Chapter 12
Continues his qualifications, begun in the previous chapter.
He speaks of being caught up into Paradise - but isn't sure if it was real or a vision - and seeing and hearing things that it is not given to men to speak of. He knows he was there, and he knows the rarity and privilege of it, and it is tempting for him to speak these things he heard and so "boast" and "prove himself" the greatest apostle. Yet God "wounded" him in some way to keep him from getting conceited. Could it be that he had a lisp or a speech impediment after this, and that is why he spent so much time refuting the eloquence of the false teachers? They could easily say that Paul was a tongue tied goofus if he had some kind of speech impediment. And that would be why Paul made such a deal of knowledge vs eloquence. He's as smart as the false teachers, though not as eloquent. Sure makes a lot of sense. This is Paul's explanation to the Corinthians - his refutation of the "Paul is stupid, he can't even talk" - of why he has this problem that he has. It is because he has seen what no other man has seen, NOT because he has diminished brain power. 2021 - And he has come to see this weakness of his as a strength. It keeps him from winning by eloquence, but it makes him win by knowledge.
2021-2, Vss 2-4 discuss the third heaven and Paradise in possibly equivalent terms. I copied these into the judgment study because I think they bear on whether or not the dead in Christ are in the third heaven and Paradise as separate places or the same place.
Now Paul points out that the testimony to his apostleship when he was among them were the signs, wonders, and mighty works. And Corinth received as much of these as any other church. He did not belittle them. The only difference in Paul's behavior at Corinth vs other churches was that he took no pay from Corinth.
2021 - So here he does remind them of miracles. Why, I wonder, does he not bring this up more. Why does he not ask to see the miracles of the super-apostles? If they were Satan's...perhaps they did show some counterfeit signs? But still...the real thing would show up in the long run. Paul points out that the signs and wonders were part of the proof of his apostleship. I think.
14 Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. [2Co 12:14 ESV]. What an interesting phrase. We are to honor our parents, Paul himself repeats that command elsewhere. But we are not required to save up for them...I don't know what this means. In that day people supported their parents entirely...so...it must mean that we don't have to save anything to pass on to our parents after we die. So Paul is saying they don't need to "make arrangements" for him when he comes, since he doesn't want their "stuff" he wants the time with them. And he has things he would like to pass on to them. Maybe that is what is in view.
Beginning in vs 19, Paul says that what he's telling them is not a "defense", but a testimony before Christ of his sincerity in correcting them. He is "afraid" that when he comes to them for the third time, he will find the same problems, the same hindrances, the immorality and impurity that he has preached so adamantly against. He is afraid they will still argue with him that such things are ok for them, and people will behave antagonistically about it all. He wants them to know, before God Himself, that he is the real apostle, and that rejecting him is an unrepentant attitude with dire consequences to them.
Think what it would be like for Hance to come back and get people together and tell them that Rummage is preaching false doctrine. What an uproar it would cause, what division. How would you ever get people back on the same page? Yet Paul is telling them he is coming back, and that he fears just such uproar when he does. And he is disappointed that there will be such an uproar when the truth is so very plain.