In this message we shall begin to consider the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity in 2 Corinthians. As we shall see, according to this book, the divine dispensing issues in the maturity of life and constitution of ministry.
Second Corinthians is much deeper than 1 Corinthians. For this reason, it is more difficult to understand.
The Epistle of 2 Corinthians is more experiential, more subjective, and deeper than the Epistle of 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians, Christ, the Spirit with our spirit, the church, and the gifts are covered as major subjects. In 2 Corinthians, Christ, the Spirit with our spirit, and the church are further developed, but the gifts are not even mentioned. They are replaced in this book by the ministry, which is constituted of and produced and formed by the experiences of the riches of Christ through suffering, consuming pressures, and the killing work of the cross. The second Epistle gives us a pattern, an example, of how the killing of the cross works, how Christ is wrought into our being, and how we become the expression of Christ. These constitute the ministers of Christ and produce the ministry for God’s new covenant.
The first Epistle deals with the gifts; the second speaks about the ministry. The church needs the ministry much more than the gifts. The purpose of the ministry is to minister Christ whom we have experienced; the gifts are mostly to teach the doctrines concerning Christ. Not the gifts but the ministry produced and formed by the experience of the sufferings, the afflictions, of Christ, is the proof that the apostles are ministers of Christ.
Chapters one and two of 2 Corinthians unveil a victorious life for maturity and a triumphant ministry for God’s purpose. How can our life in Christ mature? How can a ministry be constituted within us? These questions are answered in 2 Corinthians.
All believers, even the youngest among us, have both life and ministry. However, among many Christians today there is the strong impression that not all believers are ministers. Some may say, “I am not a pastor, a preacher, or a minister. I am a common Christian, and I don’t have any ministry. Yes, I have received the divine life. But you should not say that I have a ministry. I have never studied theology, and I don’t even have a full knowledge of the Bible. How could I have a ministry?” This is a wrong understanding.
As long as we have life, we have a certain function. We may use our physical life as an illustration. Where there is life, there are the functions of life. This is true even of a newborn infant. The life in a baby makes it possible for him to cry, crawl, and eventually walk and speak. In a similar way, we all have received the divine life, a spiritual life, and with this life there is at least some amount of function. Therefore, since we have life, we all can function.
Although we have the divine life, there is the need for this life to mature. There is also the need for a ministry to be constituted within us. Both the maturing of life and the constituting of ministry depend upon the divine dispensing. The divine dispensing causes us to mature, and this dispensing also constitutes us with a divine ability so that we may function with a proper ministry. Therefore, both for our life and our ministry we need the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.
In the first chapter of 2 Corinthians we have the divine dispensing. Of course, the word “dispensing” is not used in this book. Nevertheless, as we shall see, the dispensing is included in Paul’s word concerning the Father of compassions and the God of all encouragement; who encourages us in all our affliction, that we may be able to encourage those who are in every affliction through the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.
In verse 4 Paul speaks of his affliction, which denotes the suffering of persecution. All genuine Christians suffer persecution. Some have been persecuted by members of their family, their friends, or their neighbors. It is sovereign of the Lord that all genuine Christians suffer persecution. This suffering is an affliction. As Paul was traveling to preach the gospel, he was persecuted to the uttermost. Wherever he went, he was persecuted either by Jews or Gentiles. This suffering of persecution was his affliction.