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No.9.
10: 12 - 11: 11.
pp. 206 - 210
The Apostle Paul has been stressing the province for service marked out for him by
the risen Lord, which, as the Apostle of the Gentiles, he would not exceed or encroach
into another's territory. This sphere, of course, included Corinth where the church had
been founded by his faithful pioneering preaching of the gospel. His opponents there
were interlopers. They had no right to interfere and they came with no commendation
but their own. Yet there were some at Corinth who were listening to them! Paul,
however, looks to the future and the possibility that Corinth may be a base for the
extension of the gospel witness to lands beyond (II Cor. 10: 15, 16). He does not specify
these places, but doubtless they would include other parts of the Balkan peninsula, and
after this Rome and even Spain (Rom. 15: 24, 28). He had no need to boast in another
man's labours or sphere (II Cor. 10: 16). The only true ground of boasting was the Lord
Jesus and what He had done through His servants: "He that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lord" (quoting from Jer. 9: 24).
One remembers that when Paul and Barnabas returned from the first missionary
journey, they rehearsed to the church at Antioch, not what they had done, but "all that
God had done with them and how He had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles"
(Acts 14: 27) and when Paul wrote to the Roman Church he said concerning his
ministry:
"I have therefore my glorying in Christ Jesus in things pertaining to God. For I will
not dare to speak of any things save those which Christ wrought through me, for the
obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the
power of the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 15: 17, 18 R.V.).
In chapter 11: the Apostle comes closer to the problem that the false apostles at
Corinth were making. They did not hesitate to parade their so-called credentials and
were obviously influencing some in the church. Because of this and Paul's great concern
for the believers there, he is forced to do something he would have rather avoided and
that is to indulge in what was apparently self-commendation, the thing he had just
condemned! "A little foolishness" he called it, but so much was at stake that he is
compelled to compare his own true apostleship with the false apostleship of his
opponents.
His motive was a godly jealousy (11: 2) such as God Himself had for the people of
Israel in the O.T., this nation standing towards Him in the relationship of a wife to a
husband. His yearning over them, especially when they went after other `lovers', is
described in many O.T. passages, and it is this same intense feeling that Paul had for the
Corinthian church:
"For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one
Husband, that I may present you as a pure virgin to Christ" (11: 2 R.V.).