FENCES FOR PERSUASIVE PASTORS

Paul has been pulling out all the persuasive stops in 2 Corinthians 6. He has worn his heart on his sleeve as he pleads with the Corinthians to open wide their hearts to him. Paul lays out his sacrificial love for them in a heart-tugging list of sufferings culminating in his emotional plea for their love (6:4-13). He concludes his powerful appeal by saying, "Make room for us in your hearts; we wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one" (7:3).

As pastors, we are spiritual leaders whose goal is "moving people on to God's agenda" (Blackaby, Spiritual Leadership). God uses pastors to persuade people to reconcile broken relationships as we follow the Lord together (2 Cor. 5:18). Pastoral leadership is all about influencing others. In this case, Paul wants to persuade them to "make room" (Χωρήσατε) for him in their hearts.

They say that fences make good neighbors. Fences also make good pastors. Since pastoral persuasion is moving people to follow God's will, God places ethical boundaries on our persuasion. These fences ensure that Pastors will submit their persuasive methods to God's sovereign control. We dare not manipulate others for our own ends or else we deny our Lord by our actions.

Paul lays out three fences in this verse to guard against unethical influence. He uses three verbs.  Each verb is aorist, active indicative. They are best understood as constative aorists. Paul is saying that their ongoing actions in each case have been completed and should be regarded as a whole (Blass/Debrunner, Grammar, 171). The plural pronoun (we) likely included Timothy, who represented him in a difficult confrontation, and Titus, who carried his harsh letter of rebuke (F.F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free, 273-274). Paul has proven himself in these three ways to be an ethical persuader.

FENCE #1: DO NO HARM.

Paul starts with the bare minimum. At the very least, pastors should do no harm. He says that he "wronged" (ἠδικήσαμεν) no one in Corinth. The verb was commonly used in the Septuagint to refer to sin against God, however, in the New Testament, it has lost much of that stronger meaning. The usage in the New Testament suggests general wrongdoing. When used with an object like a person, it often means to hurt someone (TDNT, 1:157-161). Pastors, at the very least, must not hurt people, hardly a high bar for ethics!

FENCE #2: LEAD NO ONE ASTRAY.

The verb (ἐφθείραμεν) generally means to corrupt or ruin with respect to morals, money or doctrine (Rienecker and Rogers, Linguistic Key, 475). Paul uses the same word a few chapters later (2 Cor. 11:3) to warn the Corinthians that they could be "led astray" (φθαρῇ) by Satan "from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." Paul also writes "Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts (φθείρουσιν) good morals" (1 Cor. 15:33). He is warning believers not to keep company with those who deny the resurrection of the dead and promote sinful living (NIDNTT, 1:468-469). Pastors must be careful not to lead others astray morally or doctrinally. 

FENCE #3: DON'T USE PEOPLE FOR PERSONAL GAIN.

The verb translated "took advantage of" (ἐπλεονεκτήσαμεν) literally means to have more of something. In the Greco-Roman world it meant a hunger for power or to seek political gain. The idea included treating others arrogantly. Paul uses it frequently to mean seeking material possessions by taking advantage of people. Paul even commanded that we avoid anyone who coveted possessions and placed coveteousness (πλεονέκτης) on par with sexual sin (1 Cor. 5:10-11). False prophets exploit people out of greed (πλεονεξία) leading to God's judgment (2 Peter 2:3). Paul warns pastors not to use flattery or greed (πλεονεξίας) because God examines our hearts (1 Thess. 2:4-5). A pastor must not cheat or defraud anyone. We must not abuse our power to get our way (TDNT, 6:266-274).

Effective pastors work within God's fences for healthy persuasion.

THE NECESSITY OF PURITY

The headlines screamed: Pastor Arrested in Prostitution Sting. A pastor of a church heavily involved in fighting human trafficking was arrested at a massage parlor using women who are victims of human trafficking. He was removed from ministry, but his immorality damaged the testimony of the church. Sin blows away our witness like the wind blows away the seeds of beauty leaving an empty husk behind.

Purity is a necessity for ministry. We make a fatal mistake when we think that we can be successful in our service for Christ while pursuing impurity in our personal lives.

"Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1).

The present participle "having" (ἔχοντες) is best taken as a causal participle (Burton, Moods and Tenses, 170). The cause of our cleansing is the promises of God. Paul is referring back to the promises in 6:17-18 about God welcoming us and being a father to us. His loving promises motivate us to live pure lives. Paul uses the subjunctive "let us cleanse" (καθαρίσωμεν) to exhort other believers to join him in purifying their lives (Burton, Moods and Tenses, 74). Paul is not above the calling to purity. He, too, must cleanse his life of all impurity to maintain his integrity in ministry. The sad reality is that many of the biblical heroes of faith failed in the later stages of life and brought dishonor to God through impurity.

Christians should make a clean, hard break from all forms of compromise that might lead to impurity as Paul has argued at the end of chapter 6. 2 Corinthians 7:1 is the conclusion for the argument of 6:14-18 about spiritual compromise. The aorist tense of the verb adds to this sense of decisiveness (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, 258, fn 21), especially when combined with the preposition "from" (ἀπὸ) as in this case. Hebrews 9:14 uses the same combination to explain how Christ offered His blood "to cleanse" our "conscience from dead works" (καθαρίζειν ἀπό). Christ cleansed us positionally and calls us to cleanse ourselves experientially. The preposition "from" (ἀπό) carries the sense of "off" or "away from" indicating that we must wash off the pollution of sin that contaminates our flesh and spirit (Robertson, Grammar, 577-578).

Writers have argued over the meaning of the clause "flesh and spirit" (σαρκὸς καὶ πνεύματος). Paul commonly uses these terms in a technical and theological manner. Flesh is human nature controlled by sin and is incapable of being purified until heaven. Spirit is the good side of Christians and does not need to be purified. These terms spark debate because of their technical theological meanings. However, I think Paul is using these terms nontechnically. He is talking about the outer and inner parts of a human. Paul uses a similar expression, "body and spirit" (τῷ σώματι καὶ τῷ πνεύματι), to refer to a whole person, both the inward and outward parts (1 Cor. 7:34, cf. 1 Cor. 5:3,5). I think Paul is using "flesh and spirit" in a similar nontechnical sense to refer to the totality of a human. All we are in our humanity needs purifying (Martin, 2 Corinthians, 209-210).

Maintaining our purity is necessary for effective ministry. We are "perfecting holiness" (ἐπιτελοῦντες ἁγιωσύνην) as we cleanse our activities. The verb means to bring about, complete or accomplish our holiness (BDAG, 302). Positionally we are holy. Experientially, we bring about our holiness by cleansing ourselves from all impurity in our human lives. It only takes one hard blow from a sinful choice to leave us with an ugly husk where once there was a beautiful flower of ministry.

Lord, keep me from blowing it all the way to the end of my life!