7 Do ye look at what concerns appearance? If any one has confidence in himself that he is of Christ, let him think this again in himself, that even as he [is] of Christ, so also [are] we. 8 For and if I should boast even somewhat more abundantly of our authority, which the Lord has given [to us] for building up and not for your overthrowing, I shall not be put to shame; 9 that I may not seem as if I was frightening you by letters: 10 because his letters, he says, [are] weighty and strong, but his presence in the body weak, and his speech naught. 11 Let such a one think this, that such as we are in word by letters [when] absent, such also present in deed.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Corinthians 10:7-11
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 10:7-11
(Read 2 Corinthians 10:7-11)
In outward appearance, Paul was mean and despised in the eyes of some, but this was a false rule to judge by. We must not think that none outward appearance, as if the want of such things proved a man not to be a real Christian, or an able, faithful minister of the lowly Saviour.