Paul had ended chapter 6 pointing out that the church is the temple of the living God so that Christians need to separate themselves from the sin in the world. He finishes that thought here in chapter 7 where he calls on Christians to “cleanse themselves.” That verb “to cleanse” is used twice more in the NT: Eph. 5:26 (in reference to baptism) and Titus 2:14 (referring to Christ who does the cleansing). Thus, we “cleanse” ourselves when we are baptized into Christ and accept the “cleansing” which He, truly and only, can give.
In the next paragraph, Paul makes reference to his relationship with the Corinthians, especially as it relates to their obedience relative to the man living in sin (from 1 Cor. 5). He wants them to have him in their hearts (ver. 2) as he had them in his heart (6:11-13; 7:3). Paul had confidence in the Corinthians, boasting about their faith and obedience, and found comfort and joy in them (ver. 4).
Paul was fearful as he traveled, both from outside fears and from internal fears (ver. 5). But, he was comforted when Titus came and revealed to Paul how the Corinthians had responded to his most recent letter (ver. 6-7). That letter was hard-hitting but it brought genuine, “according to God,” repentance (ver. 8-10). That repentance would lead to salvation and there was no regret in that. The church had quit boasting in tolerating the man’s sin and had withdrawn from him as they were supposed to do (see 1 Cor. 5).
That repentance and the change in their behavior once they started serving God as they should resulted in vindication, indignation at sin, fear, longing, zeal, avenging of wrong (ver. 11). There are serious repercussions to our response to the gospel!
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Having said that, Paul encouraged the Christians that their behavior had a profound impact on him as well (ver. 12). It comforted him (ver. 13) and their response refreshed the spirit of Titus (ver. 13). Paul had boasted to Titus about the Corinthians and he was not ashamed of that boasting (ver. 14). When Titus saw that Paul’s boasting was legitimate, Titus fell in love with the Corinthians even more, remembering their obedience and the fear and trembling they felt relative to fulfilling Christ’s commands, given through Paul (ver. 15).
Paul ends this chapter (and he’ll talk more about Titus in chapter 8) by stating again that he had confidence in the Christians in Corinth (ver. 16).
Paul Holland
