“Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh” (2 Corinthians 10:1-2).
The abrupt shift in tone from 2 Corinthians chapter nine to 2 Corinthians chapter ten has led some to speculate that the final four chapters of this Biblical letter are not original to the text. But we can account for these differences by examining the intended audience for each portion of this letter.
Consider the opening words of 2 Corinthians chapter one: “From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother. To God’s church that is in Corinth…” (CEB). So while Paul the Apostle served as the primary author of this letter to the church, Timothy was also involved to some degree.
With this in mind, here is how 2 Corinthians chapter ten begins: “Now I, Paul, make a personal appeal to you… I beg you that when I am present I will not need to be bold with the confidence by which I plan to challenge certain people who think we are behaving in an unspiritual way” (HCSB). Notice that Timothy is no longer involved in this portion of this letter to the Corinthian church- we now have a direct plea from Paul himself. We should also notice that Paul’s target audience has shifted as well; he is now focused upon a specific group within the church “…who say that we act from worldly motives” (GNT).
So just as we may adjust the way we interact with someone based on our relationship with that person, we can account for the forceful tone of these chapters by remembering that Paul was no longer speaking to the general assembly; he was now targeting a specific group of individuals who were inflicting spiritual injury upon the other members of the congregation. As one source observes…
“In the first nine chapters he is writing to the majority of the congregation who love and appreciate him. In the remaining chapters he turns his attention to that small pocket of resistance which continues to voice opposition to his ministry. Apparently these are former Jews professing faith in Christ (11:22), but who are actually “false apostles” (11:13). Since the apostle is now certain that the majority of the believers are with him, he is emboldened to deal more forcefully and directly with this group.” (1)
(1) Hindson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV Bible Commentary (p. 2358). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.