Knowing The Word in 2 Corinthians 10:1-3, Paul Defends his Ministry

1 I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.

What has been on the back burner in chapters 1-9 now comes to the fore in chapters 10-13. Up to this point the focus has been on the Corinthians. Now it shifts to the false apostles. Paul takes his opponents head-on, saying he ministers after Christ as his model while his opponents operate out of the flesh. Paul is talking about the character of Jesus during his ministry, implying that his own meekness in the presence of the Corinthians has been modeled on the way Christ acted. Who are his opponents in Corinth? Paul will accuse them of living in a worldly way and evaluating him personally from a sinful and purely human point of view. It is now clear that Paul is angry and ready to go to war, but his weapons are not fleshy. Rather, they have divine powers. There is a spiritual battle going on over the hearts and souls of the Corinthians.

Save us, O Lord, from the snares of a double mind. Deliver us from all cowardly neutralities. Make us to go in the paths of thy commandments, and to trust for our defence in thy mighty arm alone; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Richard Urrell Frounde, 1803-1836