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19 October. 2 Corinthians chapters 10-13
In these final chapters of his last letter to the Corinthians, Paul is not giving any new teaching, but rather is exploring the nature of his relationship with them. In many different ways he explains that Jesus has called him, appointed and equipped him to spread the Gospel, a charge which he has been faithful to keep despite all the hardships and punishments that he says he has experienced. That, he says, would be enough to justify having authority over them. But instead he has taught them with humility. Only reluctantly does he go into detail of his qualifications and experiences, in order to prove that he is no less qualified as a teacher of the faith than certain other men (never named in these letters) who have been teaching an incompatible approach to Christianity – probably based on Jewish law.
We also learn here something of Paul’s personality. He says he is bold in his writings, but weak when speaking. He quotes some of them as saying ‘His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible’ (10:10). Paul seems to have been a very well educated and wise man, but small, unattractive and not a powerful speaker. The written word was his best way of communicating. And then there is the mysterious ‘thorn in the flesh’ (12:7), also described as a ‘messenger from Satan’. Many people have tried to guess what this may be, from something as simple as a stammer or some physical disability, to some kind of mental illness, or sexual temptation.
God does indeed call many different people, widely different in age, physical and intellectual ability, temperament and personality. He gives them a wide variety of gifts, as explained in the first letter to the Corinthians. But no-one is ‘top trumps’ having every possible advantage. In each person there are some weaknesses, maybe only known to themselves like Paul’s “thorn”, or maybe all too obvious. The important thing is that any pride (or ‘boasting’ as Paul calls it) should be pride in the gifts that God gives, and never in ourselves. Also, it is never helpful to compare ourselves with others, as Paul does only reluctantly to show that he is more worthy of being listened to than the ‘false’ teachers.