Paul: 'So am I!'

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians he was dealing with a Greek culture that placed a tremendous emphasis on the human wisdom of its philosophers—Socrates, Plato, etc.

Their whole worldly approach led the Corinthian Believers to begin to question whether Paul really was sent from God.

“Their thinking was, ‘Surely only a polished orator would be sent from God,’ and Paul was deliberately rude in speech because the issue was the gospel message, not his person,” explains Alex Kurz, associate pastor at Chicago’s Shorewood Bible Church (shorewoodbiblechurch.org).

“What’s going on at Corinth is there were a bunch of religious people (from the nation Israel) who possessed credentials and reputation, and went in among the Corinthians, casting doubt on Paul’s legitimacy. In turn, by using the law system, they established a religious institution and the Corinthians fell for it.

“Paul’s response was, ‘I’d rather die than be a part of this duping.’ The Corinthians were doubting whether Paul was even an apostle, and he wasn’t going to sit there and allow the religious system to hold captive the saints at Corinth . . .

“Paul didn’t want to be viewed as one of the money-grubbing, money-hungry paid professionals out there operating. That’s why he says, ‘I’m not going to take a penny from you people. I’m going to sacrifice a liberty to collect money for the purpose of opposing the religious system that’s taking root at Corinth.’

“In II Corinthians 11: 22-23, Paul argues, ‘Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.’

“What is it that Paul says is his boast and brag? Paul, when he rehearses his past and lists his resume, had more religious credibility than anybody else in Israel.

“As we know from what he writes in Philippians 3:5 alone, Paul was ‘circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee.’

“Eighth-day circumcision (means) he was raised by a family of dedicated and faithful law-abiding Jews. The tribe of Benjamin was the most respected tribe in Israel. His father was a Pharisee. Paul was of the conservative party; he was a conservative within the ranks of the Jewish system.

“He trained at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the most prominent Pharisees and teachers of the law in Israel. We know from verse 6 Paul had bragged about his prominence within the religious system and the rank of prestige he held . . .

“Paul was not going to mimic this religious system anymore and that’s why he says, ‘I’d rather die if you think I’m going back to that system again! I’d rather die than place a system of bondage there at Corinth!’

“He wasn’t going to promote a denominational system; he did everything he could to stay away from the institutionalization of a church ministry.

“The Corinthians had a problem with that and Paul says, ‘You don’t understand why I do what I do; I stand apart from religion.’ Paul writes to the Corinthians, ‘Touch not the unclean thing,’ and the unclean thing was the religious system. The Corinthians misunderstood all that.”