2 Corinthians - Lesson 11A

• Welcome back guys and I hope you are staying warm. If you’re not, just snuggle with the person next to you. If you don’t know them, just tell them to go with it, it will all be over soon.

  • Anyway, back to our study of 2 Corinthians. We ended our teaching last week by finishing Chapter 10, where Paul took the liberty of over 18 verses to describe himself to this church. In reality, what Paul was doing was the same thing he had been doing for the entire letter.

  • He is defending himself against this one individual who has slipped into the church and began nay-saying, murmuring, and downplaying who Paul is – his role as an Apostle and his authority. And of course, Paul is working to discredit this individual, because this man is saying that he too is an Apostle, and therefore they should listen to him instead of Paul.

• Now, if we were able to back out to 100,000 feet and look down on this letter, the central theme revolves around Paul defending himself, which includes him trying to reestablish his position in the eyes of this church in Corinth (the one that he founded and established by the way).

  • And so, just when you thought that Paul had just about exhausted every effort through his writings to accomplish his goal, we move into Chapter 11, where sure enough, he continues on. This section is entitled ‘Paul defends His Apostleship’.

  • Now, before you roll your eyes or say lordy, lordy please help us, I will tell you we only have two chapters left in this letter, and neither one of those chapters continues the theme of Paul defending himself.

• Now, before we jump into Chapter 11 this morning, I want you to remember, when we study scripture, there is the message we read, and many times there are several we don’t read.

  • This is an important concept for us to remember, especially when you study a section of scripture, and it appears to go on and on and on with the same message. Remember, each word of God’s Holy Manuscript has purpose and meaning, and it’s 100% applicable to our everyday life.

  • Which means when we study scripture, even though it may appear to be driving the same point home, in reality there really is no redundancy to God’s Word. Yes, the surface message may be the same, but the deeper message always changes. And that’s because (generally speaking) the situation and circumstances change.

  • Which then gives us a different angle or way to look at the situation, the result being, we can apply it differently in our own life.

    • And Chapter 11 is going to give you a really good example of what I am saying. As I said, the chapter is entitled, ‘Paul Defends His Apostleship’. But there is much more to these writings than Paul just defending himself. Follow me and let me show you what I mean.

  • 2 Corinthians 11:1-6, and here’s what Paul wrote:

Paul Defends His Apostleship
2 Cor. 11:1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. 

• Let me stop right here for a minute, because I find this to be an odd statement. Listen to it again:

2 Cor. 11:1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. 

• What in the world is he saying? Well, first of all, remember, we must remain in context with this verse, and in order to do that we need to back up and read the end of Chapter 10, so we can get the feel for why he is writing these words. Let’s do that real quick.

2 Cor. 10:12 For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.
2 Cor. 10:13 But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you.
2 Cor. 10:14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ;
2 Cor. 10:15 not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be, within our sphere, enlarged even more by you,
2 Cor. 10:16 so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another.
2 Cor. 10:17 But HE WHO BOASTS IS TO BOAST IN THE LORD.
2 Cor. 10:18 For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.

• In this last section of Chapter 10, Paul explains how that he and the other disciples, how they (paraphrasing here), how it is, in all that they are, in all that they do, they cannot do more or achieve any more than God has given them to achieve or do. And, he says they do not commend themselves by measuring themselves back against what others have achieved.

  • On the contrary. Their achievements can only be validated through God Himself.

  • And, he says, in everything we do, all glory be to God. What Paul is doing is simply pointing out the differences in his words and testimony verses this man’s words and testimony. And through that, he is defending his position as an Apostle by comparing his ministry to that of this one individual in the church.

    • Basically, he says we know who we are, and we know who we serve, and we know our calling. And my favorite part of this entire section lies in verse 12, where he says,

2 Cor. 10:12 For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding. 

• In other words, when a person evaluates themselves, especially on a spiritual basis, their standard or measuring stick should never be another person, especially someone whom they deem is doing worse than them. And why? Well, the goal of self-evaluation is what? Personal improvement. And when you measure yourself by someone whom you feel is doing worse than you, you don’t accomplish anything.

  • All you do is confirm in your own mind that you’re okay, which is counterintuitive to the entire process. And by the way, just in case you are wondering, none of us are truly okay, especially when comparing ourselves to the true standard, which is a standard of perfection.

  • And the only human who ever met that standard was Jesus. He is our standard. And so, based on that standard, we are not okay. Next, Paul says (paraphrasing again), if you guys. the Church at Corinth, if you guys don’t know who to believe, which is crazy by the way, but whatever, if you guys don’t know who to believe then just look at who we are comparing ourselves to, verses who this man is comparing himself too,

    • If you do that, you will get a pretty good indication of who’s on track and who’s not. And so, there’s the context of the end of Chapter 10, and then leads Paul to write this verse 1 of Chapter 11:

2 Cor. 11:1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed, you are bearing with me. 

• Still doesn’t really make sense. So, let’s read a little further into verse 2, and see if we can clear it up.

2 Cor. 11:2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. 

• Let me pause and read both verses together.

2 Cor. 11:1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed, you are bearing with me. 
2 Cor. 11:2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.

• When he says, “I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness”, what he is saying is, this entire thing is ridiculous. It’s foolish that I’m even having to do this, but I am.

  • And just a side bar. Some writers refer to 11:1-12:13 as Paul's "Fool's Speech" because of the recurring foolishness terminology in this passage, because of that fact that he had to make this defense in the first place. Next, he says:

2 Cor. 11:2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.

• I am jealous for you with a Godly jealously. What is Godly jealousy? Dr. Thomas Constable said this about Paul’s statement.

  • “God had jealously guarded His people Israel from the deceitfulness of deceivers who sought to draw their affections away from Him (cf. Hos. 2:19-20; 4:12; 6:4; 11:8).

• Paul felt the same concern for the Corinthians. His jealousy was in that sense Godly (God-like).

  • And proof of this lies in what he said in verse 2, when he pictured himself as the father of a virgin bride (cf. 1 Cor. 4:15; 2 Cor. 12:14).

  • How his desire was to keep his daughter, the Corinthian church, pure until she would consummate her marriage to Christ (cf. 4:14; Eph. 5:27; 1 John 3:2-3).[394] 

    • This will take place at the Rapture. Another view is that Paul was thinking of himself as the groomsman or bridegroom's friend who, traditionally, presented the bride to the groom in the Jewish wedding ceremony.[395]

    • Human jealousy is a vice, but to share divine jealousy is a virtue. It is the motive and object of the jealousy that is all-important.

  • There is a place for a spiritual father's passionate concern for the exclusive and pure devotion to Christ of his spiritual children, and also a place for anger at potential violators of that purity (11:29)."[396]

• Next – Paul goes on to say:

2 Cor. 11:3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 
2 Cor. 11:4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. 
2 Cor. 11:5 For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. 
2 Cor. 11:6 But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things.

• Verses 3-6 give us a minimum of six to seven powerful observations. And right out of the gate, I want you to notice something. Something that might seem inconsequential at first glance, but it’s not.

  • You see, inside Paul’s own writings we get a glimpse into his humanity, and it all begins in verse 3 with the words ‘I am afraid’. I am afraid. Guess what folks? Paul was afraid. Guess what else? There has never been an individual born on planet earth who taught and preached and believed more in the complete Sovereignty of God than the Apostle Paul.

  • Which means there has never been anyone more convinced that God was in total control of all things than Paul. Yet he was afraid, but afraid of what? Afraid that after all the hard work he had put into establishing the Church at Corinth, that the church would somehow permanently lose its way.

    • And the example he used was that of Eve being deceived by Satan in the garden. Now, if you have attended church for very long, or even if you haven’t, I would say most all of us are probably familiar with the story of Adam and Eve and the fall of mankind.

    • The takeaway from that story is not just the fact that Eve disobeyed God, but rather how it was that she came to that conclusion. How she decided it was a good idea to completely ignore God’s command. And why did she disobey God? Because the enemy was crafty.

• Now, if you study the word crafty in the Greek you will discover there is much more to this word than meets the eye. In my opinion, the word crafty really isn’t the best descriptor of Satan’s character. It really doesn’t do it justice. The word crafty (to me) somewhat denotes sneaky or simple.

  • But as I said that word just doesn’t pay proper respect to the enemy’s intelligence level. You see, the enemy isn’t just crafty. No, when you study the word in the Greek it’s much more powerful than that. The real sense of the word means he was clever, shrewd, skillful, and cunning.

  • The enemy wasn’t just a worthy adversary. No, far from it. The enemy was smarter than she was. One of the definitions I read in the Greek said, figuratively; crafty behavior, unscrupulous cunning that stops at nothing to achieve a selfish goal. And certainly, that definition better describes the enemy that you and I face on a daily basis.

• Now, when facing any enemy, it is always imperative that we do research on our opponent, so we can know who it is we are up against. And in the spirit of research, 1 Peter 5:8 gives what I would call a much better insight into what we are facing when he says this:

1 Peter 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 

• Have you ever seen a video of a Lion stalking its prey? If you haven’t, I suggest you watch one, because that’s exactly how the enemy works. He is slow and methodical. He eases in and his craftiness does not present itself in obvious ways. Remember, he is smarter than you are, therefore, his preferred method is not the direct approach.

  • As I said, he eases in, pulls up a chair next to you, and he does this in familiar ways. It’s familiar because generally we are the ones who invite him in, specifically through the things we allow to enter our lives. The things we read, we watch, listen to, including the things we tolerate and participate in.

  • And what’s interesting is, many, many times our enemy is not part of some of the things we do, but rather he uses those things as a portal into our souls, specifically by way of our eyes and ears. Much like a Trojan horse. And that is exactly what Paul is afraid of for this church, that they have allowed a seemingly harmless individual to enter their fellowship, and over time he’s begun dropping little hints questioning who Paul is.

  • And, according to verse 3, the result could be that they will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of serving Christ. And just so you know, when Paul mentions ‘the simplicity and purity of serving Christ’, he is describing how that serving Christ is not hard. There is nothing super spiritual about it.

    • It simply boils down to two things. First, knowing what God expects, which can only come by way of His Word, and second, putting into practice what you have learned – obedience.

• Guys, just so you know, the enemy in Paul’s day is the same enemy prowling around in our day. Which means what happened to Eve and the church at Corinth will happen to you as well if you are not grounded in your faith. In your relationship with God.

  • If we as believers don’t work to build up and feed the spirit that lives within us, the enemy will eat us alive. And when that happens, he will also attack our children. Remember, Satan is a lot of things, but he is never intrusive. He is crafty, subtle, clever, and sly. But even more than that, he’s so dangerous because he is comfortable and familiar.

  • Meaning, he meets us where we are and finds his way into our lives through the things we participate in, such as through the things we read, see, and hear.

• Pressing on one more time, in Verse 4 Paul says:

2 Cor. 11:4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. 

• What Paul is saying is, this one individual in this church is preaching a different Jesus than the One we are preaching, which brings a different spirit and a different gospel. And then he says, you bear this beautifully. What he means is, you seem to be okay with someone bringing you a different gospel. It’s a sarcastic overtone, meaning they seem just fine with this false teacher bringing this false gospel.

  • And then finally, Paul gives us insight into his humanity one more time when he says this in verses 5&6:

2 Cor. 11:5 For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. 
2 Cor. 11:6 But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things.

• Remember, Paul’s Apostleship is being called into question here, and evidently, based on Paul’s own writings he was either being compared to other Apostles or he was being compared to the false Apostles. That’s why he says, “For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent Apostles.”

  • When Paul says, ‘but even if I am unskilled in speech’, I would say he was comparing himself to the false teachers, the ones who came with cleverness of speech. Those false teachers who were very good speakers. That’s what Paul is fighting against here, men who present well, who garner the attention of the people with their presence and their words.

    • And yet here is ole’ Paul. Not much to look at. Not very eloquent or poised in his oratory presentation. But despite all of that, he says something, something that is the key to everything. Something that makes all the difference in the world. Something that you and I must strive to do if we want to live a life that is pleasing to God, and it shows up midway through verse 6, and this is where we are going to close this morning:

2 Cor. 11:6 But even if I am unskilled in speech, (and here it is) yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things.

• Paul is saying, I may not be a professionally trained speaker or orator, but I can assure you of one thing, this is not the case when it comes to my knowledge of God. Paul echoes this same sentiment in 1 Corinthians 2:1-8, when he says this:

1 Cor. 2:1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 
1 Cor. 2:2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 
1 Cor. 2:3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 
1 Cor. 2:4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 
1 Cor. 2:5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
1 Cor. 2:6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;
1 Cor. 2:7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;
1 Cor. 2:8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

• Paul says, I did not come to you with superiority of speech or superiority of wisdom (he’s refencing the world’s wisdom here), and we know this to be the case because he goes on to contrast the world’s wisdom verses the wisdom that comes from God, and how that through the Spirit of God they have received the wisdom God predestined them to have. “Before the ages to our glory,” as he described it. He calls it “hidden wisdom”.

  • Guys, inside God’s Holy Manuscript (this thing we call the “Bible”) lies a ‘hidden wisdom’, and it’s a wisdom that is only available to believers. Which means as a believer, when you study God’s Word correctly, which is in context and rightly divided (rightly divided meaning to tear it apart and break it down).

  • When you do that, God reveals things to you. And not just anything. He reveals Himself in His purest form, which then shines a mirror back in your face, which then forces you to self-evaluate. It puts back pressure on you to become more like Christ and less like the world, which in return matures you and then causes your life to become a witness.

    • It’s this ‘hidden wisdom’ that we are searching for, and it only comes by and through the pages of God’s Word. It’s that hidden wisdom that will change your life. This hidden wisdom as Paul calls it, is simply the message within the message.

• You see, an unbeliever can read the scriptures, but it really doesn’t mean a whole lot. And why? Because he is reading someone else’s mail. He or she is reading something that wasn’t written to them, therefore when they read it, they will say the same thing the religious rulers said back in Jesus’ day. And what did they say? They said, who is this man who speaks as one with authority? They were confused about what he was saying, because His words were never meant for them.

  • Guys, my heartfelt desire is for you to take hold of your spiritual maturity. For you to grow as a believer. For you to become salt and light in a dark and dying world. For God to use you whether you know it or not. If you are a believer, this is your goal. For God to use you.

  • Simply put, there is no greater joy this side of heaven than the feeling you get when God uses you for His glory. And that can only happen when you grow and mature into a Christian worthy of being used. And God’s method for your growth comes by way of the ‘hidden mysteries’ of God, which will not be revealed to you unless you spend time with Him in the study of His Word. But you can’t do that unless you know how to study.

    • As you have heard me say many times, God’s Word was never meant to be read like a novel. His Word is Him in Word form, which means we don’t read it, we study it, and when we study it, we do so using certain rules. Those rules are called Hermeneutics.

• My goal for each one of you is to study daily and weekly for yourself. But in order to do that, you need to know how to do it.