II Corinthians 1:1 , an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:
2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul had quite a history. He was born a lost sinner like all of us. He was interested in religion and chose to subject himself to the teachings of the Pharisees. He was trained by Gamaliel, a chief among the Pharisees. However, God broke him. He was stopped on the road to Damascus and there he had to deal with his false religion and his fight against the true God and the true Saviour, Jesus Christ. He thought he was serving God, but he discovered his god was a false god. That day everything changed for Saul/Paul. He was born again and became a humble servant of God.
Jesus Christ chose Paul as the twelfth apostle:
I Corinthians 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
He did not deserve this, but none of us deserves anything good. Paul was a willing servant of the true God after he was saved. As he stated here, he was an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. It is important to know the true God and to humbly accept His call on your life after you are saved.
Timothy was a younger man whom Paul was privileged to train for the ministry. Paul called him “our brother”.
Paul was writing this letter to the church of God at Corinth. It is important that we understand that Paul was not taught to believe in the false “universal church” philosophy. There are local churches and each true church is a church of God. That being the case, a true church will follow the Word of God. Most churches today are nothing more than secular clubs who talk of a god and a Jesus.
I listened to a well known man yesterday who claims to be a Christian. He talks of God and of Jesus. Yet when asked about religious freedom, he stated there is legitimacy in the prayer of many different religions. That is contrary to Biblical Christianity. Catholics do not pray to the true God. Muslims do not pray to the true God. It is foolish and false to suggest that God wants us to unite with Muslims and Judaizers to pray. When a Muslim prays he prays for the destruction of Israel and the Jews. When a Jew prays, he prays to a false God because he has rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah. A saved Jew will pray to the same God as a saved Gentile. Ecumenism is popular but it is not Biblical. New Evangelicalism is popular but it is not Biblical.
Paul knew did not seek to join hands with the Pharisees to get a greater audience. He counted his past beliefs as “dung”. He had been saved and thus he had purged himself of the false religion he chose prior to salvation. He adopted the Truth which is found in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We, those who are saved, need to wake up and understand that the true God is not a hodge podge of beliefs. We do not help anyone when we suggest that as long as person names God and Jesus, they must be saved. We need to understand and humbly submit to the fact that God defines Himself and the Lord Jesus Christ in His Word.
Paul was directed to write this letter to the saints that were in Achaia. That was the original recipients of this letter. Of course, since it is in the Bible, it is applicable to all saints.
A common need of man is to draw from the grace of God. God’s grace is a help to the saints. We are dependent upon that grace. That grace is not the N.E. philosophy of ignoring sin. It is that holy power to say no to sin and yes to God. If we try to live in our own strength we will fail miserably. We need to humbly submit to God.
We also need His peace in our lives. As we see here this grace and peace comes from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. As noted already, this letter is written to saints. God is not the Father of the lost. They are rudderless. They swing this way and that way. They have no anchor and they have no Saviour.
It is important also to note that this grace and peace is from the “Lord Jesus Christ.” For the true child of God, we have a Saviour – Jesus. He is the Christ, the “anointed One” and He is the Lord – the Master of the true child of God. It is important to know that.
The true child of God has surrendered his/her will to God. We do not live or walk in the flesh. We walk in the Spirit and thus we will not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
We will be spending some time studying this epistle. We need a right foundation. We need to build on that right foundation. We need sound direction. God provides that for us.
Pastor Bartel