2 Corinthians 7

In counselling we talk about the way our brains are wired for connection. We need connection with others. It keeps us safe. It helps us regulate our emotions. It stops us from being lonely. God created us for connection. Connection to Him. Connection to each other.

This chapter of 2 Corinthians is about connection and the joy God gives us through connection.

Paul loved the people of Corinth. He loved their faith and their support of him. He loved the way they had seriously considered his previous letter and the charges he laid against them. He loved the way they had used the letter to bring themselves back into faith with God.

There are two sources of joy for Paul in this connection.

The first is that the people of Corinth were concerned about Paul. They felt great concern for his circumstances and the troubles he had been in. Their faith in God was a source of joy for Paul. Nothing delighted him more than seeing people come to faith in God and develop a deep faith in Jesus.

The people were also concerned for him. That concern also brought him joy.

Even though he had a deep faith in God, the concern of fellow followers of Jesus was comforting and a source of joy.

Yes we need God. We need His love and the Joy He gives us. But we also need each other. And God gives us Joy through our connection to others as well. 

2 Corinthians 2

In this second letter to the people of Corinth, Paul is explaining why he did not come to visit them in person. 

He loves the people of Corinth very much, but there was one among them who was doing wrong. The people punished that person and they repented. 

Paul’s concern was that the people would be divided by this and unforgiving to the one who was in the wrong. 

He exhorts them to forgive the one they punished and return their focus to Christ.

He speaks of how he wanted to come to them as a place of rest and restoration. The Corinthians were people Paul was very proud of. He loved them and their vibrant faith very much. He was overjoyed at events in his life and wanted to share them with the faithful in Corinth.

This chapter is very much about the impediments to joy. 

Paul had reason to feel joy, but he was unable to share it with the people he loved because of the differences in their ranks. He was unable to share it because unforgiveness blocks us from God and blocks us from joy.

This is a good reminder of how important forgiving others is. Not because it benefits us to forgive, but because to not forgive blocks us from God and the joy He has for us.

2 Corinthians 1

Now Paul writes again to the Corinthians. He remembers them and his intention to visit them. But he has not been able to visit them and he writes to instruct and explain why he did not come.

He speaks positively of their faith and their hard work. He also acknowledges the hard times he has been through.

He sees the people of Corinth as being his equal in faith. He does not consider himself someone with greater knowledge, lording it over them. Instead he sees them as being equal to him in faith and knowledge of God. This brings Paul great joy. Not only that, he feels great joy in working with them. He sees their faith and knows it gives them the strength to stand firm in the face of persecution and the temptations of life.

Paul’s joy is not selfish joy, it is joy at seeing the relationship with God of other believers. Paul’s passion was to advance the good news of Jesus to the Gentiles, and seeing the faith of those people is a source of Joy.

So this is another aspect of Joy. The joy we feel when we see the faith of other people.