{"product_id":"diamonds-in-a-cardboard-box-a-commentary-on-the-second-epistle-to-the-corinthians","title":"Diamonds in a Cardboard Box","description":"\u003ch2 style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eWe have this treasure in jars of clay.\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe church at Corinth was infested with so-called super-apostles. They were stylish and well-spoken, and they were out to turn the church against the apostle Paul. They cast him as a frail, indecisive fumbler who got beat up everywhere he went.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo Paul responded with a full-length account of the glory of Christian weakness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis commentary traces Paul’s argument as he shows how Christ empowers us not only to endure persecution, diseases, and disasters, but to relish them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the end, there are two competing visions of the Christian life. On the one hand there’s a wall of marble tombs, magnificent and rotten. On the other there’s a pile of clay pots, cracked or cracking, and filled with diamonds.\u003cspan data-sheets-value='{\"1\":2,\"2\":\"\\\"When a husband has been chronically unfaithful to his wife, to say that he remains a husband is not to approve of his infidelity. It is the basis of the disapproval. Perhaps his wife should divorce him, but, until she does, he is a husband. No one would look at the pattern of his adulteries, and then say, “Oh, well, at least he is married.” The fact that he is married compounds the sin, and in no way lessens it. In the same way, for an overt unbeliever to deny the deity of Jesus Christ is a great sin. But it is a worse sin for a baptized believer to do so, and for an ordained minister to reject the gospel in this way is far worse still. Such treachery should make us angrier; the fact that additional covenantal vows were broken ameliorates nothing.\\nBranches in Christ that bear much fruit are pruned and blessed. Do they have communion with those branches that bear no fruit, and which will be cut off and burned? They do not have a common future, but they do have a common present place on the same vine. To change the image slightly, together they partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree. And this means that true ecumenical dialogue with unfaithful Christians should consist of solemn warnings.\\nAt the same time, we should see that our disapproval of fellow covenant members is an objective disapproval. We no longer disapprove because their “lack of regeneration” has been weighed in the balances of our discernment and been found wanting.\\\" ~ from the book\"}' data-sheets-userformat='{\"2\":769,\"3\":{\"1\":0},\"11\":4,\"12\":0}'\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Douglas Wilson","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44087408033907,"sku":"B-135","price":15.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0590\/5462\/0787\/files\/Diamonds.png?v=1763146704","url":"https:\/\/wholesale.canonpress.com\/products\/diamonds-in-a-cardboard-box-a-commentary-on-the-second-epistle-to-the-corinthians","provider":"Canon B2B","version":"1.0","type":"link"}