Led by the Spirit: A Galatians 5:16-26 Devotional

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things, there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Galatians 5:16-26 [NIV]

Paul spent this letter teaching the Galatians once again faith in Jesus Christ was what gave them salvation and eternal life. Other teachers had been in Galatia teaching them they had to obey the laws of God including the law that all men must undergo circumcision. These Judaizers added a works element to the salvation of the Gospel. Paul told them nothing of the flesh could give them salvation, but only by God’s grace through faith could they receive salvation.

In chapter five, Paul continued his comparison of living by the Law and living in the Spirit. He taught that living according to the Law was living in the flesh. It was based on what the person did or could do. Because it relied upon a person’s actions, which were often sinful – self-centered, arrogant, self-seeking, etc – living by the flesh could not save them nor give them right relationships with God and other people. Paul taught that living according to the Spirit of Christ, whom God puts in each new believer, was living with the love of Christ in them – love for other people and love for God. Paul said what is of the Spirit is contrary to what is of the flesh. What a person wants often goes against what God wants and what is best for every person affected.

In verse fourteen, Paul reminded the Galatians the Law is summed up in one word, “love.” Since people are sinful, they do not keep the laws God gave. The love of the laws is warped often because a person wants what he or she wants more than what God wants. Because of this, Paul gave the Galatians a list of actions and attitudes that are contrary to God and the intent of His Law. These actions are self-focused and break relationships between people and between the person and God. These acts of the flesh he identified in verses nineteen to twenty-one.

The love God seeks to implant into people, which the Law could not instill because of the sinfulness of humankind, comes through the Spirit of Jesus Christ who dwells within each believer. This love is not twisted by the machinations of a human mind or greed, but is pure and from God. Paul listed some of the attributes of a person in whom the Holy Spirit lives in verses twenty-two and twenty-three.

If you compare these two lists, you will find the second list builds relationship among people and with God, and develops a person’s sense of worth based on the value God places on the person. The latter listing of attributes and characteristics are in line with the purpose and intent of God throughout the whole Bible and align directly with the two greatest commandments Christ taught His disciples and followers. The intent of the Bible is for people to be in a love relationship with God. This love relationship then affects the relationship of people with each other. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:36-38 [NASB]).

Paul’s point to the Galatians, once again, was they were not to be tied to the Law for salvation because it could not give it. It provided bondage because the flesh is sinful. Instead, live by the Spirit, the freedom Christ put into each believer. By living in the Spirit, the person lives in the manner of Jesus Christ – with love for the Father and love for other people. By doing this, people will not become enslaved to their sinful, human selves. By becoming enslaved to their own desires people become self-focused, envious, and provoke envy. These do not lead to harmony and love, but to chaos and self-seeking.

Paul taught the Galatians they received salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by following the Law. By seeking to follow the laws, they tried to earn salvation, which no one can earn because of human sinfulness. Besides this, striving to earn salvation puts self-seeking ahead of the needs and care of other people. Jesus summed the Scripture when He said we are to love the LORD God and our neighbor. Self-seeking does not put other people first, but second or last. By allowing the Spirit to lead us instead of trying to earn salvation, we allow the love of God to show in us, care for others, and develop a deeper relationship between God and us in our hearts.

Today we each need to stop and consider if we are trying in our strength to be what God wants us to be – to love people, to do for them, to make sure we are walking in the right direction, etc. We need to stop and see if our focus has shifted from God and developing relationship with Him to a focus on ourselves and how we can do more for God. If we are focused on God and our relationship with Him, He will lead us in our daily steps. We will not have to wonder if we are doing what He wants us to do. We can get so caught up in working for God that we lose sight of our relationship with Him and then no longer hear Him as vividly.

Today, take a moment and stop to focus on God. Ask Him to guide you to know if you have walked away from your close relationship with Him. Return to your quiet time with Him reading His Word, praying for closeness and guidance, and walking from that quiet time with His Spirit guiding you. Focus more on being in relationship with God and less on doing. Your relationship with God and with other people will be renewed so that you follow the two greatest commandments as Jesus said in Matthew 22:36-38.

Be led by the Spirit.

Philippians 4:1-9 A Devotion

8 “Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” [NASB]

In this chapter, Paul teaches and encourages the Christians at Philippi to have, do, and be certain things. The first thing he told them was to stand firm (persevere). He calls them his joy and crown. The Philippians are dear to Paul and he is proud of their testimony in the world. People from other cities and towns heard about them and spoke highly of them to other people and Paul heard. Paul gave a list of attributes for the Philippians to strive toward and to continue to be.

Paul told them to rejoice in the Lord always. No matter what occurred to or around them, to keep an attitude of joy and rejoicing. Rejoicing is the praise back to God for the joy that resides in a person. The joy comes from gratitude in what the Lord gave or did for a person.

Be joyful and not anxious about anything, remembering God provides. God wants you to come to Him with your requests and thanks. He wants to be in relationship with you in everything – good, bad, trials, temptations.

Have the peace of God, the one who is Creator, Provider, and Victor. Realize nothing can thwart God’s will.

Finally, think on the true and truthful. Dwell on the honorable and the things and people to be venerated and revered. Reckon with the right, righteous, innocent, and guiltless. Meditate on the pure from fault, sacred, chaste, and clean. Deliberate on the lovely, acceptable, and pleasing. Consider those people and things with good repute who and what are auspicious. Keep these things and people in mind. Consider them. Emulate them. See their effect. Keep your mind on that which God calls good, pure, etc. When you do, you will be less tempted and affected by evil and  to sin.

If there is anything of excellence, virtue, moral goodness and purity, and if there is anything worthy of praise and commendation, dwell on and consider them. Keep these things most in your mind so you will be like them for these are from God. Practice them and the righteous God of goodness, peace, and love will be with you. He will reside with you and lead you to continue walking in these attributes.

So we see that thinking on each of these things, makes us consider them, count them worthy, and then emulate them ourselves as good things. These things, we will see, come from God. We will have peace when we do the things of God and use the attributes God gave us and approves of.

We each want peace. Paul was proud of the Philippians. There are “Pauls” in our day, too. Maybe you have a Paul-like person in your life, if you don’t, place Jesus in his place. As you consider these things and decide to act, make sure the actions you do would make your “Paul” and Jesus long to see you and declare you his/His joy and crown.

This is our mandate today. Have these characteristics and live them out so that Jesus can be proud of you and declare you His, just as Paul declared the Philippians his brethren and was proud of them.

Jesus' Final Commands and Baptism with the Holy Spirit

Acts 1:1-8

1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.

3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me;

5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"

7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;

8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

            We each may remember reading these words or hearing them from someone, especially verse 8. Many a son or daughter from a Christian family recited them in front of the church or in their missions group. This week, though, God drew my attention to verse 5. Jesus told the disciples, “You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Many people equate baptism by the Holy Spirit as a separate occurrence from salvation. When they do this, they create another level that Christ did not teach. My curiosity piqued, I delved into what this baptism by the Holy Spirit meant in this passage and in the New Testament as a whole. By doing this, I hope we can understand and not be misled. Many believe that your actions must speak of your baptism by the Spirit in ways such as speaking in tongues or miraculous healings. Let us dive deep into the Word to understand what Christ and the New Testament writers meant when they spoke about baptism with the Holy Spirit.

            First, we must understand what the word “baptized” means in this context. Baptized comes from the Greek word baptizo. Baptizo means being permanently changed. This permanent change is such that a union and identification with Christ occurs. A person becomes so Christlike that people cannot see the original person so much as they can see Christ living in and through the person. Intellectual assent to Christ is not enough, but a permanent change to the person occurs so that the person can say as Paul did, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20, [NASB]). If we read Galatians to 3:27, we find that Paul spoke of his baptism in Christ. He meant that he was clothed in Christ. His being sank into Christ so that it was as if he put on new clothes, a new life. Jesus is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist said this in Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, and John 1:33, though he did not say what this meant. Our verse today tells us that Jesus spoke of baptism by the Holy Spirit, but did not say what it meant. In the sixth of seven references in the New Testament regarding baptism with the Holy Spirit, Acts 11:15-16 refers us to an incident in Acts 10. In this incident, Peter preached the Gospel to the household of Cornelius. Three things occurred there: 1) they received salvation, 2) they spoke in tongues, and 3) they received water baptism. Peter understood that the promise of baptism with the Spirit occurred. Yet, no statement occurred as to what was the baptism of the Spirit..

The final occurrence in the New Testament of baptism with the Holy Spirit is in 1 Corinthians 12:13. This passage says, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” Scripture affirms that this baptism is the same as the other six. First, Ephesians 4:5 declares only one baptism, so each of the seven references must speak of the same baptism. It does not refer to water baptism (an ordinance of Christ symbolizing outwardly what Christ has done within a person), but to baptism with the Holy Spirit. Christ unites the believer with Himself through the Holy Spirit in this baptism. Believer’s baptism into the body of Christ is one baptism. Second, the preposition before Holy Spirit in each of these passages in the Greek can mean “by”, "with”, or "in”. In 1 Corinthians 12:13 and the other six passages referred to above, this Greek preposition translates as “by one Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is not the one who baptizes; Jesus is the baptizer. Jesus baptizes the believer into His spiritual body by, with, or in the Holy Spirit. Third, in 1 Corinthians 12:13, the special ending on “Spirit” in the Greek language shows how the Holy Spirit is not the one doing the action of baptizing. Jesus is the baptizer. Concluding this part of the study, Jesus Christ is the one who is the baptizer and He baptizes every believer into His spiritual body with the Holy Spirit. This baptism occurs because the person experiences a life change when he or she acknowledges with their heart, mind, and soul that Jesus is the Lord and Savior of his or her life. The person becomes so identified in union with Christ that his or her old self is no longer identifiable, but Christ in him or her was.

What does the Holy Spirit do in us? Why do we need to receive the Father’s promise of Christ’s Holy Spirit? What Jesus said in John 16:14 sums it well, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.” What is it the Holy Spirit helps the Christian with since Jesus Christ, in John 14:16 and 26, calls Him the Helper? The Holy Spirit lives in the Christian and ministers to every spiritual need that the Christian’s heart is willing to receive. These ministries of the Holy Spirit encompass two distinct areas – ministries to the person and ministries through the Christian. The first part covers the person’s conversion experience:

 Convicting (John 16:8),

Participating in new birth (John 3:5),

 Imparting new life (Romans 8:11),

Uniting the Christian with Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13),

Sealing the Christian as God’s own (Ephesians 1:13), and

Guaranteeing the Christian’s inheritance (Ephesians 1:14)

and the person’s daily life:

 Indwelling the Christian (John 14:23),

Enabling victorious living (1 John 4:4),

Being the Helper and Teacher (John 14:26,

Calling the Christian for special service for Christ (Acts 13:2),

Interceding in prayer for the Christian (Romans 8:26-27),

Assuring the Christian of his or her salvation (1 John 4:13), and

Working in the Christian’s life to make him or her more fruitful and like Jesus (Galatians 5:22-23).

The second part of the Holy Spirit’s work is through the Christian. He works in these ways:

            Empowering the Christian for witnessing (Acts 1:8) and

Giving spiritual gifts to each Christian for edifying the church (1 Corinthians 12:4-31 and 1 Peter 4:10).

These show that God continues to take part in the Christian’s life through the Holy Spirit from the point at which the person seeks for and accepts Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit works in the life of the Christian so that Jesus Christ is glorified.

This topic often leads to the question where people wonder: why do others say a person must speak in tongues or heal people through miracles to be considered a Christian? They speak of two baptisms: the baptism with water and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. First, the baptism with water does not give salvation. This baptism is a physical outward symbol of what occurred within a person when they accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. This baptism is a testimony by the person to the work Jesus Christ did in him or her. The water baptism is enacted in obedience to Jesus' ordinance that believers be baptized with water. Second, as explained in earlier paragraphs, no mention of the Holy Spirit baptizing people is found in the New Testament. If you look at the seven texts in the New Testament speaking on baptizing with, by, or in the Holy Spirit, none of them say the Holy Spirit is the one performing the baptism. They say Jesus Christ is the one who performs baptism. There is just one baptism, the baptism of a believer by Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit into the spiritual body of Christ. This baptism with the Holy Spirit means a believer has within him or herself the residing presence of Christ. The Father gave this promise of a Helper to His people and Christ reminds them of it in Acts 1:4. In John 14:16 and 26, Jesus said this promise is a “Helper” that will “teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said.” Jesus further identified this Helper as the Spirit of truth whom He sent to believers from the Father. He said the Spirit will testify concerning Him. In Acts 2:33, Peter testified to this promise coming from the Father just as Jesus said. This last verse tells us that because the Holy Spirit filled the apostles, they spoke in tongues and testified of Jesus, which resulted in three thousand people believing in Jesus and being saved.

This outpouring of the Spirit resulting in the speaking in tongues makes it appear as if the mark of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. People then interpret this as being required for every Christian. At least, that is how people read it. In this case, the in-filling of the Holy Spirit  produced speaking in tongues (glossolalia). Yet, the result was that three thousand people received salvation. At the time of the preaching in tongues at Pentecost, there were many people from other countries in Jerusalem for the Passover. When the apostles spoke in tongues, they were speaking in the languages and dialects of the people present in Jerusalem. (See Acts 2:4-12). Paul, later in 1 Corinthians 14”1-18, instructed about the gifts of the Spirit, from which he pointed to speaking in tongues. He taught that speaking in tongues is speaking to God. When there is no interpreter, it does not edify others in the church. They cannot understand and say Amen to what the person prayed to God in tongues. Paul said it would be better to speak in tongues and interpret so that everyone in church can take part in the prayer with God and give their Amen. He said that speaking in tongues without a translator is like speaking into the air. On the day of Pentecost, the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, by speaking in tongues, had an audience who understood since the apostles spoke in the dialects of the people in Jerusalem that day. The proclamation of the Gospel by the apostles reaped fruit for the kingdom; three thousand believed and brought into the kingdom of God. From this then, we find that the Holy Spirit within a person can cause them to speak in tongues. Speaking in tongues, though, is not something for which we strive, but occurs as we commune with God as do any other of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. The meaning of what was spoken on tongues should be interpreted for the edification of others to the glory of God. Also, no baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs in the Bible, as said in earlier paragraphs. Jesus is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. There is just one baptism and that is into the body of Christ. This baptism is a permanent uniting of Christ’s Spirit with ours so one cannot be differentiated from the other.

What we need to differentiate between, then, regards being baptized with the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit. In reading the above, you should understand that being baptized with the Spirit means being brought into the body of Christ - His Church and Kingdom - through the person’s acceptance of Jesus as his or her Lord and Savior. Being filled with the Spirit results in witnessing or other ministry through which Jesus is glorified. The work of the Holy Spirit is always to glorify Jesus. There are many examples of people being filled by the Holy Spirit for a task in the New Testament. A few examples of being filled with the Holy Spirit include:

1.  Luke’s account of how John the Baptist would serve the Lord (Luke 1:15),
2.  Luke’s telling of how Elizabeth recognized the presence of Jesus though He was still in the womb of Mary (Luke 1:41),
3. Luke’s record of the apostles speaking in tongues to the people on Pentecost (Acts 2:4),
4. Luke’s record of Peter speaking boldly of Jesus (Acts 4:8),
5. Luke’s record of Stephen being comforted and witnessing of Jesus while he people stoned him (Acts 7:55),
6. Luke’s account of Paul being filled with the Spirit to rebuke Elymas, the magician, and impose temporary blindness on him led Sergius Paulus to accept Christ as his Savior (Acts 13:9), and
7. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians where he commands Christians to be filled with the Spirit so they can edify one another (Ephesians 5:18).

The filling of the Holy Spirit empowers us to minister, glorify Jesus Christ, and have power over Satan. There was no one way the Holy Spirit manifested His power in individuals in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit determined the power needed by the circumstances at that time. The New Testament recorded speaking in tongues a couple of times to the glory of Jesus. One we studied was when the apostles spoke in tongues in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Another time was when the household of Cornelius spoke in tongues after Peter told them the Gospel and they believed and accepted Christ as Savior. The glory given to Jesus in that instance was to show Peter and his coworkers that the power of the Holy Spirit does not rest solely upon them, Jewish Christians and apostles. The Holy Spirit gives power as needed to both Jewish and Gentile Christians for ministry anywhere  so that Jesus receives the glory. The filling of the Holy Spirit equips Christians with power for service and victorious living. The Holy Spirit fills a person who ministers for Christ, the reason you hear of ministers and other witnesses asking for a filling of the Holy Spirit. They want to give one hundred percent of themselves over to Jesus for His purposes and allow Him to use them for His power and glory. Believers are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Each day a Christian must go before God, put aside him or herself, and allow Jesus to be the master of his or her day. Each day Christians must choose to follow Jesus instead of his or her own way. By confessing of one’s sins, renewing one’s vows with God, and asking Him to fill one’s self with His Holy Spirit, a person gives his or her life completely to God that day. Each day, Christians must intentionally give themselves to Christ for His purposes because humans are fallible, sinful, and willful.

            One other question might arise from this study. Why were the apostles only baptized with the Holy Spirit after Christ ascended to heaven? Did they not believe that Jesus was the Son of God before that time? Jesus somewhat answered that question when He spoke to John’s disciples and the Pharisees regarding fasting in Matthew 9:14-17. Jesus answered that His disciples did not need to fast because He was still with them. Using this reasoning to answer our question, Jesus’ disciples were walking daily with Jesus. They did not have the need for the Helper in their lives because Christ walked in person with them. Christ gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit after He ascended into heaven while they were in the upper room. Jesus said the Holy Spirit is given to teach all things and to bring to remembrance of all He said (John 14:26). The answer is that the apostles had Jesus walking with them until His ascension, so they did not need the Holy Spirit until Jesus left them. When Jesus left, He sent His Holy Spirit to them. The Spirit, then, filled them with His power to speak the Gospel in multiple dialects to the people who were in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration.

            Now, since we understand the gift, the purpose, and the power of the Holy Spirit, we must return to Acts 1:1-8. Jesus gave two commands in this passage of the Bible. He told them to “wait for what the Father had promised, which you heard from Me” (vs. 4) and “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth” (vs. 8). What does this mean for us, especially at this Easter time? Since we are Christians, followers of Jesus, we do have the Holy Spirit living in us because we are part of the spiritual body of Christ. To fulfill Jesus’ command, we must ask to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit so we can witness to our city, country, neighboring country, and the world.

            Jesus told His disciples what was the most important thing for them to remember right before His departure from earth after His resurrection. He told them to be filled with the Holy Spirit’s power - call upon and walk in His power. Next, He told them to be witnesses of Him - His love, salvation, resurrection, and power. The latter should not be done without the former. Yes, Christians do have the Holy Spirit in them, but, they must daily choose to walk in God’s path with His power, which comes through the Holy Spirit. Without the centering of ourself in Christ each day, we become self-focused and take any glory for ourselves. Satan’s lies lead us the wrong way because we are not focused on God and do not have His power to combat Satan. We can only fight him with our own strength then. Satan will try to sidetrack Christians from witnessing of Jesus Christ. One of the biggest ruses Satan uses is pointing out that Jesus has not returned in 2000 years so He will not be coming soon. Satan wants us to believe this so we do not rush to witness. He says we have plenty of time, so play, relax, and enjoy life. Jesus addressed this, too in Acts 1:6-7. He said you do not know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. You do not know, it could be today, tomorrow, or next year. Consider though, as Paul told the Corinthians, it will happen “in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52). Jesus said in Matthew 24:36, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” Jesus told the apostles and He tells every one of His disciples that we do not know when He is returning to earth to reclaim His children. He commands us each to be filled with His Holy Spirit and go out everywhere. We are to witness about Him, His love, and His salvation freely given and offered for everyone.

            Each of us has a choice to make regarding Jesus. Will we believe He is the Son of God who took away the sins of the earth and accept His forgiveness and salvation? If so, at that point of your belief Jesus Christ baptizes you into the spiritual body of Christ with the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His disciples to go and make disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19). In verse 18, Jesus gave His power to His disciples to work for Him in ministry. This power is available to us through His Holy Spirit living in us. We must choose each day to walk in Jesus’ path, for His purposes, and ask to be filled by the Spirit for His work that day. When we do this, we follow what Christ told His disciples in Acts 1:1-8. Instead of saying, “Christ has not returned in these last 2000 years, thus we have time to play” or worrying over the signs that He may be returning soon, we should be busy with the task He left us. We should be witnessing of His Gospel of love and salvation with our words and actions through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. We must be busy with God’s work while we are on earth using the fruits of the Spirit with which He gifted us. If we do not, then we should consider if we are definitely disciples of Christ. If you are not united and identified with Christ in such a way that you are displaying fruits of the spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – then you need to decide if you are truly a disciple of Jesus. You need to decide if you are saved by His love and grace from eternal punishment in hell.

            Do you have a decision to make today? Have you decided to ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior? Have you determined that you are a Christian but have not been following Jesus’ last commands? Now is the time to make those decisions. Now is the time to decide to accept God’s love, grace, and forgiveness through His Son, Jesus Christ. Now is the time to decide if you will follow His commands to witness to all people about the Gospel of Jesus by the filling of His Holy Spirit, His gift to Christians. Come before God now and make those decisions today for you do not know the time when Jesus will return. When He returns, it will be too late.

What is your decision today?

Hearing and Heeding

Continuing with the study of 2 Corinthians, what happened after Paul wrote to the Corinthians appealing to them to give to the poor in Jerusalem as God had prompted them? Why, just 4 chapters later, is Paul saying 2 Corinthians 13:10 (NASB), “For this reason I am writing these things while absent, so that when present I need not use severity, in accordance with the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down?”

Consider chapter 10. Paul began the chapter by describing himself so that by the time he arrived at verse 10, he made us aware that the false apostles said Paul had little integrity. 2 Corinthians 10:10 states, “For they say, ‘His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible’." Before we think that Paul delayed weightier matters for the end of the letter, let us look again at chapter 1 verses 23-24. Paul stated, “But I call God as witness to my soul, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm.” What Paul wrote in chapters 10-13 is not something new and disturbed him much. Paul went back to how he began his second letter to the Corinthians. The Corinthians allowed false apostles to sway their belief away from the Gospel Paul and his colleagues preached.

These false apostles preached with much persuasion and power. They accepted offerings of payment from the Corinthians. The false apostles used these two things to wedge doubt about Paul and the other apostles into the Corinthians’ minds. Paul states in 2 Corinthians. 11:10-16 (NASB), 

But what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little.

Paul directly approached the slander to his authority as an apostle at the very beginning of this letter. In chapter 1, we read he attacked this slander against him with his credentials of whom he was and by whose authority he preached the Gospel. In 1:21-22, he stated how he and the Corinthians discerned with certainty that he proclaimed the true Gospel. Paul wrote, “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, 22 who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22, NASB). Paul attested without a doubt that Christ had called him to preach the Good News since his own conversion on the road to Damascus. (See Acts 9.) In 2 Corinthians 11:10-16, Paul spoke specifically against these men; he called them false apostles. Paul countered their claim of his foolishness by stating that even if others believed these men and thought Paul foolish, he accepted that so long as they did not fall away from God to follow these “servants of Satan.” Paul was willing to “become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22b, NASB).

            Paul, though, did not consider himself great enough in speech, strength, or authority to persuade humankind to follow Christ. He often spoke of his weakness. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul spoke of his weakness as a thorn in the flesh, similar to a nagging splinter, that did not let him forget his weakness. He stated in 2 Corinthians 12:7, “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-to keep me from exalting myself!” This thorn kept him humble and reliant upon God. God's power and strength in Paul spread the Gospel. Paul asked God three times to remove this thorn but God told him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9, NASB). Paul responded, “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10, NASB). Paul did not allow his thorn to stop him from spreading the Gospel; he allowed his liability to keep him focused on the power and strength of God to use him. He was aware of his weaknesses and of God’s might. Where these false apostles tried to create a wedge by speaking of Paul as a weak and small man, Paul turned around to say that because of his own weakness God’s power and strength showed more poignantly.

            Paul’s statement should give us pause to stop and think. First, are there personal weaknesses we have that we hold up to God as an excuse that He cannot use us for His service? Moses did that when God told him to speak with Pharaoh. That incident did not deter God from His purpose; He called Aaron, Moses’ brother, to speak for Him instead. What did Paul teach us in this lesson? God uses broken people, people with personal limitations, to show His power and strength. If God used a strong person, what that person does could confuse the recipient into thinking the strength of the person and not God is how the action occurred. God would not be given the glory and would not be followed. God chooses those who recognize they are weak.

            Paul’s statement to the Corinthians in chapter 13 verse 5 told the Corinthians to “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you-unless indeed you fail the test? (NASB). Paul wanted them to understand with surety their faith is in Jesus. He told them to test themselves. After this verse in the letter, we do not read in what way Paul told them to test themselves. However, if we go back to chapter 1 verses 21-22, we find out how to be sure Christ lived in them. These verses tell us, “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.” (NASB). They could be sure of their faith in Christ by the means in which Paul and the other apostles were sure, if they experienced the Holy Spirit residing in them. If they witnessed they were bearing fruits of the Spirit, then they would know Christ resided in and God anointed them.

Paul does not end his chapter here with a final teaching. His final lesson, maybe it should be called his warning, is this: “For this reason I am writing these things while absent, so that when present I need not use severity, in accordance with the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.” (1 Corinthians 13:10, NASB). Paul gave his major purpose for writing this letter to the Corinthians. He is not being weak in this statement nor too gentle, as he was in chapters 8 and 9. In this verse, he wrote with great urgency that they heed him while he is absent from them because if they did not, his severity, as the severity from God, would be heard and felt. Like our loving Father in heaven, Paul dealt with the Corinthians in this letter with tact and gentleness, sometimes with sarcasm, to remind them of what he taught them before and to re-teach them in some cases. Paul may appear weak, but through him, the voice of God was known. God can be gentle, but we have read and heard of God’s patience being tried too far, and then we can experience His severity through judgment and discipline. Paul warned them several times in this letter. His final statement before his farewell told the Corinthians in no uncertain terms that either they test to find out whom they follow and return to God or be judged and rebuked by God. This is Paul’s final word to them.

What does this mean for us today? First, when confronted with a person who appears to have great authority and strength and who states he speaks for God, test to discern if what he is saying is what you know is from the Bible. Are the words this person speaks against the Word God gave in the Bible? We must remember the power and authority of a person does not mean God is using the person. God uses the weak to confound the strong with His strength. Remember Paul’s words to the Corinthians in his first letter, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:25, NASB). God does not necessarily use the strong, wise, or well spoken.

Second, ensure that who and what you are allowing to guide you is God and not a manmade thing, religion, or even a charismatic person. Paul told the Corinthians to do this, too, remember. He said, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!” (2 Corinthians 13:5, NASB). To ensure this, check to identify whether the Holy Spirit resides in you (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). If you are a Christ follower, His Spirit will live in you and will result in the fruit of the Spirit being evident, which comes from a daily relationship with God. (See Galatians 5:22-23).

Finally, make sure that you are responding in obedience to the promptings to your heart by God through the Holy Spirit. Paul urgently spoke to the Corinthians concerning their procrastinating in fulfilling their pledge to send support to the poor in Jerusalem. He spoke gently to them in chapters 8 and 9, but by the end of the letter, in chapter 13, Paul wrote with severity and warned them of his reaction if he arrived in Corinth and found the Corinthians had not collected for the poor and sent it to Jerusalem. Paul was the voice of God to the Corinthian believers. He tactfully and gently prodded them to their commitment first. After much urging, he took a stronger stand with them and told them he would judge and chastise them if they had not fulfilled their commitment. God, our loving Father, relates to us in this same way. He hopes that we will act upon the Spirit’s prompting of our hearts. If that fails to bear fruit, He gently urges and encourages us. When these fail, God becomes stern and warns us to do what He told us or be judged and disciplined by Him. Finally, if we do not heed God’s stern warning, He will discipline us. This is how He has acted with humankind throughout history. Consider the Israelites wandering in the wilderness for forty years as a discipline to not believing and following God into the Promised Land. Consider the people of Noah’s time who did not heed God and died in the great flood. Consider, too, when the Israelites had been warned repeatedly by God through the prophets to return to God and not worship other gods and idols. God gave them as captives to other nations for decades and centuries.

We each must decide if we will recognize God’s voice and heed it. We each must decide to be obedient to the call God has put into our hearts. We each must decide to be in a love relationship with God through the redemption paid by His Son, Jesus. We must decide for ourselves who we will follow, our own selves or God, and whether we will be faithful to God. Will we be people who must be warned, chastised, and disciplined or will we follow God faithfully? Seeing Paul’s ire build in 2 Corinthians, and he but a small man, I do not want to be subject to God’s disappointment and judgment. I choose the way of God. I pray for my obedience to follow-through with my commitments to Him promptly. What is the Holy Spirit saying to your heart today?