Think Wink.

The third question in my sermon from two Sunday’s ago, my question for application, is the next question in my series on 2 Corinthians 4:4-6. The question is: how does this gospel impact the way I do ministry? Let us get the text in front of us again. Paul writes,

4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Now first I must bring out the connection between 4:5 and 4:6. The Greek term for what the ESV translates as “for” in 4:6 is ὅτι. It should be understood as “because” or “since.” In other words, because or since God did 4:6 Paul does/did 4:5. Or more simply put, because opened Paul to see the glory of God in Christ crucified, Paul then went about the Roman Empire and preached Christ crucified to the Jews and Gentiles. Thus what I want to draw out is that because God had so opened the minds of believers to make them see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, we must follow Paul’s example. So what did Paul do?

Paul did two things. First, Paul preached Jesus Christ. Now notice Paul did not go into Corinth preaching himself but “Jesus Christ as Lord.” My first question is how does that fit what we saw in the gospel as defined in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, namely Christ being crucified and buried and raise from the dead? The answer lies in 1 Corinthians 15:24-28. There Paul states that upon Christ’s resurrection, he ascended to the right hand of the Father where he mediates God’s authority to rule over God’s kingdom. As God’s king, by virtue of his resurrection, Christ is now fighting all of God’s enemies, subjecting them to Yahweh’s authority. When death is defeated, the purpose of the mediatorial kingdom will have reached its purpose and all things will be brought into subjection to God. But the point is that by virtue of the resurrection, Christ reigns as Lord (κύριον). Christ being Lord is a major implication of the resurrection. Thus for Paul to preach the resurrection to them would mean that he also preached the Lordship of Christ by virtue of that resurrection (cf. Acts 17:30-31). Thus he was still preaching the gospel, just mentioning one part of the gospel (Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 that he did not preach with lofty words but only preached Christ crucified; this should not be taken to mean that Paul did not preach the resurrection as 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 states). So Paul preached the gospel to the Corinthians, that gospel that God shines forth the soul-saving light of his glory.

Second, Paul says that, he made himself their “[servant] for Jesus’ sake.” The Greek term for “servant” or “slave” is δούλους, the accusative plural form of the masculine term δοῦλος, and it means just that, a slave. It is some one who is owned by another person and therefore has surrendered his or her rights to the owner. Webster’s defines a slave like this, “a person held in servitude as the chattel of another” (a chattel means property). A slave is a piece of property to his/her owner. All human rights are lost and the slave is completely subservient to his/her owner. Paul became this one who was a complete servant to the Corinthian people. But there is a caveat to this servitude: it was “for Jesus’ sake.” In other words, his servitude (and I would also argue his preaching) was a servitude such that its aim was to honor Christ. So that he would not cross certain boundaries (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:20-21 where Paul says that to the Jews he became like one under the law though he himself wasn’t under the law and to those not under the law he became like one not under the law though still under the law of Christ). Thus if there was something that the Corinthians wanted Paul to do that would violate the honor of Christ and of Yahweh, Paul would not do it. Jesus himself said in Mark 10:44-45 to his disciples who were arguing over who was the greatest in the kingdom, “44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all [ἔσται πάντων δοῦλος]. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The point here is not some exposition of the nature of Jesus death (although λύτρον is a powerful term by which we are to understand that death) but rather to show that Jesus himself came not to be the greatest but to be the lowest and by virtue of his humility he is exalted to the highest in heaven (cf. Philippians 2:5-11). Paul’s servitude was to follow Christ’s example. But this is also because Paul’s desire in life was as he states in Philippians 1:20, that “Christ will be honored [μεγαλυνθήσεται; better translated as magnified or exalted as in NIV] in my body, whether by life or by death.”

Now my point in all of this can be summed up like this–and this is what I really wanted to press upon the youth. We must preach the full gospel of Christ crucified and resurrected faithfully because the gospel is the source of the light that God shines into dark and hardened hearts to see his glory in Christ crucified. If the gospel is not preached, then God cannot shine his light for what contains the light, what is the source of the light, is not present to shine it forth. In other words, our preaching and becoming a slave for Christ’s honor is the means by which God has ordained that people see his glory and are drawn to Christ as their beautiful savior and sole delight. With out our preaching, the knowledge of the glory of God does not come. But I would also say that our preaching with out the being the slave negates the power of the preaching. The preaching is made complete by the service and that this is the faithful preaching of the full gospel. I don’t like the phrase, “Preach the gospel and if necessary, use words.” The very word that Paul uses to say that he “proclaimed” not himself but “Jesus Christ as Lord” is the present tense verb κηρύσσομεν which is the verb that the king’s herald did when he declared to a city the new law of the king or that the king was coming to the city. It is by definition a verbal act, an act that uses words and not just actions. Both words and actions are needed to faithfully preach the full gospel!

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