The Bottleneck of Affection Text: 2 Corinthians 6:11-13
Introduction: The Shape of True Ministry
We come now to a passage that lays bare the very heart of pastoral ministry. In our day, we are tempted to view the relationship between a pastor and his congregation in corporate terms. He is the CEO, the public relations man, the program manager. The people are consumers, customers, or at best, volunteers. But the language of the New Testament, and the language of Paul here, is utterly alien to this sterile, business-like model. The language of the Bible is the language of the family. It is organic, messy, affectionate, and deeply personal.
Paul is not writing a memo to his subordinates. He is writing a letter, full of anguish and love, to his children in the faith. He has poured his life out for them. He has preached the gospel to them, established them as a church, corrected them when they went astray, and defended them against wolves. And in response, he has received suspicion, slander, and a cramped, narrow-heartedness from some of them. They had been swayed by the flashy "super-apostles," who came with letters of recommendation and a professional polish, and they had begun to look down on their own spiritual father.
In the preceding verses, Paul has been defending the integrity and authenticity of his ministry. He has described himself and his companions as servants of God who have endured beatings, imprisonments, hardships, and slander, all while armed with the weapons of righteousness. He has just finished a soaring description of the Christian life: "as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things." Now, he pivots from that defense to a direct, emotional, and powerful appeal. He is not just defending a theological position; he is pleading for the heart of his people. This is not abstract doctrine. This is family business. And in this raw, fatherly appeal, we learn a crucial lesson about the nature of true Christian fellowship. We learn that the free flow of the gospel can be constricted, not by external persecution, but by the internal spiritual cholesterol of cramped affections.
The Text
Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. Now in a like exchange, I speak as to children, open wide to us also.
(2 Corinthians 6:11-13 LSB)
The Open Door (v. 11)
Paul begins with a declaration of his own vulnerable openness toward them.
"Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide." (2 Corinthians 6:11)
Notice the two parts here: an open mouth and an open heart. This is the essence of authentic ministry. The mouth speaks freely, frankly, without guile. Paul has not engaged in slick rhetoric or manipulative speech. He has not flattered them. He has told them the hard truths they needed to hear, even when it was costly. His first letter to them was filled with sharp rebukes over their arrogance, their tolerance of gross sin, their disorders in worship, and their doctrinal errors. A free mouth is a sign of love, not contempt. It is the man who flatters you who is setting a net for your feet. The man who loves you will tell you the truth, even if it makes you angry for a season.
But this free speech does not come from a place of cold, critical superiority. It flows from the second part: "our heart is opened wide." The word here for "opened wide" means to be enlarged. Paul's heart for the Corinthians is expansive. It is a great, wide-open space. There is plenty of room in his heart for all of them, with all their problems, all their immaturity, and all their fickleness. He is not a cramped, narrow, easily-offended minister. His love for them is vast. This is the necessary foundation for a frank mouth. Correction without a wide-open heart is just cruelty. It is the clanging cymbal that Paul speaks of elsewhere. But when a wide-open heart and a free-spoken mouth come together, you have the character of true spiritual fatherhood.
He addresses them directly, "O Corinthians." You can almost hear the emotion in his voice. This is not a general treatise; it is a personal plea. He is putting all his cards on the table. "We have hidden nothing from you. We have held nothing back. Our life, our doctrine, our love, it is all an open book for you."
The Constricted Heart (v. 12)
Having declared his own openness, Paul now diagnoses their problem with surgical precision.
"You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections." (2 Corinthians 6:12 LSB)
Here is the central issue. The problem in the relationship is not on Paul's end. The bottleneck is not with him. "You are not restrained by us." The Greek word for "restrained" means to be cramped, to be in a tight and narrow space. Paul is saying, "There is no lack of room for you in our hearts. We have not shut you out. We have not built walls. We have not narrowed our affections for you because of how you have treated us."
The problem lies entirely with them: "you are restrained in your own affections." Literally, it is "in your own bowels," as the ancients located the deep emotions in the inward parts. Their hearts had grown small and tight toward him. Their love was cramped. Their trust was constricted. Why? Because they had listened to the slander of the false apostles. They had allowed suspicion, pride, and a worldly mindset to shrink their hearts. They were judging by outward appearances, Paul's lack of worldly polish, his physical sufferings, and they had become embarrassed by their spiritual father. They were withholding their affection and trust from the very one who had given them everything.
This is a profound spiritual principle. Often, when there is a problem in a relationship within the church, we are tempted to believe the other party is the one putting up the walls. We feel "restrained" by them. But Paul forces the Corinthians to look inward. The prison was one of their own making. The narrowness was in their own souls. Their spiritual arteries were clogged with the plaque of their own ingratitude and suspicion. The problem was not a lack of love from Paul, but a lack of reciprocation on their part.
A Father's Plea (v. 13)
Paul concludes with a direct command, rooted in his fatherly relationship with them.
"Now in a like exchange, I speak as to children, open wide to us also." (2 Corinthians 6:13 LSB)
He calls for "a like exchange," or a fair repayment. He is not asking for money. He is not asking for status. He is asking for a reciprocal love. "I have given you a wide-open heart. The only fair thing, the only just repayment, is for you to give me a wide-open heart in return." Love for love. Openness for openness. This is the currency of the covenant family.
And he makes the basis of his appeal explicit: "I speak as to children." Paul is not pulling rank as an apostle in a domineering way. Rather, he is claiming the authority of a father. He founded their church. He brought them the gospel. He is their spiritual father, and they are his children (1 Cor. 4:15). A father has the right to expect love and trust from his children. He has the right to tell them when their hearts have grown cold and cramped. This is not manipulation; it is the loving, urgent plea of a father who sees his children being led astray and wants to win them back to a healthy, trusting relationship.
The command is simple and direct: "open wide to us also." He is asking them to do for him what he has already done for them. He is telling them to tear down the internal walls of suspicion. He wants them to stop being cramped and narrow-minded. He is calling them to repentance, a repentance that would manifest itself in a restored, large-hearted affection for their father in the faith. He wants them to love him again, freely and without restraint.
Conclusion: The Cardiovascular Health of the Church
This passage is intensely personal, but the principle is universally applicable to the church in every age. The health of a church is not ultimately measured by the size of its budget, the quality of its programs, or the impressiveness of its building. The health of a church is a cardiovascular issue. It is measured by the wideness of its collective heart.
Are our hearts open and wide toward God? Do we receive His Word freely, without suspicion or reservation? And are our hearts open and wide toward one another, and particularly toward the ministers God has placed over us? Or are we restrained in our own affections? Are we cramped by old grievances, by suspicion, by a critical spirit that measures everything by worldly standards? Do we honor the men who labor among us, who speak the hard truths to us from a wide-open heart?
A church where the people have cramped affections toward their pastor is a sick church. It is a church where the flow of grace is constricted. The ministry of the Word is hindered, not because the Word is deficient, but because the hearts of the hearers are too narrow to receive it properly. Paul is pleading with the Corinthians to perform spiritual angioplasty on themselves. He is telling them that their spiritual life depends on it.
The ultimate basis for this kind of wide-hearted living is the gospel itself. We are commanded to open our hearts wide to one another because God in Christ has opened His heart wide to us. While we were yet sinners, cramped in our own selfish and rebellious affections, God did not restrain His love. He gave His only Son. The heart of God is an infinitely wide space, and through the cross, He has made room for us there. Our response to this staggering, expansive love must be to open wide our hearts, to Him, and for His sake, to one another.
Therefore, let us examine ourselves. Where are the bottlenecks? Where have our affections become restrained and cramped? Let us, in a like exchange for the love God has shown us, open wide our hearts. That is the only fitting response to a gospel as wide as the sea.