Read 2 Corinthians 11:1-15

 

   Paul asked the Corinthian believers to bear with him as he talked like a fool. In other words, Paul felt foolish rehearsing his credentials as a preacher of the Gospel. But he thought he had to do this in order to silence false teachers. 

   Paul was anxious that the church’s love should be for Christ alone, just as a pure bride saves her love for one man only. By pure bride he meant one who was unaffected by false doctrine. 

 

   The Corinthians’ pure and simple devotion to Christ was being threatened by false teaching. Paul did not want the believers to lose their single-minded love for Christ. Keeping Christ first in our life can be very difficult when we have so many distractions threatening to sidetrack our faith. Just as Eve lost her focus by listening to the serpent, we, too, can lose our focus by letting our life become overcrowded and confused. Is there anything that weakens your commitment to keep Christ first in your life? How can you minimize the distractions that threaten your devotion to Him? 

 

   The false teachers distorted the truth about Jesus and ended up preaching a different Jesus, a different spirit than the Holy Spirit, and a different way of salvation. Those who teach anything different from what God’s infallible Word says are both mistaken and misleading. 
The Corinthian believers fell for smooth talk and messages that sounded good and seemed to make sense. Today there are many false teachings that seem to make sense. Don’t believe someone simply because he or she sounds like an authority or says words you like to hear. Search the Bible and check his or her teachings against God’s Word. The Bible should be your authoritative guide. Don’t listen to any authoritative preacher who contradicts God’s Word. 

 

   Paul was saying that these marvelous teachers were no better than he was. They may have been more eloquent speakers, but they spoke lies and were servants of Satan. 

 

   Paul, a brilliant thinker, was not a trained, eloquent speaker. Although his ministry was effective, he had not been trained in the Greek schools oratory and speechmaking, as many of the false teachers probably had been. Paul believed in a simple presentation of the Gospel, and some people thought this showed simple-mindedness. One of my theology professors from my former college days back in the late 70’s used to say to us young preacher boys, “In this class, you young boys will learn a lot of big theological words. And you can get up in the pulpit and wow your congregation with those big words, but 90% of them will not have a clue what you are talking about. If you cannot explain the Gospel in such a way from the pulpit that a 5 year old could understand it, you have no reason to be in the pulpit.” 

 

   Thus, Paul’s speaking performance was often used against him by false teachers. In all our teaching and preaching, content is far more important than the presentation. A simple, clear presentation that helps listeners understand will be of great value. 

 

   The Corinthians may have thought that preachers could be judged by how much money they demanded. A good speaker would charge a large sum, a fair speaker would be a little cheaper, and a poor speaker would speak for free. The false teachers may have argued that because Paul asked no fee for his preaching, he must have been an amateur, with little authority or competence. Believers today must be careful not to assume that every preacher or evangelist that is well known or who demands a large honorarium is superior at teaching God’s Word. 

 

   Paul could have asked the Corinthian church for financial support. Jesus Himself taught that those who minister for God should be supported by the people to whom they minister (Matthew 10). But Paul thought that asking for support in Corinth might be misunderstood. There were many false teachers who hoped to make a good profit form preaching, and Paul might look like one of them. Paul separated himself completely from those false teachers in order to silence those who only claimed to do God’s work. 

 

   One Jewish writing says that the story of Eve’s temptation includes Satan masquerading as an angel. Paul may have been thinking of this story, or he could have been referring to Satan’s typical devices. In either case, nothing could be more deceitful than Satan, the prince of darkness (Ephesians 6; Colossians 1), disguising himself as an angel of light. In the same way, these false apostles were pretending to be apostles of Christ, while in reality they were agents of Satan. 

 

   Satan and his servants can deceive us by appearing to be attractive, good, and moral. Many unsuspecting people follow smooth talking, Bible quoting leaders into cults that alienate them from their families and lead them to the practice of immorality and deceit. Don’t be fooled by external appearances. Our impressions alone are not an accurate indicator of who is or isn’t a true follower of Christ; so it helps to ask these questions: 1) Do the teachings confirm Scripture (Acts 17)? 2) Does the teacher affirm and proclaim that Jesus Christ is God, who came into the world as a man to save people from their sins (1 John 4)? 3) Is the teacher’s life-style consistent with biblical morality (Matthew 12)?