Christ." The contrast is not between a foolish person and a wise man. No, here is a great touch of irony. Paul makes it a contrast between a fool and a crafty person. It might be that some person would say, "Now I know how to build a church. I do not think we should have Bible study. I do not think that we should have times when we get together as a group to share and to voice our concerns and to spend time in prayer. What we need is a new, clever approach. You people are fools to study the Word of Cod. What we need is incense, colored lights, free punch and cookies." Now he goes on to say, "we (the apostles) are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised." To be honorable is to be worthy of praise, to be held in high regard. Socially, the people at Corinth were acceptable. But not Paul, not Apollos, not the teachers. They are the despised ones. They are the worthless. They lend no prestige to any social gath ering. They could not endorse a candidate for office and find him elected because they are not beau In verse 11, Paul adds, "Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no cer tain dwellingplace." Now there is irony in this passage, although it is true that Paul and the apostles suffered all this and more, he does not mean that he goes around as a naked man who has no home and is literally starving to death. He is exaggerating to point out their ar rogance. The Corinthians are full tiful people. PERSECUTION
last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men." Here Paul is probably describing a pageant where the undesirable people in a country are to be destroyed in an arena. The con demned are going to march in last and be devoured, for example, by wild animals. With heavy irony, Paul is saying, "You people are so good at Corinth that you are bet ter than we apostles. While you head the parade and take positions of honor in the arena, we come last and are there for sport. Why do I see this spectacle or pageant in verse 9? Because of the words that are used. The verse, "For I think that Cod hath set forth us." The word that is used there is a picture of a display or setting forth so that they can be seen. Then with the word that is used for death ("as it were appointed to death") is a special form of the Greek word for death which was frequently used for the kind of death where individuals were thrown from high places or fed to the lions. Also, the Creek word from which we get our word thea ter is the word spectacle ("we are made a spectacle"). In other words, "we are in a theater where every body can see us — both heaven and earth, and we are put to death." The apostles are martyrs, but not the Corinthians. They are hon ored guests. Do you see the irony here? But now what else does he do to bring them to their senses? In verses 10 through 13 he even ex tends this unique contrast. In verse 10 we read, "We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in
Page 14
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker