5 Accusations of Paul

David Jones

2 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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5 Accusations of Paul

1. Being bold by letter but not in person

I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent! 2 Cor. 10:1

Paul was gentle with the Corinthian church while he was establishing the church because they did not know Christ and accordingly could not live for Christ. In his gentleness towards them he was able to lead them to Christ. We see this strategy evident in his missionary journeys.

But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. 1 Thess. 2:7

However when he left Corinth the people abandon the gospel. They reverted back to their sinful ways of life. Some began to follow traditional Judaism which is a works base religion and not a grace based faith. They were led astray by false teachers.

As a result of this Paul wrote a letter back to the church known as “the strict letter”. In this letter Paul accuses them of their going astray and threatens to come back with severity of authority to fix the problem.

For this reason the people at Corinth accuse him of being soft in their presence but bold in his writings.

I believe their is a biblical principle that we can learn from here. That is the way we deal with the sin of unbelievers and the sin of believers. For the sin of unbelievers we must be gentle in sharing truth with them. They do not understand nor do they have the ability to comprehend righteousness and holiness. We must gently demonstrate it in our own lives and be patient by being gentle by showing mercy and grace while teaching truth.

If a person is a believer in Jesus Christ and living in sin then we have a responsibility to deal with them a little more sternly. They know better but choose not to do better. It is in this that we must be harsher in our correction.

For example, When I was at Life Tech some of the new ladies would cuss me before they went into church because they were lost and didn’t know who I was or what I was about. Many of them perceived me to be a judgmental person that was their to tell them how bad they were. What they did not know was that I was their to tell them how good Jesus is.

Now suppose one of my deacons comes to me and begins cussing me. I will handle that situation differently. First I would listen to why they are upset with me and try to resolve the difference. Then I would let them know that I found the words that they used at me offensive and ask for an apology. If at that point they refuse I would take two to three other deacons to help correct the wayward way of the deacon. If they refuse, then I would take it to the church for discipline. If they refuse to be corrected, then I would ask the church to revoke their membership and not to return until they were willing to repent.

2. Establishing the church for his own personal gain

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but [b]divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4

Some of the Corinthians were accusing Paul of establishing the church so that he could get rich and control people’s lives. They thought he came for personal gain. They presumed that he was not their for the cause of Christ, but instead for what he could get for himself.

Paul makes it clear that though he walks in the flesh among them his motive is not according to the flesh. He tells them that he is not fighting against flesh but against spiritual fortresses that are holding the Corinthians in bondage. We see this strategy in Ephesus.

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Eph. 6:12

Paul is there to destroy these powerful forces using divine weapons and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

The divine weapons used are:

Truth - 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth Eph. 6:14 We do not buy into the lie that the world tells us. The here and now is all that matters. You don’t need Jesus because he is just a myth.

Righteousness- having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Eph. 6:14 Living right lives ourselves before lost people.

Sharing the gospel - and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace Eph. 6:15 When the church begins sharing the gospel, the culture will change. It will bring peace and not chaos.

Faith - taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one Eph. 6:16 We must believe in the saving power of Jesus Christ in our own lives and the lives of others.

Salvation - And take the helmet of salvation Eph. 6:17 Rest in the salvation that Christ brings to you.

Bible - the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Eph. 6:17

Prayer - 18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit Eph. 6:18 Prayer is critical to building the kingdom of heaven and winning lost souls.

3. Paul was less of a Christian than they were

You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we. 2 Cor. 10:7

The people were looking to Paul’s confession of his pre-Christ days. They were looking to the time when he was a persecutor of the Christ and not a proponent of Christ. They were holding his past sins against them and trying to disqualify his ministry based on his past sins.

What they were refusing to see was how Jesus changed his life and gave him authority to do ministry.

The biblical principal that we find here is that no sin disqualifies us from the work of the Lord. Just because you have a significant past, doesn’t mean that you are disqualified from following the Lord and doing His work. Now there can be area’s that you may be disqualified. For example a registered sex offender cannot work with children, but can serve in other capacities.

4. They were taunting Paul because of his physical appearance.

12 For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with [h]some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding. 2 Cor. 10:12

The Letters to the Corinthians Paul Continues to Answer His Critics (2 Corinthians 10:7–18)

A description of Paul’s personal appearance has come down to us from a very early book called The Acts of Paul and Thecla, which dates back to about AD 200. It is so unﬂattering that it may well be true. It describes Paul as ‘a man of little stature, thin-haired upon the head, crooked in the legs, of good state of body, with eyebrows meeting, and with nose somewhat hooked, full of grace, for sometimes he appeared like a man and sometimes he had the face of an angel’. A little, balding, bandy-legged man, with a hooked nose and shaggy eyebrows—it is not a very impressive picture, and it may well be that the Corinthians were not slow to draw attention to it.

We might do well to remember that not infrequently a great spirit has been lodged in a very humble body. William Wilberforce was responsible for the freeing of the slaves in the British Empire. He was so small and so frail that it seemed that even a strong wind might knock him down. But once, the famous diarist James Boswell heard him speak in public, and afterwards said: ‘I saw what seemed to me a shrimp mount upon the table, but, as I listened, he grew and grew until the shrimp became a whale.’ The Corinthians had sunk nearly to the ultimate depths of discourtesy and of folly when they taunted Paul about his personal appearance.

The Biblical principle is that we are not to judge a book by its cover. We are not to judge people on outward appearance, but instead on integrity of character.

5. Overstepping his authority

14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ; 15 not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be, within our sphere, enlarged even more by you, 16 so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another. 17 But he who boasts is to boast in the Lord. 18 For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends. 2 Cor. 10:14-18

Paul explains that his purpose is not to exercise his authority as an apostle, but to advance the gospel and prepare them to advance the gospel. It was not about political power in the church he was about the advancement of the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ.

The biblical principle here is that their is no room for politics in the church. There should never be power struggles in the church. The church should be united in the purpose of Christ. That purpose is to love God, Love others, and Make disciples!

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