Weakness and Christan Progress

I have been wrestling with D. A. Carson's book on 2 Corinthians 10-13, a portion of Scripture where the apostle Paul lays himself bare. In these chapters the apostle protects his authority, pleads with the church, utilizes irony, and gives a moving testimony of his own weakness. The Corinthians have been taken in by false brethren, carnal men who are being paraded as super apostles; men who are building the house with worldly means.

Carson shows in the introductory chapters that the Corinthian culture was largely influenced by the Sophists. The Sophists were showmen. Triumphalists who strutted their own achievements, knowledge, oratorical skills as a means to gain both a following and credibility to their viewpoints. It was not uncommon for them to begin their letters with long lists of "recommendations" to validate their authority on whatever matter they were addressing. Unsurprisingly the Corinthian church was susceptible to such self-promotional figures because they were immersed in a culture that magnified it. We also need to be aware that the subtlest most dangerous threats to the church will likely come from the surrounding culture, because we are in it! Like fish, we have trouble recognizing the water we are in.

The Corinthians were taken in by similar men, recognizing them as Spiritual elites instead of the arrogant counterfeits that they were. They were enamored by their charisma, personalities, spiritual experiences, and worldly wisdom--which the false brethren never hesitated to make known. Because Paul did not seem to have the flashy qualities that these "super apostles" had in excess, he was, as a result, written off as a weak leader. A fool. Someone who is bold in his letters but comes to us in weakness.

So Paul writes the concluding chapters to 2 Corinthians in a deeply emotional and personal appeal to the hearts of this young church. As I read, I could not help but find many parallels between us and Corinth. We too appreciate human ability, rhetoric, big personality. We find validation when prominent celebrities like Chris Pratt give glory to God or identify themselves as Christian, as if it tells the world: "See! we are not obsolete after all!" In our teachers we flock towards the dynamic, the entertaining, and the good looking. We prefer our churches mega, with lights and cameras to boot. But the faithful treatment of the word of God, the Christian life of weakness and, dare I say it, suffering?--not so much.

We are susceptible to similar temptations because we are like men as the Corinthians. We too are bent on "self and independence", and our sinful rebellion against God often finds a hidden home in the church of God. Sometimes we make the tragic error to think that as we progress along in our Spiritual journeys we somehow surpass our need for Christ Jesus. Having begun in the Spirit we think we can be perfected by the flesh. Perhaps we may concede that we were once weak and broken the moment of our salvation, but we have since grown strong and self-sufficient! Indeed, in my own life I have found legalism and hypocrisy to be a subtle creep, something lurking beneath long before I recognize it for what it is. The quick glance of condescension towards that struggling Christian, the thankfulness to God that I am not like these tax-collectors about me—are postures often closer to my heart than I would care to admit. Instead of growing in our understanding of our weakness and our depravity as we progress, and thereby clinging every day tighter to the cross and the mercy of Christ; the whole thing can very easily be inverted to the point that we find ourselves getting on quite well! "Thank you Jesus, I think I can continue on from here."

The danger of such thought cannot be overstated, and it is this very thing Paul addresses throughout, particularly in the "thorn in the flesh" portion. Carson writes, "This divine grace bestowed on Paul was sufficient precisely because Paul was so weak. God's strength is made perfect in weakness: it reaches its fullest measure and most powerful forms when issued in response to weakness. The greater the Christian's weakness, the greater the grace poured out." This is radical stuff, and not necessarily the kind that helps self-esteem. I tend to view weakness as a necessary evil, a precursor that must come in order that future strength may be attained. We are first humbled and then we are exalted, and we ever want that exaltation sooner rather than later. And yet Carson writes at another point:

It is important to recognize what this wonderful text does not promise. Some read it as if the believer may go through a period of weakness followed by a period of divine grace and strength, where the Christian becomes a kind of conqueror. The weakness becomes a condition of this strength, a payment of dues if you like. But such an interpretation twists the text. Paul's thorn is not followed by grace; rather, grace is given him to enable him to cope with the weakness that is not removed. Very often in the Scriptures, weakness is not the condition of grace in the sense that it serves as the necessary precursor of grace, in the sense that it serves as a continuing vehicle of grace.

This side of heaven we never grow beyond weakness; to do so would truly be spiritual suicide. The Kingdom of Heaven is back to front, inside out. What we by nature assume to be the way of progress is in fact death in the economy of God; and those things we most dread: humility, weakness, poverty of spirit, the loss of our very selves--it is these things that really lead to life. The super apostles in Corinth, just like us, confused the two; and the results will be tragic for the Corinthian church unless Paul intervenes.

Because of this radical nature of the Kingdom of Heaven, we too cannot find our values identical to the values of the world around us. Especially in the ways we measure our Spiritual growth and service. We need to fasten ourselves to Paul's understanding of weakness for it is the same pattern manifested by Christ our Lord. As Carson writes: "This was also the pattern supremely manifest by Christ Jesus our Lord. The cross itself, that fearful, Roman sign of ignominy, defeat, judgment, and death was precisely the means by which Jesus triumphed over all his foes. God's strength was supremely manifest in Jesus's weakness. Why then should Jesus' disciples choose to disparage his example by siding with triumphalists?"

At the very center of our faith stands the paradox of the cross, it is not triumphant nor is it the symbol of the conquering King. It is an "ignominious" symbol of death, which is why it was seen as such folly by the Greeks. But, it is through the cross, through the condescension of Christ our Lord as his hands were pierced, it is through his cruel death--that He is victorious and that we are victorious with him. May we not be afraid to embrace the way of the cross, for His power is made perfect in such weakness.

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"The highest life I ever hope to reach to, this side of heaven, is to say from my very soul-- 'I the chief of sinners am, but Jesus died for me.'"