Verse 10
In verse 10 Paul then goes on a sarcastic rampage. Let’s list them;
| Apostles | Corinthians |
| Fools | Prudent |
| Weak | Strong |
| Without honour | Distinguished |
I don’t think you need to be very clever to work out what is happening here! Paul is teaching the Corinthians a lesson on empathy. As well as this William Barclay picks up on a few things;
The Daily Study Bible Pages 40 to 41
He chooses a vivid picture. When a Roman general won a great victory he was allowed to parade his victorious army through the streets of the city with all the trophies that he had won; the procession was called a Triumph. But at the end there came a little group of captives who were doomed to death; they were being taken to the arena to fight with the beasts and so to die. The Corinthians in their blatant pride were like the conquering general displaying the trophies of his prowess; the apostles were like the little group of captives doomed to die.
To the Corinthians the Christian life meant flaunting their privileges and reckoning up their achievement; to Paul it meant humble service and a readiness to die for Christ.
- He says that they are buffeted (kolaphizesthai, GSN2852). That is the word used for beating a slave. Plutarch tells how a witness gave evidence that a slave belonged to a certain man because he had seen the man beating him and this is the word that is used. Paul was willing for the sake of Christ to be treated like a slave.
(ii) He says, “When we are insulted (loidoresthai, GSN3058), we bless.” We probably do not realize just how surprising a statement this would be to a pagan. Aristotle declares that the highest virtue is megalopsuchia, great-heartedness, the virtue of the man with the great soul; and he defines this virtue as the quality which will not endure to be insulted. To the ancient world Christian humility was a virtue altogether new. This indeed was the kind of conduct that to men looked crazily foolish although this very foolishness was the wisdom of God.
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