Paul carries on discussing the distinction between the realms of flesh and spirit.
He first uses the symbol of this fleshly existence as living in a tent, while our future in Eternity is our real home. It is only natural that, once we understand the meaning of this parable, then we would long for home. Then he shifts to the symbolism of being naked in the flesh, but clothed in the spirit. The Presence of the Holy Spirit in our souls is like a security deposit that we hold. It ensures we can believe God’s promise to bring us to Himself when this life is over.
Paul is like that himself. He’d rather be in Heaven with the Lord, but knows he must tolerate this life a little longer. While here, we cannot really see everything as clearly as we would like, so we substitute our faith (our trust and our convictions) in place of eyesight. Our perception does not rely on what our senses and our reason tell us. There will come a time when we will leave behind the flesh with it’s senses and reason, so whatever the flesh can know isn’t very important.
But whether here or there, our highest priority is pleasing the Lord. Paul refers to the image of standing before our Master’s judgment seat; He is the one who decides whether we have been faithful to His expectations. And because we recognize the gravity of this situation, we carry a strong testimony, seeking to win people over to joining us. The wording in Greek here emphasizes reaching out to strangers as those who might not know God. By contrast, God knows us better than we know ourselves.
And it’s for sure the church at Corinth should know Paul well enough to recognize all of this as the way he did things. He didn’t hammer them with the fearful consequences of God’s disfavor, but carefully avoided flexing human organizational authority over them. This was not a campaign to convince them to bow before his authority; he wanted them to recognize how he was wooing them as family to get back on the path home. Would they have been more proud of him if he had been harsh? Would it not be something to boast of to the lost souls of this world that God could be found through humbling oneself? Paul was treating them with the gentleness of God. This is our testimony to those who put too much stock in the worldly appearance of authority.
Paul echoes some of their ugly comments to him in letters we do not have now. They complained that, because his actions didn’t make sense to them, he must be crazy. Yes, he’s obsessed with pleasing the Lord. If that’s madness, so be it. But by contrast, he was quite gentle and reasonable with them. And the reason is because Christ demonstrated His authority through is sacrificial love on the Cross. Because of that sacrifice, it became possible for people to serve Him, without having to somehow qualify beforehand. They become acceptable by the Cross, and He grants them power to turn their lives around and live for Him. Paul was following that example.
We who follow Christ no longer pay much attention to the system of human authority. Rather than use the world’s system of marking who is who, we look at people with the eyes of Christ. He is the standard. Anyone who submits fully to Him is no longer a mere human, but a Child of Eternity. It’s a transformation that exceeds our human understanding. This is the ministry of reconciliation. The Creator reached out to the damned souls of men and reconciled them to Himself through His Son, Jesus. We who serve Him carry forth that ministry of reconciliation. That reconciliation was Paul’s ministry.
God was using Paul as an emissary. The Lord made His Son, who had no acquaintance at all with sin, to own the sins of the entire world, so that we could own His righteousness. And having become His children, He still calls and woos us to reconcile with Him when we stray. It’s already ours; we can rely on Christ’s sacrifice to cover our sins even now. This was how Paul dealt with the horrific mistakes the church at Corinth made.
