Gates of the City

This is a small study I put together on Judging and the need for the addressment of sin in the church.

Because the Word of God states, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation,” it is of fundamental importance to endeavor to interpret the scriptures in their context, i.e., to whom where they written, what subject matter do they address and their time and place, etc., etc.

Since we are going to be dealing with the second letter to the Corinthians, and the third chapter in particular, it is prudent to examine the previous chapter in which Paul does make these comments, “I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all . . . Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.”

It is evident that Paul wrote something to them which he now refers them back to, and what was presented to them was done so in order that he “might know the proof of” them, whether they would be obedient or not. Is this obedience unto him? Or unto the precepts of God’s word? That of course which was first written is I Corinthians, in which Paul dealt with an issue of sin being committed by the same one Paul is now encouraging them to “forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.”

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