Authority Without Apology

The false teachers in Corinth, using their man-made standard, said that Paul didn't measure up to the necessary level required for an apostle, therefore, he was a deceiver. Paul responded by saying that the only way that we can know anything is in the light of Scripture and so by turning the Corinthians to the Scriptures with respect to their own standing before God, he necessarily proved that he too was fully accepted and supported by the Lord. Paul then argued (in this notoriously difficult section to translate and understand) that he would not be put to shame by retracting or apologizing for what he had written to them. He fully intended to make them fear and would be failing in his responsibilities as a faithful minister of Christ should he not warn them and scare them if necessary, when they were walking upon a dangerous path. Finally we are reminded how Paul refused to 'package' the truth in a way that impressed men because he wanted people to respond to God's truth because it was truth rather than because it was presented in a glitzy or grandiose way.