2Co 10:10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.”
The Apostle Paul’s enemies regarded him with contempt. You can hear the sneer in their words here as they work to lead the Corinthians astray from Paul, and from Christ.
True servants of Christ do not exalt themselves as false prophets do. Their goal is not to exalt themselves and gain a large following for personal gain, but to lead people to Christ and to speak His truth. Paul explains:
1Co 2:1-5 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. (2) For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (3) And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, (4) and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, (5) so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
See it? So many people who claim to be Christians are not following Christ, but rather adoring a human being who is skilled at impressing the crowds.
But back to this matter of contempt. RASN’s (revilers, abusers, sociopaths, narcissists) hold others in derision. They regard them as less than nothing. The abuser spouse, for example, speaks of his/her spouse as stupid, an idiot, and in other deriding terms. Why? Because a RASN exalts himself. Puffed up with pride, evil ones like this consider themselves vastly higher than others, entitled to having the praise of the crowds. Others are mere fools in their sight.
This contemptuousness is a weapon. It is used by evil ones to convince their targets that they are worthless in themselves. That they only have value by existing to provide a supply of worship to the wicked one. These lies of the devil are powerful weapons that so often succeed in bending our thoughts into acceptance of these lies. RASN’s are murderers. They kill who we once were and mold us into someone without value – except to serve them.
When you see on someone’s face, or when you hear in someone’s words and tone this attitude of contempt, what you have is a huge signal – here is a toxic, wicked person to be avoided and whose lies are to be rejected.
1Jn 2:9-11 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. (10) Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. (11) But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.