By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher
Text: 2
Corinthians 11:1-15
2
Corinthians 11:15
Therefore it
is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into
ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
(NKJV)
The Bible is clear that
Salvation comes from the grace of God and not our works (Ephesians
2:8-9). However, in Ephesians
2:10 the Apostle Paul speaks of a believer being the workmanship of Christ,
created for good works. While this appears to be a contradiction, a believer is
justified by the grace of God but should experience transformation from
conformity to the world towards conformity with Christ (Romans
12:1-2). Paul feared the Corinthians might fall for the deceptive teaching
of false apostles, losing their faithfulness to God and not experiencing
transformation towards being more like Christ, something the Church must still
guard against.
Paul begins the text by
asking the Corinthians to bear with him because he has a godly jealousy for the
Corinthians because he has betrothed them to Christ and desires to present them
as chaste virgins (2
Corinthians 11:1-2). Paul’s concern is that the Corinthians may be deceived
just as Eve was and fall for the teaching of false apostles presenting a
different Jesus, spirit, or gospel than the one given to them by Paul (2
Corinthians 11:3-4).
Paul does not consider
himself inferior to the most eminent apostles even though he is untrained in
speech he is trained in knowledge and has been fully manifested in all things among
them (2
Corinthians 11:5-6). Paul then asks if they consider it sin when he humbled
himself so they might be exalted as Paul preached the Gospel free of charge (2
Corinthians 11:7). Paul took wages from other Churches and not the
Corinthians (2
Corinthians 11:8). When present with the Corinthians and in need, Paul
never became a burden to them, having his needs met by the men from Macedonia (2
Corinthians 11:9). Nothing shall stop Paul from boasting about the Corinthians
because God knows he loves them (2
Corinthians 11:10-11).
Paul intends to continue
doing as he has always done to cut off the opportunity for false apostles to
boast in their false teaching (2
Corinthians 11:12). False apostles are deceitful workers, taking on the
appearance of apostles of Christ (2
Corinthians 11:13). This should not surprise us for even Satan transforms
himself into an angel of light, with his ministers appearing as ministers of
righteousness whose end will be according to their works (2
Corinthians 11:14-15).
Paul feared the troubled
Corinthian Church could become unfaithful to Christ and fall for deceptive
teaching from false apostles portraying themselves as ministers of
righteousness. Paul’s fear is not unfounded, for he had observed the propensity
of the Corinthians to attach themselves to men instead of to Christ (1
Corinthians 1:10-17). He feared that they might fall for some false apostle
with a message sounding good to them that would deceive them and cause them to
become unfaithful to Christ. The fear of falling for deception was not reserved
for only the Corinthians for Paul expressed a similar fear with the Ephesians,
Galatians, and Colossians (Colossians
2:8; Ephesians 5:6; Galatians 6:7).
In the information age,
it is easy to obtain information, but it must be measured using the truth of
the Word of God to avoid falling for deception. The rapid distribution of
information is convenient, but also convenient for those spreading deception and
why one must be diligent in measuring information against the standard of
truth, the Word of God. The belt of truth is one aspect of the armor of God (Ephesians
6:14) and is the piece of God’s armor that holds everything together. This
is especially true for anything presented as some new revelation from God
because we already have the full cannon of scripture in the Bible that needs no
additions (Revelation
22:18). We must follow the example of the Bereans who searched the
scriptures daily to determine if Paul’s teaching was true (Acts
17:10-11). We live in the information age but also an age of great
deception and why we must have a standard of truth by which to measure
information received for its validity. One eternal thing is the Word of God for
God is eternal (Psalm
93).
God promised fallen humanity a savior in Genesis
3:15 with that promise fulfilled when God sent his only Son, Jesus
who came to die for sinners that they might have eternal life (2
Corinthians 5:21; John 3:16). The need for a savior is universal for
all have sinned (Romans
3:23) but one does not automatically receive salvation but must ask
God for it (1
John 1:9; Romans 10:9-10). If you are reading this post and realize
you need a savior to save you from your sins, I invite you to pray with me now,
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans
3:23)
and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans
6:23). I ask you to forgive me of my sin and cleanse
me as you promise in your Word (1
John 1:9). I believe
you died, spent three days in the grave, and resurrected from the dead and now
declare you Lord of my life.
May God challenge,
convict, and bless everyone reading this post.
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