By Mark Grace, CCCNZ Ambassador
Nui atu toku maia ki te korero ki a koutou, nui atu toku whakamanamana mo koutou: ki tonu ahau i te whakamarie, hira ake toku koa i o matou matenga katoa.
‘Ou te tautala atu ‘iā te ‘outou ma le mautinoa; ‘ua tele lo‘u mitamita ‘ona o ‘outou. ‘Ua fa‘atūmuina a‘u i le loto tele; ‘ua fa‘atūmuina a‘u i le ‘oli‘oli i o matou puapuagā uma lava.
I have spoken to you with great frankness; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.
2 Corinthians 7:4
You’ve heard the expression “fight or flight”. It refers to our instincts in times of crisis or confrontation—either to run away or to take up arms. In 2 Corinthians chapter seven, Paul doesn’t follow the fight or flight instinct. Instead, he gives us an example of what Christ-like confrontation looks like.
Christ-like confrontation is confronting with great frankness. It is clear on the issues and the extent of them (verse 3). It’s confronting with fondness, communicating in ways that don’t condemn (verse 4). It's is confronting with pure motives, not seeking to exploit or take advantage of the situation (verse 9 and 12).
Christlike confronting involves clarity, compassion, and purity of motives. It doesn’t seek to condemn the person. Why?
Emma and I have been listening in the mornings to a series on marriage by Timothy Keller. He makes the point that one day in the new creation we will see one another in our resurrected bodies, in our radiant splendour.
In those moments we will see how our care for one another, our comfort of one another, our encouragement of one another, and, at times, our confronting of one another have contributed to who we’ve become.
Our motive for confronting one another is to be each other’s biggest champions. We are to be championing God’s best for each other, championing all that God is doing in us and all that God is growing us into.
But there is another reason for Paul’s clarity and carefulness when he confronts the Corinthians.
He is very aware that he himself deserves God's condemnation. In another book, he calls himself “the chief of sinners”. He knows that were it not for the grace of God through Jesus Christ, he would be in the same position, if not worse, as the people he was writing to.
Ultimately, it is only the cross of Jesus Christ that enables Paul to speak to the Corinthians with clarity, compassion, and pure motives. More than that, it is only the cross of Christ that enables the Corinthians to respond with “repentance that leads to salvation” (verse 10).
Following the example of Paul, let’s pursue Christ-like confrontation, becoming champions of grace in each other’s lives.
