Paul really was awe­some. I’m writ­ing an essay about the early church which is turn­ing into an essay on the church in Corinth. Which has brought me to the point where I am argu­ing that Paul bor­rowed from some struc­tures that existed in the first cen­tury in order to not be too much of a Chris­t­ian weirdo — but that he was very keen not to bor­row the eas­i­est struc­tures — the one where he’d be some big not­ing keynote speaker who crowds would flock to see. That seems to be the desire of the Corinthian church for Paul. And he’s at his most vit­ri­olic when he’s cor­rect­ing that expec­ta­tion. This is from 2 Corinthi­ans 11 and 12. I love the bit in paren­the­sis in verse 23…

⁵But I do not think I am in the least infe­rior to those “super-apostles.” ⁶I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowl­edge. We have made this per­fectly clear to you in every way.  ⁷Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to ele­vate you by preach­ing the gospel of God to you free of charge?

…

¹²And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an oppor­tu­nity to be con­sid­ered equal with us in the things they boast about. ¹³For such men are false apos­tles, deceit­ful work­men, mas­querad­ing as apos­tles of Christ. ¹⁴And no won­der, for Satan him­self mas­quer­ades as an angel of light. ¹⁵It is not sur­pris­ing, then, if his ser­vants mas­quer­ade as ser­vants of right­eous­ness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

¹⁶I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a lit­tle boast­ing. ¹⁷In this self-confident boast­ing I am not talk­ing as the Lord would, but as a fool. ¹⁸Since many are boast­ing in the way the world does, I too will boast. ¹⁹You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! ²⁰In fact, you even put up with any­one who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advan­tage of you or pushes him­self for­ward or slaps you in the face. ²¹To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!

What any­one else dares to boast about—I am speak­ing as a fool—I also dare to boast about. ²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descen­dants? So am I. ²³Are they ser­vants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more fre­quently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. ²⁴Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was ship­wrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, ²⁶I have been con­stantly on the move. I have been in dan­ger from rivers, in dan­ger from ban­dits, in dan­ger from my own coun­try­men, in dan­ger from Gen­tiles; in dan­ger in the city, in dan­ger in the coun­try, in dan­ger at sea; and in dan­ger from false broth­ers. ²⁷I have labored and toiled and have often gone with­out sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone with­out food; I have been cold and naked. ²⁸Besides every­thing else, I face daily the pres­sure of my con­cern for all the churches. ²⁹Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?

³⁰If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weak­ness. ³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised for­ever, knows that I am not lying.

Refresh­ing and inspir­ing at the same time. This is why Paul makes the grade in my ten Bible sto­ries for boys… though he prob­a­bly wouldn’t want to…

Author: Nathan Campbell

Nathan runs St Eutychus. He is currently a student at the Queensland Theological College. In a previous professional life he worked in public relations for an economic development and tourism marketing organisation. He is married to Robyn. He likes coffee and the internet.

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