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•7你们只看事情的外表。倘若有人自信是属基督的，他要再想想，他属基督，我们也属基督。8主赐给我们权柄，是要造就你们，并不是要拆毁你们；我就是为这权柄稍微夸口也不觉得惭愧。9我说这话，免得你们以为我写信是要恐吓你们。10因为有人说：“他信上的语气既严厉又强硬，他本人却软弱无能，言语粗俗。”11这等人当明白，我们不在那里时信上怎么说，见面时也必怎么做。
保罗知道自己是谁。他坦率地承认自己原是众使徒中最小的，是罪人中的罪魁。他并没有隐瞒自己的过去，他过去曾经逼迫过上帝的教会。而且，他也自由的夸口上帝给予他的恩典。在所有成为使徒的人当中，谁能想到耶稣会拣选逼迫教会的扫罗成为使徒保罗呢？但这就是保罗。他不再为此感到羞耻。他也不害怕宣称自己是使徒，有主赐给他的权柄。
当我们在阅读保罗的书信时，我们应该记住保罗的身份——他是一位被神所启示的使徒。今天有很多传道人贬低圣经的权柄。在我服事的小城镇里，当地的一家报纸引用了一个牧师说的话，“我相信我和使徒保罗受到了一样的启示”。当你带着这样的态度来解读圣经，你可以让圣经表达出任何你想表达的意思。保罗所教导的不只是他的观点，他自己说的话。保罗教导的是神的话语。神的话语所说的，是神要我们了解和相信的一切。
那么神藉着那些受他启示的仆人向我们说话，他的目的是什么呢？保罗说的非常好，“是要造就你们，而不是要败坏你们。”也许我们有时会感觉上帝的话语在败坏我们，让我们感到悲伤。那是因为在建立对耶稣的信心之前，神的话语必须先摧毁我们的罪性提出的每一个借口。但是神的旨意总是为了建造我们，这样我们才能坚定站立在基督这块磐石上。
祷告：主耶稣，让我每天都能带你面前来聆听你的话语。请赐给我你的圣灵，使我能夺回我的心思意念，让它顺服你。阿们。
2 Corinthians 10: 7 You are judging by appearances. If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do. 8 So even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 9 I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. 10 For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.” 11 Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present. (NIV)
Paul knew who he was. He freely admitted that he was the least of all the apostles, the chief of sinners. He did not hide his past as a persecutor of God’s church. Rather, he freely boasted of the grace that God had given him. Of all people to be an apostle, who would expect Jesus to choose Saul the Persecutor to become Paul the Apostle? But that is who Paul was. He was not ashamed of it. Nor was he afraid to claim the authority that the Lord gave him as an apostle.
When we read Paul’s letters, we should remember who Paul was–an inspired apostle. Many preachers today play down the authority of the Scriptures. In the words of one minister that was quoted in the paper in the town I was serving, “I believe that I am just as inspired as the Apostle Paul was.” When you approach the Bible with that attitude, you can make it say whatever you want it to say. What Paul taught was not just his opinion. What Paul taught was God’s Word. It says what God wants us to know and to believe.
And what is God’s purpose for speaking to us through his inspired servants? Paul says it well when he writes, “for building you up rather than tearing you down.” Maybe it feels like God’s Word tears us down. It has to destroy every argument that our sinful nature comes up with before it can lay the foundation of faith in Jesus. But God’s purpose is always to build us up so that we can stand on the Rock that is Christ.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, let me find a place at your feet to listen to your Word daily! Send me your Holy Spirit, that I may take captive every thought and make it obedient to you. Amen.