March 18, 2026
2 Corinthians 10 ESV
I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. 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. Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding. But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence. “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
Discussion Questions:
Paul now turns to the root of the problem in Corinth – the false apostles or teachers who are preaching against Paul and his doctrine.
Verses 1-6: Paul says that when he visits he will be in conflict with these teachers. He uses the metaphor of a military campaign. How does Paul intend to deal with these teachers when he visits?
Verses 7-18: Both the false apostles/teachers and Paul claim authority over the Corinthian ecclesia. This conflict has to be resolved during his visit. Paul is worried that when he establishes his authority the brethren will think he is boasting. How does he want them to view this “boasting”?
Discussion Summary:
Verses 6-11: Paul revealed to the Corinthian brethren that he would be coming to Corinth to resolve the conflict between himself and the teachers. He assured them that he would not be using the tactics of the world, the very tactics they had used against him: accusations (8:20), insults (10:10), and rhetorical tricks (4:2). Still Paul needed to summon courage (verse 2) for this confrontation as the teachers/false apostles were skilled orators. Paul on the other hand, relied on his knowledge of God and spiritual understanding (11:5).
Paul was confident that his spiritual understanding would be sufficient to show their logical errors which were originating in pride. He was confident that his spiritual understanding would be able to capture and persuade all thoughts to Christ’s obedience (2 Corinthians 5:11-16). Those who would not be persuaded, would be by his arguments and example, marked as in a condition under judgement of God (1 Corinthians 3:10-17).
Verses 7-18: In order to establish his authority, Paul would need to establish his credentials and provide evidences of the productivity of his preaching. And yet, he wants those listening to understand that he gives all the credit to God.
- He reminded them that his apostleship was of Christ. He had been directly appointed by God to be a chosen instrument (Acts 9:15). This is consistently how he referred to his apostleship (Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1).
- He reminded them that he had been given an area of influence by God which was preaching to the gentiles (Galatians 2:9). Paul had not infringed on the other apostles’ preaching to those of the Jewish faith.
- He reminded them that the teachers had fallen into the trap of engaging in outward comparisons without considering their heart motives (Matthew 7:21).
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