Part 72 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series
David Pawson points out that Corinth was a Greek city & the ancient Greeks separated the spiritual from the physical. The West has taken that & it has infiltrated the Church. Hebrew thinking is quite different, and the Corinthians needed to be helped to understand God’s way of looking at things. Greeks thought of the body 3 ways: they indulged them because they thought it wouldn’t affect their soul, they ignored them and tried to live a life free from physical desires, or idolized them and made statues of the perfect body. Paul had to say: Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? And what you do with your body will affect your soul. What you do with your body is part of your spirituality. David discusses the various forms of love – sexual, social and sacrificial. The cross was too bodily for the Greeks, and when you get away from the cross you start dividing over other things. Second Corinthians is particularly for leaders. There were leaders who were putting Paul down to raise themselves. The acid test of a man’s ministry is not his academic qualifications or his training but the kind of people he produces. Though tender with the people, Paul is tough with those who threaten them.
