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NOTES for Co2 6:9-10

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9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
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How can a Christian witness of the Kingdom, which "is not of this world"? It is of course possible to try to say something by words, but indeed, when it is about things, which are impossible neither to see, nor to feel, words remain often only an abstraction. And doesn’t fit into the consciousness of the inhabitant of "this world", as it is possible, for example, to give his life, in order to obtain it again even in a greater fullness. In such a situation, the best proof, and thus, and the best testimony becomes the testimony of the improbable, the absurd (or, more exactly, of what seems absurd). What Paul describes, is completely impossible. It will not come in the head of normal people to live like that. We can understand again those who are ready to risk everything and even go through sufferings and persecutions for the future great victory that will lead to success, compensating all the sufferings. But to suffer, knowing that there will not be victory in this world, that the sufferings here will never be bought back, that from the point of view of "this world", they are totally and completely meaningless?

Only a madman or the one, to whom are hidden in sleeve certain trumps, which allow him to hope and give him the strength to live as he lives, can accept such a thing. Because most of the persecutions never repress any movement till the end as long as are not exhausted in this movement the internal strengths for resistance, and thus, and for the later existence (exception are only the cases of massive terror or direct genocide, and this not always). And to those who looked at the persecuted Christians, should have unwittingly creep up in the head the idea that these people have, it is impossible not to be a certain secret resource, besides a completely inexhaustible resource, which supports the existence of their movement on the background of its full meaningless from the point of view of the perspectives of "this world".

That’s where appears the possibility to witness, what is the Kingdom that "is not of this world". If a certain movement exists contrary to all the laws of the non transformed world, if according to the laws of this non transformed world it should not and cannot exist, it means that people, constituting it, have a certain another source of sense, strength and the assurance not to leave what the logic of "this world" recognizes as meaningless and hopeless. And so the thoughtful man listens to the words of the witness of the Kingdom, the power of which they live and witness.

Other notes

 
For Co2 6:1-10
1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
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 labours, in watchings, in fastings;
6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, 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 honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
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Perhaps this is the shortest expression of the New Testament Good News...  Read more

Perhaps this is the shortest expression of the New Testament Good News: “For He says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Indeed, the prophet Isaiah, whom the Apostle Paul quotes, speaks of a coming state of the relationship between God and human beings in which God receives our prayers and helps us, bringing about our salvation. But the Apostle Paul declares: that time has come! Almost two thousand years have passed since then, so what shall we say now? That this time came and then went away? That it never came at all? Or shall we hear within ourselves the voice of faith: “Behold, now is the day of salvation”?

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For Co2 6:1-10
1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
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 labours, in watchings, in fastings;
6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, 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 honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
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In very difficult circumstances, the Apostle Paul retains his presence of mind and remains faithful to the God who called him to ministry...  Read more

In very difficult circumstances, the Apostle Paul retains his presence of mind and remains faithful to the God who called him to ministry. Verses 3-10 are a hymn to missionary service. What is the source of his strength? Paul himself answers this question: “For He says, ‘In an acceptable time I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” The same power of faith can enable us to fulfill Christ’s commandments in the Sermon on the Mount, and it wells up within us as a prayer of praise like Psalm 97.

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For Co2 6:1-10
1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
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 labours, in watchings, in fastings;
6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, 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 honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
Hide
Describing the ministry, his own and that of his co-workers, Paul describes it as the ministry of a true poor person. Poor in the sense in which poverty was understood as early as the time of the prophet Isaiah of Jerusalem: not as a material...  Read more

Describing the ministry, his own and that of his co-workers, Paul describes it as the ministry of a true poor person. Poor in the sense in which poverty was understood as early as the time of the prophet Isaiah of Jerusalem: not as a material condition, but as a spiritual state. And above all, such ministry is marked by the complete absence of any self-assertion.

Indeed, what was poverty for the first Christians, and even earlier for those righteous people for whom it, as for Isaiah's disciples, became a synonym for righteousness? First of all it was the awareness of a simple fact, obvious to them: neither they themselves nor anyone else had anything to bring to God. Of course, a person may think that he is doing something for God, but only until he truly understands what righteousness is.

And when a person understands that righteousness is not a human matter, that only God can make a person righteous, and only by being directly present in that person's life, that only this presence makes a righteous person righteous; when a person understands all this, he also understands that he can do nothing for God. He can only receive what God chooses to give him. And this means that a person can earn nothing from God or before God. Therefore there can be no question of a person's self-assertion through service to God.

In no sense: neither good nor bad. Even if someone decided to establish himself through ministry in the best sense of the word, to stand on his own feet, as we usually say, such a person would not succeed: a true servant of God has no "feet of his own." He can have only God's feet: those that God gives him, which always remain God's and are only made available for a person's use, never being transferred into his ownership.

Then there is truly no need to judge another person's ministries or, even more, to hinder them, just as there is no need to seek recognition or, even more, position in this world. For all such things require that one have something of one's own, something that belongs to you by nature or by right of acquisition, and not something borrowed for a time.

Righteousness cannot belong to a person. It is not his property or a quality acquired by his own efforts, but a state into which God brings a person and which can be taken from him as easily as it was given. The Savior Himself spoke in this very sense when He said that His followers, where their ministry is concerned, should consider themselves slaves who deserve nothing special: they have done what they were supposed to do, but they have still acquired no rights that become inalienable.

A slave may remain in the house and use everything in it, but he has no rights of his own to the house. The point is not to keep God's servants in check, but that by relating in this way to one's life and one's ministry, a person can receive infinitely more than by insisting on his rights. By living and serving God in this way, one can gain the life of the Kingdom in all its fullness. Otherwise one remains with one's own. With all the consequences that follow.

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