Galatians 10

For example, these evil thoughts—thoughts of anger, jealousy, greed, unrighteousness, worry, etc.—are like birds flying around our heads. We can’t stop the birds from flying over our head, but we can certainly stop them from building nests in our hair! (see James 1:15 and comment).

6 Paul hopes and believes that most of the Corinthians will reject the false teachers who have come into their church. Paul is waiting for the true Christians among the Corinthians to repent and turn from the false teachers; that is, he is waiting for their obedience to be complete. Only after the Corinthians have turned from these false teachers will Paul go to Corinth. And when Paul goes to Corinth, he will certainly punish those false teachers and expel them from the church.

7 Some in the Corinthian church said: “We belong to the party of Christ.” In saying this, they looked down on others in the church; they considered themselves the only true Christians (see 1 Corinthians 1:12). These same people, in judging Paul, were looking only on the surface of things; they were judging on the basis of outward things alone. “Don’t judge me,” Paul tells them; “I belong to Christ just as much as you do.”

In this verse, there is an important lesson for us all. We look mainly at outward things. Perhaps we look at a brother and we don’t like what he does, we don’t like his manner. We judge him; we say, “He is not one of us.” Or we say: “He is no good.” But we forget that that brother belongs to Christ too. He is Christ’s servant, just as we are. The Holy Spirit is in him also. Therefore, let us not look only at outward things, but as much as possible, let us look at inner things. Let us consider our brother’s motives, his purposes, his desires. If we do this, we shall understand better why our brother does the things he does. We won’t be quite so ready to judge him!

8 Paul boasts of his authority, because it has been given to him by the Lord. Paul’s authority is not his own; it comes from Christ.

Notice that Christ gives His authority to pastors, elders, and preachers so that they might build Christians up, not tear them down (see 2 Corinthians 13:10).

9-11 Paul had formerly behaved toward the Corinthians with meekness and gentleness (verse 1); he had come to them in weakness and fear (1 Corinthians 2:3). But let the Corinthians not think he is afraid of them. Paul is going to punish every act of disobedience (verse 6). However, Paul hopes he will not have to be harsh with them when he comes to Corinth.

12 In this verse, Paul again writes to the Corinthians in a sarcastic manner. He says that he is not as “great” as those people at Corinth who make themselves out to be great.

The false teachers at Corinth “commended” themselves. They were puffed up with pride. They measured themselves by themselves—that is, they measured themselves by their own measurement, by their own standards, the standards of this world. But how foolish they were! There is only one measurement, one standard, by which we should measure ourselves; and that is the standard of Jesus Christ. Only when we compare ourselves with Christ will we be able to measure ourselves accurately. And when we compare ourselves with Christ, how unworthy we appear!

13-14 Paul does not boast in himself. He does not boast beyond proper limits (verse 13). Rather, he limits his boasting to the field God has assigned to him. That is, he boasts only in the area of work which God has given him. That area of work is to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles (see Acts 9:15; Romans 1:5). Paul’s “field” has extended all the way to Corinth.

15-16 Paul does not boast in or take credit for the work of other apostles and preachers. He goes only to those places where others have not gone (Romans 15:20). Paul’s hope is that Corinth might become a center from which the Gospel could then spread further westward. But first it will be necessary for the Corinthians’ faith to grow; they must become more mature. Otherwise, their church will not become a center for spreading the Gospel, and they will not be able to give much help to Paul in the work of preaching. The reason is because Christ cannot work effectively in a church that is divided into factions, or which is filled with sin and false teaching.

17-18 Paul here quotes from Jeremiah 9:24 (see 1 Corinthians 1:31).

Let us not commend ourselves. That is the practice of proud and worldly men. Furthermore, let us not seek the commendation and praise of men (see John 5:44; 12:43). Instead, let us seek the commendation of God alone, because it is only by God that we can truly be approved.