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Satan goes about as a roaring lion `seeking whom he may devour' Peter tells us
(IPet.v.8). But more dangerous still is when he comes disguised as an angel of light and
poses as a minister of truth! And never let us forget that he quotes the Bible when it suits
his purpose (Matt. 4: 6). In fact, he knows the Word of God much better than many
Christians and so do his ministers. These can be outwardly good living people with a
show of righteousness, but underneath, they, like their master, are deceivers and one day
will receive their just due from God. We need to be constantly on our guard lest we are
carried away by any such deception, which alas, is everywhere around us today.
Paul now returns to his so-called `boasting'. With a little irony he tells the
Corinthians that they bear with fools, as they are so wise themselves (11: 19). Not only
this, but some of them were putting up with those who enslaved them and took advantage
of them:
"For you bear it if a man makes slaves of you, or preys upon you, or takes advantage
of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face" (11: 20 R.S.V.).
If they went so far as this, surely they could tolerate the Apostle when he indulged in a
little boasting! He compares himself with the false apostles at Corinth, showing in every
way he exceeded all their personal claims:
"But whatever any one dares to boast of--I am speaking as a fool--I also dare to
boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am 1: Are they Israelites? So am 1: Are they
descendants of Abraham? So am 1: Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one--I am
talking like a madman--with far greater honours, far more imprisonments, with countless
beatings and often near death. Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the
forty lashes less one. Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned.
Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been adrift at sea; on
frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own
people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea,
danger from false brethren; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in
hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things,
there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches" (11: 21-28,
R.S.V.).
What a list of suffering and testing! Apart from the Son of God, did anyone ever
approach this man in the cost that he willingly paid as a faithful servant of Christ? If his
critics at Corinth had any spark of decency in them, they ought to have felt ashamed
when they read these words. And when we read them today, do they not make us feel
that we have hardly started to suffer for Christ yet, no matter what we have experienced?
Every one of these statements is true without exaggeration and Paul calls God to witness
to this fact (11: 31).
The Corinthian troublemakers evidently boasted of their descent. Were they Hebrews?
So was he; in fact he could call himself `a Hebrew of the Hebrews' (Phil. 3: 5). A
distinction is made in Acts 6: 1 where `Grecians' are Jews of Greek language and
culture and Hebrews who were Palestinian in origin and could speak Aramaic as Paul did
in dealing with the crowd at Jerusalem recorded in Acts 21: 40.