2 Coríntios 12
Alexander Maclaren · Citado em PreceptAustin
2 Coríntios 12:9
Maclaren - “Ministers of the Gospel especially should banish all thoughts of their own cleverness, intellectual ability, culture, sufficiency for their work, and learn that only when they are emptied can they be filled, and only when they know themselves to be nothing are they ready for God to work through them.” Alan Redpath - “God works through the man who has been wiped clean and turned inside out, his life emptied before the Lord until he is hopelessly weak, that no flesh might glory in His presence.” NEVER A SHORTAGE OF GRACE Sufficient (714) (arkeo) means to be enough, to be sufficient or to be adequate with the implication of leading to satisfaction. In the passive sense arkeo means to be satisfied or contented with something. Delivering saints from the self-sufficiency driven by our fallen flesh is a major function of the ups and downs of this life (which God allows and sometimes Himself sends), some of which come packaged as "big thorns", but many being manifest as much "smaller thorns" that occur in our everyday experiences I often refer to as divine "pop tests". Each one of these divine "pop tests" is an opportunity to experience the practical truth of God's sufficient grace, and in so doing to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus (2Pe 3:18-note). Some definitions of the English word sufficient and synonyms... Enough = occurring in such quantity, quality, or scope as to fully meet demands, needs, or expectations. Sufficient to answer a need, demand, supposition, or requirement; Sufficient = Sufficient is derived from Latin sufficiens = supplying the needs of, from sufficere = to suffice. Enough to meet the needs of any and every situation. Enough to meet a purpose. That which is equal to the end proposed (ponder this with God's desired effect of grace in a believer's life! eg, Ro 8:29-note). Adequate to needs. Being what is requisite or needed especially without superfluity. Antonyms of sufficient = deficient, inadequate, insufficient, meager, not enough, poor, scant, short, sparse. Ponder the truth that God's grace is never described by any of these words! The ancillary thought associated with arkeo is that one should be satisfied with that which meets our need, and not desire a superfluity. Here in 2Co 12:9, Jesus is saying in essence "you need nothing more than my grace". As someone has said, when you find that Jesus is all you have left, you discover that Jesus is all you need! In Classic Greek arkeo had the above meanings but in writings from Homer it had the added meaning of to give protection, to ward off, to have power or to help. In Josephus (Antiquities 9.266) we read "nor did this degree of transgressing suffice them, but they had more wick contrivances than what have been described". Greek philosophers often wrote of self-sufficiency, either to endure trials or sometimes because there were none, but Paul is speaking "Savior-sufficiency"! It is intriguing that the related word autarkes which means essentially self sufficient was used by the Greek stoics. In 2Corinthians Paul is writing to a church immersed in pagan philosophies, including stoicism, so how fitting to counter man's flawed view of sufficiency with the only source of true sufficiency God's grace. Thus
2 Coríntios 12:9
Maclaren comments on grace that is sufficient noting first "How modestly the Master speaks about what He gives 'Sufficient'? Is not there a margin? Is there not more than is wanted? The over plus is 'exceeding abundant,' not only 'above what we ask or think,' but far more than our need. 'Two hundred penny worth of Bread is not sufficient that every one may take a little,' says Sense (cp Jn 6:7KJV). Omnipotence says, 'Bring the few small loaves and fishes unto Me'; and Faith dispensed them amongst the crowd (cp Jn 6:11KJV); and Experience 'gathered up of the fragments that remained' more than there had been when the multiplication began cp Jn 6:12KJV). So the grace utilized increases; the gift grows as it is employed. 'Unto him that hath shall be given.' (Lk 19:26KJV) And the, sufficiency is not a bare adequacy, just covering the extent of the need, with no overlapping margin, but is large beyond expectation, desire, or necessity; so leading onwards to high hopes and a wider opening of the open mouths of our need that the blessing may pour in. Hodge - To Paul it was sufficient. It gave him perfect peace. It not only made him resigned under his afflictions but enabled him to rejoice in them. Robert
2 Coríntios 12:9
Maclaren writes that Christ is "laying down the great law of His kingdom in all departments and in all ways, 'My strength is made perfect' — that is, of course, perfect in its manifestation or operations, for it is perfect in itself already.
2 Coríntios 12:9
Maclaren writes that 2Cor 12:9 describes Paul's will .... entirely harmonized with Christ's. The Apostle begins with instinctive shrinking, he passes onwards to a perception of the purpose of his trial and of the sustaining grace; and he comes now to acquiescence which is not passivity, but glad triumph. He is more than submissive, he gladly glories in his infirmity in order that the power of Christ may 'spread a tabernacle over' him. 'It is good for me that I have been afflicted,' said the old prophet (Ps 119:71). Paul says, in a yet higher note of concord with God's will, 'I am glad that I sorrow. I rejoice in weakness, because it makes it easier for me to cling, and, clinging, I am strong, and conquer evil.' Far better is it that the sting of our sorrow should be taken away, by our having learned what it is for, and having bowed to it, than that it should be taken away by the external removal which we sometimes long for. A grief, a trial, an incapacity, a limitation, a weakness, which we use as a means of deepening our sense of dependence upon Him, is a blessing, and not a sorrow. And if we would only go out into the world trying to interpret its events in the spirit of this great text, we should less frequently wonder and weep over what sometimes seem to us the insoluble mysteries of the sorrows of ourselves and of other men. They are all intended to make it more easy for us to realise our utter hanging upon Him, and so to open our hearts to receive more fully the quickening influences of His omnipotent and self-sufficing grace. Here; then, is a lesson for those who have to carry some cross and know they must carry it throughout life. It will be wreathed with flowers if you accept it. Here is a lesson for all Christian workers. Ministers of the Gospel especially should banish all thoughts of their own cleverness, intellectual ability, culture, sufficiency for their work, and learn that only when they are emptied can they be filled, and only when they know themselves to be nothing are they ready for God to work through them. And here is a lesson for all who stand apart from the grace and power of Jesus Christ as if they needed it not. Whether you know it or not, you are a broken reed; and the only way of your ever being bound up and made strong is that you shall recognize your sinfulness, your necessity, your abject poverty, your utter emptiness, and come to Him who is righteousness, riches, fulness, and say, 'Because I am weak, be Thou my strength.' The secret of all noble, heroic, useful, happy life lies in the paradox, 'When I am weak, then am I strong,' and the secret of all failures, miseries, hopeless losses, lies in its converse, 'When I am strong, then am I weak.' My weaknesses - Observe that weakness is in the plural, which reflects the truth that most of us have or will experience more than one -- clearly an understatement if we are honest! As