Boasting in 2 Cor
10,8 and 12-18
The situation in Corin is most
critical for Paul. He is said to be weak when present. His speech is
contemptible; only his letters are weighty and strong, but when writing, of
course, he is absent. Apparently other missionaries display more strength more
rhetorical skill. Paul’s authority in Corin is no longer beyond dispute. For
his own part, Paul does not want to show boldness, but he will be ready to
punish every disobedience at his future coming.
In 10,8 and 10,13-16 Paul refers to
the authority which the Lord himself has given him. He mentions his personal
commission, the evangelization of the Gentiles, and this commission includes
his work among the Corinthians. He was the founder of their Christian
community; he was the first to reach Corinth with the gospel of Christ. So he
is not overstretching his ‘measure’. On the contrary, the very existence of the
Corinthian church, the fruit of his missionary work, is his true recommendation
and his rightful, legitimate boast (cf. also 3,2-3).
Paul’s emphatic argumentation in 2 Cor
10 brings us to the obvious conclusion that not all self-commendation, not all
boasting of personal achievement, is wrong. We cannot but apply what is said by
Paul in verses 17-18 also to Paul himself. Because in Corinth he has built
under God’s commission, the work he did was God’s work. His boasting of the
faith of the Corinthians as the result of his efforts is at the same time a
boasting in the Lord. Through this accomplishment he is recommended by the
Lord. Self-commendation and recommendation by God here coincide. Scott Hafemann
comments: “Paul’s “boast concerning his authority is, in reality, merely the
appropriate human counterpart to the ‘Lord’s commendation’ upon which one’s
approval ultimately rests.” (Haefmann, Self-Commendation, p. 75) God’s
commission provided Paul with authority; that commission was carried out by
Paul and resulted in a visible church. The Corinthian church, therefore,
legitimates the apostle. True, Paul does not like to boats of that authority
(see 10,8); true, his boasting is forced upon him through the critical and sad
situation in Corinth (see 10,13-16); true, verses 17018 are meant in the first
place as a charge against the unjustified boasting of his opponents. Yet
according to 2 Cor 10,8.12-18, since the Lord commends him Paul is approved. He
can boast of his authority and achievements in a legitimate way. (J. Lambrecht,
“Dangerous
Boasting: Paul’s Self-Commendation in 2 Corinthians 10-13,” in The Corinthian Correspondence,
ed. R. Bieringer [Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 125;
Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1996], 334-35)