Apostle Paul is going out of his way again and again not to go beyond a line where he would actually be boasting. He approaches the line from many directions. Yet, he does not go beyond it. I tire of counting the number of attempts Paul takes in making his point without crossing that line.
Humility and self-control within wisdom is the mark of a man who has a sincere and frank fear of his Lord. The only person who excelled beyond Paul’s capacity was Christ Jesus, who without limit responded to continual attacks against his person, personality, and ministry with grace and truth.
Verses 5 and 6 appear to be a hidden claim that he is the man who was brought to paradise, whereas in verse 7 he makes it clear that he is indeed the man. Verse 7 is also clear that the fear of the Lord’s discipline was real for Paul, for he was given a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him from conceit. So, Paul was very careful with his words, talking in the third person for most of this letter while at the same time keeping the desire to help the Corinthian congregation to stop listening to pseudo-Christians.
The Lord has done many amazing things in my life. I have shared some of them with others when asked to share my life testimony. I am not comfortable with revealing some things because of how people responded in the past. Also, following the example of humility set by Christ, I do not want to draw attention to myself, but to his exceeding grace and compassion. I seek the Lord’s wisdom not to go beyond limits that establish that I am not the focus, but instead Christ Jesus is, his exceeding grace to me.
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