August 4
Bible Reading: 2 Corinthians 6
2 Corinthians 6:8-10, “Through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.”
According to Webster’s Dictionary a paradox is “an argument that apparently derives self-contradictory conclusions by valid deduction from acceptable premises.” We have such an argument in this series of descriptive phrases regarding various aspects of Paul’s life in ministry. Ministry is a paradox. God’s work done God’s way meets with Satan’s opposition. Because of that, and other factors, Christ-centered ministry is characterized by both opportunities and obstacles, triumphs and trials, and delights and defeats. It is filled with the good, the bad, and sometimes even the ugly.
“Through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise” (2 Corinthians 6:8). Paul was sometimes honored and praised. One would imagine him typically receiving an exceedingly warm welcome when he returned to the churches where he had ministered. The elders in Ephesus wept out loud when the time came for his departure (Acts 20:37). But some in the church in Corinth were opposing him in his ministry (2 Corinthians 10:10). He had, through the course of his ministry, been the recipient of both slander and praise. As with Jesus, Paul was both incredibly loved by some and vehemently disdained by others. There is undoubtedly something amiss if we are ever only honored and praised, for allegiance to Christ and His Word won’t please everyone.
“We are treated as imposters, and yet are true” (2 Corinthians 6:8). Jesus himself was met with a similar discordant response: “And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, ‘He is a good man,’ others said, ‘No, he is leading the people astray’” (John 7:12). Hard to imagine—some in Corinth were treating the Apostle Paul as an imposter! They were saying “his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is of no account” (2 Corinthians 10:10). Though he had been called by God (2 Corinthians 1:1), they were doubting his Apostolic credentials (2 Corinthians 12:11-12). But the truth of who he was is evidenced in the fruit of his ministry (Luke 7:31-35).
“As unknown, and yet well known” (2 Corinthians 6:9). Paul had experienced a dramatic turnaround with respect to his own identity. He had been well known to the Jewish leaders when he was a zealous persecutor of the church (Acts 22:5). But then Christ saved him and called him to be an apostle. The ones who had known him well then wanted nothing to do with him (and even tried to kill him), and eventually some who didn’t know him at all wanted nothing more than to know him better. He traveled to places where he was unknown but became well known. He ministered with friends who knew him quite well, but even some of them deserted him (2 Timothy 4:11, 16). Whether unknown or known by others, he was fully known by the Lord (1 Corinthians 13:12; 2 Timothy 2:19).
“As dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:9). He had spoken earlier to the Corinthians about such matters (2 Corinthians 4:8-12). He suffered much in the cause of Christ, but in his weakness “the power of Christ” rested on him (2 Corinthians 12:9). Amidst his “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities” he was made strong (2 Corinthians 12:10). In all his countless trials (2 Corinthians 11:23—28), he was not killed until God’s appointed time. He experienced both great sorrow and great joy (Romans 9:2; 16:19; Philippians 2:17-18).
“As poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything” (2 Corinthians 6:10). Paul did not possess much and worked with his own hands to provide for his needs (1 Thessalonians 2:9). He had “learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need” (Philippians 4:12). But regardless of his own circumstances, he experienced contentment and strength in Christ (Philippians 4:11, 13). Many were enriched through his ministry (Ephesians 3:8). And he himself possessed everything in Christ and nothing mattered more to him than that (Philippians 3:7-8, 10; 1:23).
Praised yet reviled, loved yet hated, embattled yet enlivened, sorrowful yet rejoicing, poor yet rich. Oh, the paradox of life in Christ and ministry! The paradoxical existence that was true for Jesus and Paul and countless others is the same for all who now reside as “exiles” on earth (1 Peter 1:1). Their experience includes some bad and even some ugly, but God strengthens by grace and even uses such things to refine His servants and prepare them for heaven. In heaven, there will be no paradox — no bad or ugly—only good.
In life and ministry, we experience the good, the bad, and the ugly, but we serve a God who is well able to bring good out of the bad and has promised to us a heavenly home where the bad and ugly will be no more.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control:
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and has shed his own blood for my soul.
