29 Humble Boasting
(2 Corinthians 11:16–21)
Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little. What I am saying, I am not saying as the Lord would, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also. For you, being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly. For you tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, anyone devours you, anyone takes advantage of you, anyone exalts himself, anyone hits you in the face. To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison. But in whatever respect anyone else is bold—I speak in foolishness—I am just as bold myself. (11:16–21)
Humility is the noblest Christian virtue. It is the only appropriate response to a proper understanding of the glory of God and a genuine sense of His majesty. Humility results in a deep desire to worship God, honor Him, and seek His glory.
But as John Piper notes,
Humility is not a popular trait in the modern world. It’s not touted on the talk shows or celebrated in valedictory speeches or commended in diversity seminars or listed with corporate core values. And if you go to the massive self-help section of your sprawling mall bookstore, you won’t find many titles celebrating humility.
The basic reason for this is not hard to find: humility can only survive in the presence of God. When God goes, humility goes. In fact you might say that humility follows God like a shadow. We can expect to find humility applauded in our society about as often as we find God applauded.
In my local newspaper recently a guest editorial captured the atmosphere of our time that asphyxiates humility:
There are some who naively cling to the nostalgic memory of God. The average churchgoer takes a few hours out of the week to experience the sacred. … But the rest of the time, he is immersed in a society that no longer acknowledges God as an omniscient and omnipotent force to be loved and worshiped. … Today we are too sophisticated for God. We can stand on our own; we are prepared and ready to choose and define our own existence.
In this atmosphere humility cannot survive. It disappears with God. When God is neglected, the runner-up god takes his place, namely man. And that, by definition, is the opposite of humility, namely, the haughty spirit called pride. So the atmosphere we breathe is hostile to humility. (Future Grace [Sisters, Ore.; Multnomah, 1995], 85–86. Italics in original.)
All sin is an affront to God and represents a turning away from Him. For example, covetousness involves turning away from God and His provision to seek satisfaction in material things. Lust involves turning away from God’s design for sex to seek pleasure in illicit relationships. Anger involves turning away from God’s justice and retribution to seek one’s own vengeance. Impatience involves turning away from God’s sovereignty to seek control over one’s own life. Fear involves turning away from God’s power to succumb to the dread of other powers. But pride is the ultimate idolatry, and therefore the most heinous sin, because it involves replacing God-centeredness with self-centeredness.
Scripture emphasizes the importance of humility by commanding it, extolling its blessings, and offering examples of humble people. In an Old Testament summary of godly living, the prophet Micah wrote, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Mic. 6:8). “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,” Paul commanded the Philippians, “but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves” (Phil. 2:3). To the Colossians he wrote, “As those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Col. 3:12).
The humble experience rich blessings. God hears them when they pray (Ps. 10:17; cf. 9:12); they enjoy His presence (Isa. 57:15; cf. 66:2); He will deliver them from trouble (Job 22:29); they are the objects of His concern (Ps. 138:6); He will lead and teach them (Ps. 25:9); they will experience His grace (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5); they will have wisdom (Prov. 11:2); and they will lead long and prosperous lives (Prov. 22:4). The humble will, paradoxically, be the most exalted and honored people (Prov. 15:33; 18:12; 29:23; Matt. 23:12; Luke 14:11; 18:14; James 4:10), the greatest in God’s kingdom (Matt. 18:4; cf. 20:26–28). Included among their number are Abraham (Gen. 18:27); Jacob (Gen. 32:10); Job (Job 40:4); Moses (Num. 12:3); Gideon (Judg. 6:15); Manasseh (2 Chron. 33:12); Josiah (2 Chron. 34:27); Daniel (Dan. 10:12); Paul (Acts 20:19); and, supremely, the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 11:29; Phil. 2:8).
On the other hand, pride is the first sin, the one committed by Satan (Isa. 14:14; 1 Tim. 3:6). Scripture repeatedly warns against it (Prov. 21:4; cf. 1 Sam. 2:3; Ps. 75:5; Rom. 12:16; James 4:16; 1 John 2:16). God hates pride (Prov. 6:16–17; cf. Ps. 5:5) and expects His people to hate it (Prov. 8:13). Pride is expressed in boasting (1 Sam. 2:3; 2 Chron. 25:19); in persecution of the righteous by the wicked (Ps. 10:2); in evil speech (Ps. 31:18); in the lives of the wicked (Hab. 2:4; Rom. 1:30), especially false teachers (1 Tim. 6:3–4), and will be especially prevalent in the last days (2 Tim. 3:1–2).
The evil fruit of pride includes dishonor (Prov. 11:2); destruction (Prov. 16:18; 18:12); being opposed by God (James 4:6); being humbled by God (Prov. 29:23; cf. Ps. 18:27; 2 Sam. 22:28; Dan. 4:37); being defiled (Mark 7:21–23); and strife (Prov. 13:10; 28:25). Pride also keeps people from seeking (Ps. 10:4) and knowing God (Ps. 138:6). But most serious of all, pride results in God’s judgment. Proverbs 16:5 warns, “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; assuredly, he will not be unpunished.” Isaiah also foresaw the judgment of proud evildoers:
The proud look of man will be abased and the loftiness of man will be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning against everyone who is proud and lofty and against everyone who is lifted up, that he may be abased. (Isa. 2:11–12)
Malachi 4:1 adds, “‘For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.’” “The Lord preserves the faithful,” wrote David, “and fully recompenses the proud doer” (Ps. 31:23), while in Psalm 94:2 the psalmist prayed, “Rise up, O Judge of the earth, render recompense to the proud.” Scripture deplores the pride both of individuals, such as Hezekiah (2 Chron. 32:25); Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4:30; 5:20); and Belshazzar (Dan. 5:22–23); and of nations, such as Moab (Isa. 16:6); Edom (Obad. 3); Babylon (Jer. 50:29, 32); and, tragically, Israel (Isa. 28:1; Jer. 13:9; Hos. 5:5).
No one was more convinced of the importance of humility than Paul. In fact, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, no New Testament man appears more humble than he. Paul sought to follow Christ’s example of humility (Matt. 11:29), as he did all aspects of His life (1 Cor. 11:1; cf. Eph. 5:1–2; Phil. 2:5) so that others could in turn follow his pattern (1 Cor. 4:16; 11:1; Phil. 3:17; 1 Thess. 1:6; 2 Thess. 3:9).
Because of his humility, Paul found the idea of boasting abhorrent. Yet that is exactly what he was compelled to do in writing this epistle. As noted in previous chapters of this volume, Paul’s apostolic credentials were under massive assault from false apostles at Corinth. They had slanderously accused him of being a wicked, lying charlatan, and were seeking to destroy his credibility and replace him as the authoritative teachers of the Corinthian congregation. Alarmingly, many of the Corinthians had bought into the deceivers’ lies about Paul. He had to take action, not for the sake of his ego, but for the sake of the gospel. He could not allow the false teachers to cut off the Corinthians’ access to the divine truth he proclaimed.
The disinformation they spread about Paul included their assessment that he was too ordinary and unspectacular a man to be a genuine apostle. To counter those lies, he was forced to present his apostolic credentials, something he preferred not to have to do because they should be obvious. Paul was more comfortable discussing his weaknesses than his accomplishments (2 Cor. 4:7; 12:5, 9–10; cf. 1 Cor. 15:10; 1 Tim. 1:15–16), even though what he said about himself was true (cf. 2 Cor. 10:13–14).
The true measure of a person’s humility is the ability to boast when necessary and yet remain humble. It is easy to be humble in failure —far more difficult to be humble in the midst of great success. Paul had been eminently privileged by the Lord, and his ministry had obviously been monumentally successful; the challenge was for him to say what was true and necessary, yet remain humble. When he presented his apostolic credentials in 11:22–12:13, he did just that.
But before he did so, Paul expressed one final time his reluctance to boast. He was doing so under protest, and only because the Corinthians’ naïve acceptance of the false apostles’ lies made it necessary. In this prologue to his defense of his apostleship, Paul gave two reasons why boasting is unprofitable: It is foolish, and it is fleshly.
BOASTING IS FOOLISH
Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little. What I am saying, I am not saying as the Lord would, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. (11:16–17)
The term again pointed the Corinthians back to Paul’s earlier discussion of boasting in 11:1. He had digressed to discuss the issue of financial remuneration and to expose the false apostles as agents of Satan in disguise (vv. 2–15).
Before reluctantly launching his defense, which he regarded as foolishness, Paul distanced himself from the true fools. He did not want anyone to think him foolish like the false teachers; he was not habitually given to commending himself like they were. But if any of the Corinthians really did think him to be a fool, Paul asked that they grant him the same privilege that they did the false apostles and receive him even as foolish. The false apostles boasted incessantly; Paul would boast only a little. The apostle was no fool; he was merely answering fools as their folly deserved (Prov. 26:5) to protect the Corinthians from spiritual disaster. And it was their folly in being seduced by the false apostles that had necessitated Paul’s boasting (2 Cor. 12:11).
Verses 17 and 18 form a parenthesis and provide another important disclaimer. Paul acknowledged that what he was saying, he was not saying as the Lord would. He was not, as some have foolishly asserted, denying that what he wrote in this passage was inspired Scripture (cf. 2 Peter 3:15–16). What he meant was that he was not following anything his Lord had done, because Jesus never boasted. That made it hard for him to do so, because the supreme goal of his life was to be like Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 11:1; Rom. 14:8; Phil. 1:21; 3:14).
Summarizing Paul’s intent in this verse, Albert McShane writes,
We must not conclude from this verse that here we have a part of Scripture which is not inspired. [Paul] had the Lord’s permission to write as he does, but he owns that this is not the usual way His servants are expected to speak of themselves. Had any other course been hopeful of success, this one would never have been taken. The wiseacres at Corinth had fed too long at the table of fools to relish the normal diet of saints, so he is compelled to set before them what they can digest, even though he himself regards it as unpalatable. (What the Bible Teaches: II Corinthians [Kilmarnock, Scotland: John Ritchie Ltd., 1986], 384)
What Paul said was accurate, and he said it without pride or self-commendation. Nevertheless, it rankled him that enemies of the truth had forced him into the foolishness of self-confident boasting.
BOASTING IS FLESHLY
Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also. For you, being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly. For you tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, anyone devours you, anyone takes advantage of you, anyone exalts himself, anyone hits you in the face. To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison. But in whatever respect anyone else is bold—I speak in foolishness— I am just as bold myself. (11:18–21)
The many who boast[ed] according to the flesh (cf. 1 Cor. 3:21; 5:6; Gal. 6:13) were, of course, the false apostles. Their boasting was worldly, vain, and empty, based on their human accomplishments, as Paul’s had been before his conversion (cf. Gal. 1:14; Phil. 3:4–6). The false apostles could not boast of what God had done through them, since they were the enemies of God. They were hucksters, guilty of “peddling the word of God” (2 Cor. 2:17); proclaimers of “another Jesus,” and “a different gospel” (11:4); “false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ” (11:13). As such, they could only boast of their personal achievements, which were motivated by their corrupt desires and prompted by their father, Satan (cf. John 8:44). To counter their false claims, Paul was forced to boast also.
In verses 19–21 Paul issued his final disclaimers before beginning his boasting in verse 22. He employed the most scathing language to be found anywhere in this epistle, using sarcasm to shock the Corinthians out of their complacent acceptance of the false apostles. Sarcasm is saying the opposite of what is true for effect. It is the strongest, most cutting way to use language, and hence the most effective way for Paul to get his point across. The apostle, as it were, verbally slapped the Corinthians to bring them to their senses.
This was not the first time Paul had been forced to resort to sarcasm in dealing with the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 4:8–10 he used it to deflate their arrogant pride:
You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor.
“Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren?” he chided them in 1 Corinthians 6:5. Later in that epistle he added, “If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know” (1 Cor. 8:2).
Paul began by needling the Corinthians for being “wise” enough to tolerate the foolish false apostles gladly. He sarcastically pointed out that the Corinthians willingly listened to those who en -slaved, exploited, entrapped, dominated, and humiliated them. That being the case, they could surely bear with him.
Paul also used the Greek verb translated enslaves in Galatians 2:4 to describe the Judaizers’ entrapment of the Galatians in their false legalistic system. The false apostles had similarly ensnared many of the Corinthians in the heretical teaching they espoused. Paul surely had in mind the abusive control the false apostles exercised over them, enslaving the Corinthians to themselves—something neither he (2 Cor. 1:24) nor any true servant of God would do (Matt. 20:25–26; 23:8–10; 1 Peter 5:3). In either case, they had robbed the Corinthians of their freedom in Christ (cf. Matt. 11:28–30; John 8:32, 36; Rom. 8:2; 1 Cor. 9:19; Gal. 2:4; 5:1; 1 Peter 2:16).
The false teachers had devour[ed] the Corinthians in the sense of plundering them financially (the same Greek word appears in Mark 12:40; cf. Ps. 14:4). Unlike Paul, who refused to be a burden to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 12:14), the false apostles were “slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites” (Rom. 16:18).
The Corinthians had also been taken advantage of or en -trapped by the false apostles. They had been caught like a fish on a hook (cf. Luke 5:5, where the same Greek verb is translated “caught”) or like an animal in a trap.
The false teachers also elevated themselves in stark contrast to Paul, who followed Christ’s example of meekness and gentleness in his dealings with the Corinthians (2 Cor. 10:1). Paul used the same verb translated exalts himself in 10:5 to describe “speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God.” The false apostles were obsessed with their own importance.
To strike someone in the face is the ultimate insult (cf. 1 Kings 22:24; Lam. 3:30; Mark 14:65; Acts 23:2). Shockingly, the Corinthians tolerated even the most extreme humiliation by the false apostles. They may have physically struck some of the Corinthians to intimidate them, or the expression may be metaphorical. Either way, they allowed themselves to be humiliated. The false apostles’ abusive treatment of the Corinthians makes it clear that they were not true men of God (the term “not pugnacious” [1 Tim. 3:3; Titus 1:7] literally means “not a striker”).
Paul’s sarcasm reached its peak when he wrote in verse 21, To my shame I must say that if the false apostles’ behavior is the standard, we have been weak by comparison. Actually, his “weakness” in not en slaving, exploiting, entrapping, dominating, and humiliating the Corinthians proved to be the strength and proof of his genuineness as an apostle and the evidence of his love for them.
The last sentence in this passage, But in whatever respect anyone else is bold … I am just as bold myself, marks the transition to Paul’s defense of his apostleship that begins in verse 22. Just as the false apostles had been bold in attacking him, so Paul would be bold in defending himself. He would write unhesitatingly, confidently, in the hope that the Corinthians would turn from the false apostles to the true one. His parenthetical phrase I speak in foolishness evidences the sarcasm of this section.
Throughout the church’s history, God’s people have suffered at the hands of abusive false leaders. Philip E. Hughes writes,
As we look back over nineteen centuries of the history of the Christian Church, we cannot help being struck by the manner in which for most of the time so many of its adherents seem to have been content lamely to tolerate the impositions and extortions of ecclesiastical despots whose lives are a contradiction of the meekness and gentleness of Christ and whose concern has been less for the souls of the perishing than for the buttressing of their own reputation in the eyes of the world. The Reformation of the sixteenth century was a breaking away from this dark spirit of tyranny and the recovery, through returning to the pure doctrine of the New Testament, of that liberty in the gospel which is the birthright of every Christian man. (The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992], 401)
If they are to heed Paul’s exhortation, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1), believers must reject those despotic false teachers who seek to enslave them. His passionate desire to see his beloved Corinthian congregation free from the scourge of the abusive false apostles motivated Paul’s detailed defense of his apostleship, which begins in the next section of this epistle.