2 Corinthians 2:15-22 - Promises must be made with integrity

Let us examine some backdrop to help us to understand the issue Paul was confronting here. In verse 16 we are told that Paul intended to visit the Corinthians twice. Once on his way to Macedonia and once on his way back. But in his letter in 1 Corinthians 16:5, he said he would come to them after he had gone to Macedonia. His intention was to spend a longer time with them and perhaps to stay with them for the winter. But by the time he wrote them this second letter he had not even made his intended visit. This invited his critics to malign him. They accused him of being a double-talker. He was slandered as one who didn’t mean what he had said and didn’t say what he meant. They could have bad-mouthed him for just being interested in the offering collected for the needy in Judea. They even implied that Paul was vacillating when it came to keeping promises. 

 

But Paul truly had the intention to visit the Corinthians and he wrote to them twice about it. But circumstances forced him to change his plan which invited the criticism against him. In verses 12-14, he partially answered his critics. Now in verses 15-18 he continued to deal with those criticisms. Paul began in verse 15 saying confidently that he knew that they were aware of his intention when he wrote them about his visit. He told them that he had no other motive except to bless them. His goal was to visit them as he made his way to Macedonia and to visit them again on his journey back from Macedonia. In this way they would be blessed twice by his ministry. Besides, he was hoping that they would help him on his journey to Judea.

 

He was conscious that he had made changes to his travel plan but he insisted that he had not vacillated. He also insisted that he did not make his plan according to his flesh saying yes and no at the same time. As a person who knew the faithful God, Paul had always sought to emulate God’s faithfulness. Hence his yes would be yes and no would be no. He would not vacillate. Besides, Paul had a very positive motto in life. The message he shared was a positive one and not an indecisive one. The Corinthians should know that Jesus Christ, whom he, Timothy and Silvanus preached about, is positive. So also are the promises of God.

 

Notice that Paul connected every promise of the Father to Christ Jesus, His Son. God had fulfilled His promise by sending His Son and letting this precious Son die on our behalf. If God would do that, we should also be confident in every promise that He had made since we are now in Christ. Therefore, we can affirm it with a strong Amen in Christ. However, we need to note that it’s everything in Christ. Paul was not encouraging us to say amen to our self-designed will but to God’s purpose and activity through Christ. Hence, we should say amen only to what’s in keeping with God’s purpose and plans. We can all be assured that God will keep His promise because of what Jesus Christ had done. And we should also be assured that God will keep His promise because of what He had done and would continue to do in us who are his children.

 

In verse 21 the apostle tells us that God is the one who brought believers together and established them as one together in Christ. He was the One who had brought the Corinthians and Paul together and established their fellowship with each other and with Christ. When Paul said God anointed us, he meant that he was commissioned by God to fulfill God’s purpose. God was the one who had equipped him with the power in the Holy Spirit to serve God’s purpose.  The Holy Spirit is the anointing and the seal. He is the pledge and earnest given to Paul and to Christians to mark them out as God’s property. It was God who had sealed the Apostle Paul and his team, including us Christians, by depositing the Holy Spirit in all our hearts as a pledge or earnest. 

 

God is trustworthy and so must we be. Trustworthiness is the key to gain the trust of others. Words should not be broken without overpowering divine reasons. It is needful that we make commitment with sincerity and integrity as Paul did. It was the apostle’s principle and it must be ours as well. The best way to make a decision with integrity and sincerity is to ensure that it is guided by the Holy Spirit. For God has deposited the Holy Spirit in our hearts, thus giving a guarantee of His leading.