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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
December 21
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Today's Pathway:
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In today's passage Paul goes back to his defense of his apostolic authority. He says once again that his boasting about his accomplishments has made him look like a fool. As we have said before, he would much rather talk about the Lord than about himself, and quite frankly, most of the things about himself that he has mentioned have focused on what the Lord has done and what the Lord has empowered him to do. However, Paul tells the Corinthians that the reason he has done this glorying is because they have forced him into it by not standing up for him and his ministry. Back in II Corinthians 3:1-2 Paul wrote that he did not need letters of commendations like the false teachers did because,
"Ye (the Corinthians believers) are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men".
Yet the church members there, in spite of all that Paul had done, behaved foolishly through their sinfulness, which in turn resulted in Paul having to behave in what he considered to be a foolish manner in order to maintain his reputation as an apostle. In I Corinthians 9:2 Paul had written,
"If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord."
Yet the church had failed to uphold him in that office, and had allowed false apostles to denigrate Paul's ministry and character. If I could interject for a moment: sometimes it is necessary for believers to speak up when their church members and leaders are being wrongfully and slanderously accused. Our silence can easily be mistaken for support, and while our speech should always be gracious and seasoned with salt (Colossians 4:6), we should not sit by when those who love the Lord are being unfairly criticized, particularly when they are being unjustly denounced in the midst of their service to the Lord. In Ecclesiastes 8:11 Solomon writes,
"Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil."
The application of that principle in Paul's case is this: if you don't speak up quickly to point out that someone is wrong, that person will assume that he is right. It has been said that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. That is what was happening in the Corinthian church.
Paul then gives the obvious reason why the church should have enthusiastically supported him: he was not inferior to the greatest apostles in any way. Some believe that he is sarcastically referring to the false apostles, but I do not think that is correct, because in verse 12 he states that all the evidence that someone was an apostle was shown by him in Corinth. Remember that Paul was in the church for about 18 months (Acts 18:11), so they had seen him in action. He had been a spiritual father to them (I Corinthians 4:14-15), and they had heard the depth of his preaching (I Corinthians 2:4), experienced his willingness to sacrifice for them (II Corinthians 11:7-9), and seen his use of spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 14:18). And all of this he had done with patience, enduring every criticism and rejection that came his way. If any church should have known from first-hand experience that Paul was a genuine apostle it should have been the Corinthians. Unfortunately, they either chose to be blind to his position, or else they were willing to allow his authority to be usurped by unqualified and ungodly men. What a sad situation this is, and how difficult it must have been for Paul to take. Yet he continued to minister to them steadfastly and love them abundantly (II Corinthians 2:4). And note his attitude in verse 11. He acknowledged that he was nothing. In spite of all that he had done, Paul gave all the glory to God, for it was the power of Christ upon him that enabled him to accomplish anything that mattered in eternity.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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