11:8
So how did Paul manage to exist while he preached to the Corinthians? He received support from other churches, as he puts it here he “robbed” other churches. This was very different from the way that travelling teachers and philosophers behaved. So this shows us that we do not necessarily have to follow the model of the world. It isn’t always wrong to do so, but we do not have to.
11:9-11
Paul then expands on this point, stating that brothers who came from Macedonia provided support. So from an early stage in the life of the church it has been the practice to provide financial help for missionaries. Paul had meticulously avoided becoming a burden to the Corinthians. We don’t find this point being made about any other churches, I wonder why it was such an issue here? Yet Paul was criticised for not charging the Corinthians money to hear his preaching! Yet Paul had no intention of changing his ways in response to this criticism. We do not always have to respond to criticism. Sometimes the response should be “You said, but I carried on doing things God’s way”.
Did Paul’s actions show that he didn’t really care or love the Corinthians? Quite the opposite was the case.
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