THE K I N G ' S B U S I NE S S
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however, when the interest and welfare of the gospel seemed to necessitate the narration of his personal experiences. Under such circumstances, the apostle never hesitated to record what he had seen, heard and felt. Ironically, Paul charges the Corin thians with not only being gullible, but with the enjoyment of it. Did the existence of such' foolishness on the part of the false teachers give the Cor inthians an opportunity to boast of their wisdom? The foolish boasting of Paul, if foolish it could he called, is not for the puffing up of man hut for the exaltation of the power and glory of the Lord and in order that men may be saved. For this cause Paul gloried in his weakness (11:30), and not, as in the case of the false teachers, of his prowess and powers. Paul glories, as one has well said, “ not in what he has done, hut in what he has borne.” Of course, there is a sense in which no such boasting is “ after the Lord,” or well pleasing in His sight. The willingness of the Corinthians to be fooled is evidenced by the imposi tions they were willing to endure at the hands of their deceivers, the false apostles (cf. 11:19-20). The express ions here used describing such imposi tions are very strong. The false teach ers were avaricious, devouring, smiting, capturing, and led the people into bond age (cf. 4:10; Matt. 23:13; Acts 23:2; Rom. 16:18; 2 Cor. 2:6; 1 Pet. 5:2-3; 3 John 9). The Apostle Paul had been the opposite of all this in his relation to the Corinthians, hence it may have been natural for them to consider him as being “ weak” (11:21) and having no courage or boldness. Yet when a true comparison is made, it will be seen that the apostle has both courage and authority, not human but divine. The false teachers boasted of their nationality, their ministry and their suffering (11:22-23), and pressed
home these things upon the Corinth ians as claims for their allegiance. Paul, too, could boast of" such things, and in a much more abundant measure (cf. Phil. 3:1-12). The catalogue of afflictions, persecu tions and sufferings endured by the Apostle Paul, as here recorded, is the most astounding and startling ever penned. Nor is it by any means a com plete list of all that Paul endured. It further shows that the record of the experinces of Paul in the Book of Acts is no exaggeration. One cannot help but recall the words uttered at the time of Paul’s conversion by Jesus to Ananias, when speaking of Paul He said: “ I will show him how great things he must suffer for my Name’s sake.” One can understand better,^ after reading this catalogue of suffer ing, what Paul meant when he said: “ Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church” (Col. 1:24). With this list of persecu tions should be compared 1 Cor. 4: 11-13; 2 Cor. 4:7-10; 6:4-10. From the time of the vision of' Christ on thé way to Damascus, at which time Paul was told how much he should suffer for Christ’s sake, and on throughout all the intervening years, Paul’s life had been full of suffering; labor and toil of body and mind, burden of soul, and anxiety of spirit, persecutions and tribulations, had continued throughout all the years since his conversion, yea, and did continue until he laid his head upon the executioner’s block to pour out his blood as an offering to Christ and His Church. All of this Paul endured for Christ’s sake and for the Church’s sake. Had he been less ag gressive, he would doubtless have suf fered less persecution; had he been a man o f .less principle and more expe diency, this catalogue of sufferings might have been reduced.
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