I am so late in posting this, but here is the recap of my bible study from 2 Corinthians 10 & 11!
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2 Corinthians Bible Study Weekly Recap
October 21, 2014
Chapters 10 & 11
10
Paul as “shy” and “timid”
- Paul claims to be shy and timid when he is face-to-face with people, but we don’t see this in his letters – all we have to go on in his letters
- Paul tends to be confrontational in his letters – when you are face-to-face, the problems tend to be more complex
10:4 – Our weapons that we fight with aren’t human, but instead they are powered by God for the destruction of fortresses.
- Our words can be really powerful – we can use peaceful and loving words in our responses to violence and anger
- How do you decide when to fight back / when to pick your battle?
- What about self-defense? Do you not fight back or defend yourself if someone is threatening you and your family?
- When Paul said these words, everyone thought the end of time was coming much sooner
- If you don’t fight evil, does it spread? Or does it stay contained?
- We don’t need weapons to fight wars – we can use God’s spirit to overcome à this might not have been what Paul meant, but it certainly can be read in our society like this
- We need to seek to overcome evil with love
10:5
- Knowledge of God – the world tries to turn us against the Gospel, we have to strengthen our faith
- The world has become less God-like
10:9-12
- Paul constantly had to defend himself
10:17 – But, the one who brags should brag in the Lord
- Humility is so important
- The gifts that we have are gifts from God
11:1-15
Paul and false-prophets / super-apostles
11:3 – comparison to Eve and the snake in the garden
- A reminder to the Corinthians that they are human / they can be tempted as well
11:7
- Sounds condescending in a way – that Paul is lowering himself – but it could have just been semantics
- “Lowering” vs. “Humbling”
- It is possible to bring yourself down to the level of the people you are serving without doing it in a condescending way
11:10 – Christ’s truth is in Paul
- How do people believe that? Anyone can say that.
11:16-33
Paul boasts vs. Paul defends himself
The Fool’s Speech
- Paul was defending himself
- The point he’s making is that people should see you for what you are – but if they don’t, then you should play the fool and brag about yourself
What Paul endured
- When you put the “fool’s speech” aside, it is remarkable to see what he endured and suffered for the gospel
- Amazing testimony to the Gospel – that Paul continued to suffer and resist what the rest of the world was saying
- It’s important for Paul to talk about this, because he didn’t always sound humble in his letters – we need to remember what he was going through
Would we go through this?
- If we were being stoned, flogged and shipwrecked – would we continue to live out our faith? Would we continue to defend our faith?
- In a way, we do have to defend our faith because we live in a culture that doesn’t make it easy for us to be involved in our churches
The more we are humbled, the more Christ is glorified