Telling It Like It Is

Paul wasn’t blowing his own trumpet in order to gratify his ego. He was speaking in good conscience before God (12), whom he freely acknowledged as the source of his enabling. Moreover, he was addressing people who knew all the facts, because they were themselves witnesses to the truthfulness of his testimony.

In not following through with his planned visit to Corinth, he had opened himself up to the accusation of being indecisive and even untrustworthy. The line between being decisive and being inflexible is a very thin one; there is always virtue in thinking over any decision in order to see whether it should stand or be changed. Of the utmost importance is our motivation. What finally clinched it for Paul was his consideration for his friends at Corinth, as we shall see in tomorrow’s reading. Meanwhile, as always, the apostle predicates his actions on his relationship with God. His plans are made, not according to his own self-will but in line with what he believed the Lord had ordered, so as to minister God’s grace to his friends at Corinth. He has been commissioned as an apostle of Jesus Christ, the one Paul describes as the “Yes” and the “Amen” of God (19,20), a title which John reiterates in the Apocalypse (Rev. 3:14). This is what determined not only what Paul did in his ministry but also the way he did it.

What unfathomable privileges are ours in Christ! Kings were normally anointed by some human agency, but it is God himself who anoints us (21) and puts his seal of ownership on us with the Holy Spirit taking residence within us (22). Even more astonishing is that all of this is described as a down payment, a sort of first installment and guarantee that more, much more, is yet to come (22)!

Whenever you say Amen (Yes!) in your prayers, remember what Paul said: we do it through him and for his glory (20).