2 Corinthians 10:7

Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we. For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed... For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. Let such an one think this... such will we be also in deed when we are present. (2 Corinthians 10:7–11)

Paul refuses to measure himself by his critics' facade, because God looks not at the outward appearance but at the heart.

The Three Sections of 2 Corinthians

As we considered last week, this book divides into three major sections. Chapters 1 through 7 are where Paul writes to the larger body of Christ in Corinth. You see the soul of Paul revealed, his passion for his friends there, as he writes with joy over the restored relationship they had. For a time the church's opinion of Paul had been tainted by slanderers, creating a divide between him and a church he loved and planted. But a previous letter had been effectual to restore them. So in chapter 1 Paul says, "I am a worker together for your joy."

The second section, chapters 8 and 9, deals with an offering Paul was receiving from the churches to take back to the needy church at Jerusalem. He instructed them about its purpose, use, and how it was to be received.

Now we come to the last section, chapters 10 through 13, where Paul directs all his attention at the critics of his ministry. There were those who rose up to destroy his work, not only in Corinth but in many places he went. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians, "a great and effective door is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries." Anytime God is working, you can be certain the enemy is also at work. As Jesus said in John 10, the thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. God was moving mightily through Paul, so the enemy worked mightily to destroy it—often through slanderers who followed his ministry.

Identifying Paul's Critics

We don't know the exact identity of these individuals, but we can piece the puzzle together from Paul's letters. First, they were outsiders. They were not part of the Corinthian church and had never personally been under Paul's ministry. They were essentially anonymous, known only by what they said about themselves, so they could pass themselves off as whoever they wished. Through their words they seduced many believers and drove a wedge between Corinth and Paul.

Second, they claimed greater apostolic authority than Paul. They put themselves forward as something great—so much so that Paul sarcastically called them "super apostles," and rightly, false apostles. They came in saying, "That Paul, who is he? He's a nobody." If you've been part of the church for any length of time, you know there are people who put themselves forward as the spiritual elite, who consider themselves God's gift to the gospel. That was the mindset of these men.

Third, they presented themselves as true Jews and true representatives of the Messiah. They could not deny Paul's Jewishness—everyone knew he had been a Pharisee, a son of Abraham—but they claimed Paul was not the true Jew who truly represented the religion of the Messiah.

Another Gospel and Jewish Legalism

But 2 Corinthians 11:4 reveals these outsiders preached a different gospel—another Jesus. It is very possible they were the same crew that came against Paul in Galatia. After Paul planted the first Gentile churches in Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, the Judaizers came in and preached another gospel. They used the name of Jesus and the title of Messiah, but added something to the message, drawing people away from the simplicity that is in Christ.

That simplicity must always remain central, because the church is founded upon Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:3, "I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." In 1 Corinthians 2:2 he said, "I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." In 1 Corinthians 15 he calls this the gospel: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and rose again the third day. That remains the central message 2,000 years later. If a church ever moves away from it, make sure you leave that church.

Fourth, they presented elements of Jewish legalism as gospel. They boasted of their lineage—something Paul refused to do unless answering others, because it doesn't matter what your heritage is once you are in Christ. In Philippians 3 he lists his credentials only in response: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. In Christ there is no Jew and Gentile; those distinctions are torn down.

So Paul mocks them in 2 Corinthians 11:22: "Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more." He goes on to list his labors, stripes, and imprisonments—mistreatment these Judaizers never experienced, because they preached a false gospel. The enemy does not war against people who preach a false gospel; there is no spiritual warfare against false teachers. But as soon as you preach Christ crucified and raised, you can anticipate persecution, because Satan hates the gospel.

Why use sarcasm? It revealed the absurdity of their claims—the absurdity of putting your faith in your bloodline, in something with no eternal consequence. When you get to heaven, you will not ask the saints what language they spoke or what country they came from. It means nothing in Christ.

These men brought Jewish customs into the church, saying, "Yes, Paul preached Jesus crucified and raised, and that is good and essential, but it is not sufficient. You need to be circumcised, keep the feast days, keep the Sabbath, abstain from meat sacrificed to idols." This is appealing to the heart of man, because in our sin nature we all have a deep-rooted pride that would love to point to some work we did to get to heaven. But the only reason we stand in Christ is because of what Christ has done. We are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves. Humanity loves religion because it gives us check boxes to tick off.

Mysticism, Counterfeit Letters, and Rhetoric

Fifth, they mingled mysticism and claimed superior secret knowledge. They said, "Paul held something back; he didn't give you all the information. We have a greater revelation than he did." We love that kind of thing, which is why books like The Secret sell so well, and why people get enamored with false gospels like the gospel of Thomas and the gospel of Enoch, written hundreds of years after the apostles. But God wants His revelation known; He does not make it a secret.

Paul, by contrast, refused to boast in his revelation. He speaks of it in the third person: "I knew a man... fourteen years ago... caught up into the third heaven," who heard things that could not be uttered. Then he adds in 2 Corinthians 12 that, "lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations," God gave him a thorn in the flesh to keep him from conceit. Even Paul was subject to arrogance, and God knew it. But these false apostles boasted everywhere they went.

Sixth, they came with counterfeit letters of recommendation and criticized Paul because he had none. The only time in Paul's life he carried a letter from Jerusalem was from the chief priest so he could persecute Christians in Damascus—and after that he realized he didn't need one. He mocks this in 2 Corinthians 3:1: "Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we... epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?" Then he answers in verse 2: "Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men... written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God." If anyone wants to know whether God is at work in Paul, just look at Corinth, Philippi, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Thessalonica, Berea, Ephesus—not letters, but the Spirit of God working through him.

Seventh, they boasted of their rhetorical ability. The Greeks were enamored with rhetorical skill; a good speech was about all that was needed to prove a man fit for leadership. Most of the ancient world could not read, so an intelligent speaker made the hearers feel smarter just by listening. Could Paul speak well? Certainly—his writings show an incredible vocabulary, and in Acts 17 he contends with philosophers on Mars Hill. But in 1 Corinthians 2 he says, "I came to you... not with excellency of speech or of wisdom," and "in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling," so "that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Paul did not want them lifting him on a pedestal; he wanted them to receive the simple gospel and trust the wisdom of God.

Lawless Legalists

Eighth, though they boasted of their Jewishness and brought in legalism, they were also libertine and antinomian. Antinomian is a word coined by Martin Luther from the Greek anti (against) and nomos (law). They were essentially lawless. They had a religious form of life—don't eat meat sacrificed to idols, keep the Sabbath, be circumcised—yet morally they were reprobates. In 2 Corinthians 12:21 Paul fears he will "bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed." Very likely they were involved in the temple prostitution rampant in Corinth.

There is an incredible disconnect there, and sadly it is often the case that we gloss over deep immorality by being religious. People today say, "I'm not religious, I'm spiritual," yet live a lawless existence. Even within the church, people insist on calling Jesus Yeshua, insist on the Sabbath, insist on being baptized in their way—and yet live immorally. No wonder the outside world looks in and calls the church full of hypocrites.

How can someone be a lawless legalist? You erect a form of religion that appeases your conscience and lets you do whatever you want. You serve, you tithe, you do a few churchy things on Sunday so that Monday through Saturday you can live like the rest of the world—and you insist everyone else live well, becoming pharisaical.

Slander Is Satanic

The only way such people could gain an upper hand in a church that loved its pastor was to demean, defame, and disgrace Paul's character. They had to plant doubt about the genuineness of his character. This is how Satan has worked from the very beginning. As Paul says in 11:3, "as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety."

Recall Genesis 3. The serpent, "more subtil than any beast of the field," said to the woman, "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" When she answered, he said, "Ye shall not surely die," discounting God's word. Then he planted a seed of doubt: "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof... ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." He suggested God was holding her back, keeping a secret. Both Adam and Eve ate, and they died—spiritually first, then physically. Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin.

This is how the enemy works. He questions the genuineness of God and of God's messengers; he subtly sows suspicion. This is why slander is satanic—the word translated slanderer in the New Testament is the Greek diabolos, translated devil elsewhere. He is the accuser of the brethren, and he plants seeds of doubt.

"Do Ye Look on Things After the Outward Appearance?"

What is Paul's response? Verse 7: "Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's."

This is a difficult verse to translate. The word look (Greek blepō) can be read either as the present active indicative—"you are looking at the outward appearance"—or as the present active imperative—a command, "look at what is right before your eyes." The forms appear identical; only context decides. Some versions render it as a statement, some as a command, with footnotes acknowledging the other reading. Great Bible teachers stand on both sides, but I lean toward this being a statement of fact: "You are looking at the outward appearance of things."

Continue in verses 8 through 11. These false accusers said, "His letters are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible." They claimed Paul merely terrified people with letters while being unimpressive in person, small in stature, with little authority. Paul says, in effect, do not look at the outward appearance. You cannot judge a book by its cover. These false brethren put up a nice facade, and the Corinthians were enamored with what they saw on the outside. And if Paul needs to be forceful when present, he will be—though he does not want to.

God Looks on the Heart

Humanity too quickly takes things at face value. A great illustration is in 1 Samuel 16. Israel wanted a king like the other nations, and they chose Saul—a head taller than everyone, a good-looking man. "Who's your king?" "The tall one—look at him, he's amazing." But Saul devastated them. So God chose a new king. The Lord sent Samuel to Jesse's house in Bethlehem.

When Samuel saw Eliab, the oldest, he said, "Surely the Lord's anointed is before him." But the Lord said—star this in your Bible—"Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature... for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." Seven sons passed by; none was chosen. Samuel asked, "Are here all thy children?" Jesse answered that the youngest was keeping the sheep. They brought in David—a junior, skinny, red-haired, unimpressive—and the Lord said, "That's him." God looks at the heart.

Measuring by the Right Standard

Verse 12: "For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." Their folly is that they set themselves as the standard. You can always find someone whose walk is worse than yours, someone with failings you can identify, so you can prop yourself up in your own mind. Glorying in your own strengths against the backdrop of another's feeble failings is of no value. These men found every trivial inconsistency in Paul—"he doesn't look good, he doesn't speak well, he has no letters"—and declared themselves greater.

What is the correct measure? Verses 13–16: "We will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us... For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure... for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ." Notice how often Paul uses the word measure. The measure of a man is what he does, not what he says or thinks about himself—and the measure of a Christian man is what God does through him. Paul gloried only in the work God wrought in and through him, never in another man's labors, though he hoped for greater opportunities to bring the gospel where it had not gone.

Glory in the Lord

Verse 17: "But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth." If anyone in the body is going to boast, let him boast in God, because even the works he is approved to do are works God has wrought through him. Paul looked forward to the commendation of God over the commendation of men, because God's commendation is eternal.

What does that commendation look like? Recall the parable of the talents. The master gave five, two, and one talent to his servants. The servant who turned five into ten heard, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant... I will make thee ruler over many: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." So did the one who turned two into four. That eternal weight of glory was on Paul's mind. Years later, sitting in a Roman prison awaiting execution by Nero, he wrote to Timothy, "I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness."

He did not care about a letter from the house of Chloe in Corinth or from Lydia in Philippi. He looked forward to standing before his Lord and saying, "Here is the measure of the sphere you gave me—Galatia, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Philippi, Berea, Thessalonica, Corinth—here it is, Lord." When his head was removed from his body, he entered the presence of the Lord, for to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I am certain he heard, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

The End of the False Apostles

What becomes of those who boast in themselves? Philippians 3 answers. "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision"—these false apostles. "For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." Paul could boast in his lineage if he wished, but he doesn't. Then in verse 18 he warns of "many" who "are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction."

There was a third servant in the parable of the talents—the one who buried his single talent. He came saying his master was a hard man, and he was judged a wicked servant. Paul says of these enemies of the cross, "I tell you even weeping." Imagine that—he weeps over those who slandered him through his entire ministry.

It is phenomenal to me that Paul spends these four chapters pleading with the false apostles who slandered him, that they would repent and come to a true knowledge of Christ. "I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." Love your enemies; pray for those who despitefully use you. In so doing, he says in Romans, "thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head"—which is actually a good thing. And it surely drove his enemies to distraction that he would pray for them. It's powerful.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You that when we are weak, we are strong in You—that we can do all things through You as You give us strength. I thank You for the testimony of the apostle Paul, who recognized his weakness and boasted in it, because in his weakness You were shown to be mighty. So God, use our insufficiencies, our lack, our weaknesses to be the things through which You shine greatly. Help us, Lord, to shine for You this week, to walk in a way that honors You and brings glory to Your name. For we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.