In the final verses of today’s reading (vs 11–13), Paul abandons any pretence of restraint as he pours out his feelings for the Corinthian Christians. It’s as though he is saying, ‘My dear children in Christ, I’m writing to explain how much I love you all, and how I long that you will feel the same.’ In these verses there is a key to unlocking the whole epistle. This renowned theologian, church planter, preacher, writer, missionary and foremost of apostles is a vulnerable human being who – like us – longs to love and be loved! 

However, this is not just about Paul’s personal feelings. What he really wants the Corinthians to grasp and experience is the sheer exhilaration of a life abandoned to Christ. He wants them to shake off their petty squabbles and their sad addiction to power. To exchange the bleak landscape of church politics for what he calls elsewhere ‘the freedom and glory of the children of God’ (Romans 8:21). Doesn’t your heart thrill at such a proposed escape?

The recounting of that abandonment is overwhelming as Paul’s words pour out, coming to a climactic conclusion in ‘having nothing, and yet possessing everything’ (v 10). There is a similar outpouring later in the letter as he describes the cost of discipleship (11:21– 29). As I read his words, I am chastened and inspired in equal measure. What about you?

‘Let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing.’¹

Paul’s hardships and the need to renew affection with the Corinthian church are never far away. Talk of reconciliation means that he must return to the task of setting things right. Reconciliation requires work from both ends: Paul has opened his heart wide and appeals to his ‘children’ to do the same (vs 11–13).

Given all that Paul endures for the gospel, some of it listed here, we continue to be amazed that he is so resilient. He rises above all he suffers and he keeps bouncing back. In order not to put stumbling blocks in anybody’s pathway to Christ and in Christ, he has trained himself to rise above all his afflictions and to find in Christ and his gospel a centre and resource that sustain him. In Christ and by the Spirit (v 6) he can take it all and yet still find a way to rejoice and to feel himself rich, ‘having nothing, and yet possessing everything’ (v 10). There is something deeply Christian in this. We can clearly see all the afflictions of these verses in the life and death of Jesus: neither Paul nor we are above our Lord. Beyond that still, we can trace the love of God who, in Christ, was reconciling the world to himself.

Do we also find here an unhealthy martyr-complex, a troubling delight in suffering? Some may find Paul at fault here. Others would find in it a kind of ‘purity’ (v 6). We might both admire Paul’s fortitude and yet also issue a warning: if we are called to follow a similar path we must be sure it is for Christ’s sake, not to satisfy something within ourselves. That would still be a form of self-centredness, falling short of ‘For to me, to live is Christ’.²

‘A Christian is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one.’³

¹ From The Methodist Covenant Prayer  ² Phil 1:21  ³ Martin Luther, On the Freedom of a Christian, 1520