Context No. 3377 of 4322 · 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 1:15-24: in context

15In this confidence, I was determined to come first to you, that you might have a second benefit, 16and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and to be sent forward by you on my journey to Judea. 17When I therefore planned this, did I show fickleness? Or the things that I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be the “Yes, yes” and the “No, no?” 18But as God is faithful, our word toward you was not “Yes and no.” 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not “Yes and no,” but in him is “Yes.” 20For however many are the promises of God, in him is the “Yes.” Therefore also through him is the “Amen”, to the glory of God through us. 21Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, 22who also sealed us and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts. 23But I call God for a witness to my soul, that to spare you, I didn’t come to Corinth. 24We don’t control your faith, but are fellow workers with you for your joy. For you stand firm in faith.

Paul, accused of being unreliable because he changed his travel plans, turns his defense into a meditation on God's faithfulness. His point: God is not like a fickle person who says both yes and no. In Christ, all of God's promises find their Yes. However many the promises of God, in him they are Yes, and through him we say the Amen, to the glory of God.

God does not waver or go back on his word; every promise he has ever made is confirmed and secured in Christ. Where human beings vacillate, saying yes and then no, God's word stands unbroken, and in his Son the answer to every promise is Yes. And Paul adds that it is God who establishes us in Christ, who has anointed us, sealed us, and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a down payment. Our security rests not on our own steadiness, which falters, but on the unwavering Yes of God, sealed to us by his Spirit as a guarantee of all he has promised.

Do I rest my security on the unwavering "Yes" of God's promises in Christ, sealed to me by his Spirit, rather than on my own faithfulness?

Sources

2 Corinthians 1:20: "For however many are the promises of God, in him is the Yes. Therefore also through him is the Amen, to the glory of God."
2 Corinthians 1:22: "Who also sealed us and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts."
2 Corinthians 1:21: "Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God."