Paul Boasts To Make His Point
PAUL BOASTS TO MAKE HIS POINT
2 CORINTHIANS 11:16-21a
Paul shows the folly of the believers who have given way to the boastful claims of the false apostles.
More irony peeps through at 11:16. Possibly, as on previous occasions in his running debate with the Judaizers, the term “fool” was one which formed the substance of a charge brought against him. And when we remember that he includes the little term “too” (11:16), it seems that the pattern of boasting had already been set by the Judaizing teachers themselves; why shouldn’t Paul then have his turn?
11:17 is a qualification which the writer feels he must insert to make sure his readers catch the spirit in which he is writing. He is not “boasting” “after the Lord” (ie as a Christian), but as a man who deliberately puts himself in the place of those whose claims he wants to expose.
The Judaizers have been conspicuously successful in the inroads they have made into the Corinthian assembly, and 11:20 is a surprising statement of the way in which they have been given hospitality. The Corinthians have shown a clear lack of discernment, almost naivety, in welcoming the false prophets with their grandiose claims and pretensions; will they (Paul is asking) extend the same attitude to him as he plays the role of a fool?
They have tolerated these people, allowing themselves to be ordered about, robbed of their money (see 2:17) and duped by these false teachers—even to the point of being insulted by them in a way which any Jew would regard as a most humiliating experience—a slap in the face. Paul, in this sarcastic passage, now simply asks for a hearing as he will present his case. “What a pity we are not like that—you seem to prefer bullies” is his final thrust (11:21).
Notes 11:18: literally, “since many [of these people] make a proud claim of their flesh,” ie the marks of circumcision. Paul’s only hope lay in the exactly opposite direction (Galatians 6:12-15). 11:20: the Judaizers had brought them into slavery—a verb found elsewhere only at Galatians 2:4. On the contrary, Paul acknowledged another slavery (4:5).