2 Corinthians 10:7-11

⁷ Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even so we are Christ’s. ⁸ For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed—⁹ lest I seem to terrify you by letters. ¹⁰ “For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” ¹¹ Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present.

Commentary

Vs. 7 "Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even so we are Christ’s."

The Apostle Pauls question (which could also be worded as a statement) is directed at the heart of the Corinthians carnality. For the Corinthians had been utterly carnal in their assessments of Paul. Measuring Paul and his Apostleship from Christ by looking at his physical form and outward appearance. Yet using the flesh as a measure of anyone's standing with God, or their Spirit giftedness from Him, is not of God, nor of the Spirit of God, but is only a measure used by this world (consider 1 Samuel 16:7; John 6:63). Therefore if the Corinthians thought that they themselves were Christ's, they needed to remember that just as they were Christ's, so also was the Apostle Paul. 

Vs. 8-9 ⁸ For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed—⁹ lest I seem to terrify you by letters.

If the Apostle Paul felt the need to vindicate himself by boasting about the authority Christ gave him, it would only be done so as to refute his detractors who were growing more and more emboldened in their demeaning of him. For Paul took no pleasure in self commendation, in having to put himself and forward in order to silence his critics. Yet in order to dissuade the undiscerning Corinthians from anymore calling into question his Apostleship from Christ, Paul thought it might be necessary to do so. Therefore Paul says that he would not now be ashamed if he boasted about the authority Christ gave him, because his was real, while the false apostles "authority" was not. Now in saying as much, the Apostle Paul acknowledges that the authority that Christ gave him was for edification and not for their destruction, and thus he was distinguishing himself and how he always exercised this authority from Christ (in the meekness and lowliness of Christ) from the false Apostles, who though having no authority, always lorded authority over whomever they held captive to themselves by it. For Paul was always careful not to abuse his authority from Christ, but was gentle and lowly amongst them all (2 Cor 10:1). And so even if in some of his epistles to the churches Paul used strong language, Paul did not seek too, or want too, terrify anyone by it. Rather his strong speech, when called for, was only meant to bring about the Corinthians repentance and obedience (consider 1 Cor 5:1-12). 

Vs. 10-11 ¹⁰ “For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” ¹¹ Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present.


Now the Apostle Paul's detractors had taken note of Paul's weighty and powerful words in his epistles and had sought to undermine them and him by saying that, though his letters are weighty and powerful, yet his bodily presence is weak and contemptible (vs.10). And thus through the most carnal assessments of Paul's person they appealed to the most carnal nature of the Corinthians in seeking to undermine Paul and his Holy Spirit given words for us all. Now the Apostle Paul had become aware of this, and so in verse eleven he makes it clear that what he was in word in his letters, when he had been absent from them, so the Apostle Paul would be in deed when he as present again with them. Thus the influence and tenure of those individuals who felt secure amongst the Corinthians while demeaning him (and thus Christ who appointed him) was soon to be cut short and cut off. 

Scripture Quotations

The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Additional Resources Consulted 

Walvoord, John F., and Roy B. Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985.