Knowing The Word in 2 Corinthians 5:11-12, Known to God

11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart.

An ambassador employed the skill of rhetoric to persuade a ruler to whom he was sent, using praise, argument, and defense of policies. Paul sees himself as Christ’s ambassador, using these skills. Ultimately God is the judge of Paul’s defense of his ministry, as he is known to him, while the Corinthians are the jury. Paul is commending himself again in this letter not in a Sophistic way but in an inoffensive way. He boasts of matters of substance and of the heart, while those who oppose him boast in matters of form and outward appearance.

O Lord, that lends me life,

Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.

William Shakespeare, 1564-1616