Chapter 11
Paul introduces this chapter by asking the Corinthians to bear with him in a little foolishness. A literary or rhetorical device is likely coming.
Then Paul compares the Corinthians to Eve, who knew God personally, and yet was deceived by the serpent. Paul is afraid that the Corinthians are also being deceived by these false teachers. These teachers must have been very skilled at oration, and very familiar with scripture and so on. Learned, skilled men when it came to scripture. They were better speakers than Paul, no doubt. Again sarcastically, Paul refers to them as "super-apostles". I'm sure that's how they think of themselves. And Paul says that while they may be better, more persuasive speakers, they are NOT more knowledgeable than he is, and the Corinthians know from his time with them that this is so. He is being attacked as a "hillbilly" perhaps, inferior to these later arrivals with more profound knowledge, and he is saying that speaking well is not the same as knowing well, and shouldn't be what carries the day! The same is true today!
Paul points out that while he was among them, he took no pay for his preaching. So their position is "you get what you pay for"? I'm guessing the fake apostles were robbing them blind. And Paul asks if they are valuing the teaching they get by the amount of money demanded for that teaching. Is his preaching worth less because he took no pay?
It may be that Paul continues in this "working for free" in order to contrast himself with the false apostles. None of them will consider working for free. But Paul did, and says he plans to forego any pay from them. It is pretty clear in this verse:
12 And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. [2Co 11:12 ESV] Paul is not like the false apostles, and he is alone in the way he does these things. They must be comparing themselves to Paul and saying that they not only measure up in every way - that they are as he is - but are even better because they speak better. And Paul says you are not the same in every way, because you take money for your time. You "sell" your teaching, you sell the gospel for a price. Paul has already told the Corinthians to just look. Most likely the false teachers were living the high life with the money they were paid. Big houses, cars, color TVs in every room, private jets. Just like Paul...except Paul worked for a living making tents when he was there, and preached for free. Hmm...A lesson for our modern times also, with our mega-churches, and our mega-preachers. A test we can still apply today? And should apply! This is finally coming together for me...Paul was not criticizing preachers for taking pay. He was criticizing them for "getting rich" off their preaching, because that was an indicator that they were in it for the money, not for the souls, not for the church, not for Christ. This is the reason Paul keeps bringing up pay. It wasn't just a small contrast. It was huge.
Possible FB post.
Then Paul says he's going to continue to work for free to undermine the claim these false apostles make that they are just like Paul. He is drawing a huge contrast between them. Beginning in 13, Paul is very direct in his accusations toward the false teachers:
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. [2Co 11:13-15 ESV]
He calls them what they are, and he says they work for Satan, disguised as he is, as angels of light. This is pretty strong stuff. The bigger the church, the easier for the preacher to hide, also. It is hard to know a man's heart when you don't know the man. The signs are not really all that obvious from a distance. Yet Paul never indicts the size of the church.
Paul now says he's going to tell them some things "as a fool". Sarcastically, he knows they will listen to fools as readily as they listen to those who seek to make slaves of them, to devour them, to take advantage of them etc. If they tolerate those who do these things to them, bearing with a "fool" should be no big deal..
These verses:
20 For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. 21 To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of--I am speaking as a fool--I also dare to boast of that. [2Co 11:20-21 ESV]
This implies to me that on his last visit to Corinth, things got so heated with one of these false apostles that blows were exchanged. And Paul didn't put up with it, he hit back. And now he is beyond embarrassed because he knows that was the wrong reaction. Perhaps he fears that is part of the reason the Corinthians didn't defend him in that situation, because his temper got him. And this is how he tells them he reacted badly.
2021 - MSB doesn't see it this way at all. MSB suggests that maybe the false teachers resorted to physically abusing their students as part of the training. What a way to make yourself "better" than others - to give yourself the right to whip them, as if they were slaves or children. MSB says it may just be metaphorical, though, in the "high and mighty" attitude of the false teachers.
A lesson here is that when Paul made this very public mistake, and behaved in an "un-apostolic" way, he could have slinked away defeated, never come back, abandoned the sheep to the wolves. But he DID NOT DO THAT! He already had persecuted and killed Christians and God had called him anyway, despite the horror he had inflicted, so Paul knew that this current defeat was no more permanent than his former mistakes. He could have abandoned that whole church. But he loved them too much, and was too dedicated to the gospel and to Christ to let his own humiliation stop him from shepherding them back to the Way. Here is a lesson for all of us who have strayed, and made mistakes, and in the eyes of many have ruined our own testimony because of the sinfulness we sank into. We can still do God's work, still accomplish His will, still reach some - though others may never believe our sincerity. What others see in us is not the important thing. It is not their commendation we seek, but God's, for our continued efforts to serve Him.
If at all possible, this needs to be on FB. 2021 - I sure needed this reminder from last year. I mess up. It seems I just "un-ravel" what little good I accumulate over a long period. I have done it before, I just recently did it again. It happens just when things seem to be turning a corner I've been working towards. And just before it's accomplished, by my own words/actions I cross the street and go the opposite direction. And it's one way, and I despair of every getting turned around again and trying to get back to that corner. And time gets shorter and shorter. It feels like such a permanent loss. I think that's what Paul is saying/feeling in these verses. I think he messed up bad, and he fears some are lost to hell because he cannot - by the example of his own behavior that he has appealed to so often - turn them back to him. Because he undermined his own example in a pitiful way. I know what that is like
Paul now compares his own "sufferings" and "credentials" to the those of the false teachers. He recounts the highlights of his sufferings - knowing it is sinfully boastful to do so - but unwilling to let them claim greater qualification as apostles than him on the basis of their sufferings, their education, their lineage. Even to the point of his escaping a King's wrath in Damascus.