"I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh."-2 Corinthians 10:1-2
Have we ever ventured to think that the "bold" don't necessarily desire to exercise their boldness all the time? That, the bold ... actually love you more than you know? Try to keep this idea in mind as you read this blog.
I keep reading this over and over. To some degree, though in its minuteness in comparison, I feel a portion of the weight that is on Paul's spirit. If you remember, 1 Corinthians had a bit of a harsh tone to it because the Corinthians were way off track. Here, Paul quotes one of their accusations of him when he says "I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!" He is addressing an accusation made of him, what follows is his defense. In our society we have a bit of a two-fold mentality towards such a thing as a defense. On the one hand if one is defensive we assume that it is the engendering of guilt, needless to say, its a means to "cat and mouse" oneself away from accepting their downfalls (lack of humility), or in a other cases, on certain occasions ... their strengths. Some people, like myself, aren't so good at accepting compliments. In the second of this two-fold assumption we find that the word defense brings about a bit of arrogance, and political correctness. In the eyes of your simple minded laid back layman we see that this can be viewed as a means to gain superiority and intellectual foreground. While both of these assumptions are very true in some circumstances we need not make ourselves believe that a defense is a bad thing, rather, Jesus and His apostles saw fit to defend the truth, and preserve the true gospel. We may not think that the simplest forms of flattery, entertainment, humor, and encouragement may not be a bad thing, but we also can agree that people are deceitful, perverse, and ill-informed, so we MUST take all of this into consideration as ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20).
So is a defense a bad thing? Or course not ... actually, within the Christian worldview we see that most pastors, theologians, philosophers, and apologist actually spend the majority of their time defending the one true Gospel. As followers we CAN NOT afford to slip into passivity because as soon as we do the devil has gain serious ground. Paul goes on a little ways further stating a defense in favor of his ministry but he also gives rise to 2 truths of the Christian life, first in verse 7 and then in verse 11.
"Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ's, so also are we."-Verse 7
"Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present."-Verse 11
In verse 7 Paul is addressing the issue of "like-mindedness" saying that we should all know the truth of the gospel and by that truth we can test, and discern, the validity of others. So many people will probably think that this is the same thing as judging someone but it is not. Jesus spent a lot of time comparing His followers to fruit trees stating that if they were in season that they would be producing fruit ... today it is no different. Also, we should not allow this misunderstanding of "judging others" cripple us in fear of discerning things and testing them. We are called to "guard our hearts" but how does one guard themselves if they are not aware of the things that they are guarding themselves from? There is a tremendous difference in judging someone, by which it enables you from loving them, and making a judgement call, by which you may protect yourself from others based off of experience and wisdom.
Paul, in verse 11, states that the christian is not someone who exercises righteousness and purity amongst the company of brothers and yet fails to sustain that same standard in that absence. He is addressing the fact that they are measuring his truth and validity with his physical appearance. Verse 10 is Paul quoting them yet again, "For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” By this standard they have judged him to the point they have prevented themselves from hearing the truth of his gospel based off of his physical appearance. Today, like in the days of Paul, we see this sort of mentality manifested all around us. Sometimes we measure the "anointing" of others by their physical appearance. At the turn of the new years I resolved to try my best to not compare people to other people, but rather to allow that individual to speak for themselves and to weight all virtuous behavior in accordance to themselves. This is in direct relation to what Paul says in verse 12, "Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding." In view of the defensive nature of Paul, and myself, I think this would make a beautiful platform for me, and Paul as well, to reiterate a serious truth for all to hear. It is a dangerous thing to compare yourselves with others. In so doing you fail to see that person in light of themselves, and you fail to see yourself correctly! Rather, you see them in light someone other than themselves ... Paul says that by doing this you are "without understanding."
"But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another's area of influence."-2 Corinthians 10:15-16
Paul, in essence, is pleading with the church of Corinth. He is appealing to their faith now and saying that if your faith would increase, so also would the influence of the gospel amongst you and the church would grow both in strength (faith), and number. Thus, the church would grow and by doing this people beyond Asia Minor would experience the gospel! Friends, lets not get so wrapped up in our own problems that we neglect the mission of the church. We are all called to be participants in the establishment of the Kingdom of God. If we let our problems take priority over the bigger problem of a universe evil then we have all together lost a crucial aspect of Christ death on the cross. Paul gives us a glimpse into this battle in verse 3-6 (below).
I would contend that our inability to advance the gospel, thereby establishing and ushering in the Kingdom of God, is giving rise to the validity of the gospel one preaches ... in that, if we fail to fight our personal battles, which also means bearing that burden with your community of believers (which is a significant portion of the battle given the independent, strong willed society that we live in), we cannot indeed effectively fight in the world wide, and universal cosmic battle for the Kingdom of God.
"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but ha
ve divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete."-2 Corinthians 10:3-6
"For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends."-2 Corinthians 10:18
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