All right, here we are, and remember
the subject and watch it as we read along. Paul's boasting. boasting in his ministry, gospel,
the work of the Lord, and so forth. So verse 13, but we will
not boast of things without measure, but according to the measure
of the rule which God hath distributed unto us, a measure to reach even
unto you. For we stretch not ourself beyond
measure, as though we reached not unto you, for we are come
as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ. Not boasting of things without
measure, that is, of other men's labors, but having hope when
your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according
to our rule abundantly. To preach the gospel in the regions
beyond you, and not to boast in another man's line of things
made ready to our hand, but he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. For not he that commendeth himself
is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. Would to God you
would bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with
me. For I am jealous over you with
a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that
I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear,
lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety,
so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus, whom ye have not received, or if ye receive another
spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have
not received, ye might well bear with. For I suppose I am not
a whit behind the very chiefest apostle, but though I be rude
in speech, yet not in knowledge. But we have been thoroughly made
manifest among you in all things. Have I committed an offense? in abasing myself that you might
be exalted because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely. I robbed other churches, taking
wages of them to do you service. And when I was present with you
and wanted, I was chargeable to no man. for that which was
lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied,
and that in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome
unto you, and so will I keep myself. As the truth of Christ
is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions
of Achaia." Now look at that last statement. No man shall
stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. For in verse
1, he said, I would to God that you would bear with me a little
in my folly. Now, I make a confession, and
that is, for the very first time in all of my study and of my
preaching through the scripture, this is the first time that I
ever realized that a new section actually began in chapter 10
and verse one, and that it runs all the way to the end of the
book, or chapter 13. And in the overall context, we
would need to put all of that together that we might have Paul's
argument for our study this morning. So what is the main subject of
this section of the scripture? What is it that stands out above
the rest that Paul is discussing here? And then the question,
what is it that justifies him or that motivates Paul to discuss
it at such length in this letter to the Corinthian assembly? And
the answer is, of course, that there were those in the Corinthian
church who disputed the apostleship of Paul. And therefore, they
challenged his gospel and claimed that they offered a better apostleship
and a better gospel unto the people in that place. And so,
upon that, they rejected his authority as an apostle and then
the gospel that he had preached and brought that attitude to
bear upon the church and the people there in the city of Corinth. And Paul calls it, if you notice,
another gospel as in Galatians 1, 6 through verse 12. Another gospel which is actually
not another. Now concerning Paul and his gospel,
let's recall his claims in regard to the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The gospel that Paul had preached
unto them. And yea, in Corinth had he brought
unto them that gospel. And the Lord, through that gospel
and his ministry, had raised up a body of believers in the
city of Corinth, and some there were converted. Now, the record
of Paul laboring in Corinth, you have in the 18th chapter
of the book of Acts. There's the record of his coming
to Corinth a year and a half. He labored with them there in
the gospel. Paul said further in Romans 1
and verse 1, called to be an apostle and separated, said he,
unto the gospel of God." So personal was the gospel unto Paul that
he actually called it, my gospel, in Romans 2 15 and 16 and verse
25. 2 Timothy chapter 3 or 2 and
verse 3. My gospel is how Paul referred
to it under the people of that time. Now Paul's claim is very
clear, and that is by a special and divine call, he was made
an apostle. And by a special and divine revelation,
he received the gospel of the Lord that he had preached unto
them. And in Galatians 1, 11 and 12,
he tells how he received the gospel, not from men, but by
a divine revelation from Christ, saying to them, I certify to
you, brethren, I declare, I make known, I declare unto you that
the gospel which I preach is not after men, but after the
Lord Jesus Christ. For I received it not of men,
but from the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why the 10th chapter
through the 13th chapter contain a lengthy disputation concerning
himself and deflecting the criticism of his enemy, and forces Paul
to do something that he found very distasteful unto him, something
that he did not like to do, and something that he restrained
himself from doing, and that is to boast. or to glory, or
to speak highly of himself, of his apostleship, or of his ministry,
and to point out to them the great success that the Lord had
brought through his ministry among the people. And he declares
plainly, I was in no way, I was in absolutely nothing behind
the very chiefest of the apostle, 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 5 and
chapter 12 and verse 11, that the signs of an apostle were
clearly evident and were done by him among them. Mighty wonders,
mighty deeds were done by his hand as an apostle in their midst,
chapter 12 and verse 12. We'll be all over this this morning. So let's take a closer look now
and kind of settle in through chapter 11 and verse 1. Because, as some point out, this
verse contains the scope of the matter. This is the subject under
discussion. And he wishes to press it upon
them, that they might endure with him, that they might put
up with him. that they might be patient, and
that they might hear him out on the matter unto the end. He calls it folly, or he calls
it foolishness. I would that you bear with me
a little in my folly. And indeed, bear with me. 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 1.
Another has it this way, I wish that you would bear with me in
a little foolishness, but indeed you are bearing with me. And in the margin it is this,
do indeed bear with me. Marshall's interlinear has it,
I would that you endured me a little folly, a little bit of foolishness,
but Indeed, you are enduring me. Linsky renders it, I would
that you would bear with me a little in something of folly. I want to speak of something.
It is folly, it is foolishness, it is boasting, but it is necessary. Now, during this period of the
scripture, this section of the scripture, I want to point out
that Paul uses different terms, and here are some of them. Boasting, he calls it, chapter
10 and verse 16, verse 10 and verse 16, of our chapter. He calls it glory
in verse 18 and verse 30, chapter 12 and verse 1. And he calls
it glorying in chapter 12 and verse 10. And he uses the word
fool and folly and foolishness in regard unto that matter. Now Paul, as I stated, was very
uncomfortable with self-commendation. He avoided it as he could, as
the last two verses of chapter 10 have declared, and we read
them. He now felt, however, that he
was forced into self-condemnation. He was forced that he might glory
and that he might boast to the Corinthian and that upon two
accounts that he makes very clear unto them. Two things were behind
it and he is clear. Number one, the false teachers
that came among them had boasted. They had boasted of themselves,
of their ministry, of the things that they preached, and the excellency
of their teaching. And the Corinthians had borne
with them. They had put up with it. They
had listened. They had allowed them to be so. And I think we can prove that
from the 18th verse for He, from the 18th verse, because he said
there, seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory
also. And then we see in chapter 11,
verse 21 through verse 23. In verse 18, they gloried in,
or they gloried after the flesh. And in verse 21 through verse
23. Paul matches them boast for boast and glory for glory. Look at him. He said, are they? So am I. Are they this? So am I. And he goes beyond them
in things that he suffered for the sake of the gospel of the
Lord. Chapter 11. verse 23 through
verse 28. But there's a second thing also
that motivates him, and that is his glory and his boasting
was not on his account. It was not simply that he might
be admired and lifted up, not that he might be prayed. His
little foolishness sprang from godly jealousy concerning their
spiritual welfare. As Barnes noted in his commentary,
lest their affection should be alienated from him in the simplicity
that is in Christ, that they might receive another gospel
at the hands of the seducer that had come among them. that they
might be deceived after the manner of Eve in the garden by the subtlety
or the craftiness of Satan. For as he says here in verse
12 through verse 15, of the chapter from which we read. I will that
I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion, that wherein
they boast they may be found even as we. For such are false
apostles deceitful worker, transforming themselves as the ministers or
apostles of Christ. And that's no marvel, for Satan
himself is transformed into an angel of light. So at this point,
let's make the observation that Paul is motivated by his boasting
and his glorying, which can be summed up under three heads. with regard to the Corinthian
church, the people, and the false teachers that were there. Number one, his godly jealousy
for their spiritual well-being. The second verse puts it very
clearly. I'm jealous over you with a godly
jealousy, for I have espoused you, I've engaged you, I've put
you toward one husband to present you a chaste virgin unto the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the second thing is their
danger of tolerating an aberrant or a deviation from the purity
of the gospel. That's in verse 3 and verse 4,
and we read another gospel, another Jesus, and another spirit. And the third thing, he was in
no way inferior unto the apostle that labored among them, and
that boasted, and that took their support, and undermined the apostle
Paul. He says, I am not behind the
most imminent, or the super apostle, some partake it in a sarcastic
way. Not at all. Am I behind those
that are undermining me there? 2 Corinthians chapter 12, 11,
13 through 15 describe the same thing again. But let's look,
if we might, at verse 3 in chapter 11. I fear. I fear." This connects with,
I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I have espoused
you to one husband, and that is Christ. But I fear. I am jealous, but I fear. Lest your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. Paul said to the Galatians
much the same thing. Chapter four, verse 11. I'm afraid
of you, lest I have bestowed labor upon you in vain, preaching
the pure and the true gospel, only to find that some deviate
and fall away from it into a false gospel later. Now the word simplicity
is a word that I think means single-minded. For I want you
to be single-minded toward the Lord Jesus Christ and toward
the gospel, as opposed to being double-minded. For a double-minded
man is unstable in all of his way, the Bible said. And to enforce
it to them, you notice that he used a very known example, perhaps
the best in the scripture, of seduction and deception, and
that was the serpent's deception of Eve, Genesis chapter 3, in
the garden through his subtlety, by his cunning. By his crafting
it, he beguiled Eve in the garden and led her into sin by his cunning. The King James had it, he beguiled
her in his crafting it. He fully, absolutely seduced
her. and this word translated beguiled
is four times more in the New Testament and I think all other
times it's translated by the word deceived. It is the word
that Paul uses of himself in Roman 7 and verse 11 when he
said sin is taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me,
and by it slew me." Paul is writing to Timothy about the role of
women and their Christian behavior in 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse
9 and through verse 15, and he says to Timothy in verse 13 and
14 there in that chapter, for Adam was first formed and then
Eve, but Adam was not deceived, but the woman
being deceived was in the transgression. They were in the transgression. Now this language of Paul is
emphatic, so say they, that are fluent in the Greek. It means
completely, absolutely, totally, wholly deceived Eve and led her
into a transgression. She fell into a different condition
because of the deception of Satan. Eve confessed the same thing
when God came to judge them. Genesis 3.13, the serpent beguiled
me and I did eat. The serpent deceived me, the
serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." She exchanged the truth
of God for a lie, and John Gill summed up Paul's fear concerning
the Corinthian this way, quote, lest their judgment should be
misled, their minds made faulty with corrupt principles, and
carried away with the error of the wicked from off the pure
and simple doctrine of the gospel." You know, a lot of people in
our day, they don't take seriously the purity of the gospel. Just
about anything will satisfy them, and they will accept it. But
then do you say, or do we say, or do we wonder, why does Paul
express this fear toward the Corinthian church? Why is he
suspicious that they might be drawn off of the simplicity that
is in Christ? We can only surmise. Was it their
sectarian tendency? They were saying, one said, I'm
a this one, I'm a that one, I'm another one, I'm a Paul, and
such like. Was it because they were not
well grounded? in the principles of the faith
of Christ? Was it the presence of the seducers
that were there that gave Paul this fear? What was the basis
of the fear? And perhaps it can be best summed
up by these words that I took again from John Gill, that it
was, quote, as things were in the church, unquote. As things
stood in the church. They were carnal. They were in
great confusion about many things. And as to that, perhaps Paul
feared that they might be drawn away from the simplicity of the
gospel. Consider, if we might, the example. How did Satan deceive Eve? How did he in his subtlety bring
her to be deceived and to sin. You know what he did? He promised
her a better and an advanced knowledge of the things of God,
and appeared not in his true character when he came to her,
but as it were an angel of light. He promised her a better good
if she would but eat of the fruit of the tree. It would help her,
he said, to advance. You shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil. You know, we have those people
that come among us declaring what they call the full gospel. They tell us, oh, you don't have
all the gospel. There's more. And so they preach
what they call the full gospel. And even so, the ministers of
Satan, they do not always appear in all of their ugliness and
their lies and their deception. In other words, they do not always
appear in their true character. Paul tells them in verse 12 through
verse 15 that they transformed themselves into an angel of light. But now, with all of that behind
us, let's come to Paul's boasting, for it is lengthy. As he tells
them, he will glory, he will boast, he will commend himself,
but out of necessity only, only because it is necessary. He tells them it is for the sake
of the gospel and for the sake and defense of his apostleship. Now the whole of his relationship
to the Corinthian church can be summed up again in that second
verse that we read in chapter 11. Look, I am I have, I may."
He held a unique position to the Corinthian church, a position
no one else held or could hold. In that, he had been the first
or the chosen instrument of God in bringing them the gospel and
seeing them converted unto the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that
sense, Paul says, he is sort of a spiritual father unto them. Back in 1 Corinthians chapter
4 and verse 14 and 15, there he speaks to them using the relationship
of father, he the father, and they the son. He called them
my beloved son. And he likens himself to being
their father in that In Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through
the gospel. He had a unique relationship
under the Corinthian, and he would that they recognize that. Now let me say, without going
into any detail, I do not believe that 1 Corinthians 4 and verses
14 and 15 is a good proof text for the doctrine of gospel regeneration. But that's a discussion for another
time. He says, I have in Christ Jesus
begotten you through the gospel, and I have espoused you to one
husband, that is to the Lord Jesus Christ. He uses another
metaphor in 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 6. I have planted, Apollos
watered. I have planted. I planted the
seed and Apollos came along and watered. In the 10th verse he
said, I am as a wise master builder. I have laid the foundation. Now the foundation can no man
lay, which is Christ Jesus, but another builds upon it. I laid the foundation and another
builds upon it. And hear him again in 1 Corinthians
4.15, for though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, he uses
there what we might call an exaggeration, a hyperbole, 10,000. If you had
10,000 teachers, instructors, trainers, yet as in nature, you
have only one father. I am your father in the gospel. And Paul, by virtue of preaching
them the gospel which they believe, likens himself, therefore, to
being a father unto them, and they sons and daughters unto
him. A more intimate relation, father
and son. And in Acts chapter 18, again,
you have the record of Paul laboring in the city of Corinth in the
gospel and the church being raised up in that place. But now, let's
go down the line. We're ready at last to consider
some of the individual boasts that the apostle is making under
them. Glory. which gives him pain to
do it, for he does not like it. Chapter 11, verse 5 and verse
6. He did not consider himself as
an apostle and a preacher in any way whatsoever inferior to
the apostles that were among them. See it again. Chapter 12,
verse 11. They had no lack from him, not
at all, as their minister. In not one thing did the others
excel him, either in knowledge, in doctrine, and in the preaching
of the gospel, not in zeal, not in gifts, and not in devotion
unto the doctrine of Christ. And that included the Jerusalem
apostles too, by the way. Galatians chapter 2 and verse
6. And he asked them in verse 6, even if he was not a skilled
orator. Look at that, chapter 11 and
verse 6. Even if I am not a skilled orator,
yet I lack no knowledge. I may come behind them in oratorical
ability and the skill of language, but not in knowledge," says the
Apostle. He was not deficit in the knowledge
of the things of God, and especially in that of the gospel of Christ,
for he had received it by a direct revelation from Jesus Christ. And in that, he had been fully
manifested among them, so that those that claimed much did not
exceed Paul in knowledge." Not in knowledge. 2 Corinthians 12
and 3, they had proof of Christ speaking in Paul. They had proof
of it evident before their eyes and in their heart. Now look
at chapter 11 and verse 7 through 12. Here is a subject that Paul
just keeps bringing up to the Corinthian. He discusses it in
the first epistle and he discusses it at length here. He lays it
to rest. He brings it up again later on
in the epistle. And that point is this, look,
I took no support from you whatsoever in preaching the gospel among
you. Verse 7, he preached the gospel
freely. Verse 8, he was supported by
other churches to serve the Corinthians. And 1 Corinthians 9 and verse
18, he made the gospel of Christ to them without charge. He took nothing of their offering
or of their finances, even though he had the right as a minister
of God to forbear working and to live of the gospel. Perhaps
you should read in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. It's very interesting. Verse 6. He had the right not
to work and to live of the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9, 14. In fact,
not only did Paul not take support from the Corinthian, but other
brethren supplied his need when he had it and gave him his support. By working at his craft as a
tent maker, he supported himself and was not burdensome unto them
at all. Acts 18 and verse 3. Now, the
question is, did the false apostles do that? Did they not take support? Did they not take support for
preaching among them? In fact, in 1 Corinthians chapter
9, Paul lists some of the ways that he practiced self-denial
and waived his rights as a free man in Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 9. For example,
verse 4. He had the right to disregard
the law of meat and of drink. But he gave it up that he might
not be an offense unto his brother. As long as the world stand, I
will eat no meat if it offend my brother. He had the right,
therefore, to disregard that, but he forgo those rights. Verse 5, he had the right to
have a sister wife, just like Simon Peter did. He had a right
as an apostle to have a wife, but he did not in order that
he might be fully devoted unto the gospel. In verse 6, chapter
9, He had the right to live of the gospel and not work at a
crowd. But he worked to give the gospel
without charge. And in chapter 7, verse 18, he
shows the right to be supported as a minister. We won't go there. But in verse 19 through 23 of
1 Corinthians chapter 9, he shows some examples of how He had denied
himself his rights under grace for the good of others and the
advancement of the gospel and to the glory of Christ. Read, for example, 1 Corinthians
chapter 9 and verse 19. And there's where he said, as
a Jew, he became as a Jew under law, and he became as a Gentile
without law, in order that he might gain some. He became as
one weak that he might not wound the conscience of the weak brethren. And why? Verse 18, to not abuse
my right in the gospel. Verse 19, that I might gain the
more. Verse 20, to gain them under
law. Verse 21, to gain them without
law. That's 1 Corinthians chapter
9. Verse 22, that I might by all means save some. And verse 23, this I do for the
gospel's sake. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, very
interesting passage. But let's come back here. to
1 Corinthians chapter 11, and let's look at verse 16 and verse
18 of this passage of the scripture. And with that in mind, have in
the back of our mind Philippians chapter 3 verse 4 and verse 5.
Look at verse 16. I say again, Let no man think me a fool, if
otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a
little." Verse 18, seeing that many glory after the flesh, I
will glory also. What did Paul say in Philippians
3, 4, and 5? He said, look, if any have reason
to glory after the flesh, I more than they all." You know what
he said. A Hebrew of Hebrews, a tribe of Benjamin, circumcised
the eighth day. He had kept the law perfectly
and been done in his behalf. But here's a summation. of those
episodes of boasting, condensed by F.F. Bruce, as I was reading
him this week. He said, I am a purebred Jew. I suffered much for the gospel.
I suffered for magistrate. I suffered for mobs. I suffered
in natural calamity. I suffered in prison, I was exposed
to death, I was beaten, I was imperiled by my own countrymen,
exhausted, hungry, thirsty, cold, in addition to all the care of
the churches that came upon me daily." There's Paul's sacrifices
for the gospel and the church of our Lord. But, let's come
to verse 32 and 33, chapter 9, his escape from Damascus, when
he was let down over the wall in a basket, for the whole city
was encircled that they might catch him, for they wanted to
kill him. Then in chapter 12, verse 1 through
9, he says, I will come to visions, and to dreams. Let me speak to
you about visions and about dreams. I will come to revelation. Now,
this led to a painful thorn in the flesh. The great revelation
that Paul received in his catching up led to a very, very painful
and unremovable thorn in the flesh. None of Paul's nemeses,
could match him in these things. Not one of them. Could they?
No. Certainly they could not. They could not match him. And
this led to that very painful thorn in the flesh. The purpose
of it was to check Paul by what he calls a thorn in the flesh. lest he be spoken of more highly
than he ought, or think of himself more highly than he ought. Caught
up into the third heaven, he saw things there that were impossible
for any to tell or to know in any way. Things impossible to
be made known unto any other. And notice that he speaks here
in the third person, but he is speaking of himself in verse
7. Now, we know how the Lord Jesus
Christ appeared unto Paul on earth on the Damascus Road in
chapter 9 of Acts, and converted him. We know of his vision in
the city of Troas in the 16th chapter of Acts. We know of that
one in Corinth in the 18th chapter of the book of Acts. Come over
and help us, they cried in Macedonia. All of these occurred on earth,
to make the point. But at least once, Paul was caught
up into heaven. And in verse 7, he was given
an abundance of revelation, excessive revelation. suppressing greatness
of revelation beyond measure and heard things that were not
lawful to utter. He's not sure whether he remained
in the body or was having an out-of-body experience, but he
heard and he saw things Extraordinary, inexpressible thing he saw called
up into the third heaven, either because they were incapable of
description to earthly men or because they were so spiritual
and beyond reach that none could speak them or understand them. This was not the result of Paul
seeking it. He did not seek to be caught
up. It was a work, a favor, a sovereign
work of Almighty God. It was a favor bestowed upon
this apostle as no other, and it resulted in more misery for
the apostle, what he calls a thorn in the flesh. In the seventh
verse there of chapter 12, lest I should be exalted above measure. And not by others, but by his
own thinking, perhaps. His own thinking. Paul was called
up into heaven. He said to us in Romans 12 and
3, a man ought not to think of himself more highly than he ought. Here is a premise. It's in 1
Corinthians chapter 8, verse 1, having to do with knowledge
of idols and such like. And Paul writes this, we know
knowledge puffs up. Knowledge puffs up. You Corinthians
are bragging of your knowledge. We know that knowledge puffs
up. It swells the head, it inflates
the ego, and it fills with pride. And that's why I like Gil's handling
of this. He thought that the thorn in
the flesh and the messenger of Satan are one and the same thing
in this passage of the scripture. You remember how God loosed Satan
against Job in that book and what that poor man suffered?
But Gil wrote this, this befell the apostle for his good to keep
down the pride of his nature and to press the pride likely
to arise because of the greatness of the revelation that he had
received Unquote. And when one thinks highly of
themselves, when they think there's something, they may be humbled
by the appearance and the manifestation of some awful, awful corruption
in their life. And then instead of saying, great
is me, they cry out, woe is me. For I am a person of unclean
lips. Some inward impulse will humble
us when we think we're so great and so spiritual and so clean. But now to finish up today, let's
again look at Paul's boasting and why he considered it necessary. It was necessary on at least
two accounts. as Paul lays out in this book. Number one, for the sake of the
gospel that he preached, and his reputation as an apostle,
and for the peace of mind of the Corinthian believers, those
that were converted under his preaching. For you cannot separate
a preacher and his doctrine, can you? Can you separate a preacher
from what he believed and what he preached? Paul's apostleship
and his gospel stand or fall together as far as it is concerned. For the one who made him an apostle
also gave him his doctrine," unquote. And secondly, 2 Corinthians
12, 11 and 12, He blames the Corinthians for his foolish boasting. You compel me, he said. I feel like a fool. I feel like
a fool bragging, glorying, boasting. But he said, actually, you have
compelled me. They forced it upon him, for
instead of Paul having to boast for himself, they should have
been boasting of how God worked through the ministry of the Apostle
Paul. I ought to have been commended
by you. You should have defended me. You should have stood up
for me, both as an apostle and as the gospel. Why? Because in
nothing was I inferior to those super eminent apostles. In fact, the true signs of an
apostle were worked among you by me. You are the seal of my
apostleship, 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 2, a seal of the authenticity
of my apostleship, and the conversion of a sinner is a work of God
when one is converted. Why did they not highly esteem
the Apostle Paul? Why did they let others drag
him down in their eye? He brought them the words of
life. He suffered much for their sake and for their soul. He fought
off the wolves. that would attack them. He hazarded
his life for the truth of the gospel as it is in Christ Jesus. He was credited as an apostle
by the signs and the wonders and the miracles that he had
done among them. And 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse
2, If I am not an apostle unto others, yet am I unto you. Of all people should I be considered
an apostle for what you saw and what God has done by and through
me and the gospel and my apostleship. So we see now why Paul is forced
into this boasting. And it's a little bit different
from the scripture, but we need to understand it in its context
and why and how Paul then finally engaged in it and gave a full
defense of his ministry, apostleship, and his gospel. They ought to
believe that, for God had worked mightily among them through him.