Boasting with good reason
| 10 As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. 11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! 12 And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. (2Corinthians11:10-15) |
He is doing it because the false teachers are misleading the people and by their boasting of their achievements and qualifications, trying to earn the trust of the congregation and then mislead them.
Paul argues that Satan does the same thing - pretending to be good, to have our interests at heart and to be on our side. In the Garden of Eden, the serpentine Satan portrays God as a restrictive bully, and the false teachers do the same with Paul when they argue that his "letters are forceful, but in person he is unimpressive."
Paul wants to protect the Corinthians and he chooses to do so by displaying the power of God at work in his own brokenness. While they boast of achievements, Paul boasts about brokenness and sacrifice.
His motive is deep love for the congregation - while his "boasting" may be considered self-serving and designed to evoke sympathy it has a deeper purpose: to demonstrate his sincerity and to shock the Corinthians out of their "star-struck" obsession with the bragging false teachers.
Paul loves the Corinthians and, because the false teaching they face is dangerous, Paul takes on the false teachers, but he doesn't fight fire with fire - they brag of their qualifications, but Paul brags of his disqualifications.
His conclusion to his boasting will say it all - when I am weak He is strong.
