This is part 26 of a sermon series through 2 Corinthians. When I first moved to Maine, part of the local culture that I had to figure out was the New England town meeting. Although everywhere I had lived in Virginia, New York, California, etc. had town meetings, they were different in format and intent than New England town meetings with warrants, voting on the school district budget, etc. I was very impressed by the sense of involvement—or at least the potential for involvement—by individuals in the operation of the town. [1]
Although town meetings are usually a forum where anyone can speak, at first I was intimidated and fearful to speak up at the meetings. Certainly I was not intimidated by the size of the crowds or the forceful personalities among the selectmen. Rather, coming from California, I knew that a lot of what I took for granted as to how things were done did not apply in New England—property taxes for example. I refrained from speaking, because I knew my odd ideas would brand me as "from away." I did not speak, because I knew that lots of my attitudes would reveal my ignorance of how Mainers operated. I did not speak up, because I did not want to look like the village idiot.
2 Corinthians 11:16-30
Commentary
There are 3 parties involved in this diatribe: Paul, the Corinthian church, and Paul’s critics, the super, but false, apostles from v5,13. When Paul refers to "anyone" or "no one" or the "many" (v16, 18, 20, 21-23), he is referring to the apostles of a different gospel (v4).
Paul’s diatribe continues into chapter 12; but the part we’re looking at today can be broken into three parts:
v16-21 Paul establishes a fool’s forum: he sarcastically chides the church for putting up with boasting fools, but then asserts his fool’s right to speak (or boast) & be heard. Through this sarcasm Paul does 3 things: (a) he calls others who are boasting—i.e. the false-apostles—fools; (b) he chides the Corinthians for idly tolerating un-Christ-like foolishness (v19-20); and (c) he claims the fool’s right to speak that the Corinthians have accorded to Paul’s detractors.
v22-28 Paul springs the trap—while his critics boast of their achievements, Paul boasts of his suffering! For Paul, that in which he placed his confidence is the resurrection power of God that can only appear when one surrenders control.
v29-30 The climax: while Paul’s critics might claim to be perfected, Paul will make no such claim; but Paul will boast of his weakness even as he is driven deeper into Jesus.
Application
In discussing Paul's diatribe against his critics, remember that his critics were nominally Christian. While Paul calls them false-apostles, and apostles of a different gospel, likely they were members in good standing at a church—perhaps the Corinthian church, but more likely the church in Jerusalem, or one of the other churches that Paul had founded. (Paul seems to have had an entourage of critics that trailed after him on his missionary journeys, showing up after Paul had established a church in an area.)
The point is this: Paul diatribe is not directed against outsiders, this diatribe isn't us (or me, Paul) against the world; rather, his tirade is a stinging rebuke against people who should have known better, should have acted better, and should have loved each other better. It is the bane of the church—being full of sinful men and women—that when it sins, when it is off the mark, it is no longer an agent of grace. It is the bane of us as Christians—being sinful even while we are saved—that when we sin, we are no longer ministers of reconciliation. Rather in our sin we become ministers of dissolution.
Most likely Paul's critics were Judaizers—Jewish Christians who wanted Gentile converts to Christianity to follow all of the Jewish law. Perhaps they, like Paul, were also former Pharisees, adherents of a strict code of holiness. They came to Corinth and boasted of their piety and their obedience to the Jewish law. Given Paul's criticism of them in this letter, apparently his critics had been very influential in Corinth. Church history through the ages testifies that individuals and churches regularly stumble by subscribing to a form of spirituality that they try to manufacture on their own.
Rather than counter his critics logically, refuting them point-by-point, Paul takes a different tack. Sarcastically he confronts the church: "Since you are so tolerant as to listen to their boasting, be tolerant enough to listen to the rants of a fool like me." Simultaneously he delivers a backhanded insult to his critics: "If I am a fool for boasting, what does that make you for your boasts?"
After setting his readers up to expect a prideful list of achievements—and starting by laying out his credentials as a Jew—Paul's boasts go in an unexpected direction. In fact, they go in completely the opposite direction, as Paul recounts what to most people would sound like the low points of anyone's ministry: beatings, arrests, and miseries galore. In fact he goes so far as to claim to be the weakest and the most sinful (v29). Christian mystics over the ages have agreed: the more one grows in Christ, on one hand the more one realizes the depths of one's need, the darkness of one's depravity, but on the other the more one realizes the grace that has come into one's life through Jesus. It is grace that we can not supply for ourselves; it is grace that we can not manufacture through hard work; it is grace that we can not summon on demand.
This is Palm Sunday: what is the church of Jesus (i.e. his disciples) boasting of when Jesus enters Jerusalem the week before Passover, and how does that compare to what Jesus boasts of a week later during his arrest, trail, and execution?
We are not Judaizers, we are not Pharisees, but we nevertheless boast of the high points of our Christian walk, while Paul, the fool, advises us to boast in the low points when our need for Christ is greatest.
Points to Ponder
What does Paul mean in v17, when he says that what follows is not, "speaking as the Lord would"?
Is this merely a rhetorical device to disarm his critics?
Is Paul saying, "Jesus wouldn’t be this sarcastic with you—but I will be anyway!"?
Or is Paul saying that what follows is merely Paul’s opinion—and not an inspired word from God?
There are other places in his letters where Paul sounds very human, even petty, (e.g. Galatians 5:11-12) or appears to interject a personal opinion into the middle of a theological discussion (e.g. 1 Cor. 7:10,12). How do we reconcile the gritty, human aspect of some of what Paul writes with Paul’s later statement, "all Scripture is God-breathed [i.e. inspired]" (2 Tim 3:16)? If God can use sarcasm, petty comments, and personal opinions to touch other people, then maybe our understanding of the inspiration of Scripture is out of whack. Somebody once said, "Don’t be so heavenly-minded that you’re no earthly good!" Is it possible to be heavenly and earthy at the same time? If so, how would that change our understanding of what it means to be spiritual?
End Notes
1 - That being said, I am disturbed by how little members of our church appear to participate in these meetings. Usually when I go, the only church members I see at the town meetings are the ones I have dragged along with me. While I believe there are a lot of reasons why we rarely attend the meetings, how can we expect to change the world if we are not engaged with, and working to change, the community?
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