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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
2 Cor. 10-11
We need to be very careful about whom we choose to listen to, follow, and believe. Ultimately, it is the message, not the messenger that counts. We humans are drawn like moths to a flame to the flowery stuff. We like charismatic characters, eloquent speech, impressive credentials and the like. Nothing has changed since Samuel, when he evaluated Jesse’s sons in search of God’s chosen king. God told him, “…for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7). Paul mentioned this same tendency earlier in this letter to the Corinthians (see 2 Cor. 5:12).
While Paul appears to be defending himself in this letter, that isn’t really his point. What he is actually doing is chiding the Corinthian church for their lack of discernment. If anybody came to them who looked and sounded impressive, with a qualifications list to match, the Corinthians all too readily accepted whatever those people said or did. In the process, they set aside the true gospel, brought to them by humble, lowly, not-so-eloquent Paul. Thus, in defending himself, Paul was simply showing them that they were looking at all the wrong things.
Paul made a point to not insert any of his credentials into the gospel equation. Rightly so, as the gospel is not about Paul, or anyone other than Jesus Christ. As people who have heard and accepted the gospel truth, we should know this. Thus, we should compare any message people bring to us against God’s truth. Nothing else. We need to look past those outward, visible things and discern their spirit and motives by the Spirit of God in us. Paul offered the truth of God’s gospel, compared against the truth of scripture, in simple packaging. Those false apostles, on the other hand, showed where their hearts were and their lack of understanding by, “measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves to themselves” (2 Cor. 10:12b). When the messenger takes center stage, we need to be very wary of their message.
2 Cor. 12-13
Jesus was an example to us. He showed us how things are in God’s Kingdom. When we surrender to God through Christ, He begins a work in us, to make us like Jesus. Paul, then, gives us a good example of what it is to live like Jesus. Jesus made Himself weak so that He could make us strong by God’s power. In the same way, Paul rejoiced in his own weakness so that the power of God could work through him to make others strong.
It is important to note that weakness – both ours and Christ’s – is in the flesh, our human nature. Thus, when we die in our weakness, as Christ did, our new nature comes to life by the power of God in us. The right kind of weakness, then – the kind that surrenders whatever power we think we have to God – benefits others. The wrong kind – the kind that gives in to the pride and desires of the flesh – harms both self and others. Because the life we live in Christ we live as a body, we need to be diligent, as Paul demonstrated in this situation, in dealing with the latter kind of weakness with God’s life-giving power. “For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” (Matt. 5:30b).