A Fool in Glorying 2 Corinthians 12:11

Paul the apostle told the church members, “ I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong, and in chapter twelve and verse eleven of Second Corinthians, Paul wrote, “I am become a fool in glorying” where we read:

I am become a fool in glorying; you have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.

The verse begins, “I am become a fool in glorying; you have compelled me: ” Paul began with the words, “I am become” which means “Paul came to be, arose and happened as” “a fool” or “a person without reason, senseless, stupid and acting rashly” “in glorying” which refers to “vaunting, boasting and rejoicing”; “you have compelled me” or “the church members have necessitated, driven, constrained, permitted and entreated Paul”. “Boasting” was against Paul's character, however, the church members in Corinth “drove” him toward it.

The verse goes on to say, “... for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.”. Paul began with the words, “for I ought” which means “because Paul should be owed and due as in a debt” “to have been commended” which means “to have been shown, proven, established and exhibited” “of you” which means “of the church members”: “for in nothing” or “because and since in not one thing” “am I behind” which means “was Paul inferior, wanting, devoid or in lack of” “the very chiefest apostles” which refers to “the exceedingly great and beyond measure delegates, messengers and ones sent forth with orders such as the twelve apostles of Jesus”, “though I be nothing” which means “even if and although Paul was a nobody and naught”. Paul thought he should have been “established” by the church members in Corinth because he was not “lacking” in one trait compared to the original “apostles” of Jesus.

When we meditate upon these words of Paul, we see how he resisted “boasting” about himself but was “made to” “glory” because the church members in Corinth “drove” him to it. Instead of being “commended” by the church members, some of them rejected him even though he “lacked” in nothing of the “great apostles”. Jesus Christ not only came to save people from their sins, but also to give them gifts to use in His kingdom. Paul was extremely gifted and lacked only in appreciation by the church members. This is often the plight of ones who serve Jesus with all their lives and talent. Nonetheless, God is watching, and though people may not appreciate their efforts, the reward of the righteous should prevent being as “fools” by “glorying” in themselves.

Next time Paul tells the church members, “truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then,

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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