2 Corinthians 4:1-6 Study guide: the light of the gospel
Community Group Study Guide — Light of the Gospel
2 Corinthians 4:1-6
Study Information:
What does success look like for a servant of God? Throughout this series we’ve explored the complaints the Corinthians had with Paul and how Paul used that as an opportunity to talk about what authentic ministry looked like. One complaint from the Corinthians was centered on how much Paul suffered. They had a mixed up view that a servant of God would have some level of worldly prosperity, which is hard to comprehend when you look at the suffering of Jesus. Yet, we see similar things in our world today as people define success or claim to have God’s backing based on the size of their church, their count of online followers or even financial prosperity. If we used those metrics to measure the success of Paul, we’d probably walk away unimpressed.
Throughout 2 Corinthians 4, Paul began to address the true nature of service and how to persevere in ministry in the midst of suffering and how to not lose heart when ministry is hard.
Do Not Lose Heart
2 Corinthians 4:1-2
We’ve touched on how difficult ministry was in Corinth because of how they viewed worldly success, powerful speaking and were struggling with their growth in Christ. Many of us would have given up and moved onto an easier place to worship and serve and yet Paul began this section reminding us that this ministry was given by God’s mercy and that he does not lose heart with this (2 Cor 4:1). Being a minister of the New Covenant meant being a servant and with that came with a certain manner of living. The New Covenant is the promised God made that with the coming of Christ he’d write is law on the hearts of his people and give them a new heart and new Spirit (Jer 31:31-34). This is the center of the message that we proclaim, that we’re not saved by our works or following of God’s law, rather we’re saved by faith in Christ and transformed from the inside out. This formed Paul’s view of what it meant to minister the gospel.
Notice in 2 Corinthians 4:2 the way that Paul’s ministry was different from others. First, he refused to practice cunning. Meaning he was not trying to trick or manipulate people with the gospel. Second, he did not tamper with God’s word. There is a temptation in our day and age to make God’s word “softer” and more compliant to our cultural expectations and to do that is to not be faithful to what God has taught. Sure, we ought to understand what God’s word means clearly, but when it confronts something that we accept as normal in the culture, God’s word has the authority. Finally, Paul let the truth stand for itself rather than relying on being commended by others. He did not need or rely on his associations with people who had the right credentials.
You can sense the certainty that Paul had with his calling and with the gospel that really anchored him in such a way that he did not lose heart when he was criticized or rejected or faced push back. It is ok to have doubt and to be honest about our struggles when following Christ is challenging, but notice here that if we truly believe the message of the gospel and the work of God in our lives, he will give us the strength to remain bold.
The Veiled Gospel
2 Corinthians 4:3-4
The next criticisms Paul addressed was around the question about why more people weren’t saved and why were the crowds of followers bigger with the other “apostles!?” Specifically, the Corinthians wondered “if Jesus was the Messiah that was promised in the Old Covenant, why weren’t more Jews followers of Jesus?” Taking a step back, we have to realize that the growth of the church in the 1st century was astronomically rapid, like no other movement in history grew as fast as the early church in terms of number of converts and spread around the globe. But the Corinthians seem to be questioning to Paul, why don’t all the Jews see it and why do they oppose you so much? We touched on this briefly in the last study guide, but a veil remained over the hearts of those reading the Old Covenant so that they could not see Christ in the text. Paul elaborated on that theme here to say that the gospel is veiled but only to those perishing and veiled by the “god of this world.”
The god of this world is one of the ways Paul referenced Satan. Satan has specifically blinded unbelievers from seeing the glory of Christ who is the image of God and he seemed to be using these false apostles to draw crowds of people who were blinded to the true gospel. Paul called out a clear contrast here to the “blinding” that Satan does contrasted with the light of the gospel. We have a greater light to shine, one that highlights the glory of Christ who is the image of God. Part of our work as we serve others and share Christ to the world is to highlight the demonic lies people believe and how the truth of the gospel compares. This is similar to his comments in 1 Corinthians 1:18-20 when people mocked the message of the cross, Paul wore that “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing but to su who are being saved it is the power of God.” Followers of Christ are free from the blinding work of the god of this age and can see the light of Christ even in things the world would call foolish.
Proclaim Jesus, the Light of the Gospel
2 Corinthians 4:5-6
Given all this, Paul calls us to selfless service rather than selfish service and to see this as a work of new creation that God is doing. Paul specifically wrote that the goal of ministry is to proclaim Jesus, not yourself (2 Cor 4:5) and that he was a servant of the Corinthians for the sake of Jesus. There are many Christian ministers who make their service about them and not about Jesus and by doing so they obscure the light of Christ. To underscore this Paul used language similar to the creation story in Genesis 1, that God said “let light shine out of darkness,” and that now this light shines through our hearts to give light to the glory of God (2 Cor 4:6). This points to the dawning of a new creation in the coming of Jesus, in fact Paul used the language of “new creation” in Chapter 5 to talk about God’s work of salvation. Followers of Jesus get to reflect the light of Christ to the world as servants of God.
When it comes to our relationship with the church, we can be tempted to be consumers and make it about us. This makes our relationship with other Christians transactional rather than sacrificial. Instead Paul calls us to selfless service instead of selfish service. Paul approached his ministry as a servant for the love and care of others and calls us to do the same s we can let light shine for our hearts to show the glory of Christ.
At your community group:
Take 15-20 minutes to share about how God has been at work in your life, prayer concerns and pray for one another.
How did God speak to you through the scripture and the sermon this week?
Discussion Questions:
2 Corinthians 4:1-6
How did Paul describe the ministry or service of the false apostles in 2 Corinthians 4:2? What are some things you’d notice in someone who was serving with selfish motives instead of selfless motives?
What is the role of the “god of this world” in the lives of unbelievers?
How does Paul use creation language to describe the work of a servant of God?
What are some ways that God is growing you towards selfless serving?
