It is interesting to read of the Corinthian assault on Biblical authority in Second Corinthians chapter ten. It seems to me as I study the passage that there was a group within that church that claimed an authority equal or superior to Paul’s on the basis of their particular talents and skills (2 Corinthians 10:7, 12) and based upon the pragmatic results of their labors (2 Corinthians 10:15).
I think you will find as you labor through chapters ten, eleven and twelve that the issue Paul is asserting is that of apostolic authority (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:12). The matter of these apostles and their place in the early days of the church is one to be well understood and greatly admired. These men were a unique group of people.
1 Corinthians 4:9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.
This becomes a germane issue when we examine all the significant changes that are being advanced within church practice in these days. Back in the Corinthian issue these men were advocating changes both in doctrine and in practice. It seems apparent that they were attempting to introduce worldly dynamics into their practice:
2 Corinthians 10:2-4 But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
I do not think it is difficult to see that we “church men” have introduced all sorts of worldly attractions to attempt to do the work of God in the last forty years. However it has only been in the last twenty years or so that we have become so blatant in it. Let me pose this thought to you as an illustration: It is one thing to provide an opportunity for our men to have an outlet and fellowship time doing something like softball or even fishing, but to make such a thing an evangelistic ministry is placing a indiscriminate hook in the water that has the potential to confuse the real issue of gospel work. Compare this statement of the apostle as he approached gospel work;
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
It seems that Paul did not want the clear and simple power of the gospel to be compromised by any other shady or questionable motivation. Something to think about.
