2 Corinthians (Program #53) – Paul’s Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (8)

The last four chapters of 2 Corinthians are known as Paul’s vindication of His apostolic authority.  On one hand it was something of a shame that Paul was compelled to make such defense on his own behalf.  It’s in this light that he says in chapter 11 “What I speak, I speak not according to the Lord but as if in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.” (11:17)  But in the same section just a few verses later, chapter 12 he says “All this time you have been thinking that we are defending ourselves to you. Before God in Christ we speak; but all things, beloved, are for your building up.”  This apparent reversal left Paul vulnerable to the charge of being inconsistent.  Was he speaking foolishly not in the Lord or was he really speaking in Christ and before God?  The key is found in the last few words of that verse “…all thing, beloved, are for your building up.“

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Song of Songs (Program #4) – Called to be Delivered from the Self Through the Oneness with the Cross

Hebrews 12:2 tells us, “Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.”

The Song of Songs is a picture of a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ in the pursuit of Him and there are four stages of that pursuit. The theme of Song of Songs is satisfaction of satisfactions. This book portrays the four stages in the experience of the lover of Christ and can be summarized by the following four sentences:
1) A lover of Christ should be one who is attracted by His love and drawn by Him in His sweetness to pursue after Him for full satisfaction.
2) A lover of Christ should be one who is called by Him to be delivered from the self through his oneness with the cross of Christ.
3) A lover of Christ should be one who is called by Him to live in ascension as the new creation of God in the resurrection of Christ.
4) A lover of Christ should be one who is called by Him more strongly to live within the veil through His cross after the lover’s experience of His resurrection.

When we’re loving the Lord, we need to learn how to look away unto Jesus, look away from ourselves.

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