“So, what are we to ‘make of this’?”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Tuesday, May 30, 2023
2 Corinthians 1:12-22 (Forward, p. 32) CEV p. 1206
From time to time a piece of Scripture comes up in the lectionary that makes perfect sense in terms of its original setting and situation but seems to have absolutely little or no relevance for us today. Today’s passage is one of that kind of text. The apostle Paul is accused by certain persons in the Corinthian church of being just like other humans, namely in the fact that his promises seem to change from day to day and that his intentions and plans seem to vacillate all over the plans, saying ‘yes’ at one moment and then changing to a ‘no’ a moment later.
Paul, however, defends himself, while admitting that ‘yes’, that he indeed had changed his plans. He defends himself by saying that this change of plans was not because of any worldly or human wisdom, from self-interest perhaps, or as has also been suggested, due pressure from others or a change in circumstances. No, he alleges, he has been guided and directed solely by the grace of God, that is, as God has dictated. And so, seeing as it is God who guides and directs him, according to His good will, he can’t really be faulted or accused of indecision or fickleness.
That leads Paul into a discussion of what we now know of God. God is not fickle or inconsistent, as are we ordinary human beings. There is nothing uncertain or vague or changeable, either about Him or about His promises. What He says, goes, and goes for all time. So, it means that we can always ‘count on Him.’
Furthermore, as a pledge or guarantee of this, He has given us His Holy Spirit. The Greek word used here, ‘arrabon’, is most instructive. It can be used financially in a couple of ways, firstly, to describe the portion of the purchase money paid out upon the receipt of goods to guarantee that the rest of the funds would be forthcoming, and secondly, of the deposit, the down payment, paid out upon the purchase of a piece of property as a way of saying that ‘yes, we intend to go through with this sale.’ And it could also be used to describe an engagement ring, which was a kind of guarantee that the marriage would indeed take place.
And so, Paul is saying that we can most certainly depend upon the character and promises of God, and not just because of what He has said, but also because He has given us a tangible way of knowing via the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And, in saying this, he is suggesting that we can know for certain, know indelibly, that He is present presumably by the way that He acts in our lives. This is why those of the Pentecostal persuasion often point to a initial gift of being able to speak in an unknown language (tongues) as an objective and fully knowable way of being assured of this.
And so, in this passage that initially seemed so very irrelevant and foreign to our lives, we can pick out a wonderful gem, namely that God is always there for us and always reliable and consistent both in terms of His character (His love and His grace, for instance) and His promises. And that, furthermore, He has left us a tangible way of knowing, via the Holy Spirit, that He is indeed for us and with us. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Forward notes: “But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first installment” (verses 21-22).
“All the baptisms I’ve performed have been special, but a few stand out in my memory. T here was the baptism on Christmas Eve—my first one—so that a family separated by military deployment could be together. I remember when my daughter was able to stand with her friend Brianna during Brianna’s baptism. And I was privileged to be there with a dear friend and colleague as we baptized her grandchildren together.
“My absolute favourite part of baptism happens near the end when the priest or bishop lays their hands on the newly baptized, anointing them with the oil of chrism and saying, ‘you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.’ This is the sign that points to the grace received at baptism, the grace that Paul describes to the Corinthian believers. From that moment on, we believe that we are unshakably established in Christ and the Spirit begins the process of revealing God’s abiding love for us in glimpses, installments of the joy to come.”
Moving Forward: “Share your favorite baptism story at #ForwardDaybyDay.”
A concluding note: many of us of a sacramental persuasion believe that the Holy Spirit is bestowed upon the baptized at that moment, but this conviction is entirely based upon faith and tradition, namely on what we were taught to believe. There is seldom any objective, outside sign to show us that anything has happened. That is where the Pentecostal notion certainly has a lot of merit. That is why that can be so absolutely sure about the coming and presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives.