Year Two, October 17

Not To Us, O LORD…but to Your Name Give Glory1

2 Corinthians 11:1-9; 23-30

Paul did not like to talk about himself. He calls praising oneself foolishness, and it usually is. But he needed to justify his viewpoint and authority so that his letters to the Corinthian believers would influence them to their lasting benefit.

1I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! 2For I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (Paul was afraid their mixing human reasoning to the gospel would lead them away from the truth. There is much evidence to argue that the church today should have the same concern.) 4For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

If anyone could bring us a better gospel, a more certain gospel, a fuller gospel, a freer gospel, then we might listen to their different gospel. But as long as this is not attempted or claimed to be, we will stick with the old doctrine and those men of God who preach it.

5Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. 6Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.

7Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge? 8I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. (He received nothing from the Corinthians, but allowed other churches to pay his expenses so that he would be absolutely no burden to them. Yet they were not grateful, but were rude and showed a lack of respect. Gratitude is far too rare even among professing Christians.) 9And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.

Then the apostle, to confirm his character and prove his apostleship, spoke of what he had done and suffered.

23Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—(His call to Christ was more remarkable than theirs. He had been more fully instructed than they. And, he had been authorized by the Lord to accomplish more than any of them.) I am talking like a madman--with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea, 26on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

28And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. (The churches were a heavy burden on Paul. There were so many things to think about that his mind was worn out.) 29Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? (He felt sympathy for everyone, he felt their sorrows.)

30If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

Surely after this listing of facts these Corinthians would value the apostle and no longer trouble him with their criticisms. It is far better for us to profit by good people than to find fault with them. Do not let the Pauls who are among us now have to suffer due to our unkindness.

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¹ Psalm 115:1