Thursday, July 27, 2023 – 2 Corinthians 10
Have you ever had to speak to someone who you admire, maybe even look up to, and say a hard thing?
We have examples in modern times on social media of how a little distance allows people to say whatever they want to say with little recourse. In many ways, Paul is alluding to that in his letters to a religious community. Letters can be interpreted as harsher or not holding back because we can read into the way words are held together and interpret a tone. Compare that to when you had to discipline a coworker, a neighbor, or even a family member in person. It can be different in terms of our language, tone, and even body language when we are confronting someone in person than when we are not.
It's not exactly the same point as the one Paul is making, but it’s not far off. It’s easy to leap to conclusions when you are sizing up what someone is saying, and it’s always important to pause and ask yourself if you have the same understanding, knowledge, and experience as the ones you might be confronting.
And the trouble we are reading about today is that the people Paul is addressing have reached a snap judgment, based on a faulty way of measuring themselves and other people. This part of the letter is going back to an earlier discussion of who might be allowed to teach and preach within the body of Christ in Corinth. The congregation now appears to require anyone, even Paul, to be recommended or have a letter of recommendation before appearing before the congregation. One could see good order being demonstrated here, but there appears to be a growing power struggle from some of the elite in the congregation about who can teach from within the family.
Paul will certainly challenge this behavior by sharing how wrong it is to compare people within the same body, to exclude him, and others from teaching within the body of Christ. Paul will address this elite group of teachers emerging in the community by redirecting their behaviors and skills back to the one who ordained them, Christ Jesus. And will read tomorrow that Paul wants to warn the church against those who ‘commend themselves,’ but are not commended by the Lord; which will show the congregation what it means to boast when one’s entire life has been reshaped around the Messiah and the cross.
Questions for reflection:
- Things have improved in Corinth since Paul wrote his last letter, but not altogether. How is Paul discredited (vv. 1-2, 9-11)?
- Is “authority” more of a positive or a negative word to you? How so? What will you work on this week that demonstrates your interest in building others up?
The good news: Lord, let it be proclaimed in public and let it reach the private corners of our minds and hearts; give us grace to endure. Amen