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Today's Pathway: II Corinthians 10:1-2 Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

The last four chapters of this epistle carry a different tone than the first nine. For some background information, Colin Kruse wrote,

"The reader will notice a marked change in tone when moving from chapters 1–9 to chapters 10–13. In the former the tone is basically that of relief and comfort, of confidence in God and in the Corinthians, despite the fact Paul felt the need to explain his changed travel plans and stress the integrity of his ministry. The tone of the latter is very different. It is marked by satire and sarcasm, spirited personal defense, reproach directed towards the Corinthians and bitter attack leveled at outsiders who have infiltrated and are now influencing the congregation."

"Self-styled false apostles invaded the Corinthian church, vigorously assaulting Paul’s ministry, apostolic credentials, and character. They sought to destroy his reputation and set themselves up as the authoritative teachers, so the Corinthians would believe their damning lies. Paul responded to the threat with a sternly worded letter which brought about the repentance of the majority in the Corinthian assembly. To stamp out the last traces of the rebellion, the apostle launched a 'search and destroy' mission to root out the remaining pockets of resistance at Corinth. His attack was two pronged. The preliminary bombardment, as it were, came in the last four chapters of this epistle; the final assault came when Paul visited Corinth a couple of months later. The last section of this epistle, then, is addressed to the recalcitrant minority; namely, the false apostles and their remaining deluded followers."

Verse 1 is a little bit difficult to understand at its first reading. Paul opens by appealing to the character of Christ, Who was "meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). In the second half of the verse he is saying that when he (Paul) was with the Corinthian church in person, he was meek and humble (as Christ was), but when he wrote to them ("being absent") he was much more bold in his denunciations of their errors. Apparently this resulted in accusations that those who opposed Paul had made against him. His enemies used this to "prove" that he really didn't have any authority, and perhaps any backbone, because he was gentle when he was actually with the church members. Bruce Hurt wrote,

"The Greek word translated 'base' is usually used in a positive sense in the New Testament, but in this context it is used in the negative sense meaning servile, abject, subservient. And so Paul's adversaries took his Christ-like meekness and turned it against him claiming he was 'groveling' when he was face to face with the Corinthians."

"if I come again, I will not spare".

At the end of verse 2 Paul specifically mentions those who are spreading the lie that he is living a fleshly lifestyle and that his ministry is geared towards his own gratification and not towards the glory of God and the salvation of the lost. We will discuss this further tomorrow.