2Cor 11:4 | KingComments | STEP | Paul continues to unmask the false apostles who spread lies about him. May be you are thinking now whether it is necessary that we know so much detail about Paul’s defense. Yes, this knowledge of his defense is important for our time. Indeed there are still people today who argue that we do not need to attach authority to what Paul wrote. They also assert quietly that Paul at certain instances was totally wrong and that he was not in step with his times. The people who maintain this position present themselves as people who know the Bible well. This includes even theologians. But criticism of Paul ultimately is criticism of God Himself Who gave the order to Paul to write. So it is good that you get to grips with all his arguments and by doing so you will not get upset in case you meet people who have something to find fault with Paul. The way the apostle speaks to the Corinthians makes it clear how severely they were influenced by the false apostles. Paul is forced to compare his doings to the people who claim the Corinthians for themselves. These comparisons must open the eyes of the Corinthians to the duplicity of the false apostles who professed to have come with a message from God. . He first asks if they are willing to endure a little folly from him, for it is foolish to talk about oneself. At the end of the previous chapter he said that it was important that God recommended someone instead of one recommending himself. But note well that what he does happens out of necessity. He pleads to bear with him, for he must say a few things which may not be pleasant. . He does so because he is “jealous”. The word jealousy is used in the good sense here. Normally one thinks jealousy is something wrong and something negative. When your friend has something which you do not have, you can easily feel a sense of jealousy rising in you. With Paul it is about a jealousy which God also has. There can be nothing wrong in it; it is a jealousy that has to do with love. Through his ministry Paul had related the believers in Corinth with Christ. He compares this to an engagement. When young people get engaged a connection which goes far beyond friendship is established. You can have many friends but only one fiancé or fiancée. Certainly the person whom you are engaged to would relate only to you. None of you will have a similar connection with anybody else and if it happened, then that would strain the relationship and things would be very difficult for both concerned. Then the partners will be jealous also. You want the love of your engaged partner wholly for yourself and you are right. This is God’s jealousy which Paul expressed, because the Corinthians had turned away from the Christ Whom Paul had preached and instead listened to what the dissemblers preached. He compares the Corinthians to “a pure virgin” and this applies to the whole church. A pure virgin has had no marital relationship with a man. If the church forgets her relationship with Christ and connects with the world then that causes great grief to the Lord Jesus. . Paul fears that the church is becoming less and less aware that her love must be directed only to the Lord Jesus, her Bridegroom. The reason is that the church, like Eve, fails to discover the craftiness of satan. You find this illustration Paul cites in Genesis 3. In paradise the serpent came to Eve. The serpent is the devil ( ). He was crafty in approaching Eve. He does not approach with a coarse lie. No, first he quotes something that God had said. But watch out. He twisted the words of God (cf. and ). This is the first mark of satan. He always quotes from the Word of God in a way that raises doubts. Then he says bluntly that God doesn’t make true what He has said (cp. and ). Finally he replaces God’s Word with his own lies ( ). The allurement of this lie is underscored by what Eve sees when she looks at the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She concludes how gorgeous it looks. It is exactly as the serpent said! Can he be wrong then? When it came this far evil was already born. Eve had already forgotten what God had said and her thoughts were tainted by what the serpent said. What should she have done? She should have stuck to what God had said. But is it any better in the church? Did the church always consult the Word of God when something had to be done or is she misled by rhetoric? I am afraid of the latter. The church has departed from the simplicity and purity to Christ. Her thoughts didn’t remain fixed on Christ alone. Simplicity means that there is only one object on which you are focused. Purity is abandoned and the church is defiled through its dealings with the world. The church has begun to think and act more and more like the world. The church has begun to be like a commercial enterprise that is governed in the ways of the world. What do you think of the World Council of Churches that has mixed up with all kinds of political issues, sometimes even providing funds for arms purchases? It goes so bad when thoughts are corrupted and Christ is no longer the only object in the heart of the believers. . As for the Corinthians they fell in danger even to the extent of rejecting Paul because he seemed not to be a genuine apostle. What he told them perhaps was too simple and too radical. Do you really have to live all alone for Christ? Is Christ to have the full authority over their lives? The teachers who came after Paul had views that were easier to accept. The other Jesus they preached was better to them. This is one who does not ask everything of you, as Paul preached to them, pushing to the background what the true Jesus did for them. This “different spirit”, the spirit which these teachers brought to them, they easily accepted because it left them some more room for their own thoughts. The Holy Spirit they received did not give room for this. The Holy Spirit Who would guide them into all truth ( ) was pushed to the background. A “different gospel”, a comfortable gospel that not called for radical conversion, not a thorough self-judgment, was easier to accept than what they heard and accepted from Paul. Paul indeed exposed the utter bankruptcy of man. But wasn’t there still something good in man? Such arguments as these were accepted by the Corinthians. They proved how much they had opened themselves to the corrupting influences of the false apostles and how those influences had worked in them. Take the lessons to your heart. Keep yourself focused on what God has said in His Word and let your eyes be focused on the Lord Jesus alone. Now read 2 Corinthians 11:1-4 again. Reflection: What is the best thing you can do to prevent the serpent from leading you astray?

‏ 2 Corinthians 11:4

Simplicity and Purity to Christ

Paul continues to unmask the false apostles who spread lies about him. May be you are thinking now whether it is necessary that we know so much detail about Paul’s defense. Yes, this knowledge of his defense is important for our time. Indeed there are still people today who argue that we do not need to attach authority to what Paul wrote. They also assert quietly that Paul at certain instances was totally wrong and that he was not in step with his times. The people who maintain this position present themselves as people who know the Bible well. This includes even theologians.

But criticism of Paul ultimately is criticism of God Himself Who gave the order to Paul to write. So it is good that you get to grips with all his arguments and by doing so you will not get upset in case you meet people who have something to find fault with Paul.

The way the apostle speaks to the Corinthians makes it clear how severely they were influenced by the false apostles. Paul is forced to compare his doings to the people who claim the Corinthians for themselves. These comparisons must open the eyes of the Corinthians to the duplicity of the false apostles who professed to have come with a message from God.

2Cor 11:1. He first asks if they are willing to endure a little folly from him, for it is foolish to talk about oneself. At the end of the previous chapter he said that it was important that God recommended someone instead of one recommending himself. But note well that what he does happens out of necessity. He pleads to bear with him, for he must say a few things which may not be pleasant.

2Cor 11:2. He does so because he is “jealous”. The word jealousy is used in the good sense here. Normally one thinks jealousy is something wrong and something negative. When your friend has something which you do not have, you can easily feel a sense of jealousy rising in you. With Paul it is about a jealousy which God also has. There can be nothing wrong in it; it is a jealousy that has to do with love.

Through his ministry Paul had related the believers in Corinth with Christ. He compares this to an engagement. When young people get engaged a connection which goes far beyond friendship is established. You can have many friends but only one fiancé or fiancée. Certainly the person whom you are engaged to would relate only to you. None of you will have a similar connection with anybody else and if it happened, then that would strain the relationship and things would be very difficult for both concerned. Then the partners will be jealous also. You want the love of your engaged partner wholly for yourself and you are right. This is God’s jealousy which Paul expressed, because the Corinthians had turned away from the Christ Whom Paul had preached and instead listened to what the dissemblers preached.

He compares the Corinthians to “a pure virgin” and this applies to the whole church. A pure virgin has had no marital relationship with a man. If the church forgets her relationship with Christ and connects with the world then that causes great grief to the Lord Jesus.

2Cor 11:3. Paul fears that the church is becoming less and less aware that her love must be directed only to the Lord Jesus, her Bridegroom. The reason is that the church, like Eve, fails to discover the craftiness of satan. You find this illustration Paul cites in Genesis 3. In paradise the serpent came to Eve. The serpent is the devil (Rev 12:9 ; Rev 20:2). He was crafty in approaching Eve. He does not approach with a coarse lie. No, first he quotes something that God had said. But watch out. He twisted the words of God (cf. Gen 3:1 and Gen 2:16).

This is the first mark of satan. He always quotes from the Word of God in a way that raises doubts. Then he says bluntly that God doesn’t make true what He has said (cp. Gen 3:4 and Gen 2:17). Finally he replaces God’s Word with his own lies (Gen 3:5).

The allurement of this lie is underscored by what Eve sees when she looks at the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She concludes how gorgeous it looks. It is exactly as the serpent said! Can he be wrong then? When it came this far evil was already born. Eve had already forgotten what God had said and her thoughts were tainted by what the serpent said. What should she have done? She should have stuck to what God had said.

But is it any better in the church? Did the church always consult the Word of God when something had to be done or is she misled by rhetoric? I am afraid of the latter. The church has departed from the simplicity and purity to Christ. Her thoughts didn’t remain fixed on Christ alone. Simplicity means that there is only one object on which you are focused.

Purity is abandoned and the church is defiled through its dealings with the world. The church has begun to think and act more and more like the world. The church has begun to be like a commercial enterprise that is governed in the ways of the world. What do you think of the World Council of Churches that has mixed up with all kinds of political issues, sometimes even providing funds for arms purchases? It goes so bad when thoughts are corrupted and Christ is no longer the only object in the heart of the believers.

2Cor 11:4. As for the Corinthians they fell in danger even to the extent of rejecting Paul because he seemed not to be a genuine apostle. What he told them perhaps was too simple and too radical. Do you really have to live all alone for Christ? Is Christ to have the full authority over their lives? The teachers who came after Paul had views that were easier to accept. The other Jesus they preached was better to them. This is one who does not ask everything of you, as Paul preached to them, pushing to the background what the true Jesus did for them.

This “different spirit”, the spirit which these teachers brought to them, they easily accepted because it left them some more room for their own thoughts. The Holy Spirit they received did not give room for this. The Holy Spirit Who would guide them into all truth (Jn 16:13) was pushed to the background. A “different gospel”, a comfortable gospel that not called for radical conversion, not a thorough self-judgment, was easier to accept than what they heard and accepted from Paul. Paul indeed exposed the utter bankruptcy of man. But wasn’t there still something good in man?

Such arguments as these were accepted by the Corinthians. They proved how much they had opened themselves to the corrupting influences of the false apostles and how those influences had worked in them. Take the lessons to your heart. Keep yourself focused on what God has said in His Word and let your eyes be focused on the Lord Jesus alone.

Now read 2 Corinthians 11:1-4 again.

Reflection: What is the best thing you can do to prevent the serpent from leading you astray?