Writing and Doing

 

The other day, I noticed something interesting in 2 Corinthians, which was maybe especially noticeable to me because I am a writer. Let me quote verses 9-11 here:

"I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. For some say, 'His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.' Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present" (NIV).

The people who were criticizing Paul because his person didn't match his writing didn't understand that a gift of writing is a discrete thing from a gift of speaking or an imposing presence, and vice versa. Why should it be unnatural to be gifted in one of these areas and not the other(s)? If Paul's writing was stronger and more authoritative than his some of his in-person interactions and presentations, it doesn't mean he was hiding behind his writing or using it to inflate himself. It's actually more likely that a gifted writer might be less impressive or articulate in person than their audience might wish. This is because the better one is at public presentation in its broadest sense, the less patience or desire they may have for the amount of sitting alone in a room that writing requires. 

Paul has it right when he adds, "What we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present" (v. 11b NIV, emphasis mine). If what Paul does agrees with his letters, this is his demonstration of integrity. Our writing and our speech, even if unequally skilled, are extensions of each other, so when we say that our words and actions should line up, the words referred to are both written and spoken. Paul is saying, "Never mind what I look or sound like; rather, look to my integrity." Just as God performs His word, and we are to be doers of the word, Paul reminds us here, in writing, to become those doers more and more as we walk with the Lord.