Daily Devotional – Inspirational For it is not the person who commends himself who is approved, but the person the Lord commends. 2 Corinthians 10:17-18 NET This is a quotation from Jer. 9:24. To “boast” in something means to declare how great something is. Although all of Paul’s boasting in this letter ultimately ends up giving glory to God. The Lord’s judgment is final, and will set aside every human judgment. Paul has been careful not to make any claim except what is based on God’s purposes and on what God has done. He concludes the section with the very basic principle that a person should look for the approval of God and not man. What is at stake for Paul is something more than pride of position. Today people often strive to get ahead in the workplace by raising doubts about the viability or integrity of the competition. Pauls opponents did this by saying that he possessed inferior credentials, thereby calling into question the authenticity of his ministry at Corinth. Their superior credentials, on the other hand, gave them the right to set the Corinthians straight about Paul and to claim credit for getting the church on the right track. What the church failed to see, however, was that to raise doubts about Pauls ministry at Corinth was in effect to raise doubts about the viability of their own existence as a congregation. Simply put, if the validity of the preacher is called into question, then the content of the preaching also becomes suspect, and any congregation founded on that preaching is questionable.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 10:00:00 +0000