Not the outward appearance

In today’s passage, Paul discusses what a true apostle is like. His teaching was not self-defense or self-commendation, but was intended to give the Corinthian believers sound judgment and enable them to take pride in Paul as their apostle. (1) Whether or not someone is an apostle is not to be judged by outward appearance. Outward appearance refers to such factors as whether a person is eloquent or Jewish – things in which the false apostles took pride. (2) Whether or not someone is an apostle should be judged not by outward circumstances, but by what is in the heart (ref. John 7:24). (3) There were those who looked at Paul’s outward appearance and questioned his apostleship, but they failed to see that Paul feared God and conducted himself in such a way as to have a clear conscience.

The love of Christ

Next, Paul directly quotes the words of criticism directed at him and responds to them. “For if we have lost our minds, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you” (v 13). (1) There were actually people who were saying, “Paul is out of his mind,” but he does not make an issue of it. Rather, he responds to it with a light touch. A Christian is a person who has become able to live without being concerned about how others evaluate him. (2) Since the Lord Jesus Himself was criticized as being “out of His mind,” it is only natural that we should be subjected to the same criticism (ref. Mark 3:21; John 10:20). (3) What compelled Paul was the love of Christ. When Paul came to know that Jesus on the cross was the Messiah, he was born again spiritually. Christ’s death was a substitutionary death for all. When Christ died, all died. All who now live no longer live for themselves, but for Christ, who died and was raised for them. What kind of energy drives your evangelism? Blessed are those who, together with Paul, confess, “the love of Christ controls us.”