Again I say, Let not any one think me to be a fool; but if otherwise, receive me then even as a fool, that *I* also may boast myself some little.
Paul turns back to defending himself, and he hates doing it. He calls the whole exercise folly. So he asks the Corinthians either to spare him that name or to let him play the part. Behind the strange request lies a real question: when is it right for a servant of Christ to talk about himself?
One writer shows how far this was from what Paul loved to do, and what pushed him into it:
The apostle has turned aside to warn about false apostles, their high claims and their low reality. Now he comes back again — reluctantly, as we see — to speak of himself, his "folly" as he calls it. In truth no task could be more repulsive to him, for he loved to speak only of Christ and the wonderful grace of God in Him. But what he so much disliked was a necessity... But the Lord's glory was at stake and the saints were in danger; and so he again takes up the disagreeable task.
The Corinthians face a choice. They can think better of Paul, or give him the freedom they give to anyone else who talks big:
Turning from the deceivers to the people they had fooled, he throws down his challenge before those who sat as judges of the quarrel. He does object to their contemptuous downgrading of him. But if they must think so poorly of one who once held a very different place in their esteem, let them at least act in a way worthy of themselves. Let the fool have licence to display his folly... His habit, as they well knew, was to glory in the Lord. But now other boasting was in fashion. While he was away, it had largely taken the place once thought due only to the praise of God. So he would also stand among his rivals.
The appeal has an edge to it. If the Corinthians could sit happily under men who boasted, they had no grounds for refusing Paul a hearing:
Still, as these men acted in this way, Paul felt he should take up their challenge. If they wanted to run a competition over who had the highest credentials, he would say something more about his. This boasting was all foolishness, but since they had started it he would speak; and again in verse 19 he uses irony. The Corinthians were enriched in all knowledge and so took the place of being wise, and seemed to put up gladly with the fools who boasted so much; for, he says, you do indeed suffer when these boasting men domineer over you and browbeat you as they have been doing.
The contest was not over doctrine but over credentials. One writer lists what the rivals put forward, then turns the point on preachers since:
The false apostles were dishonouring the Lord and damaging the saints. They did it by putting forward their advantages in the flesh: a fine personal presence, power of mind, play of imagination, readiness of speech, rhetorical tricks, independent wealth, family connections, social position, and the like. So he feels it necessary to put forward what God had done through the ability He gave... It is humbling yet instructive to set the apostle's pain at having to speak this way against the obvious pleasure many a servant of Christ takes in telling personal stories. Such stories seem to have no aim but to prove his own cleverness at the expense of poor Mr This or Mr That.
Paul says in the next breath that he speaks "not according to the Lord." Commentators are careful with that phrase: it describes his distaste, not a lapse in inspiration.
He objects to their thinking him a fool; but if they will not grant him that, "accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little." They, being deceitful workers, sought their own glory. The apostle wrote only to deliver the saints from what undermined the Lord and puffed up the flesh... He had ample material and real substance. Still, it was not directly about the Lord, and this tried him, however necessary it was. This seems to be the true meaning. He was not writing as an uninspired man at all. By inspiration he was writing what was painful to a heart wholly devoted to the Lord's glory.
That God required the record has a use far beyond Corinth:
God required it in this case, and His inspiring it keeps it entirely free from exaggeration or undue exalting of a man... It is valuable for our day, when men exalt themselves and claim apostleship or something like it. Measure such a claim against Paul's character, labour and sufferings, and it will collapse in utter shame.
Paul's reluctance points to where our strength really lies:
Our strength is not looking back at past experience, though that may sometimes have a place. Our strength is living on Christ now, in the path of God's will. I deny that Paul talks about himself and his experiences, except where he says he is a fool for doing it — they had compelled him.
- Forced. Paul does not choose this subject. Danger to the saints and to the Lord's honour drives him to a task he calls repulsive.
- Folly. He calls his own self-defence foolish before anyone else can. Spare him the label, he says, or give him the fool's freedom to speak.
- Fashion. The rivals boasted in presence, eloquence, wealth and connections. These were advantages of the flesh, and the Corinthians had learned to admire them.
- Fruit. God inspired this folly, so the record holds no exaggeration. Measure any later boast against it, and the boast collapses.
- Frame. Our strength is living on Christ now, not retelling past experience. When Paul did speak of himself, he called it folly — and that reluctance is the model.
What I speak I do not speak according to [the] Lord, but as in folly, in this confidence of boasting.
Paul is about to list his sufferings and credentials. Rivals were stealing the affection of the Corinthians, and he has to answer them. First he warns his readers what kind of speech is coming. He calls his own words folly, not the Lord's way. That raises two questions: why did he hate boasting so much, and is a sentence like this still the word of God?
The phrase does not mean Paul had stopped writing by inspiration. It means his subject was not Christ, and that cost him something.
He had plenty to say, and it was all real. Still, the subject was not directly the Lord, and that tried him, however necessary it was. This seems to be the true meaning. It is not at all that he was writing as an uninspired man. By inspiration he was writing what was painful to a heart wholly devoted to the Lord's glory, yet angry at the trickery of these false ministers, and at how readily many of the believers listened to their hints.
Paul flags his own words so nobody copies them as normal Christian practice.
He speaks "not as the Lord would." Yet remember that it is the Lord who tells him to write this way. It is still not the normal way for a Christian, and only extreme conditions would justify it.
His rivals built their ministry on natural advantages. That taste has not died out.
But the false apostles were dishonouring the Lord and damaging the believers by parading their natural advantages: a fine appearance, mental power, lively imagination, a ready tongue, clever tricks of speech, private wealth, family connections, social standing, and the like. So he feels he must set out what God had done through him, according to the ability God gave him. And not only in spiritual power, but in every kind of labour and suffering for the Lord's sake. It is humbling, and it teaches us, to compare the apostle's pain at having to speak this way with the obvious pleasure many a servant of Christ takes in telling stories about himself.
At the end of the previous chapter Paul had laid down the rule: the only proper boast is in the Lord. Now he steps outside his own rule, and he says plainly who put him there.
In the last two verses of the previous chapter he was ready to boast, "but let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends." Yet, he adds, "I must boast: you have forced me to it." And the Lord has allowed it for our instruction.
God stood behind the writing. So Paul's self-defence never turns into self-promotion. That gives the church a measuring stick.
Paul thought it folly to speak about himself and his own work for Christ, and he would far rather have avoided it. But God required it here, and because God inspired it, the account is kept free of exaggeration or of lifting a man up too high… It is valuable for our own day, when men exalt themselves and claim to be apostles or something like it. Measure such a claim by Paul's character, labour and sufferings, and these modern claims collapse in utter shame.
Paul hated to write this chapter. It became the fullest record we have of what his service cost him.
Since they forced him to boast (12:11), he is ready to show what reasons he had for boasting… If these evil teachers had not invaded the Corinthian church, we would never have known about these experiences of the great man of God. The historical record, the book of Acts, does not give us a full account of his devotion and trials. And most likely even this list is not complete.
- Compelled. Paul did not choose this boast. The Corinthians welcomed his rivals, and that forced him onto ground he had just told them to avoid. The Lord allowed it for our instruction.
- Folly. Speaking "not as the Lord would" means his theme is himself, not Christ. There was real substance in it, but it hurt a heart devoted to the Lord's glory.
- Abnormal. The Lord required him to write this way. Even so, it is not the normal way for a Christian. Only extreme conditions justify it.
- Guarded. God inspired it. So the boast never becomes exaggeration, and it never lifts a man up too high.
- Useful. This reluctant record measures every later claim to be an apostle. Set such claims beside Paul's character, labour and sufferings, and they collapse.
Since many boast according to flesh, *I* also will boast.
Paul has just warned the Corinthians about men posing as apostles of Christ. Now he turns to the people charmed by them. He steps into a boasting contest he hated, and this verse gives his reason: others were boasting, and boasting on fleshly ground.
Commentators read Paul here as a man forced back to a subject he had no appetite for.
The apostle had turned aside to warn about false apostles — their big claims and their poor reality. Now he comes back, reluctantly as we see, to speak of himself and his "folly," as he calls it. In truth no task could be more distasteful to him, for he loved to speak only of Christ and the wonderful grace of God in Him. But what he so much disliked was a necessity.
The boasting he answers was not crude bragging about sin. It was the parade of advantages that impress people in a religious setting.
The false apostles were dishonouring the Lord and damaging the saints. They did it by putting forward their fleshly advantages: a fine personal presence, power of mind, play of imagination, readiness of speech, skill with words, independent wealth, family connection, social position, and the like. So he feels he must put forward what God had worked, according to the ability He gave. And this was not only in positive spiritual power. It was in every kind of labour and suffering for the Lord's sake.
This kind of boasting can wear a religious face.
Glorying in the flesh is not glorying in sin, but, as in Philippians 3, religious glorying — glorying in something besides Christ.
Verse 17 admits that this way of talking is not the Lord's way. Verse 18 gives his reason for doing it anyway. Paul did not slip out of inspiration. The situation itself was abnormal.
Because of these deceivers, Paul must speak of himself, though in doing so he feels himself a fool... He speaks "not as the Lord would," yet remember that it is the Lord who requires him to write this way. It is not the normal way for a Christian, and nothing but abnormal conditions would justify it.
Kelly reaches the same conclusion from Paul's own discomfort:
He had ample matter and real substance; still it was not directly the Lord, and this tried him, however necessary it might be. This seems to be the true meaning. He was not writing as an uninspired man at all. By inspiration he was writing what was painful to a heart wholly devoted to the Lord's glory.
The next verse calls the Corinthians wise for gladly bearing with fools. Commentators call this irony. The real folly sat with the hearers, not with Paul.
The false teachers flattered the saints without scruple, as they flattered themselves. The apostle's irony is the most cutting reproof of self-satisfaction. Where the folly really lay was neither doubtful nor hard to find. The man who has Christ for his wisdom can afford to be counted a fool, and to count himself one. That is really the truest wisdom. Those who lift a favourite teacher into the place of Christ miss it completely.
That tolerance had a price. These teachers used the people who put up with them.
He humbled himself to lift up those whose blessing he sought (verse 7). They lifted up themselves, and did not hesitate to exploit those they claimed to serve. They brought them into bondage. They devoured them by taking their money. They even struck them on the face. Very possibly this striking on the face was not literal, but a rude, haughty way of browbeating them. The Corinthians were thinking in a fleshly way, and the domineering manner of these men had clearly impressed them. Had they been more spiritual they would have seen through it.
Paul does list his credentials. They are not the ones his rivals were selling, and we owe the record to their attack.
Since they compelled him to boast (12:11), he is ready to show what reasons he had for boasting. These teachers who pressed the Jewish law boasted much of being Hebrews, descendants of Abraham. But so was Paul... If it had not been for these evil teachers who had invaded the Corinthian church, we would never have known of these experiences of the great man of God. The historical record, the book of Acts, does not give a full account of his devotedness and trials.
- Flesh boasts. The rivals put forward looks, speech, wealth and social standing. Such advantages impress people, and they dishonour the Lord.
- Flesh is religious. This glorying is not boasting in sin; it is glorying in something besides Christ.
- Flesh forces. Paul admits this is not the Lord's way of speaking. Only abnormal conditions, and the harm being done to the saints, drew him into it.
- Flesh flatters. The irony cuts at the hearers. They lifted a favourite teacher into Christ's place, then bore bondage and called it wisdom.
- Flesh loses. Forced onto their ground, Paul answers with labours and sufferings. We would never have had that record without their attack.
For ye bear fools readily, being wise.
Paul has been driven to speak about himself, because the Corinthians had given a warm welcome to teachers who ran him down. Verse 19 is the sharpest turn in that argument: he calls them wise, and then points at the company they keep.
The compliment is not a compliment. Paul measures the Corinthians by the teachers they had already welcomed.
"For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves!" The irony of this passage reaches its height in this verse and the next. He will not hand his cause over to foolish judges. Nor would he play the fool just to please other people. But these Corinthians were surely wise! Had they not shown their wisdom in many striking ways? Patience and forbearance are sure marks of wisdom. They had shown these qualities to a remarkable degree in their dealings with the guides who were strangers to them. They might well then bear with Paul too.
The word "bear" carries a second edge. Putting up with these men was not the pleasant thing the Corinthians imagined it to be.
Since these men acted this way, Paul felt he should take up their challenge. If they wanted a competition over who had the best credentials, he would say a little more about his. This boasting was all foolishness, but since they had started it he would speak, and again in verse 19 he uses irony. The Corinthians were rich in all knowledge and so took the place of being wise. They seemed to bear happily with the fools who boasted so much. But, he says, you do indeed suffer. These boasting men domineer over you and browbeat you, as they have been doing.
Calling them wise exposes the opposite. Flattery ran both ways at Corinth, and it left one question open: who is the real fool here?
The false teachers flattered the saints without scruple, just as they flattered themselves. The apostle's irony is the most cutting rebuke of self-satisfaction. Where the folly really lay was neither doubtful nor hard to find. The man who has Christ for his wisdom can afford to be counted a fool, and to count himself one. That is the truest wisdom. Those who lift a favourite teacher into the place of Christ miss it completely. They even call such degrading and dangerous folly by the name of obedience. Among the Jews, to say "there is no God" was to be a fool in the worst sense of the word. Among Christians, real folly is to set the servant above the Master in practice, and to give the servant the honour due only to Him.
Their patience had a strange shape. It stretched wide for the false teachers and ran out for the true apostle.
Nor can any sight be more remarkable than the way the flesh shows itself in these circumstances. The same saints who resisted the authority of a true apostle gave complete submission to false ones... Many at Corinth had sunk to that degradation, hugging chains they could not see. The flesh is blind as well as foolish. It loves its own things, not the things of Jesus Christ. It likes a director of its faith and duty — not a conscience in God's presence, subject to the word. It submits to bondage to man, if it is allowed some licence in return. It never really knows or enjoys liberty in the Spirit.
Boasting about himself is not how Paul normally writes, and he says so. This passage is an exception, not a pattern to copy.
Because of these deceivers, Paul must speak about himself, though in doing so he feels himself a fool. But he asks the Corinthians not to think of him that way, since his reasons for speaking like this are obvious. Yet if they do think it, they still ought to bear with his speaking for a little at least, for they had done so with false apostles! He says he speaks "not as the Lord would." Yet remember that it is the Lord who has him write this way. Even so, this is not the normal way for a Christian, and only abnormal conditions would justify it.
- Flattery — The false teachers flattered the Corinthians, and themselves. Paul answers with irony, the sharpest rebuke of self-satisfaction.
- Patience — Forbearance is a mark of wisdom. They had shown plenty of it to their new guides. Paul asks for a share of it.
- Suffering — "Bear with" cuts both ways. They thought they were kindly putting up with fools. In fact those men were bullying them.
- Bondage — The flesh is blind as well as foolish. It wants a director for its faith and duty, not a conscience answerable to God's word. So it hugs chains it cannot see.
- Wisdom — A man who has Christ as his wisdom can afford to be thought a fool. The real folly is putting a favourite teacher in the Master's place and calling it obedience.
For ye bear if any one bring you into bondage, if any one devour [you], if any one get [your money], if any one exalt himself, if any one beat you on the face.
Paul lists five things the Corinthians were putting up with from men who claimed to serve them. The strange part is this: the same church that resisted Paul's own authority bowed to teachers who exploited it.
Each phrase names something these men were doing. One of them may be a figure of speech rather than a real blow.
Their spirit was the exact opposite of Paul's. He lowered himself to lift up those whose blessing he wanted (verse 7). They exalted themselves, and they had no qualms about exploiting the very people they claimed to serve. They brought them into bondage, they devoured them by getting their money, they even struck them in the face. Perhaps the striking on the face was not literal. It may have meant treating them rudely and arrogantly — browbeating them, as we would say. The Corinthians were thinking in a fleshly way, and it seems these men's domineering manner had impressed them. Had they been more spiritual they would have seen through it.
The list begins with the worst item, because Christ had already set these believers free.
Of the five proofs listed here of their unworthy tolerance, the first is also the most shameful. By the grace of the Lord Jesus they had been freed from every yoke but His, and now, like the foolish Galatians, they were again wanting to be in bondage (Galatians 4:9). They forgot their true standing in the nearness of the Spirit. They took teachers of law as their guides, and were now reaping the fruit of their own choice. Instead of the true liberty of Christ, they were in bondage to the will of men. Wherever someone adds law to the gospel, man takes God's place.
What is false meets something in us that what is true does not.
It seems these false teachers were quite brazen. It is remarkable what people will put up with from what is false — far more than they will endure from what is true. What is false pleases the flesh. Take any system: it is surprising how quickly people learn a system. And you will always find that people learn Satan's teaching much faster than God's.
The reason lies in what the flesh wants from a teacher.
The same believers who chafed under the authority of a true apostle gave full submission to false ones. Such was the degradation many at Corinth had fallen into. They hugged chains they could not see; for the flesh is blind as well as foolish, and loves its own things, not the things of Jesus Christ. It likes a director of faith and duty — not a conscience in God's presence, subject to the word. It will accept bondage to man, as long as it gets some licence now and then. It never really knows or enjoys liberty in the Spirit. What bows down to a human priest or pope is not faith and power, but the lack of them. The history of the Christian world since then only fills out the picture the apostle has drawn of what Satan had done to some extent at Corinth.
Paul never treated the Corinthians like this. Those who endured such treatment counted it as devotion.
Paul had done none of this. Yet in the name of religion people will accept such treatment, and think they are more spiritual because they submit to it. But the flesh always despises the true liberty of grace.
These men wanted power. The verse leaves the reader a test for anyone who claims authority today.
In Paul's day there were men who aimed at power and authority. They brought believers into bondage, devoured them, took from them, exalted themselves and struck others in the face. Such men were false apostles and deceitful workers — see 2 Corinthians 11:13-20. There are people around in our day who assert their dominion in the same way, and we do well to beware of them. The Lord sets Himself before us as the Son of Man. He came not to be served but to serve, though He had every right to be served.
- Bondage first. The list runs from bondage to a blow in the face, and the first is the worst. Christ had freed these believers from every yoke but His own, and they chose a human one again.
- Bondage paid for. Devouring them meant taking their money. The blow to the face was probably browbeating, not a real punch.
- Bondage preferred. People put up with far more from what is false than from what is true, because what is false pleases the flesh. The flesh wants a director, not a conscience answerable to God's word.
- Bondage renamed. People mistake such submission for spirituality. In truth the flesh is despising the liberty of grace.
- Bondage exposed. Measure anyone who claims authority today against the Son of Man. He had every right to be served, and He came to serve.
I speak as to dishonour, as though *we* had been weak; but wherein any one is daring, (I speak in folly,) *I* also am daring.
Paul writes here as a man cornered. His rivals at Corinth had built their reputation on showing themselves off. So he first admits the charge they made against him — that he was weak — and then matches their boldness in words he himself calls foolish.
His words pick up an insult that was going round about him. One writer names that insult, and adds why the Lord allowed this whole passage to stand for us.
Yet, he adds, "I must boast: you have forced me to it"; and the Lord has allowed it for our instruction. He speaks of the reproach thrown at him — as though he had been weak — for some had said that "his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account." Here we have a wonderful picture of Paul's life, telling what it really was.
He does not argue with the label. In his eyes weakness was the very thing that made room for Christ's power — and speaking of himself at all was painful to him.
It was the apostle's glory to be weak so that the power of Christ might rest on him. His adversaries turned this into a reproach against him, and he bowed to it. He was far from putting on that high spirit which impresses ordinary people who are used to it in the world. Such a manner is always prized by the fleshly mind. He was pained and ashamed to speak of his own affairs, however true and blessed they were, while his adversaries paraded their advantages with the utmost vanity, however petty or worthless those were in comparison.
One writer retells the verse in Paul's own voice. It becomes an account of how he had behaved among them, and of what his restraint cost him.
We were weak, and no doubt still are. In fact, when we were among you we cared so little about asserting our official dignity (I speak, remember, as a fool) that we kept ourselves in the background all the time. If we had presented Christ less and ourselves more, as these new men have done, you might still be at our feet. It is the strong who take the spoil. Yet we can hardly regret the loss, since the strength we then refused to use may serve us in the contest we now invite. Since these men are bold, I will hold back no longer, but (though in foolishness) be bold too.
The words just before this list what the Corinthians had put up with from others. Against that, his "weakness" was his refusal to treat them the same way.
But if others boasted according to the flesh, he could do so too, and they would have no ground for complaint. After all, they gladly put up with fools who brought them into bondage to man, preyed on them, took their money, and exalted themselves while insulting others. Not to act as these men had acted might appear to be mere weakness on his part. However, if they thought him weak, he would show them that he could be bold. He still thinks that speaking of himself is foolishness.
The word "fool" is not false modesty. It names what he is doing, and what pushed him into it.
And this is only the outward part of what he calls his "folly" — that is, speaking of himself instead of Christ. His critics at Corinth forced it out of him. But what a life of love such sufferings show! What devotion to Him who had appointed him a herald and apostle and teacher!
When he does dare what they dare, he does not point to miracles or to results. He points to what he has suffered. One writer explains why that carries more weight.
We are not saying that the servant of Christ should never speak of what the Lord may have done through him in the way of blessing. There are times when he may profitably do so. We do say, however, that credentials are another matter. When the point is to produce facts that prove beyond all question that someone is a genuine servant of Christ, the record of his sufferings is far more convincing. A power other than the Spirit of God can produce signs and wonders. Nothing but absolute devotion to the Lord will keep someone serving with patient persistence through years of toil and suffering.
- Reproach. "Weak" was not Paul's word for himself first. It was his critics' verdict: "his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account."
- Owned. He does not argue the charge away. He bows to it, because it was his glory to be weak so that the power of Christ might rest on him.
- Restraint. His weakness at Corinth was deliberate. He stayed in the background instead of pressing his dignity, and he lost ground by it — "it is the strong who take the spoil."
- Folly. The foolishness he confesses is speaking of himself instead of Christ. His critics forced it out of him, and the Lord allowed it for our instruction.
- Proof. When he does dare to boast, he counts sufferings rather than successes. Signs can come from another power. Years of suffering service can come only from devotion to the Lord.