Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 1: 9, 12; 2:17; 4:2; 1:15-20; 2:10; 10:1a; 11:10a; 13:3-4
Ⅰ
"Indeed we ourselves had the response of death in ourselves, that we should not base our confidence on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead"—2 Cor. 1:9:
A
We should no longer trust in our self, in our soul, but in the God of resurrection, who is in our spirit—2 Tim. 4:22.
B
The Lord is now in our spirit, calling us to turn to our spirit to meet Him.
C
To be reduced to the spirit is to be reduced to Christ, to be reduced to live Christ—1 Cor. 6:17; Phil. 1:20a.
Ⅱ
"For our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in singleness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you"—2 Cor. 1:12:
A
The apostles' situation forced them to be simple, that is, not to base their confidence on themselves or on their natural human ability to work out a solution to their difficult situation—Jer. 9:23-24.
B
Paul and his co-workers had only one way to deal with their situation—the God of resurrection—2 Cor. 1:9; 4:14.
C
To live in resurrection is to live in the singleness and sincerity of God—2 Cor. 2:17; 4:2.
D
Only those who live in the singleness and sincerity of God are a profit to the Lord's recovery.
Ⅲ
"But as God is faithful, our word toward you is not yes and no. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you through us...did not become yes and no, but our word has become yes in Him"—2 Cor. 1:18-19:
A
The apostles were not fickle persons of yes and no, and they did not resolve anything according to the flesh—2 Cor. 1:17.
B
The apostles were one with God, and they were the same as God in being faithful—2 Cor. 1:18.
C
The apostles preached Christ and lived Christ; they were not men of yes and no but men who were the same as Christ—2 Cor. 1:19-20.
D
God is seeking a people who live Christ and are one with Him.
Ⅳ
"If I have forgiven anything, it is for your sake in the person of Christ"—2 Cor. 2:10b:
A
Paul lived and acted in the presence of Christ, according to the index of His whole person, expressed in His eyes.
B
Paul lived in the index of the inward feelings and thought of Christ.
C
In 2 Corinthians Paul lived Christ according to what he wrote concerning Him in 1 Corinthians, living in the closest and most intimate contact with Him, acting according to the index of His eyes.
Ⅴ
"I myself, Paul, entreat you through the meekness and gentleness of Christ"—2 Cor. 10:1a:
A
To be meek is to be mild toward others, without resisting or disputing.
B
Gentleness denotes humility, yieldingness, approachableness.
C
Paul, being one with Christ, lived Christ, behaving in His virtues.
Ⅵ
"The truthfulness of Christ is in me"—2 Cor. 11:10a:
A
Because Paul lived Christ, whatever Christ is became his virtue in his behavior.
B
Truthfulness denotes the divine reality becoming man's genuineness and sincerity—2 John 1; John 4:24.
Ⅶ
"For indeed He was crucified out of weakness, but He lives by the power of God. For indeed we are weak in Him, but we will live together with Him by the power of God directed toward you"—2 Cor. 13:4:
A
The power of Christ cannot be perfected or manifested in us until we are weak—2 Cor. 12:9-10.
B
The apostles followed the pattern of Christ and were willing to be weak in the organic union with Him that they might live with Him a crucified life—2 Cor. 4:10-11.
C
Second Corinthians shows us a person who was reduced to nothing but who took Christ as everything.