2Corinthians 10:1-18 Talk for Wagga Mission 2005
Last edited by William Ng 2004-12-31 @1700 AEST
Paul defends his Apostleship so that the Corinthians will be brought to obedience to Jesus. [verse 8 is a good start]
Supporting Points
The power by which Paul wages war is not “of the flesh” but of God verses 3-6
Out of care for them [verse 1, 8, 11] Paul warns them to take his authority seriously, so that when he comes he might spare them from his “punishment” [verse 2, 6] of their disobedience.
Paul’s success with the gospel, including the conversion of the region of the Corinth, supports His claim of their submission to his Apostleship. This is a true measure of influence, not just mere talk/boasting of influence [verse 12].
The whole tone of the section is one of godly jealousy. Expressed with anxiety and measured anger. There is a hint of Paul’s usual sarcasm seen in his disdain of the false authorities or influential teachers among the Corinthians [verse 12].
Context
All I have is 1 & 2 Corinthians
There are super apostles who are great orators, who charge money for their teaching and who boast as Paul’s equals in terms of historic influence and knowledge among the Corinthians [chapter 11] but they do not bring the Corinthians any closer to Christ. They may also be outrightly sinful in their sexual impurity [chapter 12], greedy preachers and spreaders of malicious rumours against Paul.
The first letter to the Corinthians showed us that they were a crowd who were gifted in knowledge, possibly material wealth and many spiritual gifts. There was an open practice of sexual immorality [incest in chapter 5], a pandering for new and fancy teaching about Christ [chapter 1-3] and other false beliefs which Paul rectified by his letter. I certainly got the impression that these people would chase after the leading philosophies, nobilities and liberal leadership of this world.
Book context
One: Paul comforts the Corinthians with his comfort from God and invites the Corinthians to boast in him as he does in them. He also explains his decision to not visit them earlier before writing this letter. Paul concludes by confirming his joyful work for Corinthians.
Two: Paul further explains his refraining from visiting and urges them to forgive the sinful brother. He begins talking about his past itinerary into Macedonia and meeting with Titus – but then he breaks into his authenticity as a worker of Christ. [from 2Cor 2:14 onwards to 7:5]
Three: Paul thinks that the Corinthians themselves are commendation enough of their work. They are living proof of the Spirit of Christ at work. This ministry of the Spirit from God is a more glorious ministry compared with the ministry of the Old Covenant.
Four to Five: Paul gives several reasons for their hope and sincerity in their work. God is at work to help people see the truth of the gospel, the life of Jesus is seen even in their physical death and defeat, through their afflictions many are coming to know Christ and lastly, there is a guarantee of a future glory after this life and a new body for God’s people.
Five: Paul sees himself as an ambassador of reconciliation for Christ and he urges the Corinthians to be reconciled to God.
Six: Paul continues to commend himself as God’s fellow worker by reminding the Corinthians of his sufferings for his ministry’s sake. He asks the Corinthians to receive him openly with their hearts. And He urges them to be holy.
Seven: Paul finishes off the section [beginning from 2:14] by recounting the comfort he received in Macedonia from Titus’s report on the Corinthians’ repentance and obedience and renewing his confidence in the Corinthians.
Eight to Nine: Paul urges them to use their gift of giving to help out the Christians in [Jerusalem], by spurring them with the Macedonian example, reminder of their previous generosity and his confidence in them and the praise to God and a harvest of righteousness that would result from their giving. He also explains the collection method and the right attitude to giving.
Ten: This belongs to a long defense of Paul’s Ministry that ends in chapter Twelve.
Eleven: Paul admits his divine jealousy for the Corinthians and reminds them of his love and generosity to them. He denounces the “super-apostles” as ones without knowledge, deceptive and people who boast in the flesh. Paul mocks their boasting by boasting in the flesh but moreover in his human weakness.
Twelve: Paul continues to boast in his visions, in his thorn in his side. All these in the end show God’s grace at work in Paul. Paul further defends why he did not charge them like the the super-apostles. He finishes off the section begun in Ten by reaffirming his intention to love and build-up the Corinthians and a stern warning of his desire to lead them back to Christ in terms of their lives.
Thirteen: He tells them of his plans to visit them again and so he again warns them to test themselves in the faith, to continue in their love for one another and he finishes with a blessing to them.
Main Application
For the audience:
We must ask “who do we listen to most”, “whose opinion sways us most” or “which voice is loudest in influencing our church”?
What do these influences show about us?
How well do you respond to biblical authority? To godly authority?
For the gospel worker, preacher or teacher:
How do you walk now? Is it against worldly practices and along the standards and goals of the gospel?
With what or by what authority do you teach?
What commendations do you have? What commendations do you want?
What characterises the relationship between you and those you lead?
What goals do you have for you and your sheep?
How do you go about reprimanding your sheep?
Structure
Verses 1-2: Paul humbly implores them to listen so that he may spare them of his discipline when he meets these Corinthians again.
Verses 3-11
3-6: Paul’s life and doctrine is of the Spirit. And he has been entrusted with God’s authority to capture all hearts and minds to Christ.
7-8: what he has said and done are sufficient proof of his belonging to Christ!
9-11: Paul’s words represent who he is, so they better listen. He is not ashamed of his authority and will make good use of it!
Verses 12-18
12: Paul’s accusers have empty boasts.
13-14: But Paul can boast in having reached the Corinthians with the Gospel.
15-16: And his aim is to reach even further out from the Corinthians with the Gospel.
17-18: The Lord Himself commends His workers, so Paul boasts in Him/in God’s sight.
Questions on the Text
What accusation does he refer to in verse 2 by “according to the flesh”?
Questions on the meaning
What does the phrase “in the flesh” mean in verses 2-4?
How do the accusers of Paul “compare themselves”? What method do they use to view people?
Audience
Adult
Team members
2Corinthians 10 Talk verbatim. Last edited 2005-01-05
Title: A Time to show your clout[?]
MP: Paul defends his Apostleship so that the Corinthian church will be brought to obedience to Jesus.
1. Context – How Paul came to be so Jealous for them. [1Cor; 2Cor 1:14, 7:4; Acts 18:1-11]
2. Paul’s humility [10:1-2; 1:6, 2:1, 12:19, Phi 2]
3. Paul’s authority [10:3-11; 2:17, 3:5-6, 5:20]
4. Paul’s boasting [10:12-18; 3:1, 6:4, 11, 12:9]
5. A Pauline leader
6. A responsive church
1. Context – How Paul came to be so Jealous for them. [1Cor; 2Cor 1:14, 7:4; Acts 18:1-11]
Since we’ve come into the middle of a letter without having read the first part together, we’ll need a little filler.
Paul’s relationship with the Corinthians, those who received this letter, has been like that of a parent and child. He was the one who first brought them the gospel [Acts 18:1-11] on his second missionary journey around the eastern mediterranean. At that time many Corinthians became converts, including the synagogue ruler Crispus, and many other Jews and Gentiles, they all believed in the news of the Lord Jesus. Paul then spent up to a length of one year and a half there, living with the keen believers. So in a sense Paul was a spiritual father [12:14] to the Corinthian church and he had dined, disciplined, taught and loved and reared them as he lived with them.
This relationship with Paul and the Corinthians has had its ups and downs, so to speak. After Paul left, the Corinthians were attacked spiritually, they received teaching that put down the truth and importance of Jesus’s death for sinful man, they fought amongst themselves over spiritual gifts or abilities, they began to have doubts on the resurrection of Jesus and they even accepted a case of incest in their congregation. Paul rebuked and corrected them with great love by a letter, which we now have as the first letter to the Corinthians.
The letter we have in front of us now addresses new strives in their relationship. In the earlier parts of this letter, Paul had already hinted at the presence and influence of people [2:17, 3:1] in the Corinthian church, people who taught badly the word of God, who boasts of great learning and commendation. Later on we see that these men charged handsomely for their false teaching [11:4-9]. I’ll use the term “super-apostles” to label this breed.
We have just read Paul’s defence of his Apostolic authority against the super-apostles. They make 2 personal attacks on Paul as well as challenge his authority as a teacher to the Corinthians. Firstly in verse 3, they claim that Paul and his preaching partners’ lives are ungodly, or “in the flesh”; secondly, that he is all talk but no action, that he says he has authority but really in his person, he has nothing to show for it. And lastly, they boast and bloat themselves up, perhaps even to the extent of claiming ownership [verses 11-16] of the Corinthians, or at the very least, they justify their influence over the Corinthians.
I wish for us to focus on the way Paul deals with the Corinthians. How as he defends his Apostolic authority, he displays a Christ-like humility, true authority and a rightful commendation from God Himself. But moreover, I want us to see his aim, why he bothers defending himself, and that is to bring them back into an obedient life to Christ.
2. Paul’s humility [10:1-2; 1:6, 2:1, 12:19, Phi 2]
The first thing that Paul displays is great humility. How great? As meek and as gentle as Christ Himself, we read from verse one. When Paul speaks of humility, he means something like seeking the good of someone else over his own [Phi 2, Mat 5], counting others as more significant than himself. We have seen hard evidence of this even in this letter. Paul begins his letter not with rebuke, but with words of comfort. He does this even though he himself was experiencing [1:8] suffering beyond his strength. His decision in not coming to visit them but to write them this time round was to spare them from anymore more sorrow. Paul was the one who laboured day and night even while he spent himself on training and teaching these Corinthians so that he could offer his service free of charge [11:7]. And there are other occasions in Paul’s interaction with the Corinthians which shows Paul’s meekness in dealing with them.
Furthermore, Paul deals with them gently. We see Paul warning the Corinthians of his future visit and he hopes that when he arrives, he will not have to show his clout, so that he won’t have to discipline them or as verse 8 puts it, so that he won’t have to use his given authority to bring them in line. Instead of all the earful they should have received, Paul patiently entreats them to listen, he gives them a chance to turn back and see the truth.
Paul’s character, in a very striking way, reminds me of Jesus. Because Jesus was a man who sought the good of others above Himself and who dealt with everyone with incomparable gentleness. The task of Jesus was to rescue rebellious humanity, as God had asked Him to because He loved mankind. And according to the logic of Philippians chapter two, Jesus gave up all, His glory with the Father, to become a weak and lowly human. Not for His own sake, but for our sake. And it was for our sake that He died, crucified because He took on the punishment for our rebellion against God. In our place He stood under God’s judgement. So that He may see to our good, to grant us forgiveness from God. And He did it ever so gently and lovingly, He lived and healed and taught patiently amongst hardened sinners, who hated Him, whose every perverse thought and deed He knew. But He bore with us and He still bears with us, so that we might know and trust in Him.
And it is Christ-like humility that Paul displays, as he convinces the Corinthians to repentance.
3. Paul’s authority [10:3-11; 2:17, 3:5-6, 5:20]
In verses 3-11, we see Paul rightfully defending himself as a genuine authority as a worker of Christ.
Verse 2 tells us that Paul has been accused of following the world’s standards, that usually means following sinful desires, committing immoral things and so on. Here, I think it has an further meaning as the way Paul does his work, the methods and ethics of his work and how he handles the people of God and how he defends the gospel truths from non-believers. You see, Paul is not a power figure from the world’s perspective and he does not use the world’s management and business techniques to bring people to Christ. [The Donald or Mr Trump has the money, the rhetoric, the experience to run a company, to earn profits and to say “You’re Fired” to hopeless workers. That does work if your goal is to please shareholders, but it does not work if your goal is to change lives from godlessness and death to godliness and life, that won’t work if the aim is to make people’s heart obedient to Christ as verse 5 tells us.]
What Paul has is “divine power” to fight a war, not of words or fists, but of a spiritual nature. This includes defending truths of God, destroying false arguments, discerning and punishing godless behaviour and the remodelling of people’s heads and hearts in Jesus’ likeness. And for Paul, there’s no retiring or stopping until this spiritual change is complete according verse 6.
This authority should be plain to the Corinthians Paul says in verse 7. Another way of reading the original text of verse 7, according to the NIV editors, is “You Corinthians, look at the obvious facts, or look at what is in front of your eyes. Paul very much belongs to Christ. So if the Corinthians grant legitimacy to the super-apostles, they should all the more acknowledge Paul as the real McCoy, a legitimate teacher of God. In those 18 months with these Corinthians, they would have seen the works and wonders [12:12], the knowledge [11:6] and the upright behaviour [6:3-4, 7:2] that commends Paul.
The last detail to note about Paul’s authority is that Paul is a man of his word. He is not, as his accusers think, an inconsistent man. When Paul says he wants the Corinthians to come to obedience, he will make the necessary changes, however painful they are, in order to build this Corinthian church up. For example, from his previous letter to the Corinthians, he has already shown his clout, they did expel that immoral brother who committed incest ast Paul’s command. Paul’s actions match the impressive goals he sets, as verse 11 reminds us.
4. Paul’s boasting [10:12-18; 3:1, 6:4, 11, 12:9]
And at last we move onto an apparently strange part of this letter as Paul does something that he usually does not. That is boasting. And I think the primary aim of Paul’s boasting and his earlier defence of his authority stems from Paul’s relationship with the Corinthians. We have already seen Paul’s authority being challenged by the super-apostles, and these false apostles are even trying to “boast” in the Corinthians, to say that they are their sheep, their protégé, their very own spiritual children. What we see is actually a case of godly jealousy on Paul’s behalf. We will soon see why he has the case for feeling so. [And actually Tin will explain more of this vrom chapter 11]
Paul starts by bringing out the ridiculous arrogance of the super-apostles. You see from verse twelve, they are wafflers, or mere talkers, people who blow their own trumpets and we all know these types. And there is the sense in verses thirteen and forteen that they were simply claiming Paul’s own territory, putting their own flags on the Corinthian turf and assuming a sphere of influence. But in truth, their substance is as weighty and good as their own saliva. For their only commendation is themselves, given by themselves and compared with themselves as we see in verse 12.
What Paul has said is that even by looking merely from a human perspective, these super apostles, who have gripped the Corinthians’ hearts with their speech and showy knowledge and ability, have nothing to glory in, nothing they can even thank or praise God for.
Paul on the other hand does have something to “boast” about. At the very least we know for a fact he has reached the Corinthians with a life-changing gospel. Paul has influenced these Corinthians, as well as many other such churches, greatly. From First Corinthians alone Paul challenged them on issues of holiness, marriage, of edification in all actions [sacrifices, lawsuits], the wisdom of God in Jesus’ death, the hope of His resurrection and more. In 2Cor 7:6ff, we read that Titus brought back news of their godly sorrow and repentance as a result of that letter. So from inference we can only say that Paul influenced all levels of the Corinthians’ christian life. [And Paul hopes to expand this gospel influence further, looking at verse 15, to regions around Corinth in Achaia. To pioneer gospel work where no worker has gone before.]
But verses seventeen and eighteen shows that Paul doesn’t want to “boast” like the super-apostles at all. He confesses that if anyone wants to boast, they should boast in the Lord. Paul understands that all his work and labour is God’s in the end [1Cor 15:10, 2Cor 12:9]. So all the glory is rightfully God’s own. And God is the one that Paul really wants praise from, not from man and definitely not from himself. Verse 18 shows us that Paul has a judgement day integrity, by that I mean, he cares only of God’s commendation, the sole judge of all mankind and all beings. Because only He can see all things and reveal all things in the last day, so that whomever God commends on that day really deserves approval. And the Lord delights, according to the Jeremiah [Jer 9:27] cross-reference, those who trust and depend on Him in their work, those who “boast in Him” and not in themselves. And so Paul is confident in God’s commendation as he truly and humbly boasts in the Lord.
God’s word means life for us if we obey it. And I thought it might be helpful for us to think of ourselves as 2 groups of people, not exclusively, just alternatively. Because all Christians are both workers-slash-leaders and members-slash-pew-sitters.
5. A Pauline leader
Firstly, be an imitation of Paul as a gospel worker, teacher or leader. Imitate him for he imitates Jesus [1Cor 11:1] our Lord. This is easier said than done.
Humility of Christ
Who’s good are you seeking?
What characterises the relationship between you and those you lead?
What goals do you have for you and your sheep?
How do you go about reprimanding your sheep?
Authority
With what or by what authority do you teach? [Using divine power/Scriptural]
Are you on the on the offense when you recognise a disobedient thought? – an action I must take for myself.
[Do you following through with godly standards that you set for yourself and your sheep? – this is a personal action point for me.]
[How do you walk now? Is it against worldly practices and along the standards and goals of the gospel?]
Boasting
[What commendations do you have? What commendations do you want?]
Do you boast in your sheep as Paul does?
Who’s opinion are you chasing after? How does that show in how you work?
Is your ministry filled with trusting in God’s power? Is God getting all the thanks and praise he deserves as you labour?
6. A responsive church
Secondly, be a responsive church to godly authority such as Paul.
Collectively
Do you think about the character and teaching of the leader?
There must be something very attractive about the super-apostles if the Corinthians were sucked in…
Is it possible that we’ve given our hearts away to less worthy influence in our church? A temptation in my own church [corporate/numbers/growth]…
Individually
Has there been a keen Christian who’ve been asking those hard awkward questions? Though you do not want them to, do you know their genuine intention to build you up? To bring you in line with God’s ways?
2Corinthians 10 @ St Aidan’s. Last edited 2005-01-08
1. Context – How Paul came to be so Jealous for them. [1Cor; 2Cor 1:14, 7:4; Acts 18:1-11]
2. Paul’s humility [10:1-2; 1:6, 2:1, 12:19, Phi 2]
3. Paul’s authority [10:3-11; 2:17, 3:5-6, 5:20]
4. Paul’s boasting [10:12-18; 3:1, 6:4, 11, 12:9]
5. A responsive church
6. A Pauline leader
1. Context – How Paul came to be so Jealous for them. [1Cor; 2Cor 1:14, 7:4; Acts 18:1-11]
Since we’ve come into the middle of a letter without having read the first part together, we’ll need a little filler.
Paul’s relationship with the Corinthians, those who received this letter, has been like that of a parent and child. He was the one who first brought them the gospel [Acts 18:1-11] on his second missionary journey around the eastern mediterranean. At that time many Corinthians became converts, including the synagogue ruler Crispus and many other Jews and Gentiles, they all believed in the news of the Lord Jesus. Paul then spent up to a year and a half there, living with the keen believers. So in this sense Paul was a spiritual father [12:14] to the Corinthian church because he had dined with, disciplined, taught and loved and reared them as he lived with them.
This relationship with Paul and the Corinthians has had its ups and downs, so to speak. After Paul left, the Corinthians were attacked spiritually, they received teaching that put down the truth and importance of Jesus’s death for sinful man, they fought amongst themselves over spiritual gifts or abilities, they began to have doubts on the resurrection of Jesus and they even accepted a case of incest in their congregation. Paul rebuked and corrected them with great love by a letter, which we now have as the first letter to the Corinthians.
The letter we have in front of us now addresses new strives in their relationship. In the earlier parts of this letter, Paul had already hinted at the presence and influence of some people [2:17, 3:1] in the Corinthian church, people who taught badly the word of God, who boasts of great learning and commendation. Later on we see that these men charged handsomely for their false teaching [11:4-9]. Paul uses the term “super-apostles” to label this breed.
We have just read Paul’s defence of his Apostolic authority against the super-apostles. They make 2 personal attacks on Paul as well as challenge his authority as a teacher to the Corinthians. Firstly in verse 3, they claim that Paul and his preaching partners’ lives are ungodly, or “in the flesh”; secondly, that he is all talk but no action, that he says he has authority but really in his person, he has nothing to show for it. And lastly, they boast and bloat themselves up, perhaps even to the extent of claiming ownership [verses 11-16] of the Corinthians, or at the very least, they try to justify their influence over the Corinthians.
Today, we will focus on the way Paul deals with the Corinthians. How as he defends his Apostolic authority, he displays a Christ-like humility, true authority and a rightful commendation from God Himself. But moreover, I want us to see his aim, why he bothers defending himself, and that is to bring them back into an obedient life to Christ.
2. Paul’s humility [10:1-2; 1:6, 2:1, 12:19, Phi 2]
The first thing that Paul displays is great humility. How great? As meek and as gentle as Christ Himself, we read from verse one. When Paul speaks of humility, he means something like seeking the good of someone over his own [Phi 2, Mat 5], he means counting others as more significant than himself. We have seen hard evidence of this even in this letter. Paul begins his letter not with rebuke, but with words of comfort. He does this even though he himself was experiencing [1:8] suffering beyond his strength. His decision in not coming to visit them but to write them this time round was to spare them from anymore more sorrow. Paul was the one who laboured day and night even while he spent himself on training and teaching these Corinthians so that he could offer his service free of charge [11:7]. And there are more examples of Paul’s meekness in dealing with them.
Furthermore, Paul deals with them gently. We see Paul warning the Corinthians of his future visit and he hopes that when he arrives, he will not have to show his clout, so that he won’t have to discipline them or as verse 8 puts it, so that he won’t have to use his given authority to bring them in line. Instead, Paul patiently entreats them to listen, he gives them a chance to turn back and see the truth.
Paul’s character, in a very striking way, reminds me of Jesus. Because Jesus was a man who sought the good of others above Himself and who dealt with everyone with incomparable gentleness. The task of Jesus was to rescue rebellious humanity, as God had asked Him to because He loved mankind. And according to the logic of Philippians chapter two, Jesus gave up all, His glory with the Father, to become a weak and lowly human. Not for His own sake, but for our sake. And it was for our sake that He died, crucified because He took on the punishment for our rebellion against God. In our place He stood under God’s judgement, so that He may see to our good, to grant us forgiveness from God. And He did it ever so gently and lovingly, didn’t He? He lived and healed and taught patiently amongst hardened sinners, who hated Him, whose every perverse thought and deed He knew. But He bore with us and He still bears with us, so that we might know and trust in Him.
And it is Christ-like humility that Paul displays, as he convinces the Corinthians to repentance.
3. Paul’s authority [10:3-11; 2:17, 3:5-6, 5:20]
In verses 3-11, we see Paul rightfully defending himself as a genuine worker of Christ.
Verse 2 tells us that Paul has been accused of following the world’s standards, that usually means following sinful desires, committing immoral things and so on. Here, I think the phrase “in the flesh” goes further, even to the way Paul does his work, the methods and ethics of his work and how he handles the people of God and how he defends the gospel truths. You see, Paul is not a power figure from the world’s perspective and he does not use the world’s management and business techniques to bring people to Christ in their minds and hearts. [The Donald or Mr Trump on ther otherhand uses his money, his rhetoric, his experience to run a company, to earn profits and to say “You’re Fired” to hopeless workers. That does work if your goal is to please shareholders, but it does not work if your goal is to change lives from godlessness and death to godliness and life, that won’t work if the aim is to make people’s heart obedient to Christ as verse 5 tells us.]
What Paul has is “divine power” to fight a war, not of words or fists, but of a spiritual nature. This includes defending truths of God, destroying false arguments, discerning and punishing godless behaviour and the remodelling of people’s heads and hearts in Jesus’ likeness. And for Paul, there’s no retiring or stopping until this spiritual change is complete according verse 6.
This authority should be plain to the Corinthians, Paul says to us in verse 7. Another way of translating the original text of verse 7, is “You Corinthians, look at the obvious facts, or look at what is in front of your eyes.” Paul very much belongs to Christ. So if the Corinthians grant legitimacy to the super-apostles, they should all the more acknowledge Paul as the real McCoy, a legitimate teacher of God. In those 18 months with these Corinthians, they would have seen the works and wonders [12:12], the knowledge [11:6] and the upright behaviour [6:3-4, 7:2] that commends Paul.
The last detail to note about Paul’s authority is that Paul is a man of his word. He is not, as his accusers think, an inconsistent man. When Paul says he wants the Corinthians to come to obedience, he will make the necessary changes, however painful they are, in order to build this Corinthian church up. For example, from his previous letter to the Corinthians, he has already shown his clout, they did, at Paul’s command, expel that immoral brother who committed incest. Paul’s actions match the impressive goals he sets, as verse 11 reminds us.
4. Paul’s boasting [10:12-18; 3:1, 6:4, 11, 12:9]
And at last we move onto an apparently strange part of this letter as Paul does something that he usually does not. That is boasting.
I think the primary reason for Paul’s boasting and for his earlier defence of his authority stems from Paul’s relationship with the Corinthians and his desire to see them obedient to the true Christ. We have already seen Paul’s authority being challenged by the super-apostles, and these false apostles are even trying to “boast” in the Corinthians, to say that they are their sheep, their protégé, their very own spiritual children. What we see is actually a case of godly jealousy on Paul’s behalf. Paul will not let false apostles take away this Corinthian and in effect away from obedience to Christ.
Paul starts by bringing out the ridiculous arrogance of the super-apostles. You see from verse twelve, these guys are wafflers, mere talkers, people who blow their own trumpets and we all know these types. And there is the sense in verses thirteen and forteen that they were simply claiming Paul’s own territory, putting their own flags on the Corinthian turf and assuming a sphere of influence. But in truth, their substance is as weighty and good as their own saliva. For their only commendation is themselves, given by themselves and compared with themselves as we see in verse 12.
What Paul has said is that even by looking merely from a human perspective, these super apostles, who have gripped the Corinthians’ hearts with their speech and showy knowledge and ability, have nothing to glory in, nothing they can even thank or praise God for.
Paul on the other hand does have something to “boast” about. At the very least we know for a fact he has reached the Corinthians with a life-changing gospel. Paul has influenced these Corinthians greatly! From First Corinthians alone Paul challenged them on issues of holiness, marriage, of edification in all actions [sacrifices, lawsuits]; he’s challenged them to see the wisdom of God in Jesus’ death, the hope of His bodily resurrection and more. In 2Cor 7:6ff, we read that Titus brought back news of their godly sorrow and repentance as a result of that letter. So from inference we can only say that Paul influenced all levels of the Corinthians’ christian life. [And Paul hopes to expand this gospel influence further, looking at verse 15, to regions around Corinth in Achaia. To pioneer gospel work where no worker has gone before.]
But verses seventeen and eighteen shows that Paul doesn’t want to “boast” like the super-apostles at all. He confesses that if anyone wants to boast, they should boast in the Lord. Paul understands that all his work and labour is God’s in the end [1Cor 15:10, 2Cor 12:9]. So all the glory is rightfully God’s own. And God is the one that Paul really wants praise from, not from man and definitely not from himself. Verse 18 shows Paul cares only of God’s commendation, the sole judge of all mankind and all beings. Because only He can see all things and reveal all things in the last day, so that whomever God commends on that day really deserves approval. And the Lord delights, according to the Jeremiah [Jer 9:27] cross-reference, those who trust and depend on Him in their work, those who “boast in Him” and not in themselves. And so Paul is confident in God’s commendation as he truly and humbly boasts in the Lord.
God’s word means life for us if we obey it. And I thought it might be helpful for us to think of ourselves as 2 groups of people, not exclusively, just alternatively. Because all Christians are both members who receive ministry and workers who serve in ministry.
5. A responsive church
Firstly, be a responsive church to godly authority such as Paul’s.
Firstly, we must realise the reality of the power and attraction of the “super-apostles” if even the Corinthians were sucked in…
What unworthy “super” opinions, movements or trends, Christian or non-Christian, have been winning our hearts over? Are we now more interested in hearing and reading about “super-experiences” or new ways of knowing God, through powerful music, through exercising spiritual gifts, through mystical spirituality? Are we giving our hearts over to “super-promises” of guaranteed health, wealth and fame for every Christian? Are we tempted to put our efforts on social justice and good works so that we’d be seen as “super-kind or good?” Are we more interested in these good things rather than the best thing, hearing and telling the beautiful and simple gospel of a crucified God? A Christian friend said to me it is hard to be always centred on the best, everyone and every church is off-centred, but we are to keep giving our hearts to true biblical authority.
Secondly, we must examine our responses to godly authority. Have we been unaware of our leader’s love and godly jealousy for us? Have our own behaviour and lack of zeal for our own growth and other’s growth caused them pain? Have we appreciated the frustration, angst and tears that we have caused in those who have loved us and cared for us spiritually? Do we welcome and respond well to such godly advice from our leaders?
And on the individual scale, has there been a keen Christian who’ve been asking those hard awkward questions? Though we do not want them to, do we know their genuine intention to build us up? To bring us in line with God’s ways?
Look to a Pauline leader and listen…
[Do you think about the character and teaching of the leader?]
6. A Pauline leader
Secondly, be an imitation of Paul as a gospel worker, teacher or leader. I don’t think this only means the current leadership team but all people of God, for we are called to serve of each other when we are Christ’s followers[Phi 2]. Imitate him for he imitates Jesus [1Cor 11:1] our Lord. This is easier said than done.
Humility of Christ
Who’s good are you seeking?
What characterises the relationship between you and those you teach?
[How do you go about reprimanding your sheep?]
Authority
With what or by what authority do you teach? [Using divine power/Scriptural]
Are you on the on the offense when you recognise a disobedient thought? – an action I must take for myself.
[Do you following through with godly standards that you set for yourself and your sheep? – this is a personal action point for me.]
Boasting
[What commendations do you have? What commendations do you want?]
Do you boast in your sheep as Paul does?
[Who’s opinion are you chasing after? How does that show in how you work?]
Is your ministry filled with trusting in God’s power? Is God getting all the thanks and praise he deserves as you labour?
2 Corinthians 10:1-18
ESV
Paul Defends His Ministry
1I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ--I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!-- 2I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. 3For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
7Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ's, so also are we. 8For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. 9I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. 10For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account." 11Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. 12Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.
13But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. 14For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. We were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. 15We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, 16so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another's area of influence. 17"Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
NIV
Paul's Defense of His Ministry
1By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you–I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” when away! 2I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We 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. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
7You are looking only on the surface of things.[a] If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he. 8For even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 9I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. 10For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.” 11Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.
12We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. 13We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a field that reaches even to you. 14We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. 15Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others.[b] Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand, 16so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in another man's territory. 17But, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”[c] 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
Footnotes:
2 Corinthians 10:7 Or Look at the obvious facts
2 Corinthians 10:15 Or 13 We, however, will not boast about things that cannot be measured, but we will boast according to the standard of measurement that the God of measure has assigned us–a measurement that relates even to you. 14 ... 15 Neither do we boast about things that cannot be measured in regard to the work done by others.
2 Corinthians 10:17 Jer. 9:24
