5:11-15 What is Paul saying here?
5:11-15 What is Paul saying here?
What Paul is saying here in effect, is that it is his reverential fear of God that motivates him to win others to Christ. The sincerity of Paul's life and ministry was an open book before God, and Paul hoped it would likewise be in the Corinthians' conscience also.
Again, Paul was not trying to commend himself to the Corinthians, but was giving them reasons to be proud of him so they would be able to respond favourably on his behalf to his detractors.
Paul's detractors took pride in their outward appearance but were dishonest and insincere in their heart. They made Paul out to be irrational. Paul's response to this was that if it were true, then it was for God's sake, and if it was not true, then it was for the Corinthians' sake.
Christ's love compelled Paul to do what he did. Paul was convinced that because Christ died for all men, then in a sense, they all died, and his purpose in dying for them is that their lives should now be no longer lived for themselves, but for Christ, who died and was raised up to life for them (CP Ro 6:1-14; 14:7-9; 1Cor 6:19-20; Ga 2:20; 1Th 5:9-10; 2Ti 2:11-13; 1Pe 4:1-2).
See also comments on Ro 6:3-5, 6:6-11, 6:12-14; Ga 2:18-21; 2Ti 2:11-13; 1Pe 2:1-11, 4:1-4.