Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from 2 Co 10:1 and following. Indeed, Paul could not bring himself to go to the Corinthians “with the staff” to suppress evil himself(1 Corinthians 4:17-21). He had preferred to write to them and wait for the effect that his letter would produce. But some had taken advantage of the apostle’s patience, and his absence, to belittle his ministry. Paul’s humility, gentleness and Christian kindness were pretexts for despising him. For the natural man admires only that which has brilliance; he judges “according to appearance.”
But the weapons of a soldier of Jesus Christ are not carnal (Ep 6:10-20 lists them). Let us remember how Gideon, Samson, Jonathan, David, Hezekiah… to name but a few, have won their greatest victories. And let us not be seduced by human qualities such as eloquence or personal charm. Let us follow the Word and never the one who presents it, however gifted he may be, even if we have received good through him. For men compare themselves to themselves and take pride in what they are not intelligent in. We believers have only one perfect model for walking and service: Jesus! Contemplating it will always keep us in humility.
Our theme has a ministry character that is important to consider. Indeed, we often see a servant of the Lord who has received a spiritual gift from Him, exercising this gift regardless of his moral state, so that this state no longer corresponds to the value of what is entrusted to him. For the apostle shows himself here personally at the level of the ministry he exercised, and his moral state was not separated from it. This is what gave this service such a value in the midst of those for whom it exercised it. For his person and his conduct were the reproduction of what he preached. His word corresponded to his deeds, and the state of his heart corresponded to his word. He followed in everything the example of his Master.
When men asked Jesus what he was, he would answer, “Absolutely what I also tell you.” In contrast to Paul’s conduct, here we find that of false apostles and false teachers. For the Corinthians had just escaped, through the ministry of the apostle in his first epistle, Satan’s undertakings to destroy this assembly of God, by introducing into it the carnal spirit, the lack of vigilance, the evil and the corruption that are the result. The epistle having produced its effect, the Corinthians had been restored. The sadness, the repentance, the zeal to judge evil and purify oneself from it, had been such that the apostle could say to them: “I boast of you”.
For it might seem that an assembly, delivered so completely, should have been delivered in a definitive way; but, at the first victory over Satan won by you, be sure that the Enemy will prepare a second attack. In the face of this danger, the Corinthians seem to have had no apprehension, and yet the evil was already there, threatening, and acted deafly in their midst, first to separate them from the apostle, then to destroy them themselves.
In the face of these dangers, we have to be on our guard, to watch constantly, not only as individuals, but as an assembly. God may have given us some victory by freeing us from things that were hindrances to our Christian life. Let us not fall asleep on a victory, for Satan, our Enemy, does not sleep. He knows how to put on a thousand disguises and, if he has not managed to defeat us for the first time, he will return, with more subtle seductions than the first, in order to annihilate us. In speaking of this danger to the Corinthians, the apostle does not even name these adversaries; he calls them “men”, “a man”. It must be their work that unmasks them, but moreover, the danger they represent is of all times and is not linked to a particular name. Their underground work was intended to undermine the authority of the apostles, just as it is now aimed at undermining the authority of this Word that they have transmitted to us. These people sought to belittle the personal value that the Corinthians had previously attributed to Paul. They were daring enough to suggest that the one who had walked among them, having Christ as his model, and who had suffered for the Gospel, was walking “according to the flesh.”
For they were careful not to deny the value of inspired letters: His letters, they say, “are grave and strong, but his personal presence is weak and his word despicable.” He has authority when he is far away, but when he is present he has none; see how “puny he is in your midst.” Further on, we find that these “false apostles” and “deceitfulworkers” (formany took the title of apostles in the midst of the congregations) “recommended themselves,” placing their own authority in relation to Paul’s apparent weakness. But if Satan sought to nullify the authority of the servant of God in the esteem of those to whom he ministered, it was ultimately to attack Christ. On the surface, this could be seen as a man-to-man struggle; in reality, it was Satan’s war against the Lord Himself. For ruin the authority of the apostle and not only hinder you, but you lose the lord’s work in the midst of Christians.
Thus, Paul speaks of himself: “Now I, Paul, exhort you by the meekness and debonairness of Christ, I who, present, as for appearance, am puny in your midst, but who, absent, uses boldness towards you…” This was exactly what his opponents said about him; he accepts it. He had used boldness when he was absent; when he was in their midst, he addressed them with fear and trembling; that was true. And now he exhorted them “by the meekness and debonairness of Christ”: this was what he wanted to show in the eyes of all. He had come to know the character of the Lord and reproduced it in the midst of the Corinthians. It was not paul’s meekness and debonairness, but those of Christ: the meekness that abandons all its rights to serve others, the debonairness that does not impute evil, that crosses this world with a simple heart, that seeks good everywhere and brings it in all its relations with men.
But when he is far away, he says, “We have authority.” For he says, “The Lord has given it to us for edification and not for your destruction.” So he used them only when he was far away, because he did not want to destroy them, but to build them up. That is why he had, in his first letter, renounced to use his authority in their midst to deliver the wicked to Satan. But, as for the adversaries, he says: “I beg you that, when I am present, I do not use boldness with this assurance with which I think I will take it upon myself to act towards a few who think that we walk according to the flesh.” He shows that if he fails to make an effect on these men, he will be forced to come to destroy them. This weapon, God had put it in his hand; he could use it against these false apostles, but if he did not do so, it was because of the saints. He first wanted “their obedience to be made complete” by his authority for edification. After that, he would act boldly, his weapons being powerful to take revenge for any disobedience.
Then he accuses these men of “comparing themselves to themselves.” For when he compares himself to others, the Christian, like any other man, acquires only a good opinion of himself. When he compares himself to himself, he presents himself to others as a model in himself, and this is the height of pride, for it is supplanting Christ. But he can still compare himself to Christ. When this happens, it immediately reaches the last layers of humiliation, for how can one have a high thought of oneself when one places oneself before God? This was what the apostle did, and in such a way that his character merged with that of Christ, to exhort others; he hid behind his Master. Let us remember that.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
- Paul Defends His Ministry, Weapons and Armor
1 S 17:45 David said to the Philistine: You walk against me with the sword, spear, and javelin; and I walk against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the army of Israel, whom you have insulted. 2 Co 10:4 For the weapons with which we fight are not carnal; but they are powerful, by the virtue of God, to overthrow fortresses. Eph 6:17 also take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Heb 4:12 For the word of God is alive and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the point of sharing soul and spirit, knucklings and marrows; it judges the feelings and thoughts of the heart. Rev 7:3 Do not harm the land, the sea, or the trees, until we have marked with the seal the foreheads of our God’s servants.
- Spiritual pride, examples:
Jb 33:9 I am pure, I am sinless, I am sharp, there is no iniquity in me. Lk 18:11 The Pharisee, standing, prayed in himself thus: O God, I thank you for not being like the rest of men, who are kidnappers, unjust, adulterous, or even like this publican; John 9:41 Jesus answered them: If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say: We see. That is why your sin subsists. 1 Co 4:18 Some have swollen with pride, as if I should not go to your house. Rev 3:17 Because you say: I am rich, I have enriched myself, and I need nothing, and because you do not know that you are unhappy, miserable, poor, blind and naked,
- The authority of the Church
Mt 16:19 I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven: what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and what you untie on earth will be untied in heaven. Mt 18:18 I tell you in truth, everything you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and everything you untie on earth will be untied in heaven. John 20:23 Those to whom you forgive sins will be forgiven; and those to whom you will hold them, they will be held away from them. Acts 16:4 As they passed through the cities, they recommended that the brethren observe the decisions of the apostles and elders of Jerusalem. Heb 13:17 Obey your drivers and have deference for them, for they watch over your souls as if they should be accountable; so be it, that they may do so with joy, and not with groaning, which would be of no benefit to you.
- The discipline of the Church
1 Co 5:5 that such a man be delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 2 Co 13:2:10 When I was present for the second time, I have already said, and today that I am absent I still say in advance to those who have sinned previously and to all others that, if I return to you, I will not use any care, 10 That is why I write these things being absent, so that, present, I do not have to use rigor, according to the authority that the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction. 1 Tim 1:20 Of these numbers his Hymenea and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. Tt 3:10 Keep away from you, after a first and a second warning, the one that causes divisions,
From all of the above, we note that whenever we are in the presence of Christ we are truly humble, but we are humble in a habitual way only if we habitually place ourselves in His presence. For it can happen to judge oneself severely at the moment when one is there, and to have, the next moment, a good opinion of oneself for having left this presence for a moment. Indeed, this was not found in the apostle, because he was continually “manifested to God.” That’s why he says, “I’m nothing.” Did he really mean what he was saying? Yes, because what he was saying was exactly what he was. For he had disappeared so much in his own eyes that, when he wanted to talk about himself, he did not find himself. He says, “I know a man in Christ”; he had no name. However, this same man in Christ, forced to resume his service in this world, after ascending to the third heaven, is in danger of taking pride and thinking of himself, for the danger is always there. But the Lord, in his love, sends him an angel of Satan to blow him, so that he may remain in the position of forgetting himself where grace has placed him. In the end, we find these words: “But let him who glorify himself, glorify himself in the Lord.” The apostle said twice, “I glorify myself of you.” He had shown how much he valued what God, in His grace, had produced in their hearts, but He did not glorify Himself in them. If it were about himself, he would say, “If it is necessary to glorify myself, I will glorify myself in what is my infirmity.” Let us not talk about ourselves; do not attribute any importance to ourselves. For the Lord commends the one Whom He approves. When his servants are truly humble, he is careful to give them a place of honor, and a blessed influence on others, to the glory of Christ. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may be shining in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby watering point to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow about “Paul facing the evil servants in Corinth.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.