Chapter 1
Chapter 1
perdition." So too, here, those who mask the true righteousness of God in the crucified One, peddling instead a Torah-righteousness that brings only condemnation, face the same dreadful "end." Perhaps Paul implies a pointedly deeper meaning here. As "ministers of righteousness," they have preached "the law" and, therefore, "its works"; their end - perdition - issues from their "works," that is, their "works"-righteousness.
Here, then, Paul sets forth a clear warning to those engaged in ministry, especially missionaries and church pastors. The righteousness of God is located only in the vicarious death of Christ and not in the works of the Law. Those who preach and teach must direct their hearers to the message of the cross so that no one is in doubt as to the means of divine acceptance. Let those who preach otherwise take note of the consequences set forth here by the apostle.
Five. A Fool Boasts
Five. A Fool Boasts
Sixteen I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. Seventeen In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. Eighteen Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. Nineteen You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! Twenty In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face. Twenty-one To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!
Having directed such strong attention to the "false apostles," Paul now moves to the subtle triangular interplay between them ("anyone" - Sixteen, Twenty; "many" - Eighteen; "fools" - Nineteen), the Corinthians ("you" - Sixteen, Nineteen, Twenty), and himself ("me" - Sixteen; "I" - Seventeen, Eighteen, Twenty-one a; "we" - Twenty-one a). He does so by picking up the "fool" theme from One. Paul tells the Corinthians not to take him for a "fool." Nonetheless, if they prefer to do so, let them receive him just as they would any "fool," so that he, too, can "boast," a reference back to the "false apostles" who are characterized by "boasting."
What proceeds now is full of biting irony. Since "boasting" is what "fools" do, we are meant to infer that Paul is imitating and parodying these men as "fools." Yet - let the Corinthians understand - he is not speaking "according to the Lord," but "as in foolishness," in this mode of "boasting" (i.e., as the