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So we left off last week with verse ___ where Paul said:
2nd Corinthians 11.10-end
Meat
March 24th 2019
Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
And at this point he returns to talking about . . . you got it . . . boasting again!
Now, more than any other epistle that I have read, this one truly has the signs of being a personal letter to the church at Corinth.
Yes, there are some highlight moments and insights that are sublime relative to the workings and ways of God, but some of this stuff is just personal communications between personal Paul and the believers in Corinth.
And the rest of chapter 12 seems to fit this bill. So let’s read it first and then work through it to the end.
Verse 11 – where he now says:
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.
Okay, so after having given us a tremendous insight on his weaknesses, Paul returns and speaks again to boasting, saying at verse 11:
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.
It seems that Paul is saying:
“I have been led along here in speaking of myself until I admit I appear foolish in this kind of boasting. It is folly to do it, and I would not have entered on it unless I had been driven to it by my circumstances – which you have compelled me into. He adds:
“For I ought to have been commended of you.”
In other words, you all knew me really well but instead of being grateful and taking the time to vindicate me, you moved me into having to boast of myself.
All of this could have been avoided Paul indirectly says, ”if you had commeneded me as you should have done.”
“For in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles.”
This was a claim Paul has had to establish in various places as there was the occasional question as to whether he had the same authority as the original eleven.
It is interesting that in 1st Corinthians 15:9, Paul writes:
“For I am the least of all the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle.”
And to me this is another illustration of Paul, depending on the circumstances at hand, saying what is necessary to make the point clear.
His apostleship was being challenged and he had to defend it – as he does in Galatians.
But while the words sound boastful, I think that we read in total:
. . . for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.”
We get the meaning: “When it comes to the work of the Gospel and the rights to do them, when it comes to healings, and miracles, and speaking by the Spirit; when it comes to authority from Christ Jesus, I am not one whit behind the chief apostles, but when it comes to me myself, as a man, I am nothing.”
I think this is a healthy balance for Paul to take. And in them we can see that
1.) the highest attainments a person might have in the things of the Lord have zero relation to our deep sense of nothingness and unworthiness before God and others.
In this we also see that the most distinguished favors bestowed on humankind (by God) can be consistent with the lowest forms of humility.
(3.) We also see that it is expected for those who are in the service of God, even someone as prolific and zealous as Paul ought to be self-effacing and always willing to put themselves in a lowly station.
Paul does this, admitting in the cause of Christ he is not one bit behind the chief apostles but as a man he was nothing.
At verse 12 he seems to validate the statement that he was not behind the “chiefest” apostles one bit as he reminds his audience, saying:
12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.
We know that the Lord’s apostles were commissioned by him to go out to the house of Israel and to work miracles.
These “signs of an apostle,” evidenced the fact that they were commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ who was commissioned by God.
Paul says of himself in Romans 15:17-19
17 I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God.
18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed,
19 Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
And then relative to 1st Corinthians 9:2 we read:
1st Corinthians 9:1 Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?
2 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.
So relative to his work among them there in Corinth he reminds them here:
12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in
all patience,
in signs,
and wonders,
and mighty deeds.
When he says, “In all patience,” he seems to not only be saying that he performed his labors patiently among them but that the fruit of the Spirit was with him confirming His commission from Christ by God.
In signs (saymenon) something supernatural.
In wonders (omens – to be honest)
And mighty deeds (dunamis – miraculous powers)
Bottom line folks, right here Paul describes what HE CALLS . . .
The signs of an apostle.
You know where I gotta go with this, right?
Where are the signs of the apostles among the LDS church? Even going back to the start out to today?
There are none. We’ve seen recent pictures of them standing around statues of the original apostles acting like they are of the same caliber – not even close.
Really disturbing.
What these miracles and signs at Corinth were, we are not directly told. But in all probability they were similar to other places – healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons and such.
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.
Okay, this is a difficult passage because it forces us to decide how to see Paul’s attitude which we don’t know.
However, if we see his attitude as serious the passage is very hard to understand. For this reason I believe – and I am not alone – that Paul was being sarcastic and ironic.
Listen again:
13 For in what way were you inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you (in taking from you monetarily) and he adds, “forgive me this wrong.”
If sarcastic, it is uber-witty and sarcastic because what he is saying is:
“I was with you giving you my all, and in so doing how were you at all inferior to other churches (the answer is in no other way) but then he tosses in the real sarcasm, saying: Unless you consider the fact that I did not require you to support me financially, and then the icing on the cake he adds:
Forgive me this wrong!
It’s like a parent of an ungrateful young adult living under their roof for free saying to them:
“How have you had it worse than the other young adults living with their parents, other than the fact that we haven’t charged you rent – pleeeeese forgive us this wrong!”
Commentator Bloomfield says that Paul is right up on par with Demosthenes in his sarcastic wit here. Verse 14:
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.
Paul has be criticized for promising to come to them and has been unable to do it. The King James is difficult here but what it means is:
“This is the third time that I have tried to come and see you, and have made preparation for it.”
He does not mean that he had been twice with them, and was now coming the third time; but that he had twice before intended to go, and had been disappointed.
(See 1st Corinthians 16:5; 2nd Corinthians 1:15,16).
His purpose had been to visit them on his way to Macedonia, and again on his return from Macedonia.
And in the scheme of visiting them he adds, “I will not be burdensome to you.”
The meaning seems to be, I will not receive compensation from you. We know from 2nd Corinthians 11:9 that he had taken compensation from other churches but when it came to the church at Corinth he chose not too. And he adds:
For I seek not your’s (meaning your property), “but you.”
In other words, “I want to save your souls not collect your property,” and he adds a little saying at this point, saying:
“for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.”
This is a really beautiful statement as Paul indirectly assigns himself to the role of a parent to the believers at Corinth and says, in effect:
“It is not natural or usual for children to make provisions for their parents. The common course of events and duty is for parents to make provision for their offspring. As your spiritual father, I choose to act in the same way toward you and I make provisions for your spiritual wants; I labor and toil for you as a father does for his children. I seek your welfare, as he does, by self-denial.
In return, I do not ask you to provide for me, any more than a father ordinarily expects his children to provide for him.
Then he adds
15 And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.
In other words he says that he is willing to spend my strength, and time, and life, and all that he has for their welfare, as a father would cheerfully do for his children.
So, Paul says is his heart toward his children of the faith.
But then he adds, “Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.”
In other words, the more I extend myself toward you and your welfare, the less you love me in return.
And of course, this can be a common response from a child who receives all that a parent has.
Perhaps it’s a way to try and emancipate themselves from the parent, and to try and be free without them.
Perhaps they are just ingrates and selfish and need to experience life without the support of Mom and Dad.
But in the case of the church at Corinth the children (believers) did not seem to understand the sacrifices Paul was making on their behalf, as a means to feed them the truth and prepare them for the coming of Christ for His bride.
And yet Paul seems content to expend all he has on his ungrateful children for their spiritual welfare – like any good father – including Father in Heaven. (verse 16)
16 But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.
Let me read a couple of other translations of this verse in an attempt at clarification. I say attempt because the meaning is difficult:
2Co 12:16 (BBE) But let it be so, that I was not a trouble to you myself; but (someone may say) being false, I took you with deceit.
2Co 12:16 (MKJV) But let it be so, I did not burden you. But being crafty, I caught you with bait.
2Co 12:16 (MNT) But though it be granted that I was not a burden to you, yet, you say, this was my cunning with which I caught you by a trick.
2Co 12:16 (RSV) But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by guile.
2Co 12:16 (TCNT) You will admit that I was not a burden to you but you say that I was “crafty” and caught you “by a trick”!
2Co 12:16 (WEB) But be it so, I did not myself burden you. But, being crafty, I caught you with deception.
2Co 12:16 (WNT) If I love you so intensely, am I the less to be loved? Be that as it may: I was not a burden to you. But being by no means scrupulous, I entrapped you, they say!
These interpretations/translations present us with two ways to see this passage.
The first way Paul is telling the Corinthians that he trapped them.
The second way is to think that Paul is saying that they accused him of trapping them.
It appears to me that this is a charge of his enemies. Whether they in fact made the accusation or whether the apostle merely anticipates it, we cannot say.
But it seems apparent that this is the language of his objectors for the following reasons:
(1.) I doubt Paul would write that he caught them.
(2.) Instead the meaning of the verse seems to be that THEY were saying:
“We admit that you did not burden us. Nor tax us with supporting you but all this was mere trick.
You accomplish taking our goods anyway through trickery by getting others to take up the collection on your behalf – and we know from studying chapters 7-9 that Paul did in fact resort to some interesting tactics when it came to taking up a collection from the believers at Corinth.
We recall that Paul had sent Titus among them to take up the collection for the poor saints in Judea, and it is likely that some of the people there had charged Paul with making use of this pretense only to obtain money for his own private use.
It does appear that Paul sought to guard against this charge by putting others in charge but it seems like the accusations were gonna fly no matter what he did.
Why?
Because that is what people do when they start talking among themselves.
So when he writes that he caught them with guile he is NOT saying that HE caught them being crafty but instead He caught them BY being crafty.
The next verse helps us round this out as he now asks them:
17 Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you?
So by refuting this slander, Paul appeals boldly to the facts, and to what they knew.
In this he seems to be saying,
“Name the man, who has defrauded you under my instructions. If the charge is well-founded, let him be specified, and let the mode in which it was done be described.
The phrase “make a gain,” means, “to have or to take an advantage – especially in obtaining unlawful gain.
Here Paul asks whether he had defrauded them by means of any one whom he had sent to them. And then he adds at verse 18:
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?
In chapter 8 Paul describes sending an esteemed brother to accompany Titus to take up the collection.
Here he asks, relative to sending them:
“Did Titus make a gain of you?”
II Corinthians 7:7 describes the fact that Titus was kindly received when he came to them so from this we might say that they didn’t have a leg to stand on.
To show that Paul was of the same inclination and purpose of Titus he adds:
Walked we (Titus and I) not in the same spirit? Walked we not in the same steps?
The argumentation seems to be – You received Titus and did not complain but now some of you are suggesting that I took advantage of you through trickery. Are not Titus and I of the same mind and walk?
He adds:
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.
The sense here is, “Do not suppose that this is said from mere anxiety to obtain your favor?”
In other words, Do you think I am writing this to win you over and to try and excuse myself (ourselves)? “No.” He adds:
We speak before God in Christ.
Again, Paul gives us yet another clear distinction between the two – God and Christ, saying that he speaks before God (whom he has in many other places described as God the Father) and he speaks before God “in Christ.”
“as a follower of Christ, I speak as in the presence of God as a Christian man.”
Bottom line Paul is maintaining that he is not hiding nor disguising nothing. He speaks before God and not as a means to conceal some secret motive.
“I speak as in the presence of God and as a follower of Christ, as a Christian man.” Which seems to be an honest appeal to being seen as honest and open.
After denying any ulterior motives, Paul adds:
“But we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.”
At this point Paul gets down to some brass tacks, and says
And verses 20-21 to wrap up the chapter:
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 admits that he first fears that he would not find the believers at Corinth as he would like, meaning, “walking in the truth and order of the gospel,”
In other words, he feared that the disorders among them would not be removed and that they would not have corrected the errors which prevailed among them.
Apparently, it was on this account that he had said all of the stuff he has said.
He was also concerned, and writes, saying that he worried
“I shall be found unto you such as ye would not.”
Meaning, that instead of my being humble and kind I will be compelled to discipline them which would make his visit not as pleasant for them as they had hoped.
For these reasons he seems to hope that all the problems at Corinth would be corrected BEFORE he arrived – hence the letter.
If they did not correct themselves, Paul adds, he feared that there would be eight specific things existing there among them:
Debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, and tumults.
Are these things not in the environments of disfunctional churches? All the way around, they are. But these things are nothing new. Most of the epistles in the apostolic Record deliver some sort of advice on getting along, including:
Romans 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
1st Corinthians 1:11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
1st Corinthians 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
James 3:14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. {
16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
1st Peter 2:1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Colossians 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
So it wasn’t like these struggles were only present in Corinth alone, but appear to happen everywhere else – all the way out to the present.
I mean, anyone who has been around Christianity for any length of time hears about church splits and the like.
The fact that the apostles faced issues of division and strife tells me that the problems were certainly present in that day and age but I would suggest that the way God set up His New Testament, writing His law on the minds and hearts of His children, that on this day and age the infighting should really be a non-event.
See, without apostles and without Laws written in stone or on paper but instead in the human heart, believers ought to be able to get along with each other much much better than in the apostolic age.
At least that is how I see it. And that is actually what I see here at CAMPUS week in and out.
People who come together, without a need to fight or argue, who try to use patience with each other, and who seek to love.
So grateful for this environment and I think we see the benefits of accepting that God has written His laws on the hearts and minds of each of us, and that we are all entitled to our opinions and views.
Having written that he hopes he will not find the above mentioned divisive conditions when he returns we wrap the chapter up with Paul adding:
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.
Another way to say this is:
(RSV) I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned before and have not repented of the impurity, immorality, and licentiousness which they have practiced.
OR as the more expanded TCNT puts it:
“I am afraid lest, on my next visit, my God may humble me in regard to you, and that I may have to mourn over many who have long been sinning, and have not repented of the impurity, immorality, and sensuality, in which they have indulged.”
In other words if the Saints at Corinth had repented of their sin Paul could still rejoice with them. But he feared that when he came to them they would be a great source of personal lamentation or mourning, which Paul calls the humbling God would give him.
This passage reminds us that the at Corinth fornication and lasciviousness were rampant problems among many which is why there are so many warnings in these epistles about it.
I’m not so sure things are much different today. Next week, our last chapter of II Corinthians – 13!
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