In speaking about himself and his ministry, Paul seeks to dispel the misconceptions about him that were current among the Christians of Corinth. He probably utters such words not without irony, for the apostle apparently has in mind the statements that...
In speaking about himself and his ministry, Paul seeks to dispel the misconceptions about him that were current among the Christians of Corinth. He probably utters such words not without irony, for the apostle apparently has in mind the statements that were being made in the Corinthian church and had reached him while he was still in Macedonia.
One may suppose that these statements came from those whom Paul had rebuked in his first letter to the Christians of Corinth without naming them. They were probably emboldened by the fact that the apostle had decided not to mention particular people in the letter. They apparently attributed this to Paul's indecision and hoped that, when he met them face to face, the apostle would not dare to rebuke them openly before the whole church.
Paul explains his supposed timidity quite differently. He says plainly that his purpose is neither victory in an argument nor a public triumph over those who rebuke him, for he does not seek such things in the ordinary human sense. Paul has no need of such victories: in his own words, he “does not wage war according to the flesh.” In a personal encounter he could, of course, be no less severe than in his letters. But the apostle's task was not to demonstrate his power over people's minds, but to resolve the questions facing the Corinthian church. He points to the problems of both the Corinthian church as a whole and its individual members not for the sake of reproach in itself, and certainly not for self-assertion, but because otherwise those problems cannot be resolved.
It is quite possible that the apostle's restraint, which some mistook for timidity, was prompted precisely by his fear of doing harm through excessive harshness. Indeed, severe words read on paper, even in a letter addressed to the reader personally, still affect the soul less painfully than the same words spoken face to face. Yet the first reaction caused by acute inner pain often prevents the reader or listener from grasping the meaning of the words addressed to him, because the pain simply obscures it. Words of rebuke may then prove not a medicine, but a deadly poison which, instead of healing a person spiritually, may destroy him. Such a person can then be lost to the Kingdom, temporarily in the best case and forever in the worst. It is hardly surprising that the apostle is very careful with his words, especially in a personal encounter, for his task is not to destroy the Kingdom, but to build it up.
