The Christian Ministry I: Help for Today’s Pastors, 2 Corinthians
There is no book in the Scriptures that is more relevant than 2 Corinthians, because in 2 Corinthians the Apostle Paul is under a sustained, vicious, personal attack, and it comes with satanic ingenuity at a period in Ephesus when he is already burdened and under huge pressure, almost despairing of life itself. It is the most intense, revealing, and emotional of all Paul’s writings. If 1 Corinthians is mainly about the church, 2 Corinthians is largely about the Apostle. Let me take a moment to outline to remind you of the background.
This letter was written in Macedonia, possibly in Philippi, after a long ministry in Ephesus. 1 Corinthians has not solved all the problems in the church, and when Timothy visits Corinth, he finds that the situation is beyond his control. Timothy, frankly, can’t handle it. The church has been infiltrated by false apostles—as Paul calls them—from Judea, ridiculing Paul. So, Paul decides to pay a visit to the church. He calls it “a painful visit.” (2 Corinthians 2:1). The visit, in human terms, is a complete flop and failure. He is insulted, mocked, and rejected. His advice is spurned, and he leaves the city of Corinth with laughter ringing in his ears. The church which he funded.
He then sends a severe letter by Titus to the church, urging them to discipline the leading troublemaker and to organize the Jerusalem collection. In the meantime, he is working in Ephesus. He is under enormous pressure. He is very anxious for news of Corinth, so anxious that he leaves Ephesus and travels to Troas, where presumably Titus was supposed to met him. Titus doesn’t turn up. Paul travels on, neglecting opportunities for gospel ministry, to Macedonia, which was obviously their fallback position if they didn’t meet in Troas. Titus is still not there. He is very, deeply concerned for this church; but then Titus arrives and he brings good news: the church has been repentant and obedient. 2 Corinthians is then written by Paul in joyful response to this very good news.
It’s not all good news. The critics are still active. Newcomers have come into the church. Not the different parties or factions of 1 Corinthians, but Palestinian Jews, and they’ve been influenced by Greek thoughts and attitudes, especially those of the Sophists, the professional paid orators and teachers; the glamour boys of the academic world in those days; the pop stars of intellectual life. One commentator says, “This is a new kind of Judaising. Not Galatians-type Judaising, not concerned so much with circumcision and law, but with prestige and power and glitter and glamour.” Paul refers to them twice (2 Corinthians 11:5 and 12:11) as these super-apostles. The Corinthians are immature, they’re heavily influenced by their culture, and they’re vulnerable to the appeal of these very attractive, persuasive, new teachers.
The teachers over-realized the eschatology of these Corinthians, they wanted to be in the already. They were uncomfortable about being in the not-yet all the time, and this appealed to them. The pattern is the same as Galatians: if they want to take over the church, they need to destroy Paul, and so, they attack him personally. On the Jewish side, they appeal to their Jerusalem connections; on the Greek side, they use a cultural bias. These people are polished, eloquent, confident, dynamic. Real charismatic leaders. They claim superior spirituality. They have had visions, they have had ecstatic experiences, they have gone deeply into the spiritual life. They’re also authoritarian, heavy-handed, and manipulative, and the people love it! They’ve got a spiritual masochism that leads them to subject themselves to these incomers. These are the source of the attacks.
Let me, simply, read to you one paragraph from D.A. Carson’s 1984 book From Triumphalism to Maturity. It’s an exposition of chapters 10 to 13 of 2 Corinthians. I urge you, if you haven’t got it, get it, read, mark, learn, inwardly digest. It’s more relevant now than when it was written years ago. Carson says, “We increasingly inhabit a time and place in Western history when humility is perceived to be weakness; when leadership, even in the church, frequently has more to do with politics, pizzaz, and showmanship, or with structure and hierarchy than with spiritual maturity and conformity to Christ; when loose talk of spiritual experience wins an instant following, even when that talk is mingled with scarcely concealed haughtiness that has learned neither humility nor tears. [Carson goes on]. Modern “Christian success” formulas, too frequently developed by hucksters of glamour, pandering to personal comfort and aggrandizement, and formulated to mesh smoothly with our pagan society’s ideas.”
Isn’t that very, very good? The Prayer of Jabez hadn’t even been written! “Formulated to mesh smoothly with our pagan society’s ideas.” So, the book is staggeringly relevant, but that’s not where I want to go, because I think there’s an even wider application. I want to look at a pastor under attack. That’s going to be our subject: a pastor under attack. How do you deal with being attacked? There are many kinds of attacks that we may experience, as pastors. So, we’re all here.
Let’s look first at the attacks on Paul. These attacks are personal and they’re damaging. He is accused, for example, of being fickle, a man who keeps changing his mind. Originally, he planned to come down from Macedonia to Corinth, on his way to Jerusalem. Ephesus; Macedonia; Corinth; Jerusalem. Then he changed his mind. Didn’t do that. Told them that he was going to come straight to Corinth, then up to Macedonia, then back to Corinth for a second visit, and then on to Jerusalem. That was the second plan. He didn’t do that either! He only made one visit. First of all, he said yes to one visit. Then he said no; and then he said yes to two visits; and then he said no. This amount of saying yes, no, yes, no all the time, and you don’t know whether it remains yes or no! Completely undependable.
Second charge: he’s physically unimpressive. He’s an untrained orator. He can command respect only at a distance. 10:10, “For they say, ‘His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech of no account.’” Doesn’t look like a leader, doesn’t act like a leader.
Thirdly: he doesn’t even have proper credentials. He says in 3:1, “Do we need letters of recommendation to you or from you?” Apparently, there are people who think he does need letters of recommendation, and he doesn’t have them!
Fourth charge: he refuses financial help. He doesn’t accept payment! 11:7, “Did I commit a sin in humbling myself, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge?” Apparently, some people said that was a sin, that was a big flaw. Then, here is the irony of the thing: as well as being accused of not accepting payment—you men have been here—he is also accused of stealing the money that’s being collected for Jerusalem. These people can’t make up their minds. “This guy isn’t interested in money. This guy is a thief!” 12:16, “I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit.”
So, these are the sort of attacks that are being brought against this pastor. Brethren, note their subtlety. Note their subtlety. Most of the facts are true. They’re undeniable. Paul did change his plans. Paul was, apparently, unimpressive in appearance. He wasn’t a trained orator. He did write forcefully. When he came to Corinth, he was steamrollered and had to leave in shame. He did refuse payment. He did take up a collection for Jerusalem. All those facts are perfectly true. It’s the inferences drawn from the facts that are utterly false. “But how can you prove that? He’s in a no-win situation.” Supposing he writes a strong, forceful letter, what are they going to say? “We told you. Paper tiger, big man with a pen in his hand. Isn’t that what we said? There’s the evidence.” Suppose he doesn’t write a letter. He’s going to lose the church to these people. What’s he going to do?
If he commands himself, he’s a boaster. If he doesn’t command himself, well, there’s nothing he can say, he’s no credentials. He hasn’t even the nerve to tell lies about himself. If he accepts money for preaching, he’s a greedy crook! If he doesn’t accept money, it’s because he knows his teaching isn’t worth anything. And yet, how damaging it is; very, very damaging! They’re saying that Paul is an unreliable, unqualified, unauthorized, second-rate, dishonest man. Would you want to follow a leader like that?
Now, brethren , this gives us, I think, a clue as to how pastors are usually attacked. Normally, it is not by downright lies, by statements of fact. People don’t say, “He was arrested and spent the night in jail” or “he has a prison record” or “he ran away with another man’s wife”—unless those are true. Those aren’t the sort of accusations that are brought against pastors. It’s the inferences which are drawn; it’s the motives that are imputed. “His preaching is too negative. His preaching is too shallow. His preaching is too heavy. His preaching is boring. He’s authoritarian. He’s heavy-handed. He’s weak. He’s lazy.” Have any of you been accused of any of these things? “He’s pastorally insensitive. He’s an uncaring sort of man. Very judgemental.”
These are the sort of attacks that the devil brings, and they have the appearance of plausibility. I would go further, there may be an element of truth in them. Sometimes we are insensitive. Sometimes we get things wrong. We say things we shouldn’t say. Sometimes we are neglectful. There’s a residue of truth in these things, but what do you do? How can you prove that you’re not lazy? I mean, do you rush around in highly visible activity in front of your people? How do you prove to people that you’re not lazy? How do you prove that you’re not insensitive? I had a woman say to me recently about her pastor, “He came into my house. He was so insensitive.” Well, all I could say was, “I know the man. I find it hard to believe that he was insensitive.” But how do you prove it?
If people are accusing you and you act against them, you’re being heavy-handed. If you don’t act against them, you’re handing the church over to them to do what they want. If you say to somebody, “I’m not negative,” don’t sound a bit negative. When you say, “I’m judgmental, you’re dead wrong,” you’re sounding judgmental. Very, very hard to know what to do. Put more theology into your sermons, you’re too heavy; you take it out, you’re not feeding your people.
If people want to find fault, brother, they will always be able to find fault. Don’t try to put yourself in a position where people can’t find fault with you. It is absolutely impossible. Forget it, don’t worry about it. If they want to find fault, they will find fault. I want, at this point, to urge us to keep all that I’m saying today in balance so that we don’t sink into depression and start feeling sorry for ourselves. These letters are not the whole story of Paul’s ministry. This is not Paul’s whole congregation. He wrote a letter to the Philippians—people who loved him and esteemed him and honored him, who had very little in the way of serious problems—for whom he thanked God. He wrote a letter to the Thessalonians. They had a few minor growth problems, but Paul was thrilled with what was happening to them.
Brethren, don’t go looking for trouble, don’t put on a hair shirt, don’t get a martyr complex. Most of us will receive a great deal of respect and love and support. Some of us will never face a serious, pastoral crisis. Most of our ministry to the Lord’s people is a joyful experience, a really joyful experience for which we must thank God. So, don’t sink into a [depression] expecting to have 2 Corinthians or Galatians happening in our lives all the time. It won’t happen, but some men will have major crises. All of us—all of us without exception, if we’re faithful—we’re going to be hurt, and we’re going to be hurt a lot, and we’re going to be hurt often.
Perhaps, hardest of all—in a way it’s not really an attack, but I think it is—is the sheer ingratitude. When you read 2 Corinthians, it’s not really the false apostles that Paul is bothered about, it’s his own people. It’s his own people, the people for whom he has poured himself out for nearly two years. We were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. Does that mean nothing? You, yourselves, are our letter of recommendation. I betrothed you to one Husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.” Does that mean nothing? Isn’t that the ingratitude, brethren? The ingratitude.
A family leaves your church—this has happened to me, not very often, but it has happened—they don’t tell you where they’re going. They just stop coming. You find them some day, and they’re very polite, there’s nothing wrong. Nothing wrong with the preaching, no quarrel with anyone. “Another church was nearer” or “the children prefer this other church,” they say that sometimes. Why am I hurt? I don’t think it’s for myself, really. What’s going through my mind is something like this: all the years you were with us, did you not know what you were in? Did you not know what we had? If your house had burnt down, we’d have built you a house. If you’d lost all your money there would’ve been ten men in the church reaching out their pocketbooks. If your wife had fallen sick, we’d have brought you your meals, we would’ve looked after your children. We’re a people who love each other, and we would die for each other. And you can just walk away from this? Did it never mean anything all those years? Did we never get through to you what we’re trying to do? It’s the ingratitude of it!
I remember talking two years ago with a man who’s here at this conference. I forget the details. Some family had apparently left the church, walked away! The man told me that his wife, a Christian lady, had intimately cared for the physical needs of an elderly member of that family. She had taken a slave’s towel and a basin and a cloth and gone down on her knees. It wasn’t just his feet she wiped. That’s nothing. That’s nothing, that doesn’t count. That hurts, really hurts. It’s a pale reflection of human ingratitude towards God.
2 Corinthians calls us to be realistic. 2 Corinthians says to us, “Don’t build your security on your work. Don’t build your security on your church. No matter how much you love them, no matter how much you give yourself to them. Christ is your security.” Jonathan Edwards, standing at the side of the road in Northampton, with a suitcase in his hand. What was it? Twenty-three years ministry? Revival? Out.
It’s also encouraging. Quite often, men who are under attack are overwhelmed by a sense of guilt, of failure. “Is this my fault?” 2 Corinthians says, “It is not necessarily your fault. This is what happened to the Apostle Paul.” Matthew Henry says to, “Not let any ministers of Christ think strange if they meet with perils not only from enemies, but from false brethren, for blessed Paul himself did so.” We’ve seen the attacks on Paul.
Let’s come, secondly, to Paul’s stance regarding the attacks. The first and obvious thing is that they hurt him, Paul was not a macho man. He didn’t have a hide like a rhinoceros. He wasn’t one of these steamroller extroverts who just rolls over everything. Gresham Machen says, “Paul was not one of those passionless creatures who can simply take things as they come.” Nor had Paul protected himself against hurt. I can help you to protect yourself against hurt. It’s possible! It can be done! You can be a very conscientious, diligent pastor. What you’ve got to do, men, you’ve got to keep, as it were, an invisible barrier between yourself and your people. Be kind, be courteous, be polite, but maintain a distance between you. Don’t let them in. Don’t reveal the real you. Don’t intrude too deeply into their lives. Keep a safety fence up. As people say, “You can’t let it get to you.” Some godly men do this. This is how they conduct their ministry! There’s an invisible distance, and it can be quite a successful insulator against hurt and pain.
But what about the Apostle’s example? Paul is emotionally naked. He’s staggeringly vulnerable. All the barriers are down: 2:4a, “I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears”; 6:11, “We have spoken to you freely, O Corinthians, our heart is wide open”; 7:2a-3b, “Make room in your hearts for us; you’re in our hearts to die together and to live together”; 12:15, “If I love you more, am I to be loved less?” It’s almost embarrassing to read it, to read this man taking his emotional clothes off. When Paul writes in chapter 3:18 about “we with unveiled face,” he meant exactly that. Paul ministered with an unveiled face. People saw the real Paul.
One writer says, “Here is Paul, a man among men, nonetheless, truly human, because he was so spiritual. The whole epistle of Paul sets with emotion. It enables us, as it were, [here is a great phrase], it enables us to lay our hands upon his breast and feel the very throbbing of his heart.” Vulnerable.
Now, men, to what extent should we be seen to be so vulnerable? I’m not going to answer that for you, but there’s another factor that may help us to decide. It is simply this: there was more involved here than Paul’s reputation, than Paul’s peace of mind. If that had been all, I think Paul would probably have taken the hits and said nothing, but there were two great concerns here. We touched on them in Galatians also. The integrity of the gospel (Galatians 11:4). If someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you received a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, it’s another Jesus! It’s a different spirit! It’s a different gospel! It’s not just personal attacks on him, the gospel’s being taken from them. “These people, [he says], are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.”
The other factor is the spiritual welfare of his people. 2 Corinthians 11:20, “You bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face.” “I’m not going to let that happen to my people, [he says]. These people are going to destroy them and tyrannize them and damage them. I can’t let that happen! It’s in the sight of God that we’ve been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved.” He can’t overlook these attacks. The gospel is at stake; the welfare of his people is at stake; he has to respond.
Perhaps, men, that helps us to decide what to do when we’re attacked personally. If no one is hurt but ourselves, if nothing is hurt but ourselves, we should probably take the blows without responding. Just take the hits. Our Lord, when He was reviled did not revile again. When He suffered He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. So, for the personal thing, just take it to the Lord. Get over it. Put it past you.
But, if the truth of the gospel is at stake, and if the welfare of our people is under threat—and be certain that this is the case, because some ministers confuse God and themselves, they see an attack on themselves as an attack on God, and there are always these issues that are involved—but if they are involved, then we need to respond in an appropriate way. We need to respond to attacks if the gospel’s being damaged or if the spiritual welfare of our people is being compromised. We’ve got to respond to the attacks.
That brings us then, thirdly, to Paul’s response to attacks on us which cannot be ignored. The first aspect of his response is the less important: he defends himself against some of these specific charges. He actually defends himself. He puts forward a defense against some of the things that are being said about him and says, “No, you’re wrong here.”
For example, chapter 1:12-18, he’s accused of being untrustworthy. “Was I vacillating? Do I make plans according to the flesh? Ready to say ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’ at the same time?” “Our boast is this: the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity…I wanted to come to you first. I wanted to visit you in my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia…Assuredly, as God is faithful, our word to you has not been ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’” He sets himself right to answer this specific charge. His ministry is a Christ-centered ministry, and all the promises are God are “Yes” in Christ. And, as a minister of Christ, Paul’s ministry to his people is primarily positive. He’s a minister of mercy, not of judgement, and that’s why he didn’t visit them!
Verse 23, “I call God to witness against me. It was to spare you that I refrained from coming to Corinth.” “I minister of the Christ in whom God’s promises are ‘Yes.’” “I didn’t come, because my ministry would have been one of unrelieved judgement and condemnation. It was to spare you, that I didn’t come.” Does he lack credentials? “You, yourselves are our letter of recommendation written in our hearts to be known and read by all men.” Does he refuse financial help? “I refrain and will refrain from burdening you. Because I do not love you? God knows I do! And what I do I will continue to do to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that they work on the same terms as we do.” Did he steal the Jerusalem collection? He says, “Did I take advantage of you? Did Titus take advantage of you?” 2 Corinthians 8:18-21, “With Titus we are sending the brother who’s famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel. And not only that, but he’s been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this work of grace, for the glory of the Lord Himself. We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us. For we aim at what is honorable, not only in the Lord’s sight, but also in the sight of man.”
Paul is bending over backwards, saying, “I sent Titus. I sent an appointed, accredited brother along with him. We have strict lines of responsibility. This is all aboveboard.” He defends himself against specific chargers. You say, “Well, that’s obvious.” Well, I find it intensely humiliating. I hate it. It irks my pride.
I hate sitting down with someone who has criticized something in my sermon. An ill-disposed person. You get out your notes and you say, “No, I wasn’t attacking you here. I had my notes written out beforehand, and this was the passage. I hadn’t heard what had happened to you, and I was ready to say this.” You think to yourself, “Why? Why am I explaining myself to this person?” “The reason why I didn’t visit you last week was not because I didn’t care for you, but because an emergency came up.” You’ve got to do that, brethren. That’s humiliating, isn’t it? That’s humiliating! “If they have confidence in us, if they trusted us, why do I have to crawl about?” The more I explain myself, the more shifty and unconvincing I sound to myself! As I launch further and further into explanations, the more unconvincing I sound! It’s humiliating, but I think when it can be done. It should be done.
Paul says in 6:3, “We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry.” If people have criticisms and objections and fault-findings, we’ve just got to humble ourselves, and we’ve just got to try our best to set the record straight and explain to them as clearly as we can, “No, your interpretation of this is not correct.” Probably none of us like doing it, but this is what the Apostle Paul, the great Apostle Paul, did. I mean, here’s this great theological genius and church founder, having to explain little, petty financial details. Why he hasn’t filched a few drachmas from the collection. That’s what he has to do, and he does it to put no obstacle in anyone’s way.
Now, far more profoundly: Paul responds to these attacks by developing a profound theology of the cross. This links up with our study, last year, in 1 Corinthians. These intruders are stressing power and success and glitz and glamour, and saying these are the marks of true apostleship and true ministry: victorious, confident, triumphant leadership. Paul’s response is theological and Christ-centered. He says, “We are saved by Christ crucified. The Christ who was weak and despised and criticised, and poured Himself out in self-giving.” This then, is the pattern of the Christian ministry; cross-bearing is the mark of authenticity.
I think two key verses in the whole epistle are 4:7 and 12:9. They summarize what Paul is saying. 2 Corinthians 4:7, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” This treasure in jars of clay, that’s what 2 Corinthians is about. You wanted to summarize it in a phrase? I’m a jar of clay, but God puts His treasure into jars of clay. Your main criticism of me is that I’m a jar of clay. Well, you’ve just qualifies me as a bearer of the treasure. It’s as simple as that! 2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you; my power is made perfect in weakness.’” Far from his weakness disqualifying him. It qualifies him! It’s the evidence of his genuineness.
I love the way that Paul takes on his opponents, right from the beginning, head on. They say a true leader is a strong, dynamic, joyful, triumphant man, who rides high in the heights over all these things. How does Paul begin his letter? “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our affliction. We share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings. We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, but this was to make us rely not in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.”
At the beginning of his letter, a weak, troubled, afflicted, suffering man. “That’s who I am.” That’s his signature, right at the beginning. “I’m taking you head on. You’re wrong. Treasures in jars of clay.” Chapter one is a description of a jar of clay.
Then, I won’t take time to outline it, but his first, major section, from 2:14 to 7:4, he defines his apostolic ministry, the ministry of a New Covenant. The whole theme of it is the contrast between the glory of the message and the inadequacy of the messenger. That’s the subject. The glory of the gospel is not from oratory or worldly wisdom, it’s from the power of God displayed in the weakness of preachers. The pattern of Jesus is reproduced, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also might be manifested in our mortal flesh.
Paul says, “I and my colleagues are willing to die to bring you life.” That’s what he says. “Death is at work in us, but life in you. For the love of Christ constrains us, and He died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.” His style of ministry, his ministry, is based on Christ’s reconciling work. God, through Christ, reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. And how did God reconcile us to Himself? For our sake, He made Him to be sin, who had no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. A theology of the cross.
Brethren, this perspective is carried through in chapters 8 and 9, which deal with the collection for Jerusalem. Paul, obviously, writes them because he wants the Corinthians to take up a collection, but it also fits in with the thrust of the letter. It also reinforces his basic point against the selfish, greedy triumphalism of his opponents. They stress their rights, their self-interests, their prosperity; Paul represents Jesus, who gave His life for others. What is the embodiment of the gospel? Giving a cost to help others. “For you know [think of this] the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet, for our sakes He became poor so that we, through His poverty, might be made rich.”
Chapters 8 and 9 are not a digression. They continue the pattern of Christ-like sacrifice for the sake of others. When you give to help your needy brothers, you’re being Christ-like! That’s what he did. He even puts it this way in 9:13, the people who receive the gift, “By their approval of this service they will glorify God.” Listen to this, this is his theological description of the Jerusalem collection. “Because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ. Your submission which flows from your confession of the gospel.” If I confess the gospel, I have to give to the needy. I have to impoverish myself to help others. That’s what the gospel is! Not exactly health and wealth, sure it’s not.
Chapters 10 to 13 are extremely controversial. Hundreds of pages of commentaries are given as to whether they are part of 2 Corinthians or not. On and on and on the debate goes. The main problem is I think these commentators never preached, because, when you boil it all down, what they’re saying is that these chapters can’t be part of 2 Corinthians, the tone is so different. The tone is so different. Do you ever have different tones in one sermon? You come to the end of your sermon, you’re speaking to the saints, and then you speak to the hardened unconverted. Do you use the same tone? Fifty years from now, critics would say, “Well, this was obviously a part of another sermon which was being added on to this other sermon, because the tone is so different!” Gresham Machen had it right, nearly a century ago, blindingly obvious common sense. He sums the whole debate out. He says, “The striking change of tone is amply explained by the change of subject.” Thousands of pages of scholarly discussion, rubbish, men.
Paul takes on his opponents directly in these chapters. Key word is “boasting.” The verb καυχάομαι [kauchaomai, boast] and its cognate is used 19 times in chapters 10 to 13. Boasting was a characteristic of the Sophists. They were expected to boast. The more you boasted, the larger fees you commanded, and the more disciples you got. You had to promote yourself. Paul says, “Alright, if you force me to it, I’ll boast.” You remember, brethren, how embarrassed he is and how awkward he feels and how he keeps apologizing and saying, “I don’t know why I’m doing this. You’re driving me to do this. I speak as a fool. I’m going to boast.” There’s more irony here than in the rest of Paul’s writings combined. He says, “I’m going to play you at your own game, and I’m going to do it better. I can boast more than you do, but my boasting, if I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.” It’s the absolute reverse of their boasting.
You remember how he does it. “Are they servants of Christ? I am better. (Talking like a madman); far greater labors, far more imprisonments, countless beatings. Five times the forty lashes, less one. Three times beaten with rods, once stoned, three times shipwrecked, for a night and a day adrift at sea.” This is his boasting. “In danger from rivers, and danger from robbers, and danger from my own people, and danger from the Gentiles, and danger in the city, and danger in the wilderness, and danger from false brothers; toil and hardship, sleepless nights, hunger, thirst, often without food, cold and exposure; the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak?” “That’s my boasting,” he says. “That’s my self-promotion.” He ends the list with the most humiliating experience of all. 11:32, “At Damascus, I was let down in a basket, through a window in the wall.”
D.A. Carson says, “This toast of high rabbinic circles, this educated Pharisee, this man who had access to the highest officials in Jerusalem, slunk out of Damascus like a criminal, lowered like a catch of dead fish in a basket whose smelly cargo he had displaced.” One writer says, “Paul preferred looking comical to looking super.” There are echoes here, because scholars tell us that the finest military award, the top military award of the day in the Roman army, was a thing called the corona muralis. It was the equivalent of the Victoria Cross or the Purple Heart. The corona muralis was for the soldier who was first up the wall in a siege. A very, very dangerous position. The soldier who got first up the wall, he got the Purple Heart. Paul says, “I’m going to boast about my military decoration. I was first down the wall.”
As evidence that Pentecostals don’t really get this, I give a direct and accurate quote from one Pentecostal commentary on this incident. “One must assume that the little wall window was so narrow that it was impossible for a man to pass through it, thus, the rescue of Paul was truly miraculous. God miniaturized the Apostle Paul to a height of 6 inches, and passed him through this tiny hole, and then brought him back to his normal size. So that this is, in fact, a wonderful, stupendous miracle of God’s power!” I think not.
Calvin says, “Without doubt, the very things that Paul mentions in his own praise are the very things in him his opponents would have despised.” “I must go on boasting. I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.” His opponents boasted of their visions. They said, “This happened to me!” Paul says, “I knew a man in Christ.” One writer says, “He neither describes what he saw, nor relates what he heard, nor details what he felt nor what he thought. He says things that cannot be told, that man may not utter.” These false teachers, because of their visions, they said, “These have lifted us to a place of power and spiritual triumph and authority. Our visions have exalted us.” They claim the adulation of people.
Paul says, “I refrain [12:6] so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.” Their visions lifted them to the peak of power and success. Paul says, “To keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, to keep me from being too elated.” Their visions raised them; his vision broke him. Their visions left them strong; his vision left him a cripple. Their visions lifted them to prevailing, overcoming prayer; Paul’s vision left him with a three-fold request which three times was denied with severe, glorious response. “My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness.” That’s a different kind of boast.
Brethren, that’s why we’re under attack. What happened? What were the results? Why were these attacks permitted? Was the situation in Corinth corrected? We’re not sure. We can’t be certain. We know from Romans 16:26 that later on the Corinthians did contribute to the Jerusalem collection. We know that when Paul visited Corinth he had time and peace to sit down and write Romans and to plan a trip to Spain. So, it may well have helped the situation in the church; but, surely, this must have been a profound influence on Paul himself. I believe that these experiences led Paul to growth, to deeper maturity, to learn as one writer says that, “True power comes not through overcoming weakness, but through bearing it.”
Brethren, this letter speaks to us whenever we’re under attack: that we may learn from it; that we may be encouraged by it; that we may be helped, to serve God in our own day; that we may understand why these trials are permitted. I want to give you just a fairly brief statement from Frederick Dale Bruner’s book A Theology of the Holy Spirit. I think the second half of it is masterly. I read it twice. Bruner says, “God’s way of working in the world—to men an inefficient way, and thus, proof of its divinity—is the way of weakness. [Now, here are the three things]. The crucified Christ is this way’s classic context. The cross, its classic form. The struggling church its classic sphere. Men are saved by believing the content, [crucified Christ], and serve by assuming this form, [the cross], in this sphere.” The crucified Christ, the context; the cross is the form; the struggling church is the sphere. “We’re saved by believing the content, the crucified Christ, and serve by assuming the form of the cross in the sphere of the struggling church.’
Bruner says, “But hidden in the cross and weakness and revealed in the church—is resurrection power.” Surely, this letter calls us to realize that the world is watching us, and the people of God are watching how we cope. When you’re under attack, they’re looking for evidence of the power of Jesus. They’re looking for evidence of the power of Jesus, and that’s why God has allowed some brothers to be tried to an unusual degree. The power of Jesus—He wants it to shine forth more clearly in your life than it ever has before. Men, it’s an opportunity. It’s a privilege to show the power of Jesus! Don’t blow it! Don’t get your head down. Don’t get filled with self-pity!
The Great Apostle encourages us to lift up our heads. He says, “Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Listen to this: “For the sake of Christ I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Who are the strongest men here, today? Wouldn’t that be interesting to know? Who are the strongest men here, today? “When I am weak, then I am strong.” Amen.
Let’s bow in prayer, and give thanks.
Father, we bless You for permitting Your servant, Paul, to be so sorely tried, vexed and troubled and reviled and slandered, misrepresented, criticized and mocked, deserted and betrayed. And yet, O Lord, as it went on, more and more Jesus was seen in all His power and beauty and glory. We have seen Jesus in some of our brothers here, among us, today. The wider the cracks appear in the jar, the more the light of the Savior shines forth. Dear God, we pray for men among us who are known to us, perhaps, who are really under the rod at the moment, who are being vexed and tried and tested. Dear God, help them to say, “I will be content in weaknesses.” Help them to come to the Christ whose grace is sufficient. Help them to say, “Lord, It doesn’t matter about me. Please help me to show Jesus to the world.” Father, it’s easy for some of us to say these words, but when our time comes, Lord, help us to remember these things and to be steadfast and true, and to pour out our lives for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. In whose name we pray, amen.
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