2 Corinthians chapter 11 says,
Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly, and
indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with
godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another
spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have
not accepted, ye might well bear with him. For I suppose I was
not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles, but though I be rude
in speech, yet not in knowledge, but we have been thoroughly made
manifest among you in all things. Have I committed an offense in
abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached
to you the gospel of God freely? I robbed other churches, taking
wages of them to do you service. And when I was present with you
and wanted, I was chargeable to no man. For that which was
lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied. And in all things I have kept
myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep
myself. As the truth of Christ is in
me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. Wherefore, because I love you
not, God knoweth. But what I do, that I will do,
that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion, that
wherein they glory they may be found even as we. For such are
false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is of
no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their words.
I say again, let no man think me a fool. If otherwise, yet
as a fool, receive me, that I may boast myself a little. That which
I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly
in the confidence of boasting. Seeing that many glory after
the flesh, I will glory also. For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing
ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer if a man bring
you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if
a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. I speak
as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit wheresoever
any is bold, I speak foolishly, I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of
Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of
Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more,
in labors more abundant, in strikes of blood measured, in prisons
more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews, five times received
I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods.
Once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck,
a night and a day. Have I been in the deep? In journeyings
often, in perils of warriors, in perils of robbers, in perils
of mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in
the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils
among false brethren. in weariness and painfulness,
in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often,
in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are
without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the
churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak?
Who is offended, and I burn not? If I must need glory, I will
glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed forevermore,
knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus the governor, under
Aretas the king, kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison,
desiring to apprehend me, and through a window in a basket
was I let down by the wall and escaped his hand." We're going
to stop there and probably could have stopped a little further
up from where we're going to go, but I wanted to read that
whole chapter in its context. And we've commented some upon
this, but evidently, as you read between the lines, there was
some brethren who had come among the Corinthians who were purporting
themselves to be great teachers of the things of God among the
Corinthians. And actually, as you look at
what Paul is saying, evidently, they had come among them demanding
of them goods for, in other words, they came preaching for money,
basically. That's what it boiled down to.
And they twisted the things. They said, well, if Paul was
really an apostle, he would be getting money from you as well.
Paul goes on saying, I'm paraphrasing some of this, he said, well,
I didn't come among you to get money. He said, and if getting
money, you know, was the reason for preaching, he says, I've
taken money from others. that I might minister to you,
because, he says, I would not be chargeable in any way to you,
that you might see and know that I have no ulterior motive in
what I am preaching to you than to declare the truth to you.
Now, he says here, he is jealous over them with a godly jealousy.
For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you
as a chaste virgin to Christ. Now Paul felt the burden, even
as we read in the book of the Hebrews, as the exhortation is
given there, for them to submit themselves to those that have
the rule over them, for they are those which watch for your
soul. Now the Lord is pleased to give
to the church, pastors and shepherds, people who by the grace of God,
not because they are lifted up in any position that puts them
above the brethren, but they are just given a burden that
they cannot shake off. In other words, it is not something
that they necessarily go out and try to get, it is just something
that the Lord gives them. And they have a zeal, a desire
for the purity of the flock of God. They do not want the people
of God to be led astray. They are not interested in anything
that the flock of God can bring to them, but they will bring
something to the flock. And so it is Paul saying here,
that is the position that he is in. that he wants to be able
to present these Corinthians to the Lord and say, Lord, they
are faithful. Lord, they have loved Thy Word. Lord, they are those that have
shunned the deceivers. So he says, I want to espouse
you that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. He
said, I have preached the gospel. in its purity to you, I have
espoused you to Christ. I have not presented any other
message to you than Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and I want
to maintain that." And he says, it pains me greatly to see that
there are false apostles come among you. He said, so that your
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ,
even as Eve. was deceived. And of course, he goes on to
make another reference to that when he speaks about those who
are transformed into an angel of light, so that they are false
apostles, deceitful workers. They've gone out into the world. You know, those that would pervert
the gospel of Christ, they don't come out and say, Jesus Christ
didn't die on the cross. Did they? I mean, who would receive
that? Nobody would receive it. But
what they do is they mix things in with what Christ did. And
they say, well, you ought to do this. And if you don't do
this, then you're going to miss out on this side or the other.
And so they pervert the minds of God's people from the simplicity
that is in Christ. Paul said, I don't want you to
be corrupted in any way or to think that there is anything
that you could by any effort of your own add to that which
Christ has done. I mean, that's it. Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Now, we sing the song, sometimes,
my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
And you'll hear that sung a lot of places. But the thing is,
that is an important and true thing. My hope is built on nothing
less. But there is another aspect of
that which is equally as true, if not more so. My hope is built
on nothing more. than Jesus' blood and righteousness. It's nothing less, but it's nothing
more either. That is our hope. And that's
really what Paul is coming at here. He says the deceivers don't
come telling you that what Christ did is less than what Christ
did, but he said they come telling you that you need to do other
things and add to it, and especially that if you're really a real
See, this was the thing they said about Paul. They said, you
know, if Paul was really, if he was really a true preacher,
he wouldn't be working making the tent. Why, he'd be full time. You know, what they say, full
time, what that means is that he'd be drawing a salary. I mean,
he'd be getting some money from you if he was the real deal.
Now, Paul's just kind of like part time. preacher. I mean, that's what these guys
were saying. He's just not the real deal. And so you don't need
to be paying attention to him. He said, I didn't come behind
any of the apostles. I take no second place. I don't play second fiddle to
anybody. Now, he goes on to say, you know,
I'm boasting a little here. And he says, this is foolish.
He said, I'm not being foolish just to be foolish. He said,
I'm being foolish so you can see how foolish it is for men
to boast in what they do, because he said, none of us are anything.
But he said, Christ is all. And so he says, if he that cometh
preaches another Jesus, which we have not preached. Now, another
Jesus. Is he talking about one that
wasn't born in Nazareth? Is that what the other Jesus
they were talking about? Did they preach one that was
born in Saudi Arabia? Or did they preach one that was,
you know, born in Philippi or something like that? No, he's
not talking about the physical characteristics of Christ. What's
he talking about? He's talking about the person
and work of the true Christ. And there are men that do preach
another Jesus. Now what do we mean by that?
Because when you get through listening to them, you wonder,
well, is that the same thing that Paul said? This is a different
one, is it not? If it's Jesus plus something. He said, I am determined to know
nothing among you, so Jesus Christ in Him crucified. It is not Jesus
Christ and you tithe Him. It is not Jesus Christ and you
send in missionaries to the foreign field. It is not Jesus Christ
in anything. It is Jesus Christ. That is the
sum total of that which he said, I came preaching. If you receive
another spirit which you have not received, or another gospel
which you have not accepted, is there more than one gospel?
Not more than one true gospel, but there is a bunch of gospels
out there, those false gospels that go out and men tell other
things that are not doctrinally correct. Now, does a man have
to be able to define every aspect of sound doctrine in order to
be a child of God? Of course not. It is a thing
wherein if a man has fled to Christ for refuge, the point
of his doctrine is that it is Christ and Christ alone. So that
if a man is trusting anything other than Christ, he is not
trusting Christ. That is what Paul is saying here.
He said it is another Jesus, if it is not the one who is sufficient
in everything that he did. If everything Christ did is not
absolutely, totally, 100% sufficient and efficient for the salvation
of His people without adding anything else to it, then it
is something else other than what He preached. If you receive
another gospel which you have not respected, you might well
bear with Him. You know, if you want that, then
hang with it. That's your business, but it's
not the truth. He says, I was not behind even
the chiefest apostles, though I be rude in speech, yet not
in knowledge. He says, I'm not skilled like
some of these other grand orators are that can sweep you off your
feet and tell you all kinds of stuff you won't hear. But he
said, when it comes to the knowledge of the truth, He says, we have
been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things. Nobody
can really bring any accusation against Paul and the things he
told them. Have I committed an offense in abasing myself that
you might be exalted because I have preached to you the gospel
of God freely? He said, because I didn't take
money from you for preaching so that you might be exalted
and I have abased myself and I have done without for your
sakes? He says, have I somehow or other harmed you? I robbed
other churches. Now, of course, he doesn't mean
that literally. He didn't go among the other saints in demand
of them to give them money either, but some did. And he says, you
know, they've sustained me. They've helped me along the way.
And so when I was present with you and wanted, I was not chargable
to any man. He said, when I had needs, I
didn't come to you and say, look, you need to help me out. You
need to do something for me. I was not chargable to you. For
that which was lacking to me, the brethren which came from
Macedonia supplied. And in all things I have kept
myself from being burdensome unto you. And so will I keep
myself. As the truth of Christ is in
me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.
Paul felt it necessary that he not take of their goods in order
that they might not be able to bring an accusation against him,
even though others sought to bring the accusation on that
ground. Wherefore, because I love you
not? I mean, is the reason that I have not charged you is because
I do not love you? No. He said, it is because I
love you more. God knoweth. But what I do, that
will I do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire
occasion, that where in thy glory they may be found even as we. Those that come and they are
looking for an occasion to build themselves up in your eyes, he
says, I am not going to play into that. For such are false
apostles." That's pretty strong words, is it not? I mean, he
didn't cut them any slack. He said they're false apostles.
He said, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. Those that do what? Come preaching
another Jesus. Come preaching some other message
to you than what I've already come preaching to you. Oh, well,
we've got a better idea than what Paul had. I say again, therefore,
and no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light. Isn't that what Satan did when
he came to Eve? He said, look, what God said
is not exactly the way that it is. We've got better insight
here. And the Lord knows this, that
if you eat this fruit, that you will become as He is. And through
subtlety, He came in. He transformed. What did Eve
think? She said, I can't believe I've been so stupid. Did she
not? Was she not deceived by His subtlety? Did she not say, well, you know,
maybe Paul is not telling, as these Corinthians, as he would
put it, well, maybe Paul is not really telling us the whole story.
You know, because these other guys come along and tell us stuff
that makes us feel better than what Paul says. Because they
tell us that we can do stuff to make ourselves acceptable
to God. And Paul comes along and says you cannot do anything.
It must be all of grace or nothing. And so Satan himself, as he's
transformed into an angel of light, it's not a great deal,
great thing, if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness. I mean, you know, preachers don't
come preaching something that's just obviously, openly and blatantly
wicked, do they? Now, if you look behind the scenes,
a lot of times you find out that there is a lot of that sort of
stuff that's going on, but they don't present themselves in that
way. They want to present themselves
as the ministers of righteousness, just like Satan. He didn't say, God ought to be
hated, did he? He didn't say, God's a terrible
God, did he? He said, you just need this.
This will help you. This is good for you. And so
Satan himself transformed into an angel of light, therefore
it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works.
He said the day is going to declare it. There is going to come a
settling of the accounts, and he said one day, those things
that are true will be seen. If I say again, let no man think
me a fool, if otherwise, yet as a fool, receive me. He said,
okay, if you want to think me a fool. Now see, Paul uses a
lot of sarcasm and irony, if you want to call it that. He
says, you know, if you want to think me a fool, go ahead and
think me a fool. I'll speak foolishly to you.
That's what he goes on to say. He says, "...that which I speak,
I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly in this
confidence of boasting, seeing that many glory after the flesh,
I will glory also." Now he's not saying, I want glory, is
he? He's saying, you want somebody
that will glory? Well, here, I'll show you some
glory. You know, I'll glory in this. Seeing that many glory after
the flesh, I'll glory also. Because if you want to talk about
what's being done in the flesh, you suffer fools gladly seeing
yourselves are wise." Now, is he saying that they're wise?
No, he's saying you're being foolish. He's saying you think
yourselves to be wise when these other guys come in and they tell
you all this stuff and they claim to be giving you this hidden
wisdom, but he said, You want me to really tell you something?"
He says, if you want to see somebody foolish, listen to me, I'm going
to glory in the flesh for a minute, he said. Not really that he's
glorying in the flesh, but he's showing them the contrast between
himself and those who would be their deceivers. I speak as concerning,
well, let's see, I missed a verse here. But if you suffer fools
gladly, seeing yourselves are wise. He says you're not wise
because you suffer fools gladly. Who's the fools? those that come
among them, telling them lies. He said, you listen to fools?
Well, here, I'm a fool. Listen to me. You said I was
a fool. You thought I was a fool. I speak as concerning reproach.
Well, I've got to hit them myself. For you suffer if a man bring
you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if
a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. He said,
these guys are coming and slapping you in the face. He said, and
you're liking it. He said, listen to me. He said,
you're not wise. He said, they have clouded your
view. I speak as concerning reproach,
as though we had been weak, howbeit wheresoever any is bold. I speak
foolishly. He says, I'm being sarcastic
here. He says, I'm bold also. Are they
Hebrews? That is, are they of the Jewish
religion? So am I. Are they Israelites? That is, are they born of Abraham's
seed? Well, so am I. Are they the seed
of Abraham? So am I. Are they the ministers
of Christ? I speak as a fool. Now here,
Paul doesn't come, he didn't ride into town with the list
of his accomplishments. up here. He didn't have a poster
printed up saying all the things he'd done for the Lord, did he?
He would have never spoken of these things. Except he says,
alright, you want somebody that as you perceive these men in
foolishly, he says, well, I'm going to boast to you foolishly
and let's see who's the bigger fool here. Let's see what this
is. And then he tells them, of those
things that the Lord has done with him. Are they ministers
of Christ? I speak as a fool, I am more.
Now one thing is for sure, Paul was not boasting of himself,
but he is here proving his apostleship. In labors more abundant, in stripes
above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft of the
Jews five times received I forty stripes, He was beaten five times
with thirty-nine stripes. He's not telling them that so
they'll feel sorry for him. He's telling them that to prove
his point, that those things that he has come among them telling
them are indeed true and that he has no ulterior motive. And
he goes on to speak of the things in weariness, painfulness, besides
those things that are without that which cometh upon me daily,
the care of all the churches. He said, not only have I suffered
these things in the flesh, but the burden that I have for the
daily care of the churches, that is, those things that God has
laid upon me and that weigh heavily on me, even as it weighs heavily
on me with you. He says, who is weak and I am
not weak? Who is offended and I bear not?
He says, you know, all these things have affected me. I mean,
can a man take fire into his bosom and not be burned? Can
a man be beaten with thirty-nine strikes five times and it not
have an effect on him? Of course these things have an
effect on him, but he says, I'm not glorying in those things. He said, I merely want to tell
you the truth as it is in Christ, and I want to present you as
a chaste virgin to the Lord. I do not want you to be turned
aside from following Christ. Don't listen to these guys. Don't
pay heed to those that would tell you there is more than Christ. If I must leave glory, Our glory
of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed forever, knoweth that
I lie not." Now these next two verses actually would be better
to come into the next chapter. But Paul, I can see that he is
very wrought in his mind and heart about this. This is not
something that he is speaking lightly of. It is not something
where he is seeking to gain anything. But he is trying to help these
Corinthians out of the situation that they have gradually slipped
into, just like the Galatians, as he comes to them. You know,
I know that it was, what a great burden it was to Paul to see
the ministry turned aside by many. And really, you know, from
the earliest of days of the preaching of the gospel of Christ, there
have come those in among the flock of God to deceive and turn
aside. Now today, you know, it is such
a conglomerated mess in the world of what goes as the gospel of
Christ. I mean, it is hard to find the
gospel. Because it's been mixed with so many things. It's not
our place. The Lord said, let the tares
and the wheat grow until the time of the harvest, and He'll
separate it. The Lord hasn't sent us out into
the world to try to determine who are the children of God.
But He has sent us into the world to declare what the truth of
God is. and to warn God's people that
everybody that comes talking about the things of God are not
sin of God. They are not all the apostles
of the Lord. They are not all those who are
preaching the same Jesus. Because somebody speaks that
name does not mean that they mean the same one that we do.
That is what Paul says. And so we need to be mindful
of that as we go into the world and we see the multitudes. I mean, all I know to do is just
preach what I know to preach. That's what Paul said. He said,
I'm just preaching to you the only thing I know to preach.
And I know this, that the Lord knows them that are His. Let
everyone that knows the Lord depart from iniquity, because
the Lord knows those And so we have a zeal, he said, for the
truth of God. And we have a zeal that you know
the truth of God. And thus was his purpose in going
forth in preaching.