⁸For even if I boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame, ⁹for I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters. ¹⁰For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.” ¹¹Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present.

Skeptics might read into this an insecurity on the apostle’s part, thinking he is reducing himself to self-boasting, since no one there seems to acknowledge all that he has done for them. In today’s media world Paul’s words, if taken out of context and given the worst interpretation, would make for salacious sound bytes: “Breaking news: So-called apostle reduced to desperate self-promotion” and “Twitter has roundly condemned Christian leader for emotional manipulation.” Whatever Paul is doing, he runs a huge risk (from a human perspective)!

In all reality, Paul pulls out all the stops in trying to break through to the erring Corinthians. He bares his soul to them—this is as authentic as it gets. Not that he needs some sort of cathartic respite from his tension with them, but he is motivated by a genuine love for this church. So he begins to use boasting, the very thing of which his readers were guilty (or at least an influential number of them). On the level of boasting, Paul could do it with the best of them, if he wanted to. One gets the impression he is showing in this way how foolish it looks to build oneself up.

Paul was in fact given authority from the Lord, and that would in a fleshly way be boast-worthy. He did not shrink back from ID’ing himself as “an apostle of Christ Jesus” (2 Cor. 1:1). But his apostleship was given him for the express purpose of building up others, including the Corinthians, rather than building up himself. He is not engaging in one-upmanship.

But he does have a point to make. Some were challenging his demeanor toward them, that he could be fierce when writing (“weighty and strong”) but rather wimpy (unimpressive) in person. Today’s social media demonstrates this phenomenon: otherwise weak people can blast away online with the greatest of vitriol. There is something about hiding behind one’s writing that gives courage that is absent in face-to-face conversation. But that is not the case with Paul, contrary to the accusations some make when he is not present with them.

Paul is the same person, speaking with the same authority, whether in person or in his writings. He just chooses different means and tones for the different methods for reaching them—all for the purpose of building them up.

Lord, help me control my tenor for the sake of building up others.