In chapter 11, jealous with regard to his beloved Corinthians with a godly
jealousy, he carries yet further his arguments relating to false teachers.
He asks the faithful in Corinth to bear with him a little, while he acts
like a fool in speaking of himself. He had espoused them as a chaste virgin
to Christ, and he feared lest any should corrupt their minds, leading them
away from the simplicity that is in Him. If the Corinthians had received
another Christ from the teachers lately come among them, or another Spirit,
or another gospel, they might well bear with what these teachers did. But
certainly the apostle had not been a whit behind in his instructions, even
if they compared him with the most renowned of the apostles. Had he wronged
them by receiving nothing at their hands (as these new teachers boasted of
doing), and in taking money from other assemblies, and never being a burden
to them?-a subject for boasting, of which no one should deprive him in the
regions of Achaia. Had he refused to take anything from them because he
loved them not? God knew-No; it was to deprive the false teachers of a
means of commending themselves to them by labouring gratuitously among
them, while the apostle received money. He would deprive them of this
boast, for they were false apostles. As Satan transformed himself into an
angel of light, so his instruments made themselves ministers of
righteousness. But again let them bear with him while he spoke as a fool in
speaking of himself. If these ministers of Satan accredited themselves as
Jews, as of the ancient religion of God, consecrated by its antiquity and
its traditions, he could do as much, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and
possessing all the titles to glory of which they boasted. And if it was a
question of christian service-to speak as a fool-certainly the comparison
would not fail to shew where the devotedness had been. Here in fact God has
allowed this invasion of the apostle's work by these wretched judaising men
(calling themselves Christians) to be the means of acquainting us with
something of the indefatigable labours of the apostle, carried on in a
thousand circumstances of which we have no account. In the Acts God has
given us the history of the establishment of the assembly in the great
principles on which it was founded, and the phases through which it passed
on coming out of Judaism. The apostle will have his own reward in the
kingdom of glory, not by speaking of it among men. Nevertheless it is
profitable for our faith to have some knowledge of christian devotedness,
as it was manifested in the life of the apostle. The folly of the
Corinthians has been the means of furnishing us with a little glimpse of
it.
Troubles and dangers without, incessant anxieties within, a courage that
quailed before no peril, a love for poor sinners and for the assembly that
nothing chilled-these few lines sketch the picture of a life of such
absolute devotedness that it touches the coldest heart; it makes us fee]
all our selfishness, and bend the knee before Him who was the living source
of the blessed apostle's devotedness, before Him whose glory inspired it.
