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About Jesus Steve Sweetman This Section - Chapters 10 and 11 ch. 10:1-18 ch. 11:1-15 ch. 11:16-33 Paul’s
Defense Of His Ministry (ch. 10:1 - 18) To
date in this letter we have seen a range of emotions from Paul, more so
than in any other of his letters. He
began this letter with great sorrow. His
feelings were lifted by the report that the Corinthians had a change of
heart. At one point he felt
rejected by these people who he had given his heart and life to.
He has given hints that he does have confidence in these people but
now he reverts back to having some doubts about “some of them”, but
not all of them. Paul
says that when he is face to face with the Corinthians,
he is “timid”. Was
Paul really timid when face to face with these people or anyone else?
I don’t think so. From
reading the rest of this chapter you will see that this was more the
thinking of some of the Corinthians than Paul’s thinking.
He is using a little sarcasm in this chapter to make his point.
You might say that he is going along with their thinking when
saying he is timid, although later he will clearly say that when he
arrives in You
will also note later in this chapter that some think Paul is
“unimpressive” in person, but bold in his letters.
So here in verse 1 when Paul says that he is bold in his letters,
he is still using sarcasm but repeating what they think of him.
I'm sure Paul could be bold in person as well, but he'd certainly
rather just enjoy these people when he arrives instead of having to work
out problems with them. Paul
actually pleads with these people. He
says in verse 1, “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to
you…” Jesus was meek, not
weak, and He was gentle, yet at the same time he could be very firm, not
unlike Paul himself. Paul is
appealing on the basis of being gentle, because that is how he wants to
act towards them, but that is not his expectation.
He says in verse 2, “I beg you that when I come, I may not have
to be as bold as I expect to be to some people who think that we live by
the standard of this world”. Paul
has no trouble being persecuted for the sake of the gospel, but I believe
it really bothers him when things are said about him that are not true.
Such things were obviously being said about Paul.
He said earlier that some called him an imposter.
Paul was far from being an imposter.
As he says here, he does not live by the standards of this world.
If Paul has to address this issue with these people in person, he
will do it with all of the boldness that he can gather together. In
verse 3 he says, “though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the
world does”. Christians live
by a far higher standard than those in the world. Paul clearly
demonstrated this in the way he lived.
Yet even with this visual proof, some accused him of being an
imposter. Paul
views his Christian life in one respect as a battle.
As he says in his letter to the Ephesians, his battle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the evil spiritual world around him.
Here, in this letter he says that he does not use worldly weapons
in this battle, and why would he. Knives
and swords do no harm to a spirit. He
says that the weapons he uses are spiritual and are derived from the power
of God so that he can pull down strongholds of satan. In
context the war he is speaking of is a battle with the false apostles that
are trying to sway the Corinthians away from the true gospel.
This war is taking place in the church, not in the world. Behind
these false apostles is the devil himself. In
verse 5 he says, “we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets
itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought
to make it obedient to Christ”. The
false apostles are putting forth false arguments and setting themselves up
as church leaders who oppose to the true doctrine of Christ.
Paul says that his weapons will demolish these arguments.
He also says that “he will bring every thought into captivity of
Christ”. Whatever these
false apostles are teaching and thinking of, Paul will judge and openly
line their teaching up with the gospel of Christ for all to see. Here
we see Paul as not only a teacher of the faith, but a true defender of
right doctrine, something I believe the modern church does not do enough
of. Concerning
the battle ground in the Corinthian church, Paul says, “we will be ready
to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is completed”.
Paul had put this church to the test.
He had just tested them in the aspect of giving.
He tested them earlier concerning the man who committed
adultery with his father’s wife.
Once these tests have been complete and they show their obedience
in these matters, Paul will bring punishment to those who refuse to
repent. Such punishment could
be expelling certain people from the church and giving them over to satan,
as seen earlier. Concerning
this obedience that Paul is speaking of here, it is not an obedience
really to him. It is an
obedience to the gospel, the truth of Jesus.
Men have gone astray on this point over the years.
Some have stressed the idea that people need to obey them.
This unhealthy adherence to authority is not what Paul is speaking
of here. He is saying what he
is saying to encourage his readers to obey the Word of God, the gospel of
Christ. In
verse 7 Paul says that some of the Corinthians are “looking on the
surface of things”. They are
not really seeing the facts. If
they claim to “belong to Christ”, then they should consider that
“Paul belongs to Christ as well”.
Paul is speaking here of some very basic elements of salvation. It
appears that some of the Corinthians are questioning the fact that Paul is
really a true Christian, and Paul is raising the same questions concerning
some of them. This shows you that some of the problems in the church came
down to the validity of people’s salvation. Paul
goes on to say that at times he “freely boasts” of the authority he
and his fellow workers have from the Lord to build the church up.
He says that he will never be “ashamed” of this authority,
whether people question it or not. Note
here the use of the word "authority".
The authority that Paul is claiming to have is to build people up,
not to be a dictator over them. Earlier
Paul said that he was very bold in his letters, and here in verse 9 he
says that “he doesn’t want to frighten them with his letters”.
So it is clear that some were not only sorrowful because of
Paul’s writings, but they were somewhat frightened as well, which was
not Paul’s intention. With
this in mind some said concerning Paul, “his letters are weighty and
forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to
nothing”. (ch. 10:10) Once
again you can see the relational problems between some of the Corinthians
and Paul. These were far from
kind words, yet Paul himself earlier stated that when he was with them, he
was timid. It might well be
that Paul was not an impressive speaker, yet at the same time the Holy
Spirit spoke through Paul and that is what made the difference.
In
verse 11 Paul tells these people that they should understand that when he
and his companions arrive in Those
in Paul
says that he will not “boast beyond our limits”, but will “confine
boasting to the fields God has assigned to us”. (ch. 10:13)
Paul is saying that if he boasts, he will boast only about how God
has used them. He will not
overstate the facts. He will
state the facts of his ministry as they are, and if some want to judge
him, that is up to them. Part
of Paul’s boast is the fact of his influence in the beginning days of
the church in In
verse 15 Paul adds that he would also boast about other men’s work done
in and among the church at Paul’s
hope is that the Corinthian’s faith will grow, that is, they will trust
Jesus more than ever, so his work “would expand”, and so that he could
preach far beyond Concerning
boasting, Paul concludes in verse 17 that really all boasting should be
boasting about Jesus Himself, “because it is not the one who commends
himself who is approved, but the one who the Lord commends”.
Paul is saying that the important thing is the recognition of the
Lord, not a pat on the back by us or someone else.
Paul
And The False Apostles (ch. 11:1 - 15) Chapter
11 is a continuation of Paul’s defense of his ministry.
He calls this defense “a little of my foolishness”.
It could be foolishness because he does not like to boast in the
first place, but feels he needs to defend himself to a certain extent, so
he indulges in such talk. He
says that “he hopes that they put up with a little of his foolishness,
but they are doing that anyway”. Paul
is a strong willed and determined man, and he will get his point across,
and the Corinthians might as well accept this.
They will have to hear Paul out whether they like it or not. Verse
2 is interesting. Paul tells
his readers that “he promised them to one husband”, meaning, Jesus.
He also says that he is “jealous” over these people.
These people hold a very special place in Paul’s life and heart
and he truly has a “Godly jealousy”.
There is a jealousy that you can call Godly.
Beyond this point Paul says that he wants to present this church as
a pure virgin to Christ. It is
like Paul introduced the Corinthians to Jesus and now at some point in the
future, when Jesus returns, he will present them to Him in marriage.
Whether these words are pictorial, that is, tell a story more than
being actual, is hard to say. Paul
may not actually present these people to Jesus on that day, but he is
motivated in his ministry as if he will.
The point that Paul is making is that someday these people will be
married to Jesus and he wants them to be ready.
He wants them to be pure for their Lord. In
verse 3 Paul states a fear that he has, and that is that they will be
“led astray in their minds, as Eve was deceived”.
The fear is that they would receive a “different Jesus”, a
“different spirit”, and a “different gospel”.
It appears that they are now entertaining such an idea, because he
says that they have “put up with this easy enough”.
Of course, there is no such thing as a different Jesus or a
different Spirit. In
verse 5 Paul is expressing a little sarcasm by saying that he “is not in
the least inferior to those super-apostles”.
Who might he be calling super-apostles?
They are most likely the false apostles that he has just mentioned,
the ones the Corinthians are entertaining and beginning to listen to
instead of Paul. The
super-apostles are super because they are billing themselves that way,
something like some TV preachers are doing today.
Paul
admits that he is not a trained speaker, perhaps as some of the
super-apostles were, but he is very knowledgeable and therefore they
should listen to what he has to say. It
is not the delivery of the knowledge that is important but the knowledge
itself. To often today we look
at the personality doing the speaking.
We look at how he delivers the message.
He may be comical. He
may hold your attention, but is he speaking the truth of the Word of God.
That's the important thing.
Continuing
in his defense of his ministry he asks, “was it a sin for me to lower
myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God free of
charge”? Of course the
answer is no. While others
were making a living by preaching, Paul supported himself most of the
time. His ministry came free
of charge in order not to put any obstacle in the way for those he
ministered to. Paul lowered
himself, became a servant by choice, and endured many hardships for the
sake of others. In
verse 8 we see that at times Paul did receive financial support from some
churches, but not from the Corinthian church. You can tell that even when
taking this support he was not comfortable with it.
He tells his readers that by receiving support from other churches
“he robbed them” in order to preach to the Corinthians free of charge.
In
verse 9 Paul says that he has kept ”himself from being a burden in any
way and will continue to do so”. One
way he was able to do this was because of certain brothers who came with
him from Why
is Paul so adamant about this
boasting? It is because of his
love for the Corinthians and by preaching the good news free of charge as
a bond servant he hopes to “cut the ground from under those who want an
opportunity to be considered equal with us”.
Paul is speaking about the false apostles who claim to be on the
same level of authenticity as he and his fellow workers.
He feels that his lifestyle when compared with the false apostles
way of living will have no comparison.
People will then see his way of life and turn from the teaching of
the false apostles. In
verse 13 Paul says some very strong words about these false apostles. He
says that these men are “masquerading as apostles of Christ.
And no wonder, for satan himself masquerades as an angel of
light”. In the next sentence
Paul actually calls these false apostles “servants of satan”. These
are strong words from a man who feels that he is in a real battle, not
with flesh and blood, but with the satanic world around him. Paul
Boasts About His Sufferings Paul
says, “I repeat…”. What
is Paul repeating? Earlier he
mentioned that defending himself and his ministry was a foolish necessity.
He is now repeating this foolishness.
Paul warns his readers that they should not take him for a fool,
but if they do, they should receive him as a fool so that he could
continue his boasting. Once
again you see that Paul really does not like to boast or defend himself.
He feels that it is foolishness. He
even says in verse 17 that “in this self-confident boasting, I am not
speaking as the Lord would, but as a fool”.
Paul knows that Jesus would not make such foolish boastings.
Jesus had the chance when He met with Pilate to boast but He
didn’t. Paul wants his
readers to understand that what he is saying is “foolish” and is being
“self-confident”, and we know that Paul puts no confidence in the
flesh. Paul
also calls this boasting “worldly”.
Worldliness is something else that Paul does not like, but since
those who oppose him are being worldly in their self promotion, Paul feels
that he needs to indulge in such boasting a bit to defend his ministry. Promoting
ones self was worldly in Paul's thinking, and I think it is still worldly
today. I personally find self
promotion very disturbing when it comes from a Christian. In
verse 19 he is being somewhat sarcastic again when he says, “you gladly
put up with fools since you are so wise”.
Earlier Paul said that the false apostles were unwise when
comparing themselves with each other.
Many of the Corinthians were beginning to follow these false
apostles, so I do not think Paul in all seriousness would call them wise.
He is simply using sarcasm as a tool for part of his defense. To
prove how “unwise” these people are Paul tells them that they put up
with those who enslave and exploit them, take advantage of them, and push
them around and slap them in the face.
Paul’s sarcastic response to this is, “we were too weak for
that”. Was Paul really too
weak to act like the false apostles. No,
he simply did not promote his ministry in a pushy overbearing way.
It really doesn't make a lot of sense for the Corinthians to be
following such arrogant people, but that was their present temptation.
Paul
now begins to make some claims about himself and his ministry.
Once again, he is still boasting as if he were a fool.
In his boasting, he is comparing himself to the false apostle,
something that earlier he said was unwise, therefore he feels this
boasting is foolishness. In
this comparison he says (ch. 11 :22 - 28), “Are they Hebrews?
So am I. Are they
Israelites? So am I.
Are they Abraham’s descendents?
So am I. Are they
servants of Christ (I am out of my mind talking like this)?
I am more”. Note that
the important claims that the false apostles make, Paul can match.
Also note that the false apostles claim to be “servants of
Christ”. Just by repeating
the claim that these people could be called servants of Christ irritates
Paul. This is why he says that
he is out of his mind by even suggesting that they are servants of Christ.
Obviously he does not believe that they are true Christians. He is
only repeating their claim and saying that he is more of a servant of
Christ than they. Paul
continues his defense by saying, “I have worked much harder, been in
prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and have been exposed
to death again and again. Five
times I received from the Jews forty lashes minus one. Three times I was
beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I
spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the
move, I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger
from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in cities, in
danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false
brothers. I have laboured and
toiled, and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst
and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern
for all of the churches.” What
can be said about the above words that Paul says.
None of the false apostles went through what Paul went through.
Once again, it was Paul’s belief that he would have a much better
and happier life in the resurrection that kept him going.
He could put up with temporary hardships, severe as they were,
knowing his future in eternity would outweigh these hardships.
We should think of Paul when we complain about some of the
things we go through. What
does Paul mean when he says, “who is weak and I do not feel weak”?
After all that he has just said I can’t see Paul as being a weak
man. No he was not weak,
although at times he certainly felt weak.
Even though he felt weak, he continued on, proving that he was not
weak at all. Paul did not let his feelings of weakness stop him from
performing his ministry. The
next phrase that Paul says may be somewhat hard to understand.
Paul asks, “who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn”?
It is commonly interpreted by many
commentators that Paul is speaking about the concern that he has
for the churches. When people
are progressing into sin, he inwardly burns for them.
That is to say, he feels so bad that it is like a fire raging
within him. In 1 Cor. 7:9
where Paul speaks about burning with sexual desire, the same Greek word is
used. Paul has a burning
desire for those he ministers to when they depart from the way of the Lord
and go astray, as the Corinthians are in the process of doing. In
verse 30 Paul says that “if I must boast, I will boast of the things
that show my weakness”. Paul
doesn’t want to overstate and draw attention to his successes.
He would rather draw attention to the Lord, and if he is gong to
boast, he will boast in how weak he is.
In reality, we are all weak. We
have God’s treasure in earthly vessels, in jars of clay, in order that
God’s glory can be clearly be seen in us. Paul
briefly relates an event in Damascus
he went through to illustrate one last time the things he had to go
through in order to preach the gospel.
The authorities in that city had the whole city on guard, waiting
to find him and arrest him, but he escaped by being lowered in a basket
from a window in the cities wall.
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