APOSTLE

through the Lord, that ye will be

confidence in you in all things'

none otherwise minded' (5:10).

`Forty stripes save one, five

`From henceforth let no man

times: thrice beaten with rods:

trouble me: for I bear in my body

once  stoned:  thrice  ship

the marks of the Lord Jesus'

wrecked' (11:24,25).

`Behold, before God, I lie not'

`The God and Father of our

Lord Jesus Christ, which is

blessed for evermore, knoweth

that I lie not' (11:31).

`If ye bite and devour one

`If a man devour you ...

another, take heed that ye be not

backbitings, whisperings,

consumed one of another' (5:15).

swellings, tumults' (11:20;

`As we said before, so say I now

`I told you before, and foretell

again, If any man preach ... `

you, as if I were present, the

second time' (13:2).

`That as He had begun, so He

`Having begun in the Spirit, are

ye now made perfect by the

would also finish (perfect) in

flesh?' (3:3).

you the same grace also' (8:6).

`For in Christ Jesus neither

`Therefore if any man be in

Christ, he is a new creature'

circumcision availeth any thing,

nor uncircumcision, but a new

creature' (6:15).

The departure from the truth both doctrinally and practically in both churches is closely connected with doubting

and denying the apostleship of Paul and the truth of his gospel. The self-same departure can be unhesitatingly

deduced from the same cause today.

While a more complete list of parallels would be helpful, our immediate concern is with the revived controversy

regarding the apostle Paul. In 1 Corinthians we realize that the elements of division are present; parties rally round

the names of Paul, Apollos, Cephas, and even Christ. It is evident that the apostleship of Paul had been seriously

questioned at Corinth, as Chapter 9 makes most manifest:

`Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? If I

be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the SEAL OF MINE APOSTLESHIP are ye in the Lord.

Mine answer to them that do examine me is this, Have we not power (a right) to eat and to drink? Have we not

power (a right) to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and

Cephas? Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power (the right) to forbear working? ... If others be partakers of

this power (right) over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power (right); but suffer all

things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ ... when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ

without charge, that I abuse not my power (do not use to the full my right) in the gospel. For though I be free

from all men, yet have I made myself servant (enslaved) unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews

I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law ... to them that are

without law, as without law ... To the weak became I as weak ... I am made all things to all men, that I might by

all means save some' (1 Cor. 9:1-22).

This utter abandonment of self for the good of others was used against the apostle by the Judaizing party. In

2 Corinthians 12:12 he tells them that all the signs of an apostle were wrought among them, except this one thing,

that the apostle abstained from his right of being supported by them. `Forgive me this wrong', he says, `I will very

gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved'. There a heavy heart