Pastor David Jang
Words of correction carry greater weight when we speak them to someone we love. Even when we know they may strain the relationship, it is difficult to look away while that person remains on the wrong path. In his sermon on 2 Corinthians 12–13, Pastor David Jang, founder of Olivet University in the United States, presents Paul’s firm exhortations as an expression of love’s responsibility to help believers repent and grow toward maturity. That responsibility begins with devotion that treasures people above possessions and extends to the order that builds up the community and the unity found in the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 12: Love That Seeks People Rather Than Possessions
To understand Paul’s firmness, we must first consider what he sought from the believers in Corinth. He sought the believers themselves rather than their possessions. The sermon finds in these words the priorities the church must preserve: helping a person stand firm in the gospel takes precedence over every material interest.
The image of parents providing for their children makes Paul’s concern even clearer. Rather than calculating what he might gain from the believers, he was ready to give himself for their spiritual good. Even his decision not to receive financial support had become a cause for suspicion, yet his desire was for them to stand firmly on the gospel. When a person is at the heart of our love, the way we view both the reward we might receive and the help that person needs begins to change.
One problem identified in the Corinthian church is the gap between material abundance and service to others. Having ample resources is no proof of maturity if the needs of poor believers are ignored. The sermon recalls the Macedonian believers, who gave willingly despite their poverty, alongside the collection for the church in Jerusalem. Material resources should become a means of caring for one another and expressing our oneness in Christ.
In today’s church, attention to finances must go hand in hand with attention to the circumstances of its people. If we remember only how much someone has contributed, we may fail to notice the hardships through which that person is holding on to faith. The love that builds up the church values a person’s faith and life above material wealth. Paul’s rebukes, too, began with his desire to keep that person grounded in the gospel.
Paul’s Authority Revealed in Weakness
The fact that Paul had to defend even his apostleship reveals the confusion within the Corinthian church. Some believers judged an apostle’s credentials by visible power and success, taking Paul’s suffering and weakness as reasons to doubt him. Although he found the task of defending himself burdensome, he did not avoid it. Those doubts were undermining the gospel entrusted to him and shaking the believers’ faith.
Pastor David Jang draws attention to the way Paul acknowledged his weakness and relied on the power of Christ. In admitting his weakness, Paul confessed that God’s strength was revealed within it. His humility therefore combined honesty about his own limitations with faith in God’s power. Within this grace, humbling himself and fulfilling his responsibility to uphold the gospel went hand in hand.
If we dismiss someone’s service simply because that person acknowledges weakness, the church will end up adopting the world’s standards of success. At the same time, holding a high position does not make every judgment a person makes correct. This passage asks the same question of those entrusted with authority and those who look to them: Through this person’s service, is Christ’s grace being revealed, and are believers growing in the truth?
If we have been entrusted with responsibility in the church, we need to pay attention to what believers believe and how they live. This means explaining the gospel so that people understand it, encouraging them to care for one another’s needs, and helping them depend on God even in hardship. When things do not go as planned, we can ask whether the desire to prove ourselves has begun to take priority. When our attention shifts from seeking recognition to helping another person mature, our responsibilities in the church regain their weight as a calling to serve.
Church Discipline: Order for Repentance and Restoration
Church discipline corrects wrongdoing within the community so that believers can repent and mature in faith. Paul warns that leaving sin and false teaching unaddressed can unsettle the whole church. If we speak of love without discerning what is wrong, the truth and holiness we are called to uphold together can become blurred. The need for discipline arises from the responsibility to protect both the community and the people within it.
We must therefore be clear about what order is intended to safeguard. If wrongdoing is concealed simply to preserve an outward appearance of peace, we can hardly say that the problem has been resolved. If those correcting others are satisfied merely with asserting their own authority, the restoration of believers is pushed aside. Even while correcting wrongdoing, we remain responsible for loving and valuing the person involved.
Once wrongdoing has been clearly named, the work of helping a person understand what they need to turn away from still remains. If discipline aims at maturity, the church will continue to care about that person’s life afterward. Paul’s continued care for the Corinthian believers and his pursuit of unity show that rebuke and care must go hand in hand. Even amid the seriousness of his warnings, his responsibility to build up each person continued.
If we use this passage only to point out other people’s faults, our own attitudes can easily escape scrutiny. Those offering correction must examine whether their words have become an outlet for anger or whether they are needed to strengthen another person’s faith. We are called both to speak accurately about the facts and to speak in love. Paul’s exercise of authority while acknowledging his own weakness reminds us that those who rebuke others also need grace.
Those receiving correction also have a responsibility to examine themselves quietly. Rather than rejecting the substance of a message simply because it is uncomfortable to hear, they can discern, in light of Scripture, where repentance is needed. It is not easy to consider whether we are clinging to wrongdoing to save face. Yet the small changes that come from admitting our shortcomings and correcting our conduct can become a starting point for rebuilding trust within the community.
2 Corinthians 13: Unity Through Grace and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit
After its firm warnings, Paul’s letter ends with a blessing. At the close of 2 Corinthians 13, he asks that the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with the believers. His final blessing upon the very community that had doubted him reveals the deeper reason for his earlier rebukes. Paul longed for the believers to live together in God.
Pastor David Jang understands this benediction as the foundation that makes the church’s order and unity possible. Christ’s grace enables us to acknowledge our weakness and serve others humbly. God’s love enables us to care for one another’s pain and needs and to live as one family. The generosity and responsibility called for earlier also grow in the lives of those who have received this love.
The fellowship of the Holy Spirit refers to the fellowship and unity that the Spirit brings about among believers. It is a relationship that goes beyond attending the same gatherings and dividing up responsibilities: it means sharing our lives in faith and following God’s guidance together. If we engage in many activities together yet remain unaware of one another’s suffering, we need to examine our relationships. Through fellowship in the Spirit, those whose cooperation has remained merely formal begin to care for one another in practical ways.
We therefore cannot leave the unity of the church to human determination and rules alone. The strength to acknowledge our wrongdoing and serve others must also be sought in the grace we have received from God. When those who call others to repentance first remember grace, and those who offer help rely on God’s love, order and generosity move toward the same purpose. They help us support one another in living within the gospel. Paul’s benediction is a prayer to the triune God for this strength.
Let us return to those words of correction that felt so weighty at the beginning. Before we speak, we need to pray for the other person’s restoration and examine whether there are things we too must repent of. Then the hand that gives and the words that establish order can arise from the same love that cares for another person. Today, do my generosity and my words of correction express a love that helps someone stand firm in the gospel?
Dr. David Jang has proclaimed the gospel in various regions of the world through field missions and digital media ministry, and as the fruit of that ministry, many people devoted to the Great Commission have been raised up. Based on this missionary vision, Olivet first began as a small church school for missionary training. Later, in order to provide more systematic theological education and cultivate missionary leaders, Olivet Theological College and Seminary was established in Los Angeles and Seoul in 2000.
As the school grew, Dr. Jang officially founded Olivet University in San Francisco in 2004. In the diverse and dynamic environment of San Francisco, Olivet expanded its educational fields beyond theology to include music, journalism, art and design, and technology. The university also strengthened its educational capacity by recruiting faculty members, including Dr. William Wagner, and in 2005 moved to the former UC Berkeley Downtown Extension campus, further solidifying its foundation as a university.
In 2006, Dr. Jang transferred the presidency to Dr. David James Randolph in order to focus more fully on missionary work, while continuing to lead global missions as International President. Olivet University later received institutional accreditation in 2009, added a language education college and a business college, and continued to grow as a Christian educational institution for world missions by expanding its degree programs and international partnerships.
David Jang Official Website: www.davidjang.org
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