12:11 ¶ I am become a fool in
glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for
in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. 12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought
among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds. 13 For what is it wherein ye were inferior to
other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you?
forgive me this wrong. 14 Behold, the
third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for
I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the
parents, but the parents for the children. 15
And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more
abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. 16
But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught
you with guile. 17 Did I make a gain of
you by any of them whom I sent unto you? 18
I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a
gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same
steps? 19 Again, think ye that we excuse
ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things,
dearly beloved, for your edifying. 20
For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and
that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates,
envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:
21 And lest, when I come again,
my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have
sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and
lasciviousness which they have committed.
Paul may have made a fool of himself in spelling out his
credentials as an Apostle but it was because the Corinthians, in their
willingness to believe false teachers didn’t appear to regard him very highly
and they should have defended him to those who put him down. He says that even
though he is nothing he is not less than people like Peter, for instance. When
he was with them they saw the mighty works of God done through him. He only is
concerned about their welfare in saying all of this.
What concerns Paul is that when he returns to them for the third
time he might find them acting as many congregations today do; with arguments,
envy, wrath, and on and on. When he comes he will convict them of their wicked
sins and not hold back.
It is easy to be reminded of Moses here. It is said of Moses;
Numbers 12:3 (Now the man Moses was very meek,
above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)
Now, this is a guy who killed an Egyptian and led a couple of
million people through the Sinai so he doesn’t seem meek in our understanding
of the word. But, meek can refer to one’s attitude toward God’s will based on
the context.
The wording after the colon in the following verse defines one
aspect of meekness towards God.
Psalm 22:26 The meek
shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your
heart shall live for ever.
Zephaniah 2:3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought
his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in
the day of the LORD’S anger.
Moses’ authority, his legitimacy was often challenged by the
rebellious Hebrews who were willing to follow those who opposed Moses.
Numbers 16:3 And they gathered themselves together against
Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye
up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?
Even his own brother and sister questioned criticized him.
Numbers 12:1 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses
because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had
married an Ethiopian woman.
And while no one that we know of who questioned Paul’s spiritual
authority was swallowed up by the earth or got leprosy temporarily as they did
in those examples when Moses’ physical authority was held in contempt Paul was
put in the position of defending the correctness of his teaching, his doctrine,
and questioning why the Corinthians had not defended him against the false teachers,
intruders in their church.
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