JEAN'S BIBLE STUDY COM

KJV    NAS

1 Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ -I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent!

2Cor 10-1,2

(11l) Servant >> Paul’s example of ministry –  It would be fair to say that Paul was one of the greatest men who ever lived; yet it sounds funny to hear, because most people don’t see it that way. Possibly the reason they loved Peter over Paul was that Peter was one of Jesus’ disciples, whereas Paul never personally met the Lord in the flesh. Paul wasn’t looking for accolades from people; he was serving the Lord. Usually, people rely on other people’s favor to get where they want to go in life, but Paul was blazing a trail for a divine work of God. However, it is fair to say that Paul wasn’t a particularly likable fellow even before his conversion. The best description of him is – a fanatic beyond reason. It was part of his personality to be obsessive; he may have even been bipolar. Prior to his conversion he was a persecutor of the Church, but then he met the Lord on the road to Damascus. Then, 14 years later he approached the apostles, wanting a leadership role  in the Church, using his zeal of evangelism as his credentials. He soon rose as head apostle of the Christian church because of his courage to confront any town with the gospel and preached with the authority of Christ, often being severely punished in the process, but the more beatings he received the more he preached the gospel, the more people listened to him and the more people were saved, and to Paul it was worth it.

(17l) Sin >> Unrighteous judgment >> Discerning by the flesh >> Making distinctions between each other -- These verses go with verses 10-12. The Corinthians accused Paul of walking in the flesh, being yet another indication of the Corinthian’s zeal for the things of the Spirit of God, that they considered even Paul to be a fleshly man compared to themselves. However they did not have an accurate self-depiction; they struggled to obey Christ according to the letters of Paul more than any of the other churches, yet they were accusing Paul of being fleshly, which is not surprising, since people have a recurring scenario of accusing others of the very sins that hold them in bondage that plays itself throughout all human behavior, and Paul wrote of it in Rom 2,1-8. Jesus warned us not to judge, knowing that those who do all the judging also do all the sinning in all the same areas that they are accusing other people. It is like sin creates a black hole in a person’s self-image, so they cannot see themselves in certain areas that has been darkened by sin.

(84i) Thy kingdom come >> Words of your mouth >> Gossip >> Attacking a person’s name -- These verses go with verses 10,11

(178e) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy of the Church is rebuked >> The Church is rebuked for rebellion -- These verses go with verses 7-12

(181c) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Rebelling against God >> Rebelling against the men of God -- These verses go with verses 7-11. The Corinthians thought of Paul as one who was easily intimidated and afraid to confront them face-to-face, but based on his accomplishments there was no way Paul was timid. His greatest legacy was that he did more than any man to reach the whole known world with the gospel of Christ, yet today he is comparatively less significant than some of the more “famous” apostles. If they could locate his bones, they probably wouldn’t be interested in building a cathedral over them with a glass floor and line up to worship his remains like they do with Peter at the Vatican. Partly, this is due to Paul’s humility, but it also indicates how people really thought of Paul in his day. He wasn’t well-liked, and the Corinthians reflected this attitude, yet he was God’s right-hand man, and Paul was satisfied with that. They complained that he wrote weighty letters but his presence was meek, but their criticisms misappropriated Paul's great love for them. The Corinthians were pushing Paul into a position that, when he was finally able to visit them, he wouldn’t come in the meekness and gentleness of Christ, but with a rod of discipline. The Corinthian Church was part of Paul’s legacy, so the Corinthians knew all about him, his accomplishments and the beatings to took to make the gospel available to them, yet they chose to make up stories about him, and it forced Paul to set them straight more than once, not because Paul was offended, but because their wrong thinking was getting in the way of their walk with God.

2Cor 10-1

(63j) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Sarcastic from being emotional >> Angry –  Paul gives us a taste of his sarcasm. He described himself in terms of the Corinthian Church, and it came off sarcastic. Paul used sarcasm as a tool when the Corinthians quit listening to him, and so should we when our audience no longer heeds our regular voice. Sarcasm is extremely effective in bringing across a point. It sharply conveys to our “listeners” that they don’t respect us as a viable source of knowledge. Sarcasm expresses many thoughts along with the truth, only usually in opposite form, such as in this particular case. We say something that is opposite the truth when we know our audience knows the difference. For example, we often hear sarcasm in politics. However, we don’t use sarcasm when our audience has very little understanding of a subject, such as during the moon landing, the astronauts didn’t use sarcasm when they hopped onto the moon’s surface and started explaining what they saw, because people at NASA didn’t know what to expect. When our audience should already know what we are saying and we suspect they still are not listening, sarcasm can be the only way to jolt them into cognizance with our point of view. The Corinthians knew enough to know he was being sarcastic when he told them what they thought of him, and when he put their thoughts into words it sounded ridiculous.

(77n) Thy kingdom come >> God Ministers To People Through The Humble >> Humility gives a blessing

(128h) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Gentleness >> Jesus is gentle

KJV    NAS  /  Navigation Bar

2 I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh.

2Cor 10,2-6

(5b) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Disciples are soldiers in God’s army

(6g) Responsibility >> Being spiritual >> Ministering to God by dying to self – Many Christians take these verses into outer space with them in their attempts to explain what it means. While there is a lot of enlightening truth in these verses, it should not translate to ranting and raving and howling in prayer, trying to chase the devil away. Instead, if you like revelation knowledge you will enjoy the fact that in all your efforts to scare the devil, it would behoove you to repent of your sin and die to the desires of your flesh.

(46a) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Subjecting your flesh >> Violent take it by force >> Taking the kingdom by force – What exactly is spiritual warfare? It is satanic forces of deception nudging our thoughts and influencing our views and perceptions in the direction he wants us to believe. It gets really ugly when we realize the power Satan has over society to compile worldviews and establish a single mindset within society of his own making. These spiritual forces are very adept at tricking people to believe that the thoughts of demons are their own, and our incredulity to believe that greatly increases the probability that we will adopt their views as our own and act on them. If you don’t think spiritual warfare is real or don’t believe it’s relevant, think of the dozens of wars raging around the globe at any one time, people killing their fellow man, based on worldviews they believe are their own, when in fact they are being spoon-fed by demons. Most people are incompetent when it comes to stepping from their little lives to obtain a wider perspective and realizing they have been duped.

2Cor 10-2,3

(92a) Thy kingdom come >> The narrow way >> Trail of good works >> The good works that He prepared for us

2Cor 10-2

(17m) Sin >> Unrighteous judgment >> Discerning by the flesh >> Judging the sins of others that you practice – We all walk in the flesh at times, but that is not the accusation these men were leveling against Paul and his associates. Rather, the Corinthians were accusing Paul of walking in the flesh as a way of life. Paradoxically but not surprisingly, this is the exact manner in which his accusers lived, as Paul said in Rom 2-1, “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” This is one of the elementary principles of the world: accusing others of the very sins they practice. They do this for the same reason that a person who wears purple sunglasses view their world as purple. This is a fascinating truth about our optical-to-brain physiology; we can put on a pair of amber sunglasses and everything looks amber for a little while, but after about ten minutes our eyes will adjust to the filter and screen out the tint from our perceptions to make the world look normal again; i.e. after a few minutes the sky turns from gaudy green back to beautiful blue. The absolute proof of this, put the filter in front of a camera lens and take a picture, and our eyes will not correct the colors in the photograph, because our brains know that it is not the actual sky but a mere copy of it. This is exactly what is happening to Paul’s accusers on a spiritual level, who passed judgment on him regarding the very sins they practiced. Their hearts had screened their sins from their perceptions. They were unaware of them, yet attributed them to Paul. Even psychology recognizes this, calling it projection. They projected their sins onto Paul, assuming he was guilty of the very sins they denied about themselves. Paul took offense at them disrupting people’s faith, accusing their spiritual leaders of being frauds, attempting to destroy his reputation among the saints, trying to stop them listening to his teachings, so they could introduce heresy into the Church. Since they were unwilling to live by the truth, they were attempting to dissuade people’s attention off Christ and onto themselves for personal gain, which invariably they would convert to the unrighteous mammon. It always goes back to money.

(51c) Judgment >> Judging the Church with the world >> Warning of Wrath >> God warns the Church

(84i) Thy kingdom come >> Words of your mouth >> Gossip >> Attacking a person’s name -- This verse goes with verses 10&11

(121l) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Confidence >> Confidence in God >> Confidence in God as you fulfill your ministry

(178b) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Presuming the facts about the circumstances >> Presumption is not founded on facts -- This verse goes with verse 5

KJV    NAS  /  Navigation Bar

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,

2Cor 10,3-6

(8m) Responsibility >> Responsible to defend God’s cause >> Laying the foundation of freedom – Freedom is one of those terms that gets interpreted in as many ways as the word is used. Taking one more stab at it, freedom is a composite of two things: freedom from… and freedom to…. "Freedom from" defines the fences with which we surround ourselves to keep whatever we want to be free from out; the fence defines the boundaries where we can tread without being re-enslaved. "Freedom to" defines the new abilities that we have won with our freedom within the confines of the fence. One of those new, special abilities is freedom from satanic influence, fleshly desires, and evil mindsets. Fortunately, you will find the best success in fighting these three fronts simultaneously rather than one at a time, since they are tied together, and will weaken one as you fight the other.

(11b) Servant >> Standard for being a servant >> A Spirit-filled life – Only spirit-filled people can participate in spiritual warfare, since it is hinged on the obedience of faith and not merely on our status of salvation. Simply put, spiritual warfare is conducted through a combination of obedience, faith (knowledge & belief), and prayer.

(79b) Thy kingdom come >> Renewing your mind >> Satan will control your mind if you don’t

(80c) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word in spiritual warfare >> To fight in the Spirit – These are some of the most pertinent verses in the Bible about spiritual warfare. Paul associates it with the mind using three words: speculations, knowledge and thoughts. Based on these words, the battleground of Spiritual warfare clearly is in the mind. He describes the persuasive powers of the devil as lofty, meaning this in two ways: his influence on our minds haughtily opposes God’s word, and he dresses his thoughts in persuasive temptations, similar to the way he approached Eve in the garden. God is waging war in our minds through satanic forces of wickedness that have its own brand of truth in mind for us, a truth that will one day become obsolete, but God’s truth will remain true forever. Spiritual warfare pertains to our interpretation of circumstances, to our interpretation of Scripture. Spiritual warfare is in our self-perceptions and behavior; it is in the way we perceive our own walk with God. Spiritual warfare is in the presumptions we make. In every case “interpretation” and “perception” are involved. That is, the truth gets lost in translation, and the devil is there to make sure of it. 

(83j) Thy kingdom come >> We have the ministry of intercession >> Church prepares itself to meet Jesus

(94n) Thy kingdom come >> Perspective is your personal reality >> How you interpret your point of view – Spiritual warfare pertains to determining our worldview. How we perceive the truth is our reality. Meanwhile, Jesus is truth, so the closer our perceptions of reality come to incorporating the tenets of Scripture, the more confidence we have in the truth. The earth refers to this planet, but the world refers to the collective mindset of society as an arbitrary depiction of reality. God will one day throw this world, including Satan and his demons into hell where they belong, and one day God’s kingdom will replace the world and reign on earth for a thousand years. Eternity will one day be reestablished, and we will belong to a kingdom that will never end. This is God’s reality; it is God’s truth; He wants us to be a part of what He is doing.  The Corinthians fell short of doing spiritual battle with these dark forces in their minds, and their theology was consequently infested with false concepts that originated from hell.

(99n) Thy kingdom come >> Perseverance (Working to keep in motion) >> Persevere in faith

(104a) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> Purified by circumstances >> Purified through judgment

(111g) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Word and the power (meaning) of God >> Circumstances cannot evade the voice of the Spirit

(116d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through worship >> Through His authority

(119j) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Curse of sin is broken >> Bondage of Satan is broken

4-6 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 6 and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.

2Cor 10-4

(159l) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit God >> Counterfeit anointing >> Anointing of the flesh

KJV    NAS  /  Navigation Bar

2Cor 10-5,6

(87j) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Being a slave to obedience

2Cor 10-5

(4k) Responsibility >> The choices you make >> Accountable for your thoughts – This verse of all the Scriptures that allude to the mind does the most to paint a picture of the war that is raging in our minds for the truth. Anyone who lives the truth in one degree or another has engaged in this war; otherwise the corrosive forces of worldliness would have eroded his/her mind to the point of appearing to have no affiliation with the truth at all. Although you may have a mental comprehension of the Bible, without a willingness to go to war in battle for your mind, very little of what you believe about the Bible will ever manifest through the members of your body. This is Satan’s world, and he has a say in everything that happens here, except what God does. Therefore, we must let God perform His work through us. To allow that, we must fight the battle for our minds, that we may offer Him an untainted vehicle through which He should manifest Himself.

(178b) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Presuming the facts about the circumstances >> Presumption is not founded on facts -- This verse goes with verses 10-12. The Corinthians accused Paul of being in the flesh, when it was they who lived and walked in the flesh. Accusing people of the relics of their own guilt is a sign of being controlled by demons. It is a recurring scenario that plays itself out throughout all human behavior, and Paul wrote of it in Rom 2,1-8. It’s the reason Jesus said, “Do not judge.” Those who do all the judging also do all the sinning. It’s strange how it works that way. Sin creates a blind spot in a person’s self-image, so they cannot see that part of themselves that is in darkness.

2Cor 10-6,7

(196e) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Immaturity >> Not mature enough to die to self >> Unable to obey God – When we compare the plethora of rebuke that Paul leveled on the Corinthians in both his letters to them with the epistles he wrote to other churches, such as the Ephesians, Philippians and Thessalonians, their amount of correction was infinitesimal. The fact that Paul had to defend himself to the Corinthians was an insult to him. Paul considered himself their father. He not only had authority over them because of that, he also had the accountability of being the more mature one and loving them. He adequately fulfilled his role, but the Corinthians were too immature to respect Paul or give him the credit he deserved, and they were too immature to learn from him or from the Scriptures.

2Cor 10-6

(7h) Responsibility >> Defend God’s cause >> Protecting the Church

(44d) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Complete >> Finish the course

(54n) Paradox >> Opposites >> Punish disobedience after you desire to obey – We don’t teach a person to obey by disciplining them; we teach a person to obey by modeling correct behavior. Paul didn’t discipline immature Christians; rather, he trained them to be mature and then disciplined them, so they might become more mature. There is no point in disciplining undisciplined Christians who are utterly immature, because they are incapable of learning anything from it, because the infrastructure of behavior has not yet been established, otherwise it is a waste of time. No one disciplines a baby, because they don’t know any better; even young children, we allow them to do things that normally we wouldn’t allow, because they are still in the training process, teaching them what is right and wrong. So the Corinthians needed to learn to obey before Paul would discipline them for disobeying.

(137h) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Maturity >> Maturing in Jesus is hard work >> Maturity comes through discipline – Paul was “ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.” Paul was saying that until the Corinthians become complicit, there was nothing he could do with them; they were not yet in a position to receive instruction. This is why it is important to maintain order in a classroom; Proverbs 12-1 says, “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.” When we think about the expectations of the classroom and the order that is required for learning, it resembles the military. There are rules that must be followed and codes of behavior that are the premise for learning. We must learn to behave before we can learn anything else. Consequently, attitude and behavior is the basis for all knowledge. When we look at a rebellious person, we know he either lacks knowledge or his knowledge isn’t worth knowing. He might know things, but he doesn’t know what he ought to know (1Cor 8-2,3). Paul was saying that the moment complicity is reached, they will be able to learn what God wants them to know, but until then they are incapable of learning, being part of a feedback loop where ignorance fosters delinquency and delinquency fosters ignorance. When they are ready to learn, sitting at attention in their desks, facing straight ahead, pencils sharpened, books opened, hands to themselves, feet flat on the floor, waiting for instruction, these can learn, but a classroom full of monkeys shooting spit wads at each other, talking loudly and disrupting the class, might know how to do that, but pitifully little else and nothing at all that is useful. God would call them fools, and especially when we place this scenario in the spiritual arena.

KJV    NAS  /  Navigation Bar

7 You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ's, let him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ's, so also are we. 

2Cor 10,7-12

(17d) Sin >> Judging in the flesh >> Accusing God and others of sin – The Corinthian church was whirling accusations at Paul because of the things he had said about their immaturity. It is a common mistake of Christians who want to be spiritual but can't let go of their earthly preoccupations. If you want to perceive God in your life, you need to learn to look at the world around you the way He sees it, according to the word of God. You must learn to view this world as a spiritual battle ground between good and evil, and view yourself as a participant of this war, and fight for your freedom to partake of God’s Spirit through faith. As it is, most Christians are too lazy and unbelieving to pursue such endeavors, which is why they cannot perceive the spirit realm all around them, because they "are looking at things as they are outwardly."

(178e) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy >> Hypocrisy of the Church is rebuked >> The Church is rebuked for rebellion -- These verses go with verses 1&2. Paul assures the Corinthians that often as hard as he was on them it was always for the purpose of building them up and not for tearing them down, always for their edification, for their benefit. He wanted the Corinthians to know that when he was being hard on them, he was not doing it from spite, hatred or anger. It was the result of their own carnality that he was hard on them in the first place. He wanted to come to them in the meekness and gentleness of Christ, but he couldn’t because they would have misinterpreted his kindness for weakness. They believed themselves to be following Christ when in many respects they were not. They were also deceiving themselves to think Paul was timid and incapable of personally rebuking them to their faces. He had accomplished so many things in his life; he received so many beatings, knowing that terrible injury was coming to him, he continued to speak the word with boldness and accepted the consequences, knowing that serving Christ was worth the suffering. How could they possibly consider Paul to be timid? Why would he be afraid of them when he wasn’t even afraid of magistrates and kings, authorities and rulers, and his greatest enemy of all the Jews, of whom he himself was once one of them, which was perhaps the reason the Jews hated Paul all the more for defecting from them, mercilessly beating him times without number.

(198a) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Man withers when he is in control >> Unteachable >> Resisting the knowledge of God 

2Cor 10,7-11

(181c) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Rebelling against God >> Rebelling against the men of God -- These verses go with verses 1,2. Paul was defending himself to the Corinthians in this and in many other cases throughout both his letters to them. They had made up accusations against him after he had dedicated his life to them, sacrificing everything for their sakes. If they could appreciate the love and commitment Paul had for them, it would be the beginning of a relationship that would have translated directly to their relationship with God, and their knowledge would blossom, their ears would unplug, and they would be able to hear the Holy Spirit speaking to them. As it was, though, they were looking for excuses to justify their disobedience. They blamed Paul for their own faults; he was a convenient target. If they could talk Him into their baloney, it would take the emphasis off their waywardness, and they could argue with Him and with each other so they could continue in their fleshly ways while believing they were worshipping God. Paul rebuked them saying, “You are looking at things as they are outwardly.” They were actually claiming to be better Christians than Paul. The truth was just the opposite. The truth is always opposite when we walk in the flesh.

2Cor 10-7

(17c) Sin >> Unrighteous judgment >> Judging in the flesh >> Evaluating circumstances by the carnal mind – Changing reality is not real; it is mere perception, but true reality is a constant. Reality is in the mind of God; He can see beyond our times and into eternity. Eternity is the mindset we need to fix in our hearts as the first order of thinking like God, yet we seem so bound to this temporal reality. The ground beneath us is real; it is the thing we fear when falling that kills us from the sudden stop, but in heaven there is no death. That is the reality of heaven. Our present reality will one day disappear, but once God establishes His kingdom, it will remain forever. So, which reality is real? Isn’t it the one that lasts the longest? Nevertheless, people interpret reality as the present, but it is leading us to all the wrong answers.

(97c) Thy kingdom come >> Having a negative attitude about yourself >> Having a worldly attitude -- This verse goes with verses 10-12. Had the Corinthians known the insult Paul wrote to them when he said, “You are looking at things as they are outwardly,” they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes. This is how the world views reality; they see everything on face value, not seeing the spiritual side of creation. For this reason many worldly people don’t even believe God exists. So, when Paul told the Corinthians they had an outward viewpoint, he was saying they view their lives as atheists do. The world’s great claim to truth and reality is that they go by what they call evidence they detect with their five senses, and what they can’t see they don’t believe. God has placed man in a situation where we must believe that He exists and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Heb 11-6). Although we are not perfect, God wants us to believe in Him, for he equates faith with perfection. God created the heavens and the earth by faith; He spoke all things into existence by His word, and so obviously He has strong convictions about faith, and He wants us to believe in Him, that we might become His children that we might be like Him. Consequently, For the Corinthians to view things as they were outwardly is just the opposite of God. Paul was telling them that they don’t believe in anything. They had a secular mindset, being worse even than pagans, who claimed to believe in things beyond the visual spectrum, though they didn’t usually live according to their beliefs.

(122e) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Confidence in yourself as you die to sin >> Confident in your salvation

(167e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind is set on the flesh >> Walking outside the realm of faith – Paul is not quite done talking about the subject of spiritual warfare until he addresses secularism, which I define with tongue in cheek as, “Reality that needs no interpretation.” You wake up in the morning; you don’t ask any questions; you get dressed; you make your coffee. It’s all part of the physical world. There needs no interpretation. If you need to interpret secularism, then it is not secular in its purest sense. Secularism is all the things we assume, and it’s these presumptuous speculations that get us in trouble. There are huge chunks of our lives that we think need no interpretation, but in fact they do. 

(171k) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance >> Outward appearance is not important – We need to stop looking at things as they are outwardly and look toward our future in eternity and start placing the thoughts of God in our minds. We look in the mirror, and then walk away, immediately forgetting what sort of person we saw. We need to keep our minds renewed in the word of God to view ourselves the way God sees us. This is the essence of spiritual warfare. As we do these things, it will guarantee a confrontation with satanic forces of wickedness, because they are underfoot.

(213i) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> His will becomes our will >> We are God’s property

(222l) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Conceit >> Thinking you are superior to others >> Treating people with contempt -- This verse goes with verses 10-12

(240h) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Natural disadvantage >> Natural disadvantage of the world

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8&9 For even if I boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame, 9 for I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters.

2Cor 10-8

(68b) Authority >> Doing God’s work under His authority >> Natural Ministry of helps

(72a) Authority >> Ordained by God >> We are ordained to walk in His authority

(73b) Authority >> Respect your leaders >> Those in charge of the word – Paul rebuked the Corinthians because they refused to give him the credit that he deserved. Paul told them they were not putting into words their appreciation for the things he had done for them. Nobody else was remotely committed to the Corinthians like Paul. He boasted about his authority as an apostle over them regarding the tremendous anointing that God had given him to preach the word of God. For example, there were few epistles to read until Paul wrote them in his letters, which became the word of God. Therefore, how much more authority did Paul have over the Corinthians as a writer of Scripture, just as valuable as the Old Testament to the Jews? For centuries they meticulously preserved the writings, transcribing the documents from generation to generation. When they finished transcribing a document, such as the book of Isaiah, they would start over and do it again. Each manuscript took months to finish; they didn’t hurry, but wrote one letter at a time. This is how valuable their writings were to them, and Paul’s epistles are just as valuable, if not more-so, because they’re more relevant. This is the authority that Paul had; he was like a new covenant Moses. He used his authority only for building up the Corinthians and not for destroying them. This is a mistake many a preacher has made when he got discouraged from a lacking response to his ministry and turned on the congregation, but the authority that God gave him was for building the body of Christ and not for destroying it. It is not always easy to edify the church; there are times when it would be easier to destroy it from anger and false judgment. We think we’re slighted or treated unfair or ignored. Those are the times we need to lean on God for a solution.

(84d) Thy kingdom come >> Words of your mouth >> Boasting >> It needs to be said and no one is saying it >> Boasting of my accomplishments in Christ -- This verse goes with verses 13-18. Paul devoted this entire chapter to boasting, using a relevant point as a slap in the face to the disobedient Corinthians. He put them between a rock and a hard spot in the process of delivering one of the most painful blows to the Corinthians through his pen when he boasted about his accomplishments. His point was that these things needed to be said and no one was saying them. This work He had been doing was unmentioned and the silence was deafening, like the best-kept secret, devoid of godly motive. They didn’t want to give Paul the credit that he deserved for risking his life to bring the gospel to them. He didn’t accomplish this feat unscathed; in the next chapter he itemizes the physical punishments he endured. Three times he was beaten with rods; he was stoned to death, and God raising him from the dead (Act 14-19,20). Many other things happened to him, which was the price he paid to be God’s evangelist to the world. Most would have died more than once from Paul’s wounds; their first flogging would have been their last, taking the advice of their torturers and quit preaching the gospel, but Paul didn’t do that. He didn’t have a choice; he was hopelessly addicted to Jesus Christ, being willing to suffer anything to continue with the will of God. To be killed meant nothing to him; a thousand times worse would have been to abandon his post and leave unfinished business in his ministry. Had he just sat in a rocking chair, that would have been worse than receiving five times from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. As it was done to Paul, they used a cat-o-nine-tails to flog Jesus before they hung Him on the cross and it cut him to ribbons, being the reason He died before the other two who were crucified beside Him. This illustrates the multi-layered brand marks on Paul back (Gal 6-17).

(139g) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> We build the temple through Christ – Paul was a master builder of the Church, and God was with him making sure that the work was done right. He converted Paul’s work into a spiritual product that He would ultimately plant in the hearts and minds of the saints. However, there is another kind of ministry that is performed without hands that is the work of God. It is one thing for God to call man to do a work for Him, which He will bless and increase, but it is quite another for God to use His sovereign authority to build the Church with His own hands. As it is, Paul was working with the grace of God to build the Church, a human effort transformed into a divine work. This is a blessing that only saints can do.

10-12 For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible." 11 Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present. 12 For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.

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2Cor 10,10-12

(17l) Sin >> Unrighteous judgment >> Discerning by the flesh >> Making distinctions between each other -- These verses go with verses 1&2.  This is a principle of Scripture that people incessantly violate in their daily lives and pay the penalty with an inability to understand the mind of Christ. They need to recognize that this verse has the power to lead them from the foolishness of their own imaginations into a clearer view of the truth. We are not standards for each other, though most people regularly use themselves as standards for the behavior of others, measuring people with themselves, resulting in a skewed understanding of God’s expectations on them. They think they are righteous, while those they compare and condemn are somewhat less. This form of judgment is childish and elementary, and shows negative spiritual growth. They are babes in Christ who compare themselves with other people instead of letting Christ be their standard. Everyone does this occasionally, but there are those who actually believe they have an accurate measure. These are the ones who are truly self-deceived. False judgment is a trait of witchcraft; those who habitually judge others by their own standards need to renew their minds in the word of God and prayer. If they did, they would never measure themselves by themselves, because they would know they are no better than the people they condemn.

(97c) Thy kingdom come >> Having a negative attitude about yourself >> Having a worldly attitude -- These verses go with verse 7. The Corinthians perturbed Paul from a lack of gratitude and appreciation for his ministry toward them. He was hoping they would reciprocate their love that he might enjoy their fellowship and bask in their spiritual affection, but he got insults instead. Coming into the Church from the world should feel like a protective harbor from a wild storm that is raging in a sea of people. Although Paul needed the Corinthian’s spiritual affection, he also wanted it for their sakes that they might practice living for Jesus. There was no better way for Paul to know how well they were doing spiritually than for them to treat him in a godly manner in a way that shows their respect for his commitment to them and sacrifices he made. He couldn’t just give and give to the Corinthians without getting anything in return because of the hardships he daily faced in the world. He earnestly desired them to aptly respond to him and to the gospel, so that by their response they might grow in respect to their faith. We cannot be more spiritually mature than we behave. We can read the Bible and pray, but if they do not affect our obedience, our spiritual growth will be stunted. Disobedience lacks gratitude and ingratitude is a sign of spiritual immaturity. Going back to the Psalms, we read about gratitude and thankfulness with a heart of worship, glorifying his name for His loving-kindness and salvation.

(178b) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Presuming the facts about the circumstances >> Presumption is not founded on facts -- These verses go with verse 2

(196g) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Immaturity >> Not mature enough to seek God >> Unable to make sound judgments – Paul didn’t quit serving the Corinthians because they were ungrateful, because of his heart and compassion for them. Without gratitude, there is no solution; ingratitude comes from immaturity, and there’s no solution to immaturity, except to mature, and that takes commitment and dedication and vision; and if we don’t have these things, then how do we begin? We can talk some people into growing-up, but other people simply refuse, and they will pay the penalty for the rest of their lives for remaining children in their conduct and in their thinking, and Paul was trying to avoid this for their sakes. He didn’t want the Corinthians suffering the consequences of their immaturity. On a spiritual level it most usually leads to apostasy and losing their faith and their souls, which they will never be able to retrieve. So spiritual immaturity is absolutely devastating; it can lead to eternal destruction, as the apostle Peter warned, “It would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them” (2Pet 2-21). So Paul struggled and argued with them and was patient, and he did everything he knew to show them through the compassion of the Spirit the ways of God, so they might learn by example the true meaning of Christianity and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2Pet 3-18).

(222l) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Conceit >> Thinking you are superior to others >> Treating people with contempt -- These verses go with verse 7

2Cor 10-10,11

(84i) Thy kingdom come >> Words of your mouth >> Gossip >> Attacking a person’s name -- These verses go with verses 1,2. Paul intended to reprove certain people in the Corinthian Church who had been speaking against him and attacking his good name. He was not about to stand for their behavior since he regularly got ill-treated by the world while he conveyed the gospel to those who would believe. In order to do that, he had to endure intense mental anguish and physical torture, and he wasn’t about to accept the same treatment from those in the Church. He wanted his experiences with the fellow saints to be different from the world; he expected them to be different, because they claimed to love God. Paul risked his life to bring the gospel to the Corinthians, and he was committed to ministering to them and leading them into a deeper and fuller maturity in the faith, and it seemed all the Corinthians could do was gossip about him and devise stories to malign his name. Supposedly, the complaint of the Corinthians was that his letters were weighty but his personal presence was apprehensive; they were complaining that he was afraid to confront them in person about their faults, but preferred rather to write letters to them to avoid their contempt for the demands that he would place on them. Heavy and weighty his letters, so was his presence when incited to anger. 

(92j) Thy kingdom come >> The narrow way connects you to God >> It demonstrates your relation to Him

2Cor 10-12

(11i) Servant >> We are not our own standard for each other -- This is a classical error of which an incredibly large population of the world is guilty. The temptation to use other people as a standard of measurement for our own faith and behavior is inherently a bad idea, simply because it is inaccurate. For one thing, God’s expectations and plans for you are far higher than what menial accomplishments your neighbor is enjoying spiritually or otherwise, so using him/her as a standard is insufficient. Also, trying to keep up with the Joneses when God has allotted each person different gifts and abilities is unfair to you. Serve God and not others.

(22m) Sin >> Pride glorifies self >> Comparing yourself with others – We are not to compare ourselves with others or compare others with ourselves, for there is only one standard who is Christ. Of course He stands far above all so we cannot attain to Him, and for this reason people have abandoned Him as their standard. It is unimportant to achieve the standard; it is only important to have a true measure. We will always find ourselves short of the mark, but those who choose to abandon the standard of Christ in order to achieve a false standard are seeking perfection in this life that does not exist, and the only way they will achieve it is by lying to themselves about their true condition. When they do this, they become depraved as sinners. There is hope that the sinner realizes he is a sinner, but the one who uses a false standard is trying to deny he has sin. People who do this are self-righteous, and self-righteous people are some of the most distant from God, because they don’t understand the level of their wickedness. Those who compare themselves to others or compare others to themselves, do it when people are sinning, thus admitting they are comparable to sinners, and like sinners who need to get saved, those without the standard of Christ are without Christ indeed.

(164g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan’s system of authority >> His elementary principles of the world

(166g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Wisdom of the world >> Nature Of Man’s Wisdom >> Man’s wisdom contradicts itself

(167c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (Mindset of the world) >>

(170a) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Seeking the glory of man >> Stepping on people to get to the bottom >> Those who seek glory from men discard others

(181h) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Self deception >> Imaginary perception of self >> Distorted perception of self

(198e) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Ordained by man >> Men place themselves in positions of authority >> Men raising up men -- This verse goes with verse 18

(223c) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Conceit >> Imposing your opinion of self on others >> Cliques make people seek your acceptance

13-18 But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ; 15 not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men's labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be, within our sphere, enlarged even more by you, 16 so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another. 17 But HE WHO BOASTS IS TO BOAST IN THE LORD. 18 For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.

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2Cor 10,13-18

(84d) Thy kingdom come >> Words of your mouth >> Boasting >> It needs to be said and no one is saying it >> Boasting of my accomplishments in Christ -- These verses go with verse 8. Paul talks about the Corinthians as within his jurisdiction in that he came to Corinth and preached the gospel to them, and now he feels responsible for their souls. Like the Chinese philosophy when someone saves another person from a tragic death, the one who did the saving is responsible for that person for the rest of his life. The other churches that resulted from his ministry, many to whom he wrote in his epistles, were also within his jurisdiction and he felt responsible for their spiritual welfare too.

2Cor l0,13-16

(14a) Servant >> Servants of God’s word

(226i) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >> Levels of reward >> God rewards us to the degree of our labors

2Cor 10-13

(44k) Judgment >> Transformation process >> Fulfill your ministry in evangelism >> Complete your mission

2Cor 10-18

(72a) Authority >> Ordained by God >> We are ordained to walk in His authority -- This verse goes with verse 8. It is good to be approved by great people, but it’s more important to seek God’s approval. If we have His approval, we don’t need anyone else’s. That is not to say we shouldn’t seek people’s approval whom we admire and want to emulate. However, so long as we have God’s approval, if other people refuse to acknowledge us, we don’t need their blessing. When we seek the Lord and God reveals Himself to us, if we confess our faith to others and they find no value in it, if they do not receive us, they have no power to stop us from continuing to seek the Lord and continue to receive things from God that will change our lives in ways they may never experience or understand. If we receive other people’s approval, it is better because it establishes unity. The more we approve and agree with one another, the more unity can flourish among us and establish us together in His word and the more powerful we become in the world.

(167c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (Mindset of the world) >>

(198e) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Ordained by man >> Men place themselves in positions of authority >> Men raising up men -- This verse goes with verse 12

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