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Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ's, so also are we. For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present.—2 Corinthians 10:7–11
Introduction
Last week we looked at Paul’s siege strategy against the Corinthians: tear down the walls, take captives, and punish disobedience. That threat of judgment punctuated the whole passage. Thus, last week Paul begged them to avoid being torn down in judgment in verses 1–6. Now in verses 7–11, he tells them how to avoid this judgment. They can avoid what is coming by looking at what is clearly before them. He tells them to take another look at what is obvious rather than listening to his opponents and being deceived by their smoke and mirrors.
Paul proposes an eye exam for the Corinthians to test if they can really see what is right in front of them. An eye exam may consist of three tests, like examining the pupils, side vision, and eye movement. Paul gives them an apostolic eye exam that has three parts.
First, Paul asks the Corinthians to take another look at him in the light of their connectedness (v. 7). Second, he asks them to take another look at him in the light of the new covenant (v. 8). Third, he asks them to take another look at him in the light of false claims (vv. 9–11).
As we work our way through these points, watch how they all work together to form one main point: Healthy churches must pass the apostolic eye exam.
Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we.
There are so many observations we could make in this verse, but I will restrict myself to two. First, some of you listening might look up and say, “My Bible does not say ‘look at what is before your eyes.’” If you have the KJV, it says, “Do ye look on things according to the outward appearance?” Those who have the NIV would raise their hands and point out that their version says, “You are judging by appearances.” Those reading the NASB would see essentially the same thing: “You are looking at things as they are outwardly.” The issue is whether the verb look is taken as an imperative (a command: “you should look”) or an indicative (a statement: “you are looking”).
This is a difficult text, but I think the ESV got it right for a couple of reasons. The first is a syntax reason. Every other time Paul uses this form of the verb, it is always an imperative (1 Corinthians 1:26; 8:9; 10:18; 16:10; Galatians 5:15; Ephesians 5:15; Philippians 3:2; Colossians 2:8). The second is a contextual reason. The command fits the context much better. Paul’s focus in the verses that follow is to give the Corinthians a series of supporting explanations concerning what is obvious and right in front of their faces. He is not telling them what they are doing (“you are looking outwardly”); he is telling them what they should be doing and seeing if they want to avoid judgment.
Second, here is the first thing the Corinthians should look at: the connectedness of their claim to belong to Christ. The Corinthians’ claim to belong to Christ obviously cannot trump Paul’s claim to belong to Christ.
If anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we.—2 Corinthians 10:7-11
At first glance, this is so obvious that it leaves us slightly confused as to why Paul would share it. It makes us wonder what it contributes to his argument. "You think you are a Christian? Well, so am I." Kids, doesn’t this sound like arguments that siblings have with each other? “I am _______.” “Well, if you are, then so am I.” “Are not!” “Are too!”
Something deeper is happening here. It is true that anyone’s claim in Corinth to be a Christian cannot trump Paul’s claim to be a Christian, but look at it in reverse. If Paul does not belong to Christ, then no one in Corinth truly does. Do you see the point? The very confession of those who doubt Paul’s apostleship would come crashing to the ground if what they say is true because Paul’s claim to be an apostle and the Corinthians’ claim to be Christians are bound up together.
You may say, “But Paul does not say, ‘apostle.’” He says, “As he is Christ’s.” But that is the very heart of the matter. Paul’s conversion and call to be an apostle came together on the road to Damascus. They are inseparable.
He is taking the Corinthians back to the argument he made in 2 Corinthians 3:1. It was the very same context as we see here as to the question of commendation. Paul’s commendation is not a self-commendation; it is divine commendation. The fact that God gave the Corinthians new life through Paul’s preaching of the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit commends Paul as a minister of the new covenant.
Do you see his point about what is self-evident and obvious? The Corinthians were converted under Paul’s ministry. This is an irrefutable fact, and he says that it is an open commendation of his ministry that others can read as well. The Corinthians are living letters that testify to the validity of Paul’s apostleship. The conversion of the Corinthians was the most eloquent commendation for his ministry imaginable.
This commendation also has a stinger in the tail for the Corinthians who doubt the validity of his ministry. They cannot call his apostleship into question without calling their conversion into question.
Someone might ask, “Where are you getting this stuff about the new covenant? I know that 2 Corinthians 3:3 and 3:6 talk about the new covenant explicitly, but I don’t see it in 2 Corinthians 10. Where are you getting that?” I am glad you asked.
For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed.
We have to make a few observations again, so stay with me. First, notice the connection between verses 7 and 8. Paul begins verse 8 with for. He is giving a supportfor his statement in verse 7 that his claim and their claim to know Christ are so bound up together. If verse 8 is logical support for verse 7, what is the logic?
Second, the logic is that Paul will not be put to shame (or proven wrong) when the Corinthians call into question his use of authority. He did not authorize himself. The Lord gave him this authority, and He gave it for a very specific purpose: to build the Corinthians up and not to destroy them.
Third, this language of building up and not tearing down is a citation of the new covenant prophecy of Jeremiah 31:27–28.
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord.—Jeremiah 31:27–28
Then you get the new covenant promise of how the Lord is going to build in verses 31–34. If the judgment of plucking up, breaking down, overthrowing, and destroying came because Israel broke the old covenant (v. 31), then the building up and planting is the promise of the new covenant to change their hearts by writing the Law on their hearts.
The Corinthians should not look at Paul with a jaundiced eye and wonder whether he is trying to tear them down. His very calling is to build them up. That is why the Lord Jesus gave Paul his new covenant authority and calling. Now we are in a position to understand the third point.
I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present.
It was at this point in reading the text that everything clicked for me and that the confusing cloud that hung over these verses vanished. In the Greek text, verse 9 begins with a purpose clause: “In order that I may not seem to scare you with my letters.” If the Corinthians see that Paul is a minister of the new covenant and that his very calling is to build them up, then they will not read the letter like an attempt to tear them down and terrorize them. They will read it as an attempt to build them up. The letter is not a scare tactic. They won’t regard Paul as a verbal terrorist. Seeing his calling as a minister of the new covenant will help them read the letter rightly.
Why would Paul worry that they will take his letter the wrong way? His opponents are trying to get them to read his letters the wrong way.
For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.”—2 Corinthians 10:10
One commentator said that the opponents are basically comparing Paul to someone like the Wizard of Oz (David Garland, 2 Corinthians). It is a good analogy. You might remember that the Wizard of Oz appeared in different forms and tried to make himself appear mighty and powerful, calling himself “Oz the Terrible,” but he was really hiding behind a little screen. Without the tricks, he was a small, old, bald con man from Omaha, Nebraska.
Paul’s opponents are basically saying the same thing about Paul: "Don’t listen to his letters. They sound so big, booming, and intimidating, but take away the screen and all the tricks, and he is nothing. Paul’s bark is worse than his bite. He is like a dog that barks when behind the door, but when the door opens, he wags his tail and licks you."
Do you see how they have Paul between a rock and a hard place? They charge him with hypocrisy. They admit that his letters are weighty and strong when he is at a safe distance, but they accuse him that he is weak in person. So what is Paul to do? If 2 Corinthians is a strong letter, his opponents can say, “See? What did we tell you? Another strong letter.” It will make it easier to dismiss. But if he writes something weak, then he will still have to confront the Corinthians' sin strongly when he shows up personally. The only difference is that he will have more to confront because he will not have called it out ahead of time to prepare the way for his coming. What will he say? The solution comes in verse 11.
What he says when absent, he will do when present. He will not let what he says and what he does be pitted against each other. He has been avoiding that kind of consistency for the sake of mercy, wanting to prepare them for repentance by letter so that when he comes he will be able to come not with a whip but with gentleness. The opponents will have their showdown, and he does not want the Corinthians to be on the losing side when that happens.
Now we come to the moment of truth: how do we apply this passage?
Application
The false teachers can rig the results by giving the Corinthians the wrong test. They can set it up in such a way that they always come out on top: “Here is Paul on the left side, and here we are on the right side. Question 1: Choose the more gifted speaker. Question 2: Choose the more impressive physical specimen.”
But here is the question: Who wrote these questions? Who wrote this test anyway? God or the opponents? Paul’s point is that these test questions all measure the powers of the flesh. Paul has already conceded this point. When comparing fleshly statistics, the opponents win. But that is precisely the problem. They are using worldly standards, not God’s standards. You can see it explicitly in verse 12.
But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.—2 Corinthians 10:12
It is all based in pride. They view themselves as the measure by which they judge everything else. We will have much more application on that point next week.
This week we are asking about other false tests that people give today. Think about the worldly standards that serve as the measuring stick for Christian ministry today. Perhaps the most far-reaching test is the tolerance test.
Let me give you an example. Lt. Commander Wesley Modder is a chaplain for the United States Navy. He has served with distinction for nineteen years with many glowing reports. He spent several years providing spiritual counsel to Navy SEALS, and in December he received a letter of commendation from the head of the Navy Special Warfare Command, who called Modder the “best of the best” and a “talented and inspirational leader.”
Now he is under heavy scrutiny from the NAVY and could lose all of his benefits if he is dismissed before completing his twenty years of service. What scandal could he have possibly committed? Was he guilty of committing sexual immorality of some kind? No, he is not guilty of committing sexual immorality; he is guilty of speaking against sexual immorality. Wow.
He spoke against sex before marriage, against getting pregnant outside of wedlock, and against homosexuality. He also said that God can save people from a homosexual lifestyle. Because he said these things, he was given a “detachment for cause” letter on February 17. His commanders concluded that he is “intolerant” and “unable to function in the diverse and pluralistic environment” of his current assignment at the Navy Nuclear Power Training Command in South Carolina.
Modder says that he will not follow Navy policy if it conflicts with his faith. He has been operating in accord with a 2013 law passed by Congress which says that no chaplains will be forced to “perform any rite, ritual or ceremony that is contrary to the conscience, moral principles or religious beliefs” (http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2015/03/10/chaplain–fired/24699275/).
Speaking against sexual immorality is now deemed much worse than committing sexual immorality. In fact, we live in a world that wants to say there is no such thing as sexual immorality. How shall we respond to situations like this in our world?
First, let us all be clear on how logically inconsistent it is. It is not surprising that some would judge Modder’s views as “intolerant.” What is surprising is how only some judgments are intolerant. The views of those judging Modder apparently are exempt from the charge of intolerance. Their views are tolerant only because they agree with the world’s new standards of saying that anything goes sexually. The only thing out of bounds is the audacity to say there is such a thing as out of bounds. Here we see that tolerance can be very intolerant of some views.
Second, we should view the conflict for what it is: a question of authority and thus pride or humility. Who decides what the standard of judgment will be—the creation or the Creator? Should we trust in what some people say, or should we trust in what God says? It is essentially a pride vs. humility issue. Will we arrogantly trust ourselves and arrogantly lean on our own understanding, or will we humbly trust our Creator and humbly submit to what he says?
Third, let us check our eyesight with God’s eye exam. It is not as if the Bible’s vision is cloudy on these matters.
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.—1 Thessalonians 4:3–8.
Sexual immorality is like the big E on God’s eye exam. Have you ever thought of reading the Bible as essentially an exercise in humility? It is a humble thing to say that we can see what he is saying in Scripture. This passage also clearly says that the consequence for refusing to see things the way God sees them is solemn. God is the avenger. He threatens eternal punishment.
Fourth, know that the world will pressure preachers to say that God doesn’t really say that. It takes a lot of education to avoid the obvious in our Bible reading and claim that the Bible does not really say what it seems to say. In fact, Paul said this kind of thing would happen.
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.—2 Timothy 4:3–4
You could call that the itching ears test. This test says, “If you love us, then you will tell us whatever we want to hear. Sweet lies are better than hard truth. We prefer sweet poison (even if it kills) to bitter herbs (even if they heal).”
Fifth, we should all be honest and upfront with how the church and the world are being consistent in our intolerance. When people claim that we are intolerant, we can respond by saying, “I see that you disagree with me. Why doesn’t that make you intolerant?” They might respond, “Okay, maybe I am being intolerant, but you are more intolerant. I think you are wrong, but you think I am going to hell.” Our response back should be, “We are only being consistent with our intolerance. All you can say is that I am wrong, and then I have to face your wrath. But I am only claiming to say what God says. Because I believe in a personal God, I believe in personal accountability to him. I will have to face your wrath when I disagree with your views, but you will have to face God’s wrath when you reject his views.” That is why Paul said, “Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God” (v. 8).
Sixth, we should be humble and fear God and submit to what he says. We will not do this if the world seems big and God seems small. We need to resize what stands before us.
The world will speak in big and bold ways about how intolerant we are and how we will have to face their scorn or punishment. But God promises to tend his flock like a shepherd and carry us like little lambs in his arms (Isaiah 40:12–11). The next verse helps us size up what that means. God can measure the oceans in the hollow of his hand (Isaiah 40:12). No wonder no one can snatch us out of that hand! But our message to the world is that it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God for judgment.
The opposition that seems so big at first glance is resized in comparison to God to be “dust on the scales” or “a drop in the bucket” (Isaiah 40:15) or “less than nothing” (Isaiah 40:17). When we resize things, we realize that the world is like the Wizard of Oz compared to God. We need not fear what seems so frightening at first glance.
Conclusion
This does beg the question concerning how one reads the Bible. The Bible has some intimidating stuff to say about God’s judgment and wrath upon sin. I beg you not to read these things as if God is trying to tear you down. He is trying to build you up and warn you about the judgment to come.
People understandably think that 2,000 years of delay between Christ’s first coming and today calls the Second Coming into question. Does this delay call God’s judgment into question? The Bible tells us to interpret the delay as God’s patience so that we will use the time he gives us to repent so we will not perish and be destroyed.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness [i.e., the false teachers], but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”—2 Peter 3:9
The reason why Christ has not returned is that some of you still need repentance or you will perish. So I call you to take God’s eye exam. See yourself rightly and see him rightly. I urge you to see what is right in front of you.
Do an honest assessment. Look at yourself. Are you willing to really look at your sin? Are you willing to hear the hard diagnosis that you are spiritually sick? I don’t mean just a little sick—it is a terminal illness. Would you rather have a doctor who speaks straight with an accurate diagnosis, or would you rather have a doctor who lies to you?
Jesus is greater than any other doctor. He tells you that you are terminally ill so that you will joyfully embrace the healing that he offers. We are more radically sick than we feared to believe, but his healing is more free and eternal than we dared to hope. If you don’t think you have the disease, you will not seek him for the cure. You miss the very reason he came and purchased the new covenant: he came into the world to save sinners.
What shines most brightly in the new covenant is the majesty of his mercy. Don’t miss what is right before your eyes. Look again at the cross. No one can look at Jesus dying on the cross for sinners and say, “Look at how much he wants to tear me down and destroy me.” Look at the cross and hear Jesus say, “Look at how much I want to save you and build you up and plant you in heaven for all eternity.”
Sermon Discussion Questions
Summary & Outline
Last week we looked at Paul’s siege strategy against the Corinthians: Tear down the walls, take captives, and punish disobedience. This threat of judgment punctuated verses 1–6 and Paul begged them to avoid it. Now, in verses 7–11, he tells them how they can avoid it: By looking at what is clearly before them. Remember that Paul is speaking to people who are prone to doubt his apostleship and thus deny that he had the right to lead their church. Paul’s message is simple: Look again! Just as eye exams may consist of three tests like examining the pupils, side vision, and eye movement, Paul gives the Corinthians a three-part, apostolic eye exam:
Main Point: Healthy churches must pass the apostolic eye exam.
Discussion Questions
Application Questions