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thought, the philosophy, and the history of the human race as are the. words o f no other man who ever lived and wrote1. Friday, March 22 . 2 Cor. 1 1 : 7 - 9 • > Paul had preached the Gospel in Corinth absolutely without remuneration from them (cf., Acts 18:1-3; 1 Cor. 9:11, 12, 15, 16). Apparently some had brought this fact up as'a proof that Paul did not possess apos tolic authority, reasoning that if he did he would have required remuneration from them for his services. He shows the absurd ity o f this by a, single question which he leaves' them to answer: “ Did I commit a sin in abasing (rather, humbling) myself that ye might be exalted?” The humbling o f himself to which he referred consisted in his earning a living by manual labor (quite likely with slaves as his fellow laborers). The exaltation o f the Corin thians though his self-abasement was their exaltation to the knowledge of the truth and 't o ' become the sons .of God and heirs o f God and joint heirs with Christ (cf. ch. 8 :9 ; Rom. 8:17). Paul turns the fact which they made dhe basis of their argument from a ground o f complaint 'against himself to a ground o f favor. He tells them he had robbed other churches (i. e., accepted from them more than their share, for example, the church in Philippi—Phil. 4:15, 16) in order to minister to them in Corinth. He tells them further that when he was with them he “was in want,” but even then he refused to become a burden to any o f them, but “the brethren, when they came from Macedonia supplied the measure o f his (my) want.” These brethren that came from Macedonia were probably Silas and Timothy (Acts 18:1, 5; cf. Phil. 4:15, 16). The way in which the different epistles of Paul fit into one another and into the Acts o f .the Apostles is a proof o f the his toric truthfulness and accuracy o f all o f them. In everything he had kept himself from being a burden unto them, and he would continue to keep himself from being a burden.
tially new through these false teachers. He ( “he that cometh” ) did not preach-“another Jesus,” and they did not receive “a different spirit,” .or accept “a different gospel.” They got nothing worth getting through the new teacher that they had not gotten already through Paul. The gospel might be more eloquently, phrased, but it was the .same gospel. There are many even today who care much more for the fine language in which the gospel is put than for the gospel itself, indeed, they would rather listen to error phrased in eloquent diction than to the truth spoken in homely words. Many churches care more how a man preaches than what he preaches. Paul (did not consider himself “a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.” They had seen Jesus, in the flesh, had seen Him on the Mount of Transfiguration, had been empowered with the Holy Ghost at Pente cost, but Paul had seen Jesus in the glory on the Damascus road and had received His gospel by direct revelation from Jesus (Gal. 1:11, 12). Paul’s gospel and teach ing is therefore as absolutely authoritative as that o f 'Peter or John, and theirs is as authoritative as that of Jesus Himself, for it has the seal of Jesus upon it (John 14:26; ld:12-14). Paul might be “ rude in speech,” i. e., not skilled in his discourses in the arts o f the rhetorician, but he was not rude “ in knowledge” ., He was as full o f knowledge as ar*y- That he was not rude in knowledge, that he abounded in knowledge, he had made manifest “ in every thing” “among all men” "toward the Corin thians. It is a noticeable and instructive fact that while even the names o f these eloquent religious orators in Corinth who sneered at Paul’s unpolished diction have been utterly forgotten, and not one word that they spoke or wrote has come down to us, what Paul said and wrote ( “not in per suasive words o f wisdom, but in demonstra tion o f the Spirit, and o f power,” 1 Cor. 2 :4) has molded and is still molding the Thursday, March 2 1 . 2 Cor. 1 1 : 5 , 6 .
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