Dr. Manny Arango (0:00)

Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango, and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. All right, let's dig into Second Corinthians chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7. First thing I'm going to do is I'm going to give you context clues, okay? Back in First Corinthians, we really talked about eloquence, rhetoric, sophists, Greek philosophers who would travel and speak as public speakers and public orders. And really, that's gonna. That's gonna color a lot of what Paul is going to say in defense of his ministry. So that's the context for a lot of the content happening here in 2nd Corinthians Ch. 4 through 7. Now, before we really dive into that context, hey, make sure you do the reading for the day, okay? Don't use this as a substitute for doing the reading. Make sure that you read today's assigned reading on the Bible reading plan and then come back and watch this video to help you understand everything that you read. Now, there's a couple of things that the Corinthians would have assumed would be true of any traveling speaker. And what we have to realize is that they don't have a category for a Christian evangelist. Anyone who's making public speeches in public spaces is going to be judged as a professional Greek philosopher, traveling public speaker, rhetor order, or sophist. That is the. The only category that they have in their head. It's kind of like right now, my son, he's two and a half, he knows what lions are, but every time he sees a tiger, he just calls it a lion. And so I was trying to teach my son, hey, no, that's a tiger. And he. He'll say tiger a couple times, but then he. He'll see a tiger. And he goes, lion. And I'm like, ah, it's not a lion, buddy. It's a tiger. He calls cheetahs lions. He calls. He calls. He calls almost everything a lion that looks anything like a lion because he has a limited categories. For him, all big cats are lions. And so for the Corinthians, everyone who travels and speaks is a rhetor, is someone practicing rhetoric, is an orator, is a professional public speaker. And so there are a couple things that are true about people who would travel and speak in the Greco Roman world as professional rhetors. And the first thing is they didn't have secular jobs. If you were good at public speaking, if you had a command of the Greek language and you were eloquent, then that's all you did. And so let's take a city like Corinth, right? Let's say the governing officials of Corinth wanted to levy taxes to pay for some new arena, right? They would hire like an order or a public speaker to come into the city and they would do three or four nights and it would be sold out tickets, okay? Like packed house. They would do three or four nights arguing persuasively why the people of that city should actually give taxes for a new arena to be built. Okay? So public, like think about it. Like me, you and I, we go home, turn on the TV, turn on Netflix or Hulu or Disney plus or YouTube, okay? None of those things exist in the ancient world. But going down to the. The amphitheater or theater and listening to a professional orator, like, give a persuasive speech about something, this is top tier entertainment. And for them, they just see Paul and. And they're like, oh, a lion. And Paul's like, ah, I'm a tiger. And to them they're like, nah, lion. We just don't have that many categories. So we're putting you in a category of a professional orator. And there is some tension with that because a professional orator is going to bend their message based on the audience. But Paul says, I'm not an order. I'm actually a herald. And I don't get to change what I'm saying. A herald. Here's a nerdy nugget. Is someone in a war who was gonna run and herald the news of whether or not a particular side in that battle won or lost. A herald was also someone who would be sent from one military commander to another military commander heralding information. And so a herald doesn't get to use liberty and freedom around what they are going to say. The good news is the good news. The gospel is the gospel. And so they are looking for someone who can kind of like, be. Get creative with their message. And Paul's like, no, I'm not creative with my message because I'm not an order. I'm not a lion, I'm not that. I'm not a Greek order. I'm not a r. I'm not eloquent. And so these super apostles have essentially come in. These are really flashy, wealthy, itinerant speakers that have come in. And one of the things that they're saying about Paul is if he was really all that great, I mean, if he deserved to be the apostle here, then he would dress better, he would look better, and he would be more physically impressive. In the ancient worlds, remember, there are no microphones. So most people who are professional orders have a strong physical presence. They're tall, they're able, they've got a strong voice. And one of the things that these super apostles are saying about Paul is that, oh, he writes these bold letters, but when he's with us in person, he's meek and he's humble and he's got, he's got a loud bark through these letters, but no bite. When he's in person, he has no authority. He's not impressive when he stands before people. And so all that is context. Context clues and nerdy nuggets. For what Paul's about to say in 2 Corinthians, chapter 6, here's what it says. As God's co workers, we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For he says, in the time of my favor, I heard you. In the time of salvation, I helped you. I tell you, now is the time of God's favor. Now is the day of God's salvation. We put no stumbling block in anyone's path so that our ministry will not be discredited. He's saying, hey, these super apostles are discrediting our ministry. But we intentionally don't put stumbling blocks so that our ministry can't be discredited. These people are lying to you. Rather, as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way. So commend what the Corinthians had probably written back in response to what these apostles are saying is, hey, have Paul provide some letters of recommendation, okay? Some letters of commendation. Get like Cephas or some of the real impressive apostles who walk with Jesus to, to like send Paul with some letters of recommendation since he wants to be your apostle. And so the Corinthians have clearly asked for that. Do you have any letters of recommendation? Here's what. Rather, as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way. Here's how we commend ourselves in great endurance, in troubles, hardships, distresses, in beatings, imprisonments and riots, and in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger, in purity, understanding, patience and kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love, in truthful speech, in the power of God, with weapons of righteousness, in the right hand and in the left, through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report. Genuine, yet regarded as impostors. Known, yet regarded as unknown. Dying, and yet we live on. Beaten and yet not killed. Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Poor, yet making many rich, having nothing and yet possessing everything. We have spoken freely to you Corinthians, and open wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange, I speak as to my children, open wide your hearts also. Who has turned your hearts against us? Paul says you want these impressive letters of recommendation. Guess what I'll boast in. I'll never boast in the fine clothes that I wear or the fact that I don't have to get another job. Nope, I'll boast in this. Beatings, imprisonment, riots, hard work, sleepless nights, hunger. I'll boast in all the things that these super apostles are actually saying are the reasons that you shouldn't trust us. That's the thing that I will continue to hold in front of your face and say to you the actual thing that you want me to be ashamed of. The actual thing that you're ashamed of is actually the thing that we are proud of. And you're gonna get that word again in chapter three. If you go all the way back to chapter three, verse one, it says this. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. You see, Paul is responding for their desire or their demand for letters of recommendation. Letters of recommendation would have been a very common thing in. In the ancient world. If a traveling sophist or traveling rhetor or traveling public speaker was traveling around, he would present letters of recommendation. So in context, what they're asking for is, hey, you look like a lion. We need you to act like a lion. Give us some letters of recommendation. And Paul's like, hey, open your hearts back. Like when we preach the gospel, it wasn't because we showed you letters of recommendation. The gospel message had power. You gave your life to Jesus. And now Paul is in the process of helping these Corinthians go from people who have given their life to Jesus to actually modeling their life after the person of Jesus.