INFIDELITY
Opening Prayer
May I fully recognize the presence of you, Jesus, the “Lion of Judah” and the “Lamb of God.”
Read 2 Corinthians 11:1–15
Paul and the False Apostles
11 I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! 2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
5 I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.”[a] 6 I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. 7 Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. 9 And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. 10 As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. 11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
12 And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
Footnotes:
a 2 Corinthians 11:5 Or to the most eminent apostles
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica
Reflect
Does my life model the Jesus who both suffered and is raised to glory?Almost against his better judgment, Paul now begins to speak frankly, even “foolishly.” At times it looks as though he is fighting for himself, but he can rightly say “the truth of Christ is in me” (10) so his battle is for Christ. If his readers knew their Old Testament they would sense the strength of feeling behind Paul’s words. There Israel is often addressed as an unfaithful wife, a whore (Ezek. 16 and Hos. 1–3). These are passionate passages. Now Paul is in the position of a father whose daughter has been unfaithful to her promised husband (2).
At stake is the nature of Jesus and the nature of the Gospel (4). Whatever the heresy being preached by Paul’s rivals, they seem to have lost the connection between the Jesus who suffered and the Jesus who is Lord. Paul is always at pains to emphasize that this is one and the same person (4:11; 5:15; 8:9; 1 Cor. 1:18–25).
So the attitude of the Corinthian church to Paul and their attitude to Christ himself, whom Paul has tried to model to them, are profoundly connected. Paul became poor to make them rich (7–9; 8:9), but the Corinthians despised him for not “pulling rank” like his opponents. Behind all this is a devilish deception (13–15) against which Paul must fight.
Apply
When people question you, do you jump to share your “résumé” or stand firm in your Christ identity? What is a Christ-like response when people question your knowledge or authority?
Closing prayer
Lord, may Your approval be enough for me. Teach me how to point people to You when I have the opportunity to elevate myself.
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