2 Corinthians 11v1-5

2 Corinthians 11:1-15 - The Danger of Deception

What embarrasses you? Perhaps it’s the baby photos, I once took a girlfriend home to meet my parents and my sister got out the baby photos. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Or maybe its something you have done, some cultural faux pas – my brother in law went abroad on business and sat down for a meal of a rare and expensive delicacy - snake. He proceeded to force down every last bit on his plate thinking it was polite, only for his host to insist another plate be brought, which he duly ate only for another plate to be ordered. Because as was explained later, it was a cultural affront to the host if their guest was not satisfied – and the way you conveyed you were satisfied was by leaving a little on your plate.

Paul is embarrassed in ch11 by what he is about to do that’s why (1) he asks them to “put up with me in a little foolishness”. He is about to boast. Given that Paul in 1 Corinthians has told this church not to boast in leaders, and that he has just written 10:17 "Let those who boast boast in the Lord” what has driven him to the point where he will now boast? [As you ask questions of the Bible that you discover its answers.] Paul will boast because he is driven to it by his love for the church in Corinth.

1. A love that leads to fear (1-6)
Are you shocked by(2)? Paul says that he is jealous for the church. We think of jealousy as a negative emotion, as something to be avoided. But notice Paul’s jealousy isn’t like our petty jealousy. It is a “godly jealousy”.

Do we ever think of God as jealous? Paul’s divine possessiveness mirrors God and he gives them an illustration to help them understand it.

In Jewish culture betrothal was vastly more significant than today, to break an engagement required a certificate of divorce it was so serious. When a couple were betrothed the bride’s father took on himself the responsibility to present his daughter at the wedding as a pure virgin. To do anything less was a scandal.

Paul says he is like the father, just as that father jealously guards the purity of his daughter so Paul is jealous for the purity of the Corinthian church. He wants to present the church – the bride – to Christ pure and unblemished at the wedding feast when Christ comes again. And Paul’s fear is that they are fooling around, that the churches purity may be lost.

His fear is that they are being led astray, tempted, drawn away, deceived. Notice it is not a once for all break but a gradual drift. Paul likens it to Eve in the Garden of Eden. Turn back to Gen3. The Serpent is very cunning, in 2:16-17 God says: “…you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

But Satan subtly shifts Eve’s perspective so by(3:2-3) she has taken her eyes off the provision of God, off “any” tree in the “good” garden, including the tree of life, and fixed it on, quite literally, the only prohibition in the whole world. And it looms larger in her eyes than the whole creation around it.

Secondly we see her doubt God’s word, Eve removes the “surely” from the consequences, and adds the even touch it. Eve’s attention is fixated not on provision but on the prohibition and God’s word is now open to debate. (4)Satan removes any consequences, contradicting the word of God and questioning his character. ‘Eve, God is just holding you back, he doesn’t want you to reach your full potential, he knows you’ll be just like him if you take it. You can be independent.’ What verse 5 literally means is you will be able to decide, to choose, right from wrong yourself, without God.

(6)Eve looks at it and it is attractive, it looks good, it doesn’t look harmful and she is questioning God’s word.

Very subtly, gradually Satan shifts Eve’s thinking and focus. Satan hasn’t altered his mode of operation. In Corinth he seeks to take the churches eyes off everything they have been given - grace, mercy, hope for eternity, purpose – and make them question the word of God. Such that(4) they are in danger of abandoning Jesus, the Spirit and the gospel. Shockingly they put up with false teaching.

Paul’s love is seen in his fear for the Corinthians that subtly they have been led astray and are in danger of shipwrecking their faith because to believe in another gospel is to believe in no gospel.

Wrong teaching is subtle and it is attractive. We need to be aware of that and be on our guard. What lies do we swallow, what dangers are there that may lead us away from the gospel? Probably the danger here for the Corinthians is some form of legalistic pietism. It appears the false apostles are Jews(22) appealing to works.

Legalism is a real danger for us. 'Legalism is appealing for two reasons; First it makes holiness manageable. A heart wholly devoted to God is a tough demand but a list of ten rules I can cope with… Secondly legalism makes holiness an achievement on our part...'

But it is an addition to the gospel. Rather than saying I rely on grace alone for salvation, it becomes a grace+. So it’s grace+reading my Bible every day, or grace+good works, or grace+certain theological convictions. And every time it becomes grace+ we take something away from the work of Christ because we are saying it is not enough on its own.

What should you look for in a gospel teacher? Someone who loves the gospel and preaches it alone as the way of salvation.

2. A love that does not burden
Now Paul turns and deals with an objection being made against his ministry. Not only do the ‘super-apostles’ accuse him of being unimpressive in person, but horror of horrors he did not bill them for his ministry – he preached the gospel free of charge!

It’s hard for us to understand this as an argument until we understand their culture. It worked a little like the after dinner speaking circuit. The more famous you are the more in demand you are, the more in demand you are the more you can charge, the more you can charge the better people assume you are so the more bookings you get and so on.

In those days it was the same for teachers or philosophers. Your followers supported you financially, but horror of horrors Paul worked as a tentmaker in Corinth – so he can’t have been any good could he!

Paul preaches the gospel free because he did not want to burden them (11)he loves them, he didn’t want to erect any barriers, or leave any possible way that they could misunderstand his love for them. In no way did he want anything to cloud the message of the gospel. Don’t evaluate your teachers by the bill they present but they the truth of Christ they teach.

Paul’s ministry mirrors Jesus. He does not want riches, he wants people to hear the gospel, to respond to the gospel and grow in the gospel and he will not put any barriers up in their way.

3. A love that highlights error
The mantra that is behind everything in our society is ‘tolerance’. To say someone else is wrong, or suggest that there is such a thing as objective truth is viewed as wrong.

A couple of years ago an Imam from a London Mosque and I struck up a correspondence. He’d sent a letter to our church calling for us to recognise the true faith and convert to Islam. I wrote back explaining the nature of the gospel and the wonder of grace. We carried this on for a couple of months. But it ended because he wrote that he was fearful of what others would conclude about our sharing of opinions and our claims to hold the truth.

It is an idea that is behind everything. It’s why we face the gulp moments in our conversations with our friend – when they say ‘Are you really saying Jesus is the only way?’ And we pause, take a deep breath and answer yes.

It’s an idea that has crept into churches, where we are reluctant to stand up against false teaching. Often people who stand up against false teaching are accused of being narrow and bigoted.

Paul however is driven by his love for the Corinthians and his godly jealousy to confront, name and shame the ‘super-apostles’ and he does so in no uncertain terms. The contrast between his ministry and theirs is stark, and not just in that they charge and he doesn’t, look at how he describes them(13-15).

They are not just mistaken, they are not misunderstood! But they are Satan’s undercover agents. Just as the serpent masqueraded as part of God’s good creation in the garden so the false apostles masquerade as servants of righteousness.

It is dangerous and it will lead them into judgement(15) and the danger is they will take the Corinthians captive with them to that same judgement. This conflict is over the fundamentals it is over the very gospel itself and it is worth fighting for because the consequences are as significant as they can ever be.

It is important for us to understand that love is what drives Paul to this confrontation. He deliberately confronts it because the gospel is at stake. It is love that drives him not spite, pride, desire to prove himself, or fear of losing position.

It may be easy to sit and think we are safe, we are immune from this need to worry. But the battle is raging around us. I read a book recently in which one ‘Christian Evangelical’ author questions the nature of hell – “I wonder if hell is just what heaven feels like for those who haven’t learned in this life what life is intended to teach…”.

The gospel is under attack – did Jesus really die for our sin is the most obvious example. We need to stand up for the gospel because we love people and the gospel just as Paul did.

Earlier Paul wrote (5:14-15)“For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

The gospel drives Paul to love them so much that he fears for them, he will not burden them and he highlights error.