2 Corinthians 12 vs 14 - chpt 13:4 - Corps-36
Publication Date: June 22, 1983
Walter J. Cummins graduated from the Power for Abundant Class in 1962.
He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Ohio State University in 1968 and his Master of Education degree in Secondary School Administration in 1978 from Wright State University.
He was ordained to the Christian by The Way International in 1968. He has studied at The Way International under Victor Paul Wierwille and K.C.Pillai. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he was director of the Research department of the Way International and served as assistant to the president.
June 22, 1983
Thirty-seventh Corps Night
UII Cor. 12:8
Why only three? A suggestion would be because of the Eastern custom of constraining.
UII Cor. 12:14
"behold," - grabs your attention.
Paul had intended to come a second time, but instead he wrote these two epistles. The
second time that he actually does come is really like his third time coming because the
letters took the place of his intended visit. II Cor. 1:15, it was Paul's intention.
II Cor. 1:16, he didn't go but rather he came up the coast to Macedonia, and then down to
Greece, and then back up to Macedonia.
II Cor. 1:23, Paul did not come in order to spare them.
"ready," = prepared, made preparations.
"burdensome," = in the context it is dealing with financial burden, or material burden,
II Cor. 12:13.
"not yours," = not your material things.
"but you," = he is seeking their loyalty to God, as well as the man of God, the one who
fathered them in the Word, the Apostle Paul.
The children are not responsible, they are not obligated to lay up for the parents.
This verse reads like a proverb, although there is no other place we know of where it is
quoted. This verse is significant because of what it indicates in the Eastern culture. First
of all, it seems to contradict the places where children are supposed to take care of their
parents when they get older. That is not what it is talking about in this context. When you
have a widow, it says the children are supposed to take care of them (Timothy.) Context
here is talking about the parents taking care of their children getting started in life, started
in a business, started in a profession. It was the honor of families in the Eastern culture to
have their names and fortune handed down in a long succession of sons. What was God's
promise to Abraham? His children would be as the sand of the sea and the stars of heaven.
It became therefore a matter of the highest interest with every new representative of the
house (every child) that this line of inheritance should not be stopped. That is why if a son
was not born in the family it was rather disgraceful. The family came to be regarded as
sort of a business syndicate. It was the obligation of each household head to effectively
steward the family business and wealth and to have an heir, a son, to succeed to it and use
it in similar fashion. At age 12, Jesus Christ said, I must be about my Father's business. If
Joseph was his father, he would have been in the carpentry business. But his Father was
God! It was his responsibility as the UonlyU heir to carry on that business, which was God's
business - spiritual - business, not the business of the world.
II Cor. 12:14b is not dealing with an inheritance, but it is talking about the continuation of
that family business. It is very significant in the context, as we will see.
II Cor. 12:14 Literal according to usage:
Now look! This is the third time I have made preparations to come to you. I will not
be a financial burden to you, because I seek you, not your material things. After all,
222 II Corinthians
children are not expected, to prepare for their parents, but the parents should help their
children get started.
Paul came to Corinth to help them get started as their father in the Word! To help them get
going in spiritual business! See the beauty of this proverb and why Paul is quoting it at
this time! Were the Corinthians supposed to lay up for him, like the speakers were
requiring? No. But he has to teach them how to share out of their abundance. Now, later
on when they grow up, they will be able to help him get to other places to help more
people grow up in the Word. He is like the father.
UII Cor. 12:15
"gladly spent," - Well, what does a parent do for his children? He spends himself. The
Aramaic uses the FOS, UparegmenonU; the repetition of words, derived from the same root
(they're not the same word.) Literally, in Aramaic, it says, "Gladly, I will pay the
payment," or, "to spend for the expenses."
The Greek uses the same figure, not in the one phrase — but it says even in KJV - spend
and be spent.
Aramaic does not say "and be spent." It says, "I will give myself."
So both Greek and Aramaic employ the FOS, but in a different way in the verse.
Paul was willing not only to spend material things, but also to exhaust himself in order to
see the Word move at Corinth - in spite of the fact that the Corinthians were not supplying
the material things.
II Cor. 12:15 Literal according to usage:
Likewise, I will gladly pay my own expenses and spend myself for you, even if I am
loved less while I am loving you more.
Now isn't that the cry of a parent. Look how it ties into that proverb. Look, when you take
your children out do you make them pay your way into the movie theater, or restaurant?
You say, I will gladly pay my own expenses and spend myself for you. Parents will
exhaust themselves for their children, even if they are loved less while loving them more -
even if the children act like they love the parent, while the parent loves them more. That is
the cry of a parent. And that was Paul's cry as their father in the Word. II Cor. 6:11-13,
Look at how much Dr. Wierwille has done for us — yet at times we love him less, even
though he loved us more, we turn around and slap him in the face. Yet he would gladly
pay for our things and would spend himself that we would get a greater knowledge of
God's Word in our lives. We must love our people with this kind of love. Vividly make
your love known.
UII Cor. 12:16
"be it so," = Let it be.
It is life. If you have young kids, well, they are going to be teenagers and they will venture
out, but you keep spending financially and spending yourself to help them grow up and to
bless them.
"burden you," = financially, or any other way.
"being crafty, I caught you with guile," = this is irony again.
"crafty," - always used in the negative sense in the Bible. And perhaps Paul is taking up an
expression used by his opponents. In other words, the crafty fellow that I am.
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"caught," - In Aramaic it is rob or steal. In Greek, it is lambanō, which in this section is
used as "taking in." Not just receiving but taking advantage of through guile or trickery.
"guile," - means deceit or trickery, dishonesty. And again this is irony. Paralleling the
words of his critics.
II Cor. 12:16 Literal according to usage:
But let it be. I did not burden you materially. Nevertheless, being the crafty person
that I am, I took advantage of you with trickery!
UII Cor. 12:17
"to make a gain," - is to take advantage of, or greedily defraud or cheat. This is a rhetorical
queston. Verse 18 & 19a, are a rhetorical question also. He starts a series of questions in
which he is really making them think, as far as his relationship to them as a father in the
Word.
Who did he send? Titus and two other brothers.
II Cor. 12:17 Literal according to usage:
Did I cheat you by any of the brothers I have sent to you?
UII Cor. 12:18
"a brother," - did he send a brother? II Cor. 8; he sent two brothers. He sent one and then
later on he sent another brother. So now we have three - two brothers, plus Titus.
"brother," - is plural in the Aramaic, but not in the Greek. It has to be plural.
"same spirit," - used in I Cor. 12 - It is the same spirit, the self-same spirit. It is not a
bunch of different spirits. However, this usage here, is usage 6, which is "spiritually," and
usage 4a which are issues from the mind. Because, they walk spiritually the same. Did
not we have the same frame of mind as we walked and conducted ourselves among you?
"steps," - used two other times in the NT in this sense: Romans 4:12 - walking in the
believing steps of Abraham; & I Peter 2:21 - walking the steps of Jesus Christ, how he
endured patiently. So, we are to walk in the steps of believing, we are to walk in the steps
of enduring.
Here it is walking in the steps of giving or serving, rather than taking, cheating or taking
advantage of. It reminds Rev. Cummins of II Samuel 22:34. If you walk in these steps
you are putting your feet exactly on the solid ground.
II Cor. 12:18 Literal according to usage:
When I encouraged Titus and the brothers to go to you, did Titus cheat you? Didn't
we conduct our lives spiritually in the same manner?
Titus did go to them twice. The first time he returned and that would have to be the time
he is referring to here. It does not say how many brothers he sent with him, but for now
we will still go plural on brothers.
UII Cor. 12: 19
"again," -many texts use another word meaning "for a long time." One of the lexicons
offer it as "you imagine all along." "All along," what? You imagined all along this time we
have been boasting.
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"excuse," - is to defend. Is a rhetorical question.
II Cor. 10:8 - given authority to boast for their edification, not for their destruction.
He wrote for their edification, not to defend himself.
II Cor. 12:19 Literal according to usage:
Have you been supposing all this time [of boasting] that we have been defending
ourselves to you? We speak before God in Christ; and my dear Corinthians we have
been speaking all these things for your own edification [not for our defense.]
UII Cor. 12:20
"fear," = I am concerned.
"debates," = contentions, controversies, discord.
"envyings," - a better word would be jealousy.
"wraths," = lasting anger. One that is penned up and you hold onto it for a lifetime; it just
boils on.
"strifes," - Dr. Wierwille gives it as a "strenuous endeavor for superiority at the expense of
anyone or anything that stands in your way." It is a selfish ambition.
"backbitings," = defame or slander someone.
"whisperings," = gossip; telling tales or murmurings.
"swellings," = pride, conceit, egotism.
"tumults," - word used in James 3:16, where it says God is not the author of confusion. It
is confusion or disorder.
II Cor. 12:20 Literal according to usage:
Yet I am concerned that when I come I will not find you as I desire to find you, and
consequently you will not find me as you desire to find me. For I may find discord,
jealousy, pent up anger, selfish ambition, defamation, gossip, egotism, and confusion.
UII Cor. 12:21
"bewail," - is to mourn or grieve.
"sinned already," = literally means previously sinned. Only other place it is used is in
II Cor. 13:2.
"repented," - change in one's lifestyle, or walk. Forsake would be a better translation here.
"lasciviousness," = sensuality. Dr. Wierwille gives it as "the lust and the worldly pleasures
that produce it."
"committed," - means to practice habitually.
Do you think for a moment that God is going to humble Paul? When in II Cor. 10:1, (base
= humble) (bold = bold + daring). He says the first time I was humble among you. But,
now being absent, writing this epistle, I'm bold and daring. When he comes back the next
time, and finds things screwed up do you think he is going to be HUMBLE? NO!!!
II Cor. 13:2, "I will not spare."
That is why verse 21 is a question. Both the Aramaic and the Greek are constructed such
that if the verse is a question it expects a negative answer.
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II Cor. 12:21 Literal according to usage:
Then when I come again to you will my God humble me in your presence? Will I
mourn for those who have sinned previously and did not forsake their uncleanness,
fornication, and sensuality which they practice?
God "humbling" him means God directing him to be humble. It is not that God makes him
humble.
UII Cor. 13:1
"time," - it is in italics and is improperly supplied. If you wanted to supply a word it would
be "intended visit," or time that I am prepared, or ready to come.
UII Cor. 13:1b
Is a FOS - UgnomeU, it is a citation from Deut. 19:15. Also quoted in Matt. 8:16 (very
significant.) It is referred to in John 8:17, I Tim. 5:19, and Heb. 10:28.
If the Apostle Paul arrives in Corinth and finds the condition there, as described in II Cor.
12:20, he himself will act as the judge and as he says here in verse 2, I will not spare.
II Cor. 13:1 Literal according to usage:
This is the third time I have prepared to visit you. "In the mouth of two or three
witnesses shall every word be established."
UII Cor. 13:2
"To tell before," is the same word as foretell. It means to tell before. Since you have the
same word twice in different inflections it is the FOS, UpolyptotonU. I have foretold you and
I do foretell you. They are just different tenses.
As if I were present the second time - the epistles take the place of Paul's second visit.
"heretofore have sinned," - is the one word that means previously sinned, or sinned
previously (II Cor. 12:21.)
"and to all other," - In Aramaic it is "the rest of the others." In the Greek it is "all of the
rest," or " all the remainder."
Why all the others? Matt. 18:15 - confront him personally. Verse 16, confront in the front
of 2 or 3 others.
Matt. 18:17 - The third thing you do is to tell him in front of the whole church.
UII Cor. 13:1 & 2
You had these individuals who were way out of fellowship - "and to all others," = means
the whole church. They have not listened and after it is between two or three witnesses;
then you tell it to them before the whole church.
I will not spare!
UII Cor. 13:3
"Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me." - is a causative condition that should go
with verse 2. II Cor. 1:23 - II Cor. 13:2 - II Cor. 10:11. Wait till I get there!!
"which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you." - is a FOS; UpleonasmU - more words
are said than are necessary. He could have said "it is not weak," or, "it is mighty, powerful
in you." But he said both of them.
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"weak," = infirmity. A better translation which would communicate is vulnerability. If
you are weak, you are vulnerable. It is not being weak like you are a doormat for Jesus. It
is weak in the sense that you are vulnerable at certain places because of Satan's attacks on
your life. Yet, vulnerable does not really show the meaning of the word either. If you
understood weakness as a vulnerability, not just as a sickness or a mental weakness, or
something of that nature, or a physical weakness; it is a vulnerability but in a much broader
sense. Walter does not think there is a good English word to communicate it.
mighty - powerful - it is Christ-in-you!! They were questioning whether he could really do
it when he was with them.
That Christ-in-me, that speaking in manifestation, to you-ward is not vulnerable, it is
powerful.
UII Cor. 13:4
"weakness," = vulnerability
"power," - see the contrast of these two words.
There are places where Satan attacks us, but we shall live with him by the power of God
toward you.
II Cor. 13:2-4 Literal according to usage:
2. I have foretold and I do foretell as if I were now present with you on a second
visit. But since I am absent I write instead to those who have sinned previously as
well as to everyone else [the whole church]:
2b.-3. When I come again, I will not spare, since you want a proof of Christ in me
speaking to you, which is not vulnerable, but powerful among you.
4. For he was crucified while vulnerable [because of Satan's attacks,] but he lives by
the power of God. We also who walk in him are vulnerable [because of Satan's
attacks,] but we live with him by the power of God.
What's the conclusion to this whole matter after 29 chapters of reproof epistles?
Stay tuned for next weeks teaching.
End of Teaching