2 Corinthians 6 Commentary Part 3

In 2 Corinthians 6 commentary part 3, we’ll be tackling the “by” verses. But in the event someone hasn’t been following along with this short series, let’s jump back to part two for a moment. In part 2, we went over in a broken down manner the “in” verses, which consists of verses 3-5:

3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: 4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watching, in fasting;

We went over the different circumstances that may take shape in our lives or ministries as ministers of the Lord, and gave scriptural references to each. I’d suggest you go check it out at 2 Corinthians 6 Commentary Part 2, I really believe that you’d like it and also think it would help you out with this post. We will be concentrating on verses 6-8 in this article.

The “By” Verses

As aforementioned, last article was the “in” verses, here we’ll concentrate on the “by” verses. Which means that when we’re “in” such and such a circumstance, we overcome “by” such and such of a behavior. Take not that many of these are traits of the Lord himself. Here are the verses by themselves, then we’ll do a break down.

6 By pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the Armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8 By honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;

By Pureness

Courtesy of Dictionary.com

adjective, purer, purest.
1. free from anything of a different, inferior, or contaminating kind; free from extraneous matter:
pure gold; pure water.
2. unmodified by an admixture; simple or homogeneous.
3. of unmixed descent or ancestry: a pure breed of dog.
4. free from foreign or inappropriate elements: pure Attic Greek.
5. clear; free from blemishes: pure skin.
6. (of literary style) straightforward; unaffected.
7. abstract or theoretical (opposed to applied ): pure science.

There are some scriptures that give us a bit more insight into pureness. But how are we to achieve the type of pureness that the Lord would expect of us? I believe that the following scriptures may help to answer that question.

Ephesians 5:

25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Jesus will sanctify and cleanse us with the washing of water by the Word. The Word of God is more than a book of lessons. It is alive with blessings and spiritual vitamins and minerals, meat and milk for the soul. And according to that verse, Jesus uses it to cleanse us and wash us through it.

Do you feel a stain in your soul? Get into the Word of God. Jesus will cleanse you with the washing of the Word. And as far as purity of religion goes, James spells it out for us.

James 1:

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

We who are saved are not of this world. We have passed from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son. As citizens of Heaven, we are suppose to be passing through this place working toward the glory of the Lord. We are in this world but not of this world.

But the more we allow this world to dictate our actions, giving provision to the flesh, the more spotted we become. Think of Peter trying to join Jesus walking on the water. When he kept his focus on Christ, he could walk. When he looked away and started to be concerned because of the wind and waves, he began to sink. Keep Christ your focus in every way possible.

By Knowledge

Proverbs 18:15
The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.

How do we overcome all kinds of adversity by knowledge as ministers of the Lord? Knowledge about what? Well, one could say knowledge about whatever the situation is that you’re facing. That would be a common sense approach, to know what you’ve gotten yourself into and why. But there are two tiers to that train of thought. You’ve got the physical and spiritual.

Physical knowledge is easier to come by now than it’s ever been. You can find out just about anything online. It’s all out there. So whatever the difficulty is, use due diligence, or as the scripture says to be prudent, to acquire a knowledge base concerning whatever you’re facing.

Spiritual knowledge comes from the Father through the Holy Ghost. Most often through the Holy Ghost opening up his Word to you, giving you knowledge about something that will answer many questions, or fill any void in your knowledge base. He will often give you deeper understanding into something that you may know only little about concerning the spiritual side of things.

1 Corinthians 1:5

That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;

Ephesians 1:17

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

Colossians 1:9

For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

Things that wind up affecting us as we trudge through this world as ministers of the Lord, often times begin in the spirit. Some sort of spiritual attack that metastasizes into the physical, is often the genesis of some severe issues that we must face.

Knowledge about these kinds of things is very important, however go ignored in much of the Body of Christ today. What I’ve noticed as a huge deficit among Christians prompted me to write Kingdom of Darkness in a Fallen World. To aid in equipping believers with knowledge about things that go on around us spiritually, and what we can do about it.

By Long Suffering

The term long suffering doesn’t necessarily mean to suffer for a long time. Here’s the definition from Merriam-Webster.

patiently enduring lasting offense or hardship

This walks hand in hand with the term “much patience” as we learned about in part 2. This adds more specifics though. In all my life I’ve noticed that it’s much easier to be long suffering during a hardship than it is during an offense. With all of the nonsense that’s been going on right in front of him for thousands of years, there’s nobody more long suffering than the Lord.

Psalm 86:15

But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

And thank God for that! If it were not so, there would have been an endless series of floods upon the earth, not just one done in mercy, but tons done in wrath. If the Lord did not harbor those characteristics listed above, there would certainly be no such thing as man today. As ministers of Christ, we are also to be long suffering in hardship and also through lasting offences. This is easier to do when we stay in the Word of God. We are reminded of our own offences that we’ve committed against the Lord. And if he has shown much mercy and long suffering toward us, how should we think that we shouldn’t be even more so toward those who offend us?

By Kindness

Again, as the Lord is in abundance toward us, so he wills for us to be the same way. Whatever traits he inhabits, he wishes for us to inhabit as well. There are certain things that he reserves for himself such as judgement and vengeance. Those are things that we can’t handle nor should we. He is the judge and vengeance is his, and he says so.

Kindness on the other hand is a fair weather attitude. The Lord would have us display kindness even while going through adversity, not just when things are going well. Similar to long suffering, nobody has shown more kindness than the Lord.

Isaiah 54:8

In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.

Ephesians 2:7

That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

If we strive to be like Christ as the Word suggests that we do, kindness is something that we’ll need to take hold with both hands as ministers of Christ. As the Lord sheds great and everlasting kindness toward us, we should always be mindful of that as we deal with others, and share that same kindness.

By the Holy Ghost

It’s interesting to note that the Holy Ghost is mentioned in this particular place in this string of verses. After pureness, knowledge, long suffering, and kindness. Could it be that these four traits promote an easier flow of the Holy Ghost in our lives, being better able, or maybe as a better way to put it, a better spiritual environment, for him to come to the forefront?

Ephesians 4:30

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

The Lord is faithful to give any who ask for the Holy Ghost, but that doesn’t mean that everyone who receives the Holy Ghost gets themselves out of the way for the Holy Spirit to do his work through us. It so happens that the Holy Spirit helps us with those four previous traits of the Lord when we allow him to. Nobody knows pureness, knowledge, long suffering, and kindness better than the Holy Spirit.

Luke 11:13

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

And as the Bible will tell you through and through, he helps us out in many more ways than that. But we haven’t received the Holy Spirit for the sole purpose to help us out, but so we can better help others out as well. Moreover, trying to be a minister of the Lord without the Holy Ghost is the first step down the road to becoming a false or mislead minister. The Holy Ghost is a necessary gift that the Lord has given us without repent.

Romans 11:29

For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

By Love Unfeigned

not feigned or hypocritical; genuine
With this, we can sum it up in two verses, and all the pieces come together as to why this is in this list.

Luke 10:

27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.

John 15:

12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

The closer that you get to the Father, the easier unfeigned love gets. For God is love, those who love not have not God (1 John 4:8). Of course it’s not always easy (much like many of the things in this list of traits), but if you draw near to God, he will draw near to you. The closer you are to the Lord, he seems to rub off on you, along with his characteristics.

By the Word of Truth

When you pick up the Bible, you are holding the Word of Truth. Among many things, living by the Word of Truth offers protection. Also living a truthful life sets you free from the burdens of sin and lies. Sin often presses us down with a weight that we don’t realize is there until it’s gone.

The Word of truth (or the Word of God) is a sword in which we defend ourselves with against spiritual attacks, and go on the offense against the kingdom of darkness. The Word of the Lord is a two edged sword, and Jesus has placed it right into our hands.

Hebrews 4:

12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Ephesians 6:

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

By the Power of God – By the Armor of Righteousness on the Right Hand and on the
Left

For this, I’ve combined the two, because one leads to the other. The Lord has given us protection through his power. He is our high tower and our shelter in the storm. But he’s also made us able to be equipped with HIS armor, so that we may stand against and resist the devil. The armor is a great study in itself, but for the sake of keeping this on point, I’ll just provide the verses for now.

Ephesians 6:

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

By Honor and Dishonor, by Evil Report and Good Report

No matter what anybody says about you, if you are doing what the Lord wants you to do, what can man say? If you are living by the Word of God, and walking this earth as a minister of the Lord, you’ll have no shortage of things happen eventually.

Sometimes you’ll be shown honor, other times you’ll be dishonored. Sometimes you’ll be spoken well of, other times you’ll be spoken evil of. Now all the bad parts are expected to come by unbelievers. That’s just the nature of things. But often I’ve found more dishonor and evil report from believers!

So don’t be surprised if that happens in your walk and in your ministry as you go about tending to the Father’s business. Think of what Jesus went through, and think of what the Apostles went through. Don’t expect to be treated any differently, but stay the course!

Conclusion

In part 4 of this series on 2 Corinthians 6, I’ll pick up with the last third of verse 8, as it kicks us off into the “as” verses. So keep your eyes peeled for that one coming out in the next few days or so, perhaps sooner!

Thanks for checking out this study. With each of these items that I’m breaking down, I would like to encourage you to get into the Word of God and make some discoveries of your own, particularly with this chapter. Each segment of each verse can be elaborated on in several different places of the Bible, and it is a fruitful venture to say the least!

If you’ve enjoyed this, please share it and get someone else’s eyes on it. I’d certainly appreciate it as it really does help spread this site around. God bless you, and thanks again for reading 2 Corinthians 6 Commentary Part 3!

2 Corinthians 6 Commentary Part 3