Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Corinthians 10:7

"Ye look at the things that are before your face. If any man trusteth in himself that he is Christ`s, let him consider this again with himself, that, even as he is Christ`s, so also are we." — 2 Corinthians 10:7 (ASV)

Paul’s opponents were not unaware that the most successful way to undermine his effectiveness was to cast doubt on the genuineness of his apostleship. If his converts could be persuaded that he lacked apostolic credentials, they would cease to believe his teaching.

In response, Paul does not discourage the testing of credentials (cf. 13:2–3) but casts doubt on the adequacy of the criteria the Corinthians were using. They were impressed by externals (cf. 5:12), with “the surface of things”—the confident claim of being an authorized apostle, commendatory letters (3:1), an authoritarian manner (11:20), spectacular visions (cf. 12:1–7), rhetorical skills (11:6), and “pure” Jewishness (11:22). Paul argues that the right to make a subjective claim based on personal conviction cannot fairly be granted his opponents and yet denied him; later in this section he will mention more objective criteria for testing apostolic credentials. In all this, his motive was not personal vindication but the desire to defend the Corinthian church from the danger of apostasy (cf. 11:2–3).