10:7
"You are judging by appearances". This was a repeated criticism of the Corinthian church, running through both Corinthians letters. Paul calls on them to look at themselves. Why do they consider that they belong to Christ? And they do, then surely Paul does. Indeed he had much more claim to "belong to Christ" that any of the so-called super apostles. As churches we need to be very careful that we do not judge by appearances. Charismatic churches are perhaps the ones most susceptible to this sin, though all are capable of it. We can so easily be taken by glitzy displays.
10:8
In all of Paul's letters it is clear that he speaks with authority, and he makes no bones about the fact that he is an apostle of God. It seems that because of this some accused him of boasting about his authority. Note that Paul does not back down. He did talk about his authority, but not to build himself up, only so that he could build the church up. Now how does one hold firmly to the authority God gives us with succumbing to pride? The answer is very simple, suffering! Paul will talk more about this later, but we know he suffered much, and was told from the outside that he would suffer for Christ. The more authority God gives us, the more certain that difficulty and suffering also lie ahead.
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