2 Coríntios 12
John Piper · Citado em PreceptAustin
2 Coríntios 12:9
Piper - If we feel and look self-sufficient, we will get the glory, not Christ. So Christ chooses the weak things of the world "so that no man should boast before God" (1Cor 1:29). And sometimes he makes seemingly strong people weaker, so that the divine power will be the more evident. (Piper, J.. Future Grace | Desiring God) Adam Clarke makes an interesting comment that "Grace alone can preserve grace. When we get a particular blessing we need another to preserve it; and without this we shall soon be shorn of our strength, and become as other men. Hence the necessity of continual watchfulness and prayer, and depending on the all-sufficient grace of Christ. David
2 Coríntios 12:9
Piper - What a tragic waste when people turn away from the Calvary road of love and suffering. All the riches of the glory of God in Christ are on that road. All the sweetest fellowship with Jesus is there. All the treasures of assurance. All the ecstasies of joy. All the clearest sightings of eternity. All the noblest camaraderie. All the humblest affections. All the most tender acts of forgiving kindness. All the deepest discoveries of God's Word. All the most earnest prayers. They are all on the Calvary road where Jesus walks with his people. Take up your cross and follow Jesus. On this road, and this road alone, life is Christ and death is gain. Life on every other road is wasted. (Piper, J. Don't Waste Your Life. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books) FOR (My) POWER IS PERFECTED IN WEAKNESS: e gar dunamis en astheneia teleitai. (3SPPI): 2 Corinthians 12 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Jesus loves me this I know For the Bible tells me so, Little ones to Him belong, They are weak but He is strong. For (gar) is a term of explanation and always begs the question (pause and ponder!) "What is being explained?" Here "for" introduces Paul's explanation of why the grace of Christ is all sufficient. In short, weakness is the condition for the manifestation of our Lord's strength. It is as if the Lord is saying "The weaker you are, the more conspicuous is My strength in delivering and/or sustaining you." Where there is human weakness, divine strength reaches completeness. Indeed, when human strength abounds, the effects of Divine power are often (usually) not seen. Isaiah records an OT parallel of the saint exchanging his or her weakness for God's strength writing that... those who wait for the LORD will gain (Hebrew verb conveys idea of exchange) new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. (Isa 40:31-notes) Power (1411) (dunamis from dunamai = to be able, to have power) refers especially achieving power, the intrinsic power or inherent ability, to carry out some function. The potential of God's "dynamite" is best realized in the presence of our powerlessness! F B Meyer said that dunamis "is power. It is His power. It is great power; nothing less would suffice. It is exceeding great power, beyond the furthest cast of thought. In Colossians 1:29 (in Young's Literal Translation) Paul has an instructive use of "dunamis" explaining that... for which also I labor (he labored that he might present every man complete in Christ) (labor = kopiao = engage in hard work to the point of exhaustion), striving ("agonizing" - Greek = agonizomai - like Olympic athletes giving their all in intense competition) according to His working (energeo = active work producing effect), that is working (energeo) in me in power (dunamis) (Col 1:29YLT - note) Comment: All Paul's toil and hard labor would have been useless apart from God's power (dunamis) in his life. Paul was most himself when he was least dependent on his own resources. So it is for all persons in Christ. We are not to rely on our own power, but that of Christ Whose Spirit works mightily within us. This truth answers the question often asked "How was it possible for one man to accomplish so much?" Day by day, even moment by moment Christ's enabling Spirit was at work within Paul's entire person, bestowing dunamis power to accomplish God's work through him.. John Piper writes that "The test for Paul was: Will you value the magnifying of Christ's power more than a pain-free life? (Piper, J. Life as a vapor: 31 meditations for your faith. Sisters, Or.: Multnomah Publishers) God loves to glorify His power more by felling an oak with a pansy than by turning a pansy into an oak. So meditate on His promises every day.
2 Coríntios 12:9
Piper says "God's purpose over and through Satan's harassment is our humility. Paul was in danger of pride and self-exaltation and God took steps to keep him humble. This is an utterly strange thing in our self-saturated age. God thinks humility is more important than comfort. Humility is more important than freedom from pain. He will give us a mountain top experience in Paradise, and then bring us through anguish of soul lest we think that we have risen above the need for total reliance on his grace. So his purpose is our humility and lowliness and reliance on him (cf. 2Cor 1:9, 4:7) Boast (glory, KJV) (2744) (kauchaomai akin to aucheo = boast + euchomai = pray to God <> auchen = neck which vain persons are apt to carry in proud manner) means to boast over a privilege or possession. The idea is to take pride in something (in a bad sense - - Ro 2:23-note, in a good or legitimate sense - Ro 5:2-note, Ro 5:3-note; Ro 5:11-note) Fallen men have no grounds for boasting in the presence of God (1Co 1:29, Jas 4:16) but instead should boast in God (1Co 1:31, from Je 9:23, 24, cp 2Co 10:17). And so Paul writes... that no man should boast before God, but by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST (present imperative = command to continually boast) IN THE LORD." (1Co 1:29-31+) Paul however did want the Corinthians to boast in the work of God in and through him (2Co 5:12). Paul himself boasted about the readiness (readiness of mind, eagerness) of the saints at Corinth to contribute to the fiscal needs of the saints at Jerusalem (2Cor 9:2 - his boasting in them here had as its object the calling of the Corinthians back to their original readiness to participate in the offering project.) Kauchaomai is used frequently by Paul in the letters to the Corinthians {the Greeks had a tendency to boast in their human achievements} - 21 uses in Corinthians out of a total of 37 NT uses - Ro 2:17, 23; 5:2, 3, 11; 1Co. 1:29, 31; 3:21; 4:7; 13:3; 2Co 5:12; 7:14; 9:2; 10:8, 13, 15, 16, 17; 11:12, 16, 18, 30; 12:1, 5, 6, 9; Ga 6:13, 14; Ep 2:9; Php 3:3; Jas 1:9; 4:16.