Paul speaks to them as their Spiritual Father Part 1
2 Corinthians 12:11-15 I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds. For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong. Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. KJV
Paul again goes back to his idea or concept he wrote
in (2 Corinthians 11:1) of being a
fool or the Greek word aphron meaning
egotistical or the displaying of a swollen-head in speaking about his own
accomplishments for Christ and the physical sufferings he endured for Christ
and the Gospel. However, Paul declares to them that his glorying or boasting or
vaunting himself in this letter was due to their refusal to do it for him. Paul
was saddened and disappointed that the Corinthian believers had allowed the
Judaizers to slander his name and reputation before them and even the remaining
unbelieving people in the city of Corinth by charging him falsely with
malicious intent to the believers at Corinth and attacking his good name and reputation
he had proven to have when he was with them for the 18 months teaching them
God’s Word before his departure (Acts
18:11). It was during this period of 18 months that Paul took care of
himself by working as a tentmaker and then receiving resources from the Churches
in Macedonia rather than taking from the new Corinthian believers.
The English phrase Paul uses “ye have compelled me” is an imperfect active from the Greek words ōpheilon and opheilō, which means to be under obligation, and the tense here expresses an unfulfilled obligation about the present. Paul was grieved as an earthly Father would be of his children who showed no love and appreciation to him for his hard work to provide food, clothing, and shelter for them as was the case with the prodigal son our Lord Jesus spoke of in (Luke 15:12) when he demanded that his Father give to him the Father’s own money, as if he was saying to his Father, “I want out of here and I wish you were dead!” Paul was the Corinthian believers spiritual Father as he declared to them in his first letter he wrote to them with these words, “I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.” (1 Corinthians 4:14-16). Paul would have never written to them to “imitate him” if he were not only concerned with their spiritual prosperity and growth.
Paul now reiterates, restates, and repeats what he
had already revealed to them of himself in his first letter when he said, “For
I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I
persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His
grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them,
yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:9-10). Paul never wanted to be brought to boasting
of himself because he knew and had seen the wretchedness of his own heart (Romans 7:18), but that it was only by
God’s Grace that he even came to them preaching the Gospel in the very first
place and in this he wanted his boast to be. It was by this very Grace of God
that the authenticity of Paul’s Apostleship was demonstrated before them with
miracles wrought by God the Father through Paul (1 Corinthians 2:1-5). Paul was given tremendous Power from God,
even to inflict pain upon those who opposed him and the declaration of the
Gospel of Christ as he did in this example, “When they had gone through the
whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet
whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of
intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word
of God. But Elymas the magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing
them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also
known as Paul, filled with the
Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him, and said, ‘You who are full of all deceit
and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not
cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon
you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.’ And immediately a
mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would
lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had
happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord.” (Acts 13:6-12), but instead here in
Corinth Paul displayed the signs, wonders, and mighty deeds of God “in all
patience” bearing with these false apostles in their midst.
Paul’s patience shown did in no way bring the Corinthian Church down, but he had already declared to them that they were in no way “inferior” or the Greek word hettao meaning made worse or rated lower than any of the other Churches Paul had planted during his missionary travels. Paul declared it this way to them in his first letter when he wrote this, “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:4-8). It is with sarcasm and satire that he asked for their forgiveness in not taking their money (2 Corinthians 11:5-7), as did the false apostles who did them no spiritual good, but instead brought them into subservient, submissive, and slavish Jewish ceremonial rules and rituals that did not benefit them spiritually. Paul did not desire things from the Gentiles converted to Christ in Corinth, but it was their spiritual prosperity and growth that he sought as we stated earlier, which was the complete opposite of what the Judiazers had done in their midst (2 Corinthians 11:20). Paul (their spiritual Father) like any good earthly Father wanted his children to receive from him and not him take from them. Paul also wanted them to know that he held nothing against them for their turning away from him to the false apostles, but on the contrary he would continue to pour out spiritually into their lives as evidence by these two letters deep with content and doctrine and with sincere love for them and to them, even though they did not at all times reciprocate it to him, all done for their preservation and comfort.
My
own Personal Note: Paul wanted the Corinthian believers that he preached the
Gospel of Christ to and witnessed their miraculous conversions, to receive him
as their spiritual Father, one who had only the disposition to do them
emotional, physical, and most importantly spiritual good, for that is all and
only what he wanted for them.
“I will even act towards you with the most affectionate tenderness, though it happen to me, as it often does to loving fathers, that their disobedient children love them less, in proportion as their love to them is increased. Does it not frequently happen that the most disobedient child in the family is that one on which the parents’ tenderness is more especially placed? See the parable of the prodigal son. It is in the order of God that it should be so, else the case of every prodigal would be utterly deplorable. The shepherd feels more for the lost sheep than for the ninety-nine that have not gone astray.” Adam Clarke
“The apostle here suggests, and appeals to
themselves for the truth of it, that in nothing they came short of other
churches; that as he was not behind the very chiefest of the apostles, and so
they had no reason to be ashamed of him and despise him; neither were they
inferior in gifts, grace, and knowledge, to other churches, all which were
through his ministry; wherefore they ought to have spoken well of him, and not
to have taken the part of the false apostles against him; since all the honor
and credit they were in as a church were owing to him as an instrument.” Dr.
John Gill
If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely in Christ,
Clifford D. Tate, Sr.
Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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