Discussion – Paul’s Revelation

Discussion – Paul’s Revelation

In Corinthians 12:5, Paul states, “On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses.” In this statement, Paul reveals an astounding supernatural experience as a revelation. After being caught up in paradise, God reveals peculiar things that He forbids Paul from revealing on earth. Paul’s motive for sharing the revelation was the false apostles misleading the Corinthians and pausing as God’s representatives (Deibert, 2017). He discourages people from listening to the apostles’ statements due to their insincerity. Paul did not believe in the message carried in the apostles’ statements.

Paul’s statement exhibits significant bias. First, he assumes that the apostles were lying to the people, forgetting that they might have had their versions of spectacular experiences. It is likely that those he terms liars had their tales of spectacular experiences. Besides, Paul himself shares spectacular tales as his own, yet he was informed by God (Deibert, 2017). One may conclude that Paul himself was a false apostle for sharing things revealed to him by God and claiming that they were his revelations.

Bias also emerges when Paul asserts that boasting about sharing a revelation is foolishness. To reduce focus on himself, Paul refers to a ‘man’ (Deibert, 2017). However, subsequent statements reveal that he was the man he referred to in his texts. Paul’s statements show that he does not want to be glorified even after sharing the revelations reluctantly. By asserting that he will not boast about the experiences himself but for the other man, Paul shows his willingness to divert glory from himself and unto God.

References

Deibert, R. I. (2017). Second Corinthians and Paul’s gospel of human mortality: How Paul’s experience of death authorizes his apostolic authority in Corinth (Vol. 430). Mohr Siebeck.

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In light of your readings, please respond (200 words max) to one aspect of this statement below. Look for themes like revelation, human and divine. Does the author in the text reveal bias? How, where?

2 Corinthians 12.1-5

Paul’s Visions and Revelations
12 I must boast; there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 3 And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 5 On behalf of this man, I will boast, but on my own behalf, I will not boast, except of my weaknesses.