Paul's Concern for the Corinthians
11I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the "super-apostles," even though I am nothing. 12The things that mark an apostle—signs, wonders and miracles—were done among you with great perseverance. 13How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!
14Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. 15So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less? 16Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery! 17Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent you? 18I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not act in the same spirit and follow the same course?
Dig Deeper
A young lady I once knew was constantly paranoid about people lying to her and stealing from her. She was a student of mine, and she was constantly accusing other people of lying and taking her things. She was also often convinced that her friends were stabbing her in the back. It was often in situations where it was pretty obvious that she was mistaken and that the other person had done no such thing. What we didn’t know, at least for a while, was that she was a frequent liar herself. Then we found out that she had quite the theft problem, and it was she who often ran behind her friend’s back and said things about them. It seems like that happens quite a bit in our world. When someone constantly thinks that everyone else is dishonest, untrustworthy, a liar, or using other people, it is often because they are like that, and they assume that everyone else is like that too. They project their own behavior onto others.
Paul’s critics have accused him of being dishonest, of taking advantage of the church and not really loving them. They claimed that Paul was mistreating the people in the church for his own advantage and that his ministry did not have the tell-tale signs of being a true apostolic ministry. Although we don’t know much about Paul’s opponents, and are left to speculate quite a bit about them, it does seemingly become clear that they are, in fact, guilty of all the things that they accused Paul of. They were the ones who were dishonest, who were lying to and taking advantage of the Corinthians. They were the ones who were not fit to be spiritual leaders, nor had they been chosen by God to be His apostles. Paul had not been a burden to the congregation, they had been.
Paul continues to clear the road for his third and final visit to Corinth (the first was when he planted the church and the second was the painful visit of 2 Cor. 2:1). The one thing he wants to make very clear before he comes is that he is coming to serve and love them. That is it.
Yes, he has made a fool of himself, but it is due to his love for them. It is also true that they drove him to it. It they would have defended him the way they should have, then none of his foolish self-defense would have been necessary. The moment that Paul’s character and ministry was attacked, the people of the Corinthian Church should have leaped to his defense. Instead Paul had to defend himself against their charges which further opened him up the charge of bragging and boasting about himself. What the Corinthians needed to learn is that, often, not doing anything is as harmful as acting negatively. They didn’t stand up for Paul when they should have and it cost Paul a great deal of trouble and sorrow.
Paul wants to make it clear that the Corinthians are not getting some sort of second-rate Christian experience with a quasi-apostle who doesn’t really care about them and treats them as inferiors. This is how the false apostles characterized the situation and the Corinthians listened to them. They should have known better because that was not at all the situation.
One of the things that clearly bothered the Church in Corinth was the fact that Paul would not take money from them, but would from other congregations. They believed that this was a sign of disrespect, showing that he didn’t think much of them and was, in effect, embarrassing them. Paul doesn’t feel any of that. They have listened to the wrong people and have completely read the situation incorrectly.
It’s not that Paul didn’t love them, it’s that he loved them like his own children. Perhaps it is here that Paul gives a clue as to why he would not take money from the Corinthians. He has already stated that they are still spiritual children, needing to mature (1 Cor. 3:1). In the Jewish culture, grown children were expected to provide for their parents (Ex. 20:12; 21:17; Mark 7:8-13), but parents would obviously provide for their minor children. This might explain why Paul refused support from Corinth, but would take it from other churches that were more mature in their faith (cf. 2 Cor. 11:8-9). If this is true, then this might have fueled the belief that Paul didn’t think much of, or love, the Church in Corinth. His treating them like children, though, wasn’t a matter of disrespect, but of deep love that a father has for his child. He was protecting them from things for which they were not yet ready. If they really wanted to show the maturity of their faith by giving their money, then they could do so by contributing the collection in Jerusalem. Paul, evidently, felt that they were ready for that, but not yet ready to handle the responsibility of supporting him without taking it as a patron-client relationship that was so common in their culture (in that relationship, the client would be beholden to the patron).
The very thing that Paul sees as a sign of his true love for Corinth, has been interpreted by them as a reason to withhold their love from him. Paul wants them to be clear on the fact that they have indeed misunderstood him. He hasn’t caught them by trickery. If anyone has done that it has been Paul’s opponents. Not only has Paul not exploited or taken advantage of them, neither has Titus or the other brother that Titus has sent to them. They have behaved with the same sort of love, integrity, and godliness that Paul would have had he been there.
Paul’s experience, as recorded in this letter, is not a popular message, but one that should not be forgotten. Even when we are acting the most Christian, and expressing the most love for others, it is very possible, if not probable, that we will be misunderstood, attacked, and unfairly accused of things. We must, however, learn from and imitate Paul’s patient, kind, and loving response and he calmly explains the truth of the matter.
Devotional Thought
Have you ever been in a situation where your motives were misunderstood or mischaracterized? How have you responded when those situations arise? Do you handle it with patience or irritability? Paul certainly defended himself, but in a calm and loving manner. Surely he would expect no less from us.
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