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2 Corinthians 10:10-12

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

10. For [his] letters, say they, [are] weighty and powerful; but [his] bodily presence [is] weak, and [his] speech contemptible. 11. Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such [will we be] also in deed when we are present. 12. For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

2 Corinthians 10:10-12 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on 2 Corinthians 10:10

Theological / Devotional

Weighty and powerful. Here Paul evidently quotes the very words of his critics. Even his enemies admit that he is an effective letter writer, and time has confirmed their judgment. Little did his enemies know that his epistles were inspired, and that they would constitute no small part of what was eventually to become the NT, the basis of Christian theology. His epistles abound with irresistible arguments for the faith. They are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit manifested in stern rebuke, in Christian love and gentleness, in the exaltation of Christ as Redeemer, in appeals to lost men and women to accept the way of salvation, in inspiration to fellowship with Christ, and in personal testimony of his own miraculous conversion and Christian experience.

Presence. Gr. parousia (see on Matt. 24:3). This is the only NT reference to the personal appearance of any of the apostles (cf. 1 Cor. 2:3, 4; 2 Cor. 12:7-10; Gal. 4:13, 14). Writers before the 4th century stated that Paul was short of stature, stooped — probably from repeated beatings (2 Cor. 11:24, 25) — bald, and had crooked thighs, but was full of grace, and had eyes burning with love, nobility, and zeal for Christ (see Paul and Thecla 1:7). Other early writers confirm this description, but of course it is only a tradition. In ch. 10:1 Paul apparently confirms the idea that in personal appearance he was anything but impressive. But that his opponents at Corinth should stoop to ridicule his physical weaknesses, and perhaps slight deformity, reveals their despicable character.

Contemptible. Or, “despicable.” This charge seems at least to have been a gross exaggeration, if not an outright slander. Paul was a superior speaker (Acts 14:12; cf. ch. 24:1-21). It is undoubtedly true that after the experience at Athens Paul avoided the rhetoric and oratory that delighted the Greeks (see 1 Cor. 2:2). He refused to make these the means of attracting men to Christ. Nothing must be permitted to detract from the clarity and forcefulness of the gospel (1 Cor. 2:4, 5).

By SdaBc