2 Corinthians 10:12, commentary and pictures

Paul wrote to defend the authority God gave him to build others up when he was judged by outward appearance and criticized for supporting himself by manual labor while others commended themselves. To measure oneself by oneself and compare oneself with others is unwise, because people are fallible and all fall short, while Christ alone is the perfect pattern to imitate. No human comparison can prove that God's requirements are met; the test is duty revealed in the Bible and whether the heart is in harmony with God and meets heaven's claims. Each person is to faithfully develop God-given talents and do the work given with God-given ability as service to Christ, without selfish rivalry, pride of position, or judging the value of work by comparison with another's. Comparing and criticizing fellow believers to prove superiority dishonors Christ who claims them as His own, for only God's commendation approves a person.

Paul's Defense and Charge

The verse is part of the vindication of the decision to earn a living by tentmaking and to train fellow workers to labor with their hands so they could support themselves in a time of emergency. That course had drawn criticism for stooping to do mechanical work, and judgment by outward appearance pronounced the worker base in presence, weak in bodily presence, and contemptible in speech, while others commended themselves. In answer there is refusal to be counted among the self-commended or to enter comparison with them, for those who measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves among themselves are not wise. It is a defense of ministry against those who judged by outward appearance and challenged that course, warning that it is unwise to commend self or to measure worth by comparing with one another. Manual labor did not cancel the authority given by God, and that authority was for building others up, not for destroying them.

The surrounding teaching calls for humility before God and for working within the measure God assigns rather than boasting in another person's labor. The warning not to measure or commend self by comparison with one another therefore requires humility in carrying out the work. That humility is to be joined with earnest effort to spread the truth and carry the gospel into regions beyond familiar territory, even beyond the school.

Christ the True Standard

To measure oneself against other people and compete for their approval is unwise, because human beings are fallible and all fall short, while Christ alone is the true, perfect pattern to imitate. His self-sacrificing life is the example by which Christians are to measure themselves, striving to follow Him with a whole heart rather than scattering, and being spiritually hot or cold rather than lukewarm. To take other lives as the standard deceives, since all may fall short while each thinks himself as good as the rest.

The safe standard is not the world, not human opinions, and not one's former self, but Christ and the sure pattern He gives. The only safe comparison is between present faith and standing and the spiritual progress that could have been made since professing to follow Him, had growth continued without interruption. God's people are weighed against the blessings, privileges, and light received, and are found wanting when character and spiritual condition do not match them. Seeing truth without recognizing its importance or obeying it leaves people unsanctified and unaware of their true condition, and profession of knowing God can coexist with denying Him in actions. Claiming to be God's chosen people does not guarantee His saving presence and power, and mistaking religious form for spiritual power makes people think they need nothing when they are spiritually poor, blind, and naked.

Measuring oneself against others or against one's own human standard cannot establish that God's requirements are met. A person may judge by human standards and conclude all is well, yet still fail to meet God's standard. The proper test is the duty revealed in the Bible and the divine standard, and in judgment each must answer whether the heart is in harmony with God and meets heaven's claims. Knowing one's strengths and weaknesses helps guard against taking on work or responsibilities God has not assigned.

To judge right and wrong by self instead of by God's commands is to act as worldlings when called to live as children of light and subjects of Christ's kingdom. It brings worldly policy and principles into God's work, lets worldliness and earthliness predominate in habits and practices, turns aside from God's commands, and pollutes where God's Spirit should dwell with maxims born in the natural heart. Deceived by their own hearts, such self-measurers teach human commands as doctrine, profess godliness while much ungodliness remains, and claim to believe the day of the Lord is near while by ungodly lives preparing for destruction, so the watching world sees practice contradict profession and scorns the pretense. This is the condition represented by the rich man, abundant now as in the days of Noah: not retaining God in knowledge, but measuring among themselves and comparing with themselves while each seeks to excel the other, refusing to pray, holding the Lord as One afar off, taking no notice of Him, and saying in the heart that He does not see and has no knowledge of human inventions.

Measuring self by self is unwise self-confidence that weakens spiritual life and leaves pride unconquered. It deceives people into believing they are right and in God's favor while turned fully from His ways, putting light for darkness and darkness for light, working under a deceptive spirit and resisting the Holy Spirit. In this they withstand God by withstanding His instrument, as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, moving in blindness that ends in separation from God and eventually from the truth. Only by being humbled and recognizing need can they receive spiritual renewal.

Measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves is unwise and one of the greatest reasons for declension of the church. It shows no living principle in the soul single to God's glory, and no consent to be saved in God's appointed way. Instead of taking trouble to work out salvation with fear and trembling through individual effort, watching and praying and living for God and Him only, such people run the risk of leaning upon others and trusting in their experience, living in obedience to self because it is more pleasant. This fills the church with backslidings and removes prosperity until those who name the name of Christ depart from all iniquity and refuse the evil and choose the good, watching and praying without ceasing because a snare is set in the path and loss will be devised where least expected.

Faithful Service Without Comparison

Each person has an appointed place in God's plan and is to develop the talents given by God and do the work with the ability God supplies as service to Christ, faithfully making the most of gifts whether few or many, without selfish rivalry and without working to win human approval. Measuring oneself against others and competing for their approval is unwise, and using self as the measure of worth is unwise. That principle stands against educational systems that foster ambition and comparison.

One person's work is not to be measured against another's, nor is its importance to be judged by comparison with others, for such comparisons can be badly mistaken and far from the mark. The Lord does not assess people by position or rank, but looks at how much of Christ's Spirit is cherished and how much Christ's likeness the work reveals.

Measuring themselves among themselves and comparing themselves with themselves condemns pride of position, ambition for distinction and display, and selfish grasping for credit, reward, and high wages in God's work. That self-measurement is the leaven of selfishness and covetousness that loses sight of principle, expels God's love from the heart, diminishes spirituality, destroys love for God, corrodes the soul, and has ruined thousands, even tens of thousands. All are to study the lesson carefully so as to be guarded against selfishness and avarice and against pride, instead of placing service to God on a mercenary foundation of so much work for so much pay according to human estimate.

In God's institutions and in demands for wages and position, that comparing means thinking one should be greatly favored because the same work would command large wages among unbelievers, becoming dissatisfied if another receives a certain sum and claiming the same amount, insisting on making one's own terms for the value of labor, selling labor to the highest bidder, and selfishly securing all one thinks should be received. It leads to double-dealing and becoming wise above what is written, to appropriating means for personal use which robs the treasury and robs God as with the sin of Achan, and to withholding supply from brethren laboring in hard fields who give part of their wages to the needs of those fields. It surrounds the soul with unbelief, harshness, discourtesy, lovelessness and oppression, threatens schools, institutions, and churches, imperils souls, and leaves the worker unable to give the right mold to the work, for God is not with such a worker. God sees every such case and will pass judgment on those who selfishly take care that they receive all they think they should have, and after testing will remove those who will not repent and give their places to men looked upon as unqualified, so those carrying responsibilities must disconnect from all such without delay and must not seek to retain them even though they be editors or managers, for the worst thing is to seek to retain them.

In church difficulties self-love and self-esteem lead people to measure and compare by themselves and by one another, to treat personal feelings, surmisings, suspicions, and judgments of one another as correct, and to misunderstand true charity, brotherly affection, and Christlike love through needless talking. Continuing in such feelings, suspicions, and judging brings discord, strife, and an unhealthy state and condition of the church, and the difficulties it creates are all unnecessary.

Criticizing fellow believers and comparing self with them by looking at their imperfections in order to criticize or correct them is unwise, for it makes people harsh and self-centered rather than helping them see themselves rightly. Their faults, prejudices, errors hindering religious growth, instability of opinion, and partiality of action are not to be treated as proof of superiority or reason for leaning to one's own understanding, and Christ honors believers as His own so such comparisons dishonor Him. Seeing the deficiencies of others should instead produce less self-confidence and jealous watchfulness over one's own spirit and conduct, walking in humility before God in contrast to Christ's perfection of character, not seeking to be praised, petted, and honored by men but appreciating the value of souls. Only God's commendation and not self-praise approves a person, so glory is to be in the Lord.

The spirit that leads workers to measure themselves among themselves and to estimate a worker's value by human judgment is not the Spirit of Christ. God does not require all His servants to work in precisely the same way or to have identical religious experience, and it is unwise to expect everyone to be of the same mind or just like one person, for if all were alike there would be a great lack of fullness in church labor in carrying forward God's work. Close reliance on one another can also limit usefulness, and no living person should take God's place in the mind. Each must therefore act with individual responsibility while relying wholly on God, look to Jesus and not to one another as the example, need more of Jesus and less of self, think no evil and speak no evil of anyone with lips kept as with a bridle, and not measure others' religious experience by one's own. Each worker should thank God for a part in the Lord's vineyard, believe the Lord is leading fellow workers as truly as He leads himself, keep in mind that all are brethren, come close to brethren wherever labor is done, and cooperate harmoniously in unity and love for the recovery of lost souls.