him the thing is done, and shall be done, until a great Amen can be put to all God's pleasure, so that God is glorified... What glorious stability and security is here!
Some read the two words as facing in two directions. Kelly quotes Bengel: "Yes with respect to God who promises, Amen with respect to those who believe" (William Kelly).
The verse does not stop with Christ. It ends with a people, and one writer ties that ending to the gift of the Spirit.
Note the power and blessing of these two little words, "by us." Could anyone say this of us unless we had the Holy Spirit, giving us the blessed knowledge and awareness of our place? He has planted us in Christ. He has anointed us. He has sealed us for the day of redemption, and given the guarantee of it in our hearts.
Others draw out the worship side of that phrase: the Amen comes back from those who have heard.
He is Himself the end and chief object of all promise. In His glory as Mediator He has become the channel of supply to all who receive the grace of God in truth. He is also the means of their answering praise. These promises are made certain in the Person of the Son and declared to the faith of God's chosen ones. To them the church now sets the seal of her Amen. In worship she says back, to the glory of God the Father, what the lips of Jesus have first spoken to her heart.
This is not only doctrine. It steadies believers when everything around them looks uncertain.
Christ tells it out in our hearts that in Him is the Yes and Amen to all the promises. That thought gives immense strength in a cloudy day like the present, when the world clouds and troubles us on every side. But turn to Him, and all in Him is "Yes and Amen." He makes good all the promises.
- Man's No. Man is fickle and contradictory. He breaks down again and again, and his answer to God's will is "No."
- Christ's Yes. The Son says Yes to every purpose of God, and the gospel about Him allows no doubtful answer.
- Christ's Amen. He does not only agree. He carries every promise through to completion, until a great Amen can be put to all God's pleasure.
- Nothing outside Him. God has deposited life, glory, righteousness, pardon and the Spirit in His Person. No promise reaches us apart from Him.
- Glory by us. God seals and anoints believers. So His glory comes "by us," and the Amen comes back to Him in worship.
Now he that establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, [is] God,
Paul had been called unreliable for changing his travel plans. He answers by pointing away from himself to God, who makes believers firm and anoints them — so what does "establishes" mean, and who does "us with you" include?
The verse names God as the one who acts. One writer warns against splitting that work between God and ourselves:
It is GOD who establishes them both in Christ. Notice the force of this statement, so that we escape a common error. Some credit God with the first conversion of the soul, but throw on the believer the job of keeping or confirming himself in Christ. That divides the effective work of salvation between the Saviour and the saved — a notion nature herself could refute. Infants do not keep themselves alive, and the right to a promise is not the merit of the receiver but the generosity of the giver.
If God is the one who does it, the standing lasts:
We have been established in Christ. And it is God who has done it. What man does, he may very likely undo at some later point. What God does, He does forever.
To establish means to fasten firmly. The ones who most need that grip are not left out:
Here we are told that God is the One who fastens us to Christ, just as elsewhere we are said to be in Him. Man is weak and unsteady, more in deed than in word. But the One who binds us fast to Christ is God. This is true not only of the strong but of the weakest, who most need such securing grace and power... Christ for both was the fortress that cannot be stormed, the rock that can never be moved.
Paul could have claimed something special for himself as an apostle. Two small words stop that:
Turning now to the believer, we have first a general statement that he is anointed... This is not an apostolic anointing but, as the term "with you" shows, it is common to all believers, as in the next verse... The connection is suggestive: all in Christ are anointed — officially marked out as His.
The name Christians wear comes from this very word:
First, the Spirit as the anointing. The sons of Aaron were sprinkled with the blood and then anointed, together with Aaron. Aaron, as a picture of Christ, had been anointed alone and without blood. So our blessed Lord was anointed at His baptism... The effect of the anointing is to give understanding and power. The very name God has allowed believers to carry — Christian — shows this character of the Holy Spirit. The meaning of "Christ" is "the Anointed One," and so the meaning of "Christians" is "anointed ones." It also points clearly to their sharing with Christ in the anointing. That explains why we are reminded here that God has connected us with Christ.
It is not a display of power reserved for a few, nor something that fades:
For us who believe it is more an active communion with His revealed mind. Still, the Spirit given is of power, and love, and a sound mind. And He who anointed us is not man, but God... It is not a passing display of power over Satan in the world outside. It is not a qualification for apostles only, as some have thought. It is the permanent privilege of the Christian, so that his own soul may enter into the revealed mind of God. And "the babes" have it as truly, if not as plainly, as the most mature.
The next verse completes the sentence. Together they list four acts of God, each facing a different direction:
So we learn that God "establishes us," "has anointed us," "sealed us," and given us "the earnest of the Spirit." In being established we look back to the cross to learn all the love of Christ. By the anointing we look up into the glory at Christ, to be given understanding in all God's counsels. By the sealing we become witnesses to Christ in the world around, showing that we belong to God. And by the earnest we look on to the inheritance, when we shall be with Christ and like Christ.
- God, not man. God is the one who acts in this verse. Establishing and anointing are His work, and what He does, He does forever.
- Look back — established. To be established is to be fastened to Christ, the rock that cannot be moved. The weakest believer needs this most, and has it.
- Look up — anointed. The anointing gives entrance into God's revealed mind. Christ means "the Anointed One," so Christians means "anointed ones."
- Look around — with you. The blessing is shared. It is not an apostles' privilege, but belongs to every believer, even "the babes."
- Look on — the earnest. The Spirit given now points on to the inheritance, when we will be with Christ and like Christ.
who also has sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
Paul has just said that every promise of God finds its "Yes" in Christ. Now he names two more acts of God: He seals the believer, and He gives His Spirit as a guarantee — one gift with two purposes.
A seal in the ancient world did two jobs at once. It stamped a thing as belonging to someone, and it kept anyone else from touching it.
God also seals us. Anointing and sealing are the work of the same Spirit, and they happen at the same time, though their character is different. God seals every believer who has the forgiveness of sins. He marks them out as belonging to Christ, and He secures them until the day of redemption. So the Spirit as the seal points to ownership and security. In His grace God stamps His mark on us, and at the same time makes that mark impossible to break.
God had already set His seal on His Son. How could He set the same seal on sinners?
The Father, even God, sealed the Son of man. We can easily see why this was fitting. He was His Son from eternity, and His Son as man too — the constant and perfect object of His delight. But how could God seal us? We were in sin and misery, the marked opposite of the Lord Jesus. His redemption completely delivers us from Satan's slavery... Because of that work, God also sealed us, and gave the "earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." The earnest does not mean the Spirit is given in a limited measure, with more of Him to come. He is the witness of what has been done and accepted for us. He is also the foretaste of the glory that will certainly follow.
The seal shields as well as marks, and the mark is not a thing but Someone.
Our being sealed by God's own Spirit is God's guarantee that no judgment will fall on us... In this wholehearted recognition that we are God's, we have the support of the Holy Spirit. Even as the seal, He is nothing less than a living, acting, Divine Person. He comes into us to give us the sense, every moment and every day and in every circumstance, "You belong to God."
The second word Paul uses comes from ordinary business. The ESV renders it "guarantee"; older versions say "earnest."
"Earnest" is an old word for deposit, down payment, or guarantee. When a buyer of a house pays the deposit, you know he intends to pay the balance. In this sense, the Holy Spirit is called "the earnest of our inheritance." God has already given us His Spirit. So He will also give us the future inheritance — a share in Christ's universal dominion.
So the seal and the deposit point in opposite directions.
As the seal, the Spirit is the sign of God's claim on me. As the earnest, He is the sign of the claim God's grace has given me on God.
God does not store the deposit somewhere safe. He puts it in the heart, so we can enjoy the future now.
The Spirit becomes the guarantee, in our own hearts, of what we shall fully have later in Christ. We understand the things God gives us in the glory. God's seal marks us out to enjoy them. We have the guarantee of them in our hearts, and our affections are engaged by them. God has established us in Christ, and the Holy Spirit seals us when we believe. He brings us into the enjoyment of what is in Christ, even while we are still here on earth.
With verse 21, four verbs turn the believer in four directions.
So we learn that God "establishes us," "has anointed us," "sealed us," and given us "the earnest of the Spirit." In being established we look back to the cross, to learn all the love of Christ. By the anointing we look up into the glory at Christ, so that we understand all God's purposes. By the sealing we become witnesses to Christ in the world around us, showing that we belong to God. By the earnest we look on to the inheritance, when we shall be with Christ and like Christ.
Commentators differ on what the deposit guarantees. Some point to the inheritance; Dennett points here to our resurrection bodies.
- One Gift. The seal and the guarantee are not two gifts but one: the Holy Spirit Himself, given the moment we believe.
- Bought. Sealing rests on redemption. The Father sealed His Son, His delight. He sealed us because Christ's work freed us from Satan's slavery.
- Owned. The seal says "You belong to God." It shuts out every other claim and holds us secure until the day of redemption.
- Owed. As seal, the Spirit is God's claim on us. As deposit, He is the claim grace has given us on God.
- Tasted. God puts the deposit in the heart, so the coming inheritance is not just promised. We enjoy it now.
But I call God to witness upon my soul that to spare you I have not yet come to Corinth.
Paul had promised the Corinthians a visit and never came. His critics used that against him. Here he answers under oath. His reason was not convenience, and it was not fading love. It was mercy — he stayed away to spare them.
The verse reads like a courtroom scene. Paul's critics had put him there. He answers them by calling a witness, and the witness is God Himself.
He has just pointed them back to the root of their shared blessing, to bring his brothers to a sounder mind. Now he states plainly why he has stayed away from Corinth. The way he does it fits the position his detractors have put him in by their malicious folly. As a man standing in his own defence usually calls his witnesses, so Paul calls his. He has only One, but the appeal settles the matter.
Some readers hesitate here, since Jesus taught His followers not to swear. Paul's appeal belongs in a different class.
Our Lord did not forbid such appeals to God as we find in Romans 1:9, 1 Corinthians 15:31, 2 Corinthians 1:23, and Galatians 1:20. Neither did His servant James.
An oath this heavy over a travel plan can look excessive. But Paul's own feelings were not the issue. His standing as God's messenger was.
Paul's earnestness matched the interest at stake. When public opinion touched only himself, he ignored it. But he guarded his character as an accredited minister of God with care. He knew well that in people's minds a man's reputation either commends his words or discredits them. If his opponents could make a name for fickleness or insincerity stick to him, nothing would do more to block people from receiving his ministry.
The delay had a purpose, and the oath shows how far trust had broken down. Older translations word the oath "upon my soul."
He deeply wanted them to judge themselves about the disorders among them before he came. Then he would not have to use his stern authority as an apostle. It is sad that the Corinthians had let themselves grow so suspicious of Paul's motives. He now has to call God as a witness upon his soul, to confirm the truth of what he writes.
Sparing has a shape here. Paul's absence was the kinder of the two options open to him.
Now he tells them that it was to spare them that he had not come to Corinth. This should have been a reproof, and it is given in the most delicate way. It was the sweet result of divine love in his heart. He chose to wait or go elsewhere rather than visit the Corinthians in the state they were in. Had he come at all, he would have had to come with a rod, and this he could not bear. He wished to come with nothing but kindness, to blame nobody, to say nothing painful and humiliating to them. In truth it was more humiliating to him, for he loved them.
Absence was not neglect. Paul had already sent a letter, and he waited for it to work.
He might have hurried to Corinth with a rod (1 Corinthians 4:21). Instead he showed patience. He waited, no doubt with much prayer to God, for the gracious effect of the first letter he had sent them. In all these words — so humble, so loving, so patient — we see the love that the previous letter describes in chapter 13. He was not easily provoked; he hoped all things and endured all things.
Being spared is not a compliment. Paul's absence exposed the state of the church.
He assures the saints at Corinth that sparing them was the reason for his absence. In saying it he lays a well-deserved reproof on their spiritual dullness… Were they eager to test his threatened visit with a rod? … To rejoice with them, he had first to rejoice in them. He could not do that while so much unjudged or tolerated evil remained among them, as the rest of this letter shows.
What Paul did sets a pattern for smaller servants too.
A great servant like Paul or Apollos might have difficulty and objection about going to Corinth at a time when such shameful looseness was practised (see 1 Corinthians 16:12; 2 Corinthians 1:23). In the same way, a small and insignificant servant may refuse to visit a gathering marked by looseness at a given time. But I humbly suggest that he should, as Paul did, give his reason for doing so.
- Sparing, sworn. Paul puts his motive under oath: the reason he stayed away was mercy, not fickleness.
- Sparing, not neglect. The visit would have come with a rod; love chose absence over severity.
- Sparing that reproves. The sparing carried a rebuke: their state could not yet bear his coming.
- Sparing that waits. He gave the letter, prayer and patience time to do the work a rod would have done by force.
- Sparing that explains. Silence breeds suspicion; the servant who stays away should say why, as Paul did.