2 Corinthians 12:19 Again, think you that we excuse ourselves to you? we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved… The strain in which this portion of the Epistle is written may, the writer is conscious, mislead some readers. It displays a good deal of personal feeling; it reproaches those who have not shown themselves amenable to rightful influence and authority; it reveals a wounded heart. Some readers may misinterpret these signs and infer that the apostle regards himself as on his defence, as excusing and vindicating himself, as asking that the best construction possible may be forbearing]y put upon his conduct. But all this is erroneous. Paul's one great aim is, not his own vindication, but, on the contrary, the edification of those to whom his Epistle is addressed. I. IN WHAT DOES EDIFICATION CONSIST? 1. It has respect to those who are already built upon the one Foundation - Christ. The minister of Christ, like other workmen, must begin at the beginning. When men receive the gospel, then, and only then, are they in a position to be "edified." 2. It consists in the building up of the Christian character in the case of individuals. The resemblance to Christ is what is mainly to be sought. 3. And in the formation of solid and serviceable Christian societies, all of which are parts of the holy temple which is being reared to the glory of God. II. BY WHAT MEANS IS EDIFICATION PROMOTED? 1. The means divinely appointed and approved are moral and spiritual. All employment of mechanical or political agency to secure such an end is to be condemned, as both inappropriate and useless. 2. Personal agency is that which the New Testament exemplifies and which experience approves. Living spirits, full of love and sympathy, are divinely qualified to engage in such a work as this. 3. The presentation of truth, the addressing of language of encouragement and promise, of admonition and rebuke, - these are emphatically the scriptural methods of edification. Of all these abundant and very instructive examples may be found in this very Epistle. III. WHAT PURPOSES DOES EDIFICATION SUBSERVE? 1. The welfare, the highest spiritual development and happiness, of those who are edified. 2. The impression thus made upon the world by the presence in the midst of it of a Divine temple reared with human souls. 3. The honour and glory of the heavenly Architect himself. - T. Parallel Verses KJV: Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying. |
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