⁴For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. ⁵For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. ⁶But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things.

Shades of Galatians 1:6–9, where Paul rebukes the churches in the region of his first missionary journey (Acts 13–14), are present in today’s passage. In contrast with Paul’s tenacious defense of the gospel to those churches with all his authority as an apostle, here Paul responds to the Corinthians with a very personal tone. If we missed what was pointed out earlier—that Paul is using an extreme method of teaching whereby he presents a faux boast of himself—and take the present verses out of context, we might take this as Paul’s insecure defensiveness. But Paul was not lacking in the secure knowledge of who he was and what his mission was. He began this letter with “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God” (2 Cor. 1:1).

He tackles the issue head on, with no false modesty or downplaying his position. In fact, he boldly asserts his “apostle card,” so to speak. He wouldn’t be writing like this unless his apostolic authority was being questioned by some in Corinth. So he asserts the unalterable truths that he first preached to them. Any change in the message of Jesus, any resorting to spiritual experiences different from what they first received, or any change of the gospel message would not be tolerated by the apostle. Unfortunately, the Corinthians were tolerating all of these things “beautifully.” Other English translations render this variously: “you put up with it readily/happily/easily enough.” In other words, they were easy pickings for false teachers and purveyors of aberrant spiritual experiences.

Paul, on the other hand, came to them as an apostle. And if anything else is true, Christianity is based on the “foundations of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20). Thus any teaching or experience in the Christian way cannot contradict or override apostolic teaching.

To those who might relegate Paul to a lesser role than the original twelve—the so-called “pillars,” namely James, Peter and John (Gal. 2:9)—he adamantly defends his equality with them. Remember he is not speaking like this because of insecurity, but because the Corinthians must understand his authority. Though he seems to feel his preaching may not be as polished as Apollos for example, his knowledge and apostleship are evident in the very fact that they came to Christ through his (Paul’s) preaching. That should be enough.

Lord, help me to boldly assert with authority the true gospel with acute clarity.