The rest of the story

2 Corinthians 2:12-17

Many of my readers may not have lived at the time of Paul Harvey, a newsman and a great storyteller that always gave us the rest of the story.  I’m not either of those, but let me share with you the rest of the story.  There has been a riot in Ephesus brought about by a silversmith named Demetrius, who was in the business of making silver shrines of Artemis, and as the gospel of a living Christ was growing and people were being converted it was hurting business.  So Demetrius gathered men of his trade and they began telling the people that Paul and people who followed the teachings of Christ were having an all out attack on the goddess Artemis, and a riot broke out.

Paul had already been lead by the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem before the riot, so soon after he departed for Macedonia.  You can read the account in Acts 19 and 20:1-2, but you will not find Titus’ name but it is clear that he like Timothy were considered Paul’s children in the faith and Titus a Gentile was left in Corinth to deal with the misunderstanding that had been fostered by the false teachers.

I also was not sure about what Paul was describing in verse 14, and this is the insight I got from HCSB on page 1993 in the footnotes in 2:14-16.  In times past, the generals after a victory would parade into the capital city all the captives as treasure on display before the king.  In doing this they burned sweet incense and “the citizens saw and smelled evidence of victory.  The message is that Christ our King is leading Paul and all other believers into the eternal city where God is King.”

Verse seventeen states; “For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.”  Many years ago I sat under a great teacher of the Scriptures, his name was Harlan Caton, and one day in a sermon he told us very clear without mincing words that he did not work for us, that he was not anybody’s hireling.  A hireling is a person who is motivated by money and works purely for material reward.  He made it clear that his calling was to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to any and everyone who would listen to him, and his Lord would supply all his needs.  The apostle Paul addresses this issue in 1 Corinthians 9, a very good read and we must pay attention to verses 15-18.  We also find Paul bringing up his boast of not taking pay from the churches at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 11:7-15.  You will also find the apostle Peter warning us against false teachers in 2 Peter 2:1-4, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice