Line Upon Line

Paul pleads with the Corinthians to open their hearts and receive him, defending himself against accusations of wronging, corrupting, and defrauding them, while assuring them his convicting words flowed from a father's love. He then testifies that in the midst of severe tribulation in Macedonia, God comforted him through the coming of Titus and the good news of the Corinthians' repentance, demonstrating that God uses human fellowship and the gospel to bring joy even in trials.

Building on Paul's portrait of the ambassador of Christ who lives between two worlds, this teaching unpacks 2 Corinthians 6:14 and the command not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, showing from the Old Testament that God created purposeful divisions and that believers must enter every relationship with a kingdom mindset, remaining separate and holy as the temple of God.

Drawing from 2 Corinthians 6:1 and following, Pastor Miles teaches that having received God's grace freely, Christians must not hold it in vain but live with urgency, integrity, and patient endurance as ambassadors of Christ. He walks through the costly hardships Paul endured and the Spirit-produced character that authenticates a true minister of the gospel.

Continuing in 2 Corinthians 5, Pastor Miles teaches that the love of Christ compels believers to preach the gospel, expounding on five reasons for evangelism and the truth that all humanity is dead in sin until reconciled to God through Christ, who became sin for us. He shows that anyone in Christ is a new creation, entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation as God's ambassador.

Continuing in 2 Corinthians 5, Pastor Miles teaches that because believers have absolute confidence in eternity through Christ's finished work, they labor not to earn acceptance but to be well-pleasing to God. He explains how the certainty of standing before the judgment seat of Christ—reconciled with salvation by grace through the Book of Life in Revelation 20—should stir believers to a passionate, fearless evangelism compelled by the love of Christ.

Teaching through 2 Corinthians 5:1-8, Pastor Miles explains that our earthly body is a temporary tent destined to dissolve, while God has prepared an eternal, heavenly body for those who trust Christ. This confident assurance—guaranteed by the indwelling Holy Spirit and grounded in Christ's finished work rather than our own—enables believers to face trials with joy and to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.

Building on the contrast between the old covenant ministry of condemnation and the new covenant ministry of righteousness, this teaching shows that believers have been given a ministry of righteousness and reconciliation that they cannot fulfill in their own strength but only as they rely on God's unfailing mercy. Paul then identifies three obstacles to this work—the flesh, the devil, and the world's affliction—and supplies the solution for each.

Paul contrasts the old covenant (the letter of the law, which brings death and condemnation) with the new covenant (of the Spirit, which gives life and a transformed heart), showing that while the law is glorious, its glory fades and was always meant to point us to the surpassing glory of Christ. As we behold Jesus, the Spirit transforms us from glory to glory, freeing us from a merely legal relationship with God into a father-child relationship of faith, hope, and love.

In 2 Corinthians 2:12-3:6, Paul gives a third defense for not visiting Corinth—an open door at Troas and his anxious search for Titus—revealing his very human struggle with stress. Pastor Miles teaches that when distressing circumstances hinder God's work, believers must refocus on the God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ, making us the fragrance of His knowledge and living letters of Jesus, all in dependence on God's sufficiency.

Paul defends his decision not to visit Corinth, explaining that he postponed his coming out of love so as not to come "in heaviness," and that his role was to be a helper of their joy rather than a lord over their faith. The teaching applies this to Christian fellowship, urging believers to distinguish essential ("national border") doctrines from secondary ("state border") preferences and to pursue mutual edification, while showing that the goal of all church discipline is forgiveness and restoration.