In this section, Paul concludes his boasting (2 Corinthians 12:11-13) and anticipates his third visit (2 Corinthians 14-21).

Paul has played the fool. He has engaged in, what he regards as, foolish boasting. He was compelled to do so because the Corinthians had accepted the credentials of the “super-apostles” above his own. Whatever the “super-apostles” offered in their boasting, Paul has “more” (2 Corinthians 11:23) and is not the least inferior to the intruders (2 Corinthians 11:5; 12:11).

According to Paul, this was a foolish procedure for a couple of reasons. On the one hand, boasting in one’s credentials is arrogant and prideful. It is not becoming of a minister of the Messiah, and it does not participate in the humble ministry of Jesus. It does not serve the ministry of reconciliation but is antagonistic to it. On the other hand, it is foolish because it should have been totally unnecessary. Paul has planted and watered the church at Corinth; he is their father. They know him, and they know his ministry (though they have misunderstood it at times). In other words, they know his credentials as an apostle and minister of the Messiah.

Paul is uncomfortable with this boasting because he knows he is actually “nothing.” I don’t think this is false humility. Rather, it reminds us of 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 where Paul acknowledges God alone makes one sufficient for ministry, and it is by the power of God that Paul ministers. It is because he is “nothing”—a humble servant of the Messiah—that Paul boasts in his weaknesses rather than in his commendations and revelations.

That contrast should have been obvious to the Corinthians, but they were blinded by the presence and credentials of the intruders even though Paul does not lag behind them one bit. If they are seeking signs (and some did, cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25), Paul—whatever the claims and actions of the “super-apostles”—performed the “signs of an apostle” among the Corinthians. This include “signs and wonders, and mighty works,” which includes not only what we might call “miracles” or “supernatural” acts but also the wondrous work of the transformative power of the gospel among them.

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Blessings,

Matt