EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries
2 Corinthians 10:1-18
God shows his Power when we are Weak
2 Corinthians
Philip Smith
Chapter 10
v1 I, Paul make an appeal to you by the *gentleness and kindness of Christ. When I am with you, you suppose me to be weak. When I am away, you suppose me to be severe. v2 I *beg you this. When I come, do not force me to be severe. I can be severe towards some people. They think that we live by the standards of the world. v3 It is true that we live in the world. We do not fight in the same way as the world does. v4 The *weapons that we fight with are not the *weapons of the world. In fact our *weapons have God’s power to destroy things that offer security. v5 We destroy wrong arguments. We destroy every proud idea that is against the knowledge of God. We control our thoughts, like *prisoners. We make each thought obey Christ. v6 We are ready to punish every act of *disobedience after you have completely obeyed.
Paul here talks about the way that the false teachers in Corinth had opposed him. They said that they were powerful. They had letters to recommend them (2 Corinthians 3:1). They said that they had great *visions (2 Corinthians 5:13). They had travelled far to get to Corinth (2 Corinthians 10:13-18). Paul, they said, was weak. He did not oppose them when he was present in Corinth. Instead, he seemed only to oppose them by letter when he was away. The false teachers said that he was not a special person. But they said that they had God’s power. They said that Paul did not have it. Paul replied that his ‘weakness’ showed Christ’s *gentleness and kindness. He did not use the world’s methods to fight unbelief. Instead, he used the good news about Jesus to attack strong opinions against God. Such opinions are in every human mind.
v7 You are only looking on the outside of things. Some people are sure that they belong to Christ. They should think again. We belong to Christ quite as much as they do. v8 Perhaps I have been proud about the authority that Christ has given me. This was to encourage you, not to upset you. I am not ashamed. v9 I do not want to frighten you with my letters. v10 Some say this: ‘His letters are severe and strong. When he is with us, he is weak. His words achieve nothing.’ v11 Such people should realise that there is no difference. We write things in our letters when we are away. And when we are present, we shall do the same things.
Paul asks them to look at the facts. Perhaps his *opponents thought that they were better than he was. They should think again. They should look at the church that he had started in Corinth. He was not ashamed. He was proud of his authority. Christ gave it to him on the road to Damascus. Paul had encouraged people. He was not trying to upset them. And he was not trying to frighten them with his letters. His *opponents said that his letters were powerful. His looks and speech were not impressive. People who lived about *AD 200 described Paul in this way. They wrote that Paul was short. He was bald. And his legs were not straight. This may have been why they opposed him. He was not the handsome great speaker that the people expected. Paul warns them that there was no difference between his actions and the words in his letters. Soon he would be with them. Then he would do what he warned them about in his letters.
v12 We do not want to compare ourselves with those who recommend themselves. And we do not want to join them. They are fools. They measure themselves by themselves. And they compare themselves with themselves. v13 We will not be proud beyond proper limits. We will stay inside the limits of the work that God has given to us. This includes our work among you. v14 You are inside those limits. Therefore, we came to you and we brought the good news about Christ. We did not go further than we should. v15 So we are not proud about the work that other people have done. This is beyond the limits that God gave to us. But we hope this: As your trust in God continues to grow, we may be able to do a greater work. v16 Then we can take the good news to countries beyond you. We do not want to be proud about work in another person’s area. v17 The Bible says, ‘Whoever wants to be proud must be proud about the *Lord.’ v18 We can approve a person when the *Lord thinks well about him. We cannot approve someone who thinks well about himself.
Paul now writes about the false teachers who visited them. The false teachers even called themselves ‘*apostles’. And they were comparing themselves with Paul. They said this: They had come a much greater distance than Paul in order to visit the Christians at Corinth. Paul talks about the limits of his work. He is referring back to the discussion at Jerusalem in Acts chapter 15. The people made this agreement. Peter and John should go to the *Jews while Paul and *Barnabas should go to the *Gentiles. Paul had come as far as the *Gentile *Corinthians with the good news about Jesus. He was only proud about his own work for God. But the false teachers were very proud. They even pretended that they were responsible for Paul’s success in Corinth. They were comparing the things that *commended them. They had letters of recommendation from Christians in other churches. They also said that they had special gifts from God. They did not think that Paul had anything to *commend him. Paul notes the things that *commended him. They were the church at Corinth and the fact that other people were becoming Christians.
Paul hopes that the Christians’ trust in God will be firm. Then he would be able to go further to the *Gentiles in other countries. He did not want to work in someone else’s area. It does not matter what a person thinks about himself. It does matter what the *Lord thinks about that person.
gentleness ~ kind, careful.beg ~ ask for a gift.
weapon ~ a weapon usually means something like a sword, that causes physical injury. But Paul’s battle was not a physical battle. It was a spiritual battle. And Paul needed spiritual weapons in order to oppose wrong ideas and to defeat the devil.
spiritual ~ about the spirit, not physical things.
prisoner ~ a person who is in prison.
disobedience ~ when someone does not obey.
visions ~ a spiritual dream or experience.
spiritual ~ about the spirit, not physical things.
opponent ~ someone who opposes you.
AD ~ AD 50 means the year that was 50 years after Jesus came, and so on.
Lord ~ a name that we call God or Jesus; we call God or Jesus Lord when we obey them.
apostle ~ a person whom someone sends to do a special task. In the New Testament, an apostle was someone who had met the risen Jesus.
New Testament ~ the second part of the Bible with 27 books about the life of Jesus and the Christian message.
risen Jesus ~ Jesus, after he died and became alive again.
Jews ~ people of the Hebrew people or religion.
Hebrew ~ a member of a group of families originally from Israel; or, the language of the Hebrew people.
Barnabas ~ a Jewish Christian from Cyprus. He welcomed Paul into the Christian church and he travelled with him. He encouraged people.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything that belongs to a Jew.
Jews ~ people of the Hebrew people or religion.
Hebrew ~ a member of a group of families originally from Israel; or, the language of the Hebrew people.
Gentiles ~ a name for all groups of people that are not Jewish.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything that belongs to a Jew.
Jews ~ people of the Hebrew people or religion.
Hebrew ~ a member of a group of families originally from Israel; or, the language of the Hebrew people.
commend ~ to praise or to recommend.