10:7 ¶ Do ye look on things after the outward
appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself
think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we
Christ’s. 8 For though I should boast
somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification,
and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed: 9 That I may not seem as if I would terrify you
by letters. 10 For his letters,
say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is
weak, and his speech contemptible. 11
Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when
we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.
Paul deals with his detractors now, those who oppose him and judge
him harshly. Paul starts with his unimpressive physical appearance and the fact
that he is not a professional preacher like the Sophists described previously.
If you remember, his name originally was Saul. But, he was also called Paul.
Ac 13:9 Then Saul,
(who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set
his eyes on him,
According to Strong’s dictionary Paul means little or small. So,
the assumption can be made that Paul was a short man, not a very big man at
all, and not very impressive physically, perhaps like Zacchaeus of Luke 19.
Paul is wondering if he will have to put on the boldness of his
letters when he returns. It seems he hopes not but he is willing to come in
like a lion if need be. The Corinthians’ walk with Christ is at stake.
Paul insists that the authority he has over the Corinthians was
given to him by the Lord for the Corinthians’ sake, for their edification not
their destruction. He is trying to make them understand that what he says he
says for their own good.
10:12 ¶ For we dare not make
ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend
themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing
themselves among themselves, are not wise. 13
But we will not boast of things without our measure, but
according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a
measure to reach even unto you. 14 For
we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure,
as though we reached not unto you:
for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:
15 Not boasting of things without our
measure, that is, of other men’s labours; but having hope, when your
faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule
abundantly, 16 To preach the gospel in
the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s line of
things made ready to our hand. 17 But he
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 18
For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord
commendeth.
Eighteenth-century preacher, John Gill, who preached in Charles
Haddon Spurgeon’s church a hundred years before him, believed that Paul was
speaking ironically in a mocking tone referring to those false apostles, those
inheritors of the Sophist tradition mentioned earlier and false Judaizers who
wanted to deny the resurrection and bring the Christians back under the Law,
make merchandise of the believers, and corrupt or water-down God’s word. He is
not putting himself on their level, assuming their own self-imposed greatness.
Paul insists that he is not going to go outside of what God has
given him in spiritual authority over the Corinthians. He also wants to build
on the faith of the Corinthians to reach the lost in regions beyond Corinth,
not building on the work of laborers already sent. In the end of the passage as
he brings it back down to plain speech he makes the point that only whom God
commends and approves of is approved and commended, not those who puff
themselves up in themselves.
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