Self-Authenticating Truth

Paul's adopting of this path that made him a fool, was after all, in accordance with God's wisdom. The Corinthians had failed to use God's standard for recognizing true apostolic authority and thus God, in His mercy, drew their attention to the broader category of Christian character. Now you can't prove apostleship in this way, but since the false apostles were appealing to man-made criteria to exalt themselves above Paul, Paul met them on their own grounds and exposed their bankruptcy--even in this area of basic Christian character. He also shows the importance of holding to the fact that God's truth is self-authenticating before referring the Corinthians to the true standard for apostolic authority. We are then challenged at the end not to be autonomous when formulating our ethics for the relationships between weaker and stronger Christians.