Perfecting holiness
7
📚Therefore, since we have these promises, dearly loved ones, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God 📖.7:1 Hearing God’s great promises should not leave us as we were before we heard them. God gives us His Word and shows us His grace so that we might obey Him and become the holy, separated, happy people He wants us to be. Compare Rom 12:1-2; 1 Cor 15:58; Eph 4:1; Col 3:1; Titus 2:11-14. Here Christ’s ambassador tells us we are to aim at perfection in holiness (see also 2 Cor 13:9, 11. On “perfection” see note at Matt 5:48). Certainly he would not tell us to be half or three-quarters or nine-tenths holy – that would be the same as encouraging us to be one half, or one quarter or one tenth unholy. Our goal should be to live as holy a life as Christ lived on earth.
Of course, aiming at perfection is not the same as achieving it. The world, spiritually speaking, is a filthy place and believers can easily be defiled by living in it. See John 13:10. Also believers have a sinful nature which can easily be a snare to them. See Rom 7:18; Gal 5:16-17; 1 John 1:8.
The word “perfecting” indicates a continuing process. The work of perfection going on now will not be done in a moment. See in this verse that this work of perfecting holiness is something believers do themselves – it is not some experience that they passively receive. Compare 1 Cor 9:27; Col 3:5; 1 John 3:3. Of course, such work cannot be done in our own strength – Rom 8:13; Gal 5:16. See notes on sanctification at John 17:17-19; on “holy” at Lev 20:7.⚜
Paul’s love for them, their repentance
2 📚Welcome us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one. 3 📚I do not speak this to condemn you; for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together.
7:2-3 See 2 Cor 6:11-13.⚜
4 📚Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is the pride I take in you. I am filled with encouragement, I am exceedingly joyful 📖 in all our trouble.
5 📚For when we had come to Macedonia, our body had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears.
7:5 Paul, great apostle that he was, was not immune from fears, restlessness and struggles (2 Cor 2:13).⚜
6 📚But God, who encourages those who are cast down, encouraged us by the coming of Titus,
7:6 See 2 Cor 1:3-4. Titus had visited Corinth and came to Paul somewhere in Macedonia.⚜
7 📚and not by his coming only, but by the encouragement which he received with you. When he told us of your earnest longing, your mourning, and your zeal regarding me, I rejoiced even more.
8 📚For though I made you sad with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it, seeing that the same letter made you sad, but only for a little while.
7:8 See 2 Cor 2:3-4. Because he saw that they were in spiritual danger he wrote them a very strong letter, a letter that hurt them. This was because he loved them and wanted to see them firmly grounded in God’s truth. Love is not weak and sentimental. Love does not let others ruin themselves without a word.⚜
9 📚Now I rejoice, not that you were made sad, but because your sorrow resulted in repentance. For you were made sad in a godly way, that you might not be injured by us in anything.
7:9 Their hurt and sorrow caused by Paul’s letter produced a very good result – repentance. They renounced certain evils, drew back from false paths and turned to God more wholeheartedly than ever.⚜
10 📚For godly 📖 sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation about which there will be no regrets. But the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 📚For observe this very thing: You grieved in a godly way. What earnestness it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what demands for justice! In everything you have shown yourselves to be clear in this matter.
7:11 See how godly sorrow and repentance work together. “This very thing” refers to 2 Cor 2:5-7.⚜
12 📚Therefore, though I wrote to you, I did not do it on account of the one who had done the wrong, or on account of the one who suffered the wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you.
7:12 See 2 Cor 2:9. “Care for you” meant Paul cared that they understood he was concerned they would be found obedient in the sight of God, also to the truth of God. And this was the really important thing to Paul. ⚜
Titus and the Corinthian Christians
13 📚Therefore, we were encouraged by your encouragement. And we rejoiced far more because of the joy of Titus, for his spirit was refreshed by all of you. 14 📚For if in anything I boasted to him about you, I am not ashamed. But just as everything we spoke to you was truth, even so the boast I made to Titus is found to be true. 15 📚And his deep affection for you is more abundant when he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him. 16 📚Therefore I rejoice that I have confidence in you in everything.
7:13-16 These verses are an illustration of how believers can refresh one another, find encouragement and joy from one another. They show too the delight in the heart of a soul winner when converts walk in the truth – 3 John 3,4.⚜