Community - 2 Corinthians 5

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Mark 11:1-11 Colossians 1:1-8 2 Corinthians 1-5 (Excerpts) Maturing in faith, love, and hope Conflict and Reconciliation Introduction In our second week of our “Good and Beautiful Community” series, we build upon last week’s message of the peculiarity of the people of God. In last week’s sermon and Study Guide, we discussed the peculiarity of God’s people as his “special possession”: we are for God, uniquely called to be his holy priesthood, set apart from the surrounding ways of our culture by our beautiful, virtuous way of life. Digging into 1 Peter 2, we saw clearly the reason that we are to live into this peculiar identity—to be a light to the nations, glorifying God. This week we decipher one critical way that we are to live out our peculiarity—as a reconciling community. We do so welcoming to the pulpit Salim Munayer, a PalestinianIsraeli who serves as Executive Director and Founder of Musalaha Ministry of Reconciliation, which has been bringing Israelis and Palestinians together the last three decades. We will root Dr. Munayer’s preaching in Paul’s well-known passage of reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5, while also looking to the preceding chapters to see the context of Paul’s appeal.

Connection Group Study COMMENTARY STUDY 1:23-2:4. If we jump into the passage of 2 Corinthians 5 without adequately understanding the general contour of the epistle, it will be difficult to appreciate the full

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1:23-2:4. Study: Read 1 Corinthians 16:5-9, where Paul describes his original itinerary. Discuss: What is the tone of these verses? How does this

force of Paul’s message. The early chapters of 2 Corinthians set the scene. In these verses, Paul explains the reason for not returning to Corinth as originally planned (as described in 1 Corinthians 16): on the heels of a painful letter (which we do not have preserved as part of our Bible) that Paul sent to the church at Corinth, he notes his desire to spare additional conflict and pain, and emphasizes his “abundant love” for the church. Such is the rationale behind his change in itinerary.

2:5-2:11. Paul’s letter “of much affliction and anguish of heart” (2:4) most likely touched on his intense conflict with someone from within the church, whom he describes in these verses. While he leaves both the details of the offence and the ensuing punishment against the offender undefined for us readers, it is clear that he desires to restore that person through forgiveness, comfort, and love.

tone correspond with that of 2 Corinthians 1:23 - 2:4?

Discuss: Have you experienced a situation similar to that of Paul—having to change plans on beloved friends or family, with the result being a severe breakdown in relationship? Why do you think the conflict was so intense? What are some of the emotional factors in the equation?

2:5-2:11. Reflect: Does this model of restoration by forgiveness, comfort, and love mark your life of discipleship? Does it mark your life as a Connection Group? How is the call to live this way good news to you this week?

Discuss: Paul notes two dangers here of not forgiving and not re-embracing those who have already been correctly punished for stirring up conflict: excess sorrow and Satan’s designs. How do you think these two ideas are connected?

Meditate: Whom might the Spirit be putting on your heart in terms of prior conflict and a present call to “reaffirm love”?

4:7-12. Were we to have more time or space to look more thoroughly into 2 Corinthians, we’d see that one of the most

4:7-12. Discuss: For too many believers in Corinth, strength and weakness were apparently incompatible, particularly as

central matters of the epistle is Paul’s apostolic authority in Corinth. Does the risen Lord speak through Paul, a man of weakness, who supposedly does not bear the qualities erroneously expected by some in Corinth? For instance, later this week, just take a peek at the themes and language of chapters 10 through 13. In those chapters, it is abundantly clear that Paul’s understanding of what it looks like and means to be an apostle differs vastly from that of the Corinthians; this explains in large part the conflict between Paul and the church. Here, then, in these verses, Paul presents a picture of the marks of a true strength in Christ—strength in weakness. For Paul, the treasure that is the ministry of God has been entrusted to we who are truly jars of clay— weak and lowly vessels who, identifying in the death of Jesus, glorify the life of Christ.

5:11-15. Having ever so briefly, and inadequately, sketched the general context of 1 Corinthians 1-4—one of resolution amidst conflict, and strength amidst weakness—we are well equipped to jump into the well-known passage on reconciliation in chapter 5. One particular word in this section sticks out—peitho (πείθω), “to persuade.” Peitho has unmistakable associations in Greek culture, in that the term implied rhetorical and oratory prowess. Here then, once again, Paul is defining his apostleship and his understanding of Christian strength

regards the character of an apostle of Jesus. In what ways is this still true in our 21st-century culture?

Reflect: How have you previously experienced the truth of these verses in 2 Corinthians 4—that, in Christ, human weakness brings glory to God? Encourage one another with your own testimonies.

Pray: While is no easy thing to do, pray according to Paul’s appeal in these verses: ask that Christ in you would lead you, in the words of Chrysostom—the fourth-century Archbishop of Constantinople—to “emulate the apostles in their dangers and their indignities, [and] not in their honours and glories.”

5:11-15. Listen: Listen to that great hymn, written by the 18th-century English minister Isaac Watts, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” If you feel so led, sing the hymn together as a Connection Group. How is this song speaking to you in light of all that we have studied today?

Confess: Confess silently to God (and, if you truly feel comfortable, vocally to one another), the ways that you have recently judged your Christian sisters or brothers, according to “outward appearance,” not according to “the heart.” (Do so aloud only

by cutting directly across the grain of the time. The first-century marketplace (the commons of life) was defined by those who could “persuade,” peitho, with the greatest verbal eloquence; in contrast, the first-century church was to be peculiarly different, marked not by outward appearances but by an inward character illuminated by love and suffering.

5:16-21. Paul now launches into that beautiful portrayal of our new identity in union with Christ: “the old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” No longer must we measure strength according to the values of the world, for by Christ’s reconciliation we can look to strength in weakness—in hardship, calamities, sleepless nights, and hunger (6:5). And this is all by the reconciliation that we have received in Christ, and of which we move outward into the world as ambassadors. Putting the pieces together of our study, then: by the reconciliation of Christ, we no longer measure ourselves according to false scales that lead us to doubt one another’s call and giftings in Christ. Had the Corinthians understood this truth, the offender from chapter 2 would likely have never made his charges against Paul, charges that lead to the painful realities of changed itineraries and ruptured relationships.

if you can share without revealing any names, and without gossiping in any way.)

Discuss: What spiritual disciplines might assist you in moving forward on the lifelong path of discipleship as regards no longer living for yourself but for Christ?

5:16-21. Discuss: How has doing the hard work of understanding biblical context brought today’s verses from 2 Corinthians 5 to greater life than were you to have simply jumped right into into chapter 5?

Discern: How are you being called, together as a Connection Group, to live as ambassadress of Christ’s reconciliation in the spheres of your neighbourhoods, workplaces, retirement homes, and schools? What is one organic step you can take forward in this regard?

Pray: Author James Bryan Smith quotes the false narrative, “Only when we forgive will we be forgiven and healed”, replacing it with the true narrative, “Only when we know we have been forgiven will we find healing, and become able to forgive.” Pray that all the members of your group will know intimately God’s immeasurable forgiveness.