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Peace in the Camp

Peace in the Camp

Words of Faith 1-8-18

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2018

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

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2 Corinthians 13

   [11] Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

   [12] Greet one another with a holy kiss. [13] All the saints send their greetings.

   [14] May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

 

       "So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye." So the song goes. Paul might have said Shalom in favor of all that. The Greek here means "be well" and "God speed,” but not without a few last appeals. Paul pulled it all together in just a few words.

       Paul's final appeal was a call for unity. Aim for perfection or "be restored and equipped.” Listen to my appeal. Be of one mind. Live in peace. This unity could be realized only as they depended on God who supplies love and peace. Such unity was expressed by a holy kiss.

       This was the vision and hope that Paul had for the precious believers he pictured in his mind and heart. For all the difficulty he had endured with the church at Corinth, Paul had a deep love for them. He had led many of them to the Lord. He had seen them grow. He had seen their exuberant worship and known their passion for Jesus. He now prayed for that first love to be restored among them.

         The saints of Macedonia, with whom Paul was staying at the time he wrote 2 Corinthians, sent their unified greetings. In closing, Paul invoked the blessing of the Triune God so that the grace manifested by Christ, the love expressed by God the Father, and the fellowship created by the Holy Spirit might be experienced in Corinth.

         Did the Corinthians respond positively to Paul's warning? It appears that they did! Paul had actually conditioned the expansion of his ministry in other areas on the problems in Corinth being resolved. He followed the writing of this letter with a visit to Corinth of three months during which time he wrote the letter to the Romans, his most massive theological work. He must have had some peace and quiet to do that!

         It appears that peace finally came to the camp in Corinth. That doesn't mean that there were never any problems there. But apparently the moral issues were settled and the intrusion of the false prophets was thwarted. In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote from Corinth "Now there is no more place for me to work in these regions" (15:23). His appeal had been heeded. The Corinthians were now obedient. There was peace in the camp.

 

       May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. In Jesus' Name.