2 Corinthians 10
Paul's Defense of His Ministry
1By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" when away! 2I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
7You are looking only on the surface of things.[a] If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he. 8For even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 9I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. 10For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." 11Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.
12We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. 13We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a field that reaches even to you. 14We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. 15Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others.[b] Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand, 16so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in another man's territory. 17But, "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."[c] 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
Footnotes:
[a] 2 Corinthians 10:7 Or Look at the obvious facts
[b] 2 Corinthians 10:15 Or 13 We, however, will not boast about things that cannot be measured, but we will boast according to the standard of measurement that the God of measure has assigned us—a measurement that relates even to you. 14 ... 15 Neither do we boast about things that cannot be measured in regard to the work done by others.
[c] 2 Corinthians 10:17 Jer. 9:24
4 comments:
Pretty interesting to here Paul get on these guys. Not too far off frmo the things ER and I experienced oj so many years ago. It is so easy for humans to forget about the true meaning of what they are trying to do and start to think of themselves. Alos, people are pretty good at masking this self interest as "trying to do something for the good of the church" Anyway, let us try to keep our our foucus on Christ.
17As the Scriptures say, "The person who wishes to boast
should boast only of what the Lord has done."[b]
18When people boast about themselves, it doesn't count for much. But when the Lord commends someone, that's different!
Amen
In Christ,
cas
2Cor10
3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
I've always found these particular verses very comforting, mostly because Paul's explaining that the way we Christians do things are (or should be) a little bit different. He's saying that he doesn't have to play their game or try and boast or commend himself, cause he's got the gospel on his side, as his driving force. Further, he explains in v.4 that while many millions of people have scoffed at these weapons, they have time and time again demolished strongholds.
Lord, when we found You, we started playing Your game, by Your rules. Help us to remember that, and also to learn to not always look at the scoreboard.
In Jesus' name
Amen
crb
10For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." 11Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.
i thought this was interesting...to me, this is the old you can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk. It is easy at times, to write or talk about being a Christian. but walking it is a lot harder. being consistent with our talk and walk is important to build credibility.
Man, everything you mentioned is solid reminders. I was struck once again by the counter-cultural take Paul has on "boasting." I am so used to our emphasis in America on the building of the resume and the mentioning of what accomplishments we have achieved, that this is really a great liberating message to me. I am not saying we don't seek to be excellent at whatever God has called us to, but that we are not in "It" for ourselves. It is for His glory that we are where we are.
God, we praise you for your love and grace that makes our lives free to experience the love and joy of knowing you. May you be the one who receives glory for all that sparkles in our lives.
In Christ's Name,
Amen.
ER
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