Summary of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 10

Paul says that he himself begs them through the meekness and graciousness of Christ -- Paul who they say is lowly when present, but bold in letters when absent -- he begs that when present he may not have to be bold in the confidence on which he counts to be daring against those who charge he is living according to the principles of the flesh, in a worldly way. He says that even though he is still in the flesh, he does not wage war for Christ according to the fleshy way of life. For the weapons he uses are not fleshy, but powerful with the power of God, to destroy fortifications, to destroy false reasonings and every high place that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. He takes captive every mind to lead people to obey Christ. He has the ready power to correct the injustice of every disobedience, when their obedience becomes full.

He asks them: Look at what is obvious. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, let him think a second time, and realize that Paul is too. If Paul boasts much about his power, which the Lord gave him to build up and not to destroy, Paul will not be put to shame. He says this in such a way that he may not seem to frighten them by his letters. For the opponents say that the letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is of no account. So, anyone who makes such charges ought to realize that what Paul is by letters when absent, he is the same by deeds when present.

He says, in sarcasm, that he does not dare to compare or put himself alongside of the opponents who are praising themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another, and compare themselves with one another -- they do not understand.

Paul says he will not boast beyond measure, but according to the measure of the assignment God has given him -- which extends even to Corinth. For he did not overextend his sphere of operations, as if it did not extend to them. He came to them with the Gospel of Christ. He will not boast too much by boasting over another's labors. But he has hope, when their faith increases, to extend his influence over them more and more, according to God's assignment for him.

He hopes to preach, when they are well grounded, to territories beyond Corinth, but not so as to boast over territories someone else has already cultivated.

Jeremiah says: "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord." For it is not the one who praises himself who deserves approval, but the one whom the Lord approves.

Comments on Chapter 10

He appeals through the meekness and graciousness of Christ -- this is the virtue that does not hold to merely the line of what is due, but gives more generously. Paul is now going to speak directly against the opponents in Corinth, who seem to be boastful, and attack his authority, and who say he is unimpressive even though he writes strong letters. In contrast, Paul insists he does have the authority of Christ.

He says that in person he is just as strong as he is in letters. But -- in sarcasm -- he says he will not compare himself to those "superapostles" (cf. 11:5).

When in verse 10 Paul says his opponents say his bodily presence is unimpressive, we may add that the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla says he was small of stature, with bald head, and crooked legs and a hooked nose. Even though those Acts on the whole are probably of second century, and are apocryphal, and at times fanciful, it is likely that this unflattering description of Paul goes back to the first century.

He says that in preaching in Corinth he has not gone beyond the area assigned to him by Christ. (He seems to make it a point not to preach in territories already worked by others. When the Gospel is just starting out, it would not be economical for two to work the same area). He hopes to preach in more remote places. Probably he has Spain in mind. In Romans 15:24 Paul explicitly mentions his desire to go to Spain. Pope Clement I, who says Peter and Paul were of his own generation, speaks of Paul traveling to the boundary of the west -- which to the Roman world would mean Spain (1 Clement 5.7). The second century Muratorian Fragment (38-39) also speaks of Paul as setting out for Spain.

The quotation in verse 17 is from Jeremiah 9:22-23. In 1 Corinthians 4:7 Paul says that everything good that we are or have is God's gift to us. So we have nothing to boast of that we ourselves originated, but we can "boast" of His great gifts to us, by which, as 2 Peter 1:4 says, we are by grace "sharers in the divine nature." Let us recall the comments at Philippians 2:13 on our total dependence on God.