Second Corinthians 12:10

The Apostle Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 12:10, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” In this verse Paul is continuing with the teaching about the ways in which we are given opportunities to trust in God. That is the best way to look at things that go against you. There is a positive side to everything. When things go wrong, the positive side is to realize that now you have a reason to trust in the Lord and wait and see what He will do and how He will work things out.

Paul listed various kinds of things that he saw as opportunities to trust in the Lord. He mentioned his own weaknesses: his infirmities. In the previous verse Paul told us that Jesus had said to him, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Those of us who have many weaknesses rely upon such promises from Christ. Paul also said that he took pleasure in reproaches. Paul is talking about insults and arrogance on the part of those who have a different spirit within them than the spirit that was in the Apostle Paul. When people are so messed up that they dishonor you when you should be honored, it can put you in a situation that seems impossible to deal with; but it is not impossible to God. If you trust in Christ, you will see Him turn the tables on those who reproach His loved ones.

Paul took pleasure in necessities. He was talking about the necessities of life. Many human beings live in fear and anxiety about how their needs will be supplied. Others commit crimes and resort to many deceitful and dishonest schemes to make sure that their needs are supplied. Paul new what it was like to have needs. He did not live in prosperity in the life that God had called him to. Paul described his life in Second Corinthians 11:27 and said, “In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” One thing is for sure: if you have great needs and necessities, then you have great reason to trust in the Lord about those needs. Jesus promised, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Paul said that he took pleasure in persecutions. Persecutions are when people go after you to do you harm. The reason that they go after you is because they know that you belong to Christ and they are opposed to Christ. But remember who has the power. Of course, Christ has the power, and He will make the persecutors pay in His time and in His way. Pray for your persecutors and hope for their salvation; but if they do not repent, in most cases you will live to see God’s judgment fall upon those who persecuted you. God takes care of His own.

Finally, Paul said that he took pleasure in distresses. Distresses refer to anything that might distress you in the natural world or in circumstance that come your way. It might be bad weather or an accident: anything that appears to be an obstacle or a source of suffering for you. Just look at all those imposters for who they are. They are not problems: they are opportunities to trust in the strong right arm of the Almighty God. If you want to be strong in the Lord, then you must be weak in yourself. That is why Paul said, “When I am weak, then am I strong.”

In Second Corinthians 12:11 Paul wrote, “I am become a fool in glorying; you have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.” This verse is a rebuke of the Corinthians. In the past several chapters Paul had been going into great detail about the accomplishments of his life. He did not like doing that. That is why he said in this verse, “I be nothing.” The Corinthians should have been the ones remembering and speaking about Paul’s accomplishments. It is basic justice. You should give credit where credit is due. The false teachers were nothing because they thought themselves to be something. Paul was more than something. He became somebody. He became the chief of the apostles because he became nothing for Christ’s sake. What will keep you from becoming all that you might become for Christ? Will persecutions, will distresses of any kind keep you from it? Become nothing and you will become everything that God wants you to be. Paul did.

In Second Corinthians 12:12 Paul wrote, “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.” We must notice that Paul did not talk about the signs of being a believer. He talked about the signs of an apostle. Some of the things that Jesus told the apostles concerning miracles that they would do were meant only for the apostles. There were only twelve apostles. Judas committed suicide and then Paul was chosen by the Lord to be the apostle chosen out of due season. The apostles could do things that no one else could do because they were apostles. In our day and age some people make a charade saying that they can perform miracles. The reason that they cannot perform miracles is because they are not apostles. They end up becoming liars and deceivers.

Paul said that the great things that were done among the Corinthians were signs, wonders, and mighty deeds. But notice what Paul listed before these things: patience. We must know how to wait upon God to see Him work. Often our time is not His time. If we really have faith in the Lord and in His promises, then we will have the patience to wait for Him to do something.

In Second Corinthians 12:13-18 Paul spoke once again about the fact that he did not usually take collections of any kind from the church at Corinth and Paul wrote, “For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong. Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not your’s, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. But be it so, I did not burden you; nevertheless being crafty, I caught you with guile. Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you? I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? Walked we not in the same spirit? Walked we not in the same steps?”

What constantly amazes me is the effort that Paul made to continually warn and remind these believers so that they would stay on the right path, and the right path meant that they would accept Paul as the authority that he was. Anyone who rejects the teachings of the Apostle Paul is rejecting the teachings of God, because God sent Paul to teach the truth about Christian doctrine. Paul reminds the Corinthians that his purpose was to in no way be a burden to them. In no way did he gain from them because that was not his purpose. One thing about false teachers is that their primary purpose is to gain from those whom they deceive.

In the next few verses Paul stops reminding the Corinthians about what he had done for them, and you might say that he gives them a warning about how he will use his apostolic authority if he needs to. Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 12:19-21, “Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? We speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying. For I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as you would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults: And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.”

First Paul said that he did everything for the purpose of “edifying.” In other words, his goal was to build up the faith of others. There are certain things that you can say that if the hearers take heed, then their faith will be built up. We should pray and seek to say such things. Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.” Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”

But if you want to help build up the faith of others, then there are times when you must use rebuke. Paul wrote to Timothy and said in Second Timothy 4:2, “Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” Jesus said to the church of Laodicea in Revelation 3:19, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”

Paul listed two groups of sins that he knew were taking place among the Corinthians that they needed to repent of. The first group of sins is listed in verse 20: “debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults.” All of the things listed here hurt Christian unity and team-work. Christians are supposed to be working together as one. We can each do a little bit by ourselves, but we can do a lot more united as a team. Besides, it pleases God that we be united. Just before He died on the cross, Jesus prayed to the Father and said, “That they may be one, as we are one.” Jesus also said, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you have love one to another.”

O what the church would have accomplished over the centuries if only these sins had not entered in so frequently and so easily among believers! The first thing mentioned as a sin that should be repented of is called “debates.” Of course, people are going to have differences of opinions, but it is how you handle those differences that will determine if you sin or not. If you know the truth about something, then present that truth the best that you can, but avoid debates, quarrels, and arguments over it. We are not called to debate the truth: we are called to declare it. If people do not believe the truth when we declare it, then they have made their decision. We do not need to debate anything. Of course, we also must recognize that in some things people are going to have differences of opinions, and we must allow believers to differ with us on some things. We are not talking about the fundamentals of the faith, but we are talking about many other things that Christians debate when they should not debate because the debates become negative and lead to wrath, strife, and tumults. There is a tremendous shame to some of the separations that have happened with some believers, and it often started with negative debates.

Our words should be used to build up, not to tear down. But the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. If we are not close to the Lord, and if we are not spiritually minded, then we will easily and readily say things that should never be said about our neighbors and Christian brothers and sisters. Those are the “backbitings,” and “whisperings” that Paul mentioned. If you do not have something good to say about someone, then do not say it. What you say about someone will usually come around and they are going to hear about it, and then guess what that does to Christian unity? According to the teachings of Jesus, you are supposed to be united with that person, working on the same team with them. If you say things against them, or gossip about them, the unity will be destroyed; and you will not be fulfilling the teachings of Christ.

At a funeral we often give a eulogy for someone who has gone on to meet their Maker. The word eulogy means literally to say good things about someone. If we make an effort to say good things about someone when they die, then surely we can make an effort to say good things about them when they are still alive. There will be greater benefits to saying good things about them while they are still alive, especially in regards to the important will of God regarding Christian unity.

Another weakness of human nature that can be a great sin among Christians is “envyings.” Envy comes from the natural human tendency to compete with others. Exercise the gifts that God has given to you, and let others exercise their gifts; but do not envy them and do not compete with them. Hopefully you can be happy about the successes of others. If you cannot, perhaps you are guilty of the horrible sin of envy.

Whatever sins you have been guilty of, the solution is given right here in verse 21, “repent.” Do not ever get tired of repenting, if you want to continue to walk with the Lord. Perhaps you have been guilty of one of these: “debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults.” First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

___________________________________________________