In Our Weakness, He is Strong
Pastor Jake
““For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecution, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.””
Humanity looks at weakness as a bad thing. Essentially, to be weak means that you have no validity. To be weak means that you have no use. In a culture submerged with survival of the fittest, weakness has no place. Yet, weakness in Scripture is viewed differently. In 2 Corinthians, chapters 10-13, Paul focuses on the impact of false teachers that are having their way in the Corinthian church, and the gospel the Corinthian believers are buying is one that mocks weakness and boasts in strength.
The Corinthian church had lost its view of the true Gospel and had grown fond of this “person who has come to you,” who “proclaims a rival Jesus, whom we did not proclaim.” – 2 Cor. 11:4. And Paul does not deal with the Corinthians lightly! In fact, he ironically concludes that “you put up with him readily enough” which in the literal Greek can be translated as “you bear with him quite beautifully.” This Gospel that Paul’s opponents where preaching may have promised everyone health and wealth, but it did not mention suffering, which is central to Paul’s message and experiences noted earlier in the letter. Commentator Ralph P. Martin talks about the primary point in the verses between 2 Cor. 11:1 and 2 Cor. 12:10 when he writes,
“The center of the debate…and the crux of the matter turns on…what kind of proof validates the true servant of Christ and, more especially, where is the locus of Christian existence to be found?”
The Corinthians were convinced that the better a person looked, the more valid the apostle. Success, money, and fame where the distinct markers of what made these self-proclaimed super apostles (and their false teaching) so influential in the Corinthian church. The Corinthians became unconcerned with the fact that what the super apostles were teaching was contrary to what Paul had preached to them. Essentially, in their boasting, these super apostles had convinced the Corinthians that Paul was weak, and therefore not worth listening to. Paul concludes that the only way he can reach these painfully naïve Corinthians was through what the false teachers were doing. He decides to boast.
Imagine what the Corinthians were thinking: “Finally, he is going to validate himself. I mean four times in his first letter to us, he spoke about weakness this and weakness that. Hopefully he will give us a story of walking on water or maybe even seeing visions of heaven!” What Paul does next sets the stage for one of the most profound truths of Scripture. Paul starts to boast, but not of things that made him strong, but - to once again quote Martin -
“…of things that any self-respecting person of the Mediterranean world in their right mind would not dare to boast about – of hardships and insults, of disgrace and weakness.”
It is almost as though Paul is saying this: “You see those teachers over there? They boast about their visions, strength, and status; they boast about foolish things. I, Paul, have every reason to boast, because I have seen and heard things that cannot be spoken in human words. But to focus on this is not the point.” What Paul says next is something he has been saying all along, even since his first letter. See if you can spot the theme:
“God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27)
“I was with you in weakness… but we no longer need to trust the wisdom of man. It is about the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:3-5)
“What is now weak will one day be raised in power” (1 Corinthians 15:43)
Now he says it again:
“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness” (2 Corinthians 11:30).
The true test of Christ’s work through Paul wasn’t how strong he was. It was in his weakness. It was in his reliance on a God. Our weakness reminds us that Christ is a necessity, not an accessory.
Paul would go on to write,
“For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecution, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:10)
In the end, what we see here in 2 Corinthians 11 and 12 an example of the lifestyle we are called to live. Paul is able to fix his eyes on Christ because his weakness reminds him that he needs in Christ. Ask yourself, where is your strength coming from? Is your strength your own doing? Or is it in the shadow of the cross, the ultimate display of weakness that brought the ultimate display of strength - our salvation?