seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Corinthians 11:1 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.
16 I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. 17 In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. 18 Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. 19 You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! 20 In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. 21 To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!
Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. 33 But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.
a. 2 Corinthians 11:5 Or to the most eminent apostles
Oh Paul.... sure they hunted you down and beat you up. Sure you had it rough.... and so did the disciple Stephen.
This is the commentary from the easy English site.
The false teachers said that they were superior apostles. They said that they were better Christians than Paul. The people in Corinth were very willing to follow the false teachers rather than Paul. He said that he was no less important than they were. He may not have been such a good speaker. However, he knew what he was talking about. The false teachers did not. Good speakers can easily impress us. It is important that a speaker has the right message. It is not important whether he is a skilled speaker.
The Christians at Corinth did not like the fact that Paul did not accept their money. But the false teachers accepted their money. William Barclay thinks that the false teachers said this: ‘Paul did not take money because his teaching (that is, his message) was not worth anything.’ The Greeks said that a teacher was better than even a skilled workman. The people in Corinth were angry that Paul accepted money from other churches. They said that he did not love them. In fact, he loved them very much. He did not want to be like other teachers. He did not make them feel that they had to provide for him. He said that he would continue to refuse their money. The false teachers’ claims to be equal to or superior to him were not true. Even the devil pretends to be an angel. These false teachers were the devil’s servants who pretended to be servants of righteousness. They taught that people had to obey the Jewish law to become righteous. Paul taught that people obtained righteousness by trust. This trust was in what Jesus had done for them on the cross. He said that the Christians at Corinth should not allow the false teachers to continue to teach. In the end, God would punish these false teachers.
His opponents accused Paul of being worldly, a fool and weak. He denied the first charge in chapter 10. But in his letters, Paul was happy to write as if the other charges were true. God knew the truth. People were usually proud about what they had done. Jesus tells a story in the Gospel of Luke. It is about a Pharisee who was proud of his prayers (Luke 18:10-12). Paul’s opponents were proud of what they had done. Paul would now write proud words as well. He did not want to be proud. He said that God does not want anyone to be proud. But Paul had to write these words. Then people could see that his good news had authority!
Paul’s opponents said that they were real Jews. Paul says that he is also a real Jew. He spoke Hebrew and he belonged to the families of Abraham. He was a real servant of Christ, much more so than those who opposed him. Unlike his opponents, his many troubles showed that he was a servant of Christ. We can see the glory of Christ in his service for other people. He suffered much more than we read about in the Acts of the Apostles. The list of his troubles here shows this. He says that he suffered terrible pain. The *Jews hit him 39 times with a whip on 5 occasions. Sometimes people died when this happened. The punishment in Deuteronomy 25:1-3 was 40 strokes of the whip. But they only beat criminals 39 times. If someone beat a criminal more than 40 times, then he would have received the same punishment. The Romans hit Paul with sticks. They should not have done this because he was a Roman citizen. Once, people tried to kill him by throwing stones at him. This was what happened to Stephen while Paul watched. (See Acts 7:54–8:1.)
This is from bible-studys.org.
The false apostle(s) came into the church from the outside just as Satan did into the Garden. They were like the Judaizers, seeking to impose Jewish customs on the Corinthians.
Their fascination with rhetoric and oratory suggest they had been influenced by Greek culture and philosophy.
Despite their vicious attacks on him, Paul’s quarrel with the false apostles was not personal, but doctrinal.
Though the precise details of what the false apostle(s) taught are unknown and don’t matter, they preached “another Jesus” and “a different spirit”, which added up to “a different gospel”.
Greek culture measured the importance of a teacher by the fee he could command. When Paul opened the church at Corinth, he asked nothing for himself. He preached the good news of Jesus Christ to them, free of charge. Because he did not charge them to preach, does that make him less a preacher? Being a tent maker was not thought of as a prominent job.
So.... this is more about Paul defending himself. There was a lot of money in the coffers at the church in Corinth. Paul was supposed to load up the money and take it to the Christians in Jerusalem.... who were in serious need. Apparently.... there were some paid staff at the church in Corinth who didn't want Paul to take that money. They liked the rich purses in Corinth.... but they needed it all for themselves. They were saying that anyone who didn't follow the customs of the descendants of Jacob [Israel..... Jesus's family]...... were not doing it right. Meanwhile Paul was preaching that the important thing was Jesus went to that cross for us..... He was laid in a borrowed tomb..... and after three days.... Jesus [as Paul taught] got up and walked among the living.... Paul reported that Jesus even cooked a fish dinner for everyone after He had been in the tomb. Then.... Jesus rose to Heaven.... and Jesus is coming back. Paul taught it wasn't necessary to be circumcised..... or process food in a particular manner. Paul said the important thing is that Jesus conquered death for us.
Today.... the guy on the street corner and the guy on that big stage with the television and streaming cameras all over the place..... could both be preaching the same message..... but the average human will believe that the guy on the big stage must be telling the truth because look at all that fanfare! He's so truthful.... he's getting all that money.... he must be the one! Why didn't they believe the guy on the street corner? Simple.... it's not a paid position. He can't be the real thing. If they don't ask for money... they must be unimportant.... right?
After the kids movie "Toy Story" came out.... there was a lot of discussion about those little toys in the claw machine.... and how those little toys in the claw machine were drawn to the "claw".... and there was some poking at Christians because we are supposed to be that devout to God..... only they are poking fun at us.... like our God isn't real [the "claw"] or worthy of worship.... like we're brain washed morons. After all someone put a coin in the machine and there has to be a sacrifice to the "claw". I think that's the kind of thing the fake preachers were teaching in Corinth.... and they were passing the hat.... once for a tithe... then for a gift.... then to the mission... and one more time for good measure, packed down, and doubled..... so since they were collecting so much money... they must be the true "claw"..... never liked claw machines much....
All the way through this posting... one song has been buzzing through my brain.... "money makes the world go around... the world go around... the world go around". This chapter is about who was authorized to lead the church.... to devise the logistics..... and who is authorized to teach. Paul says "I'll do it for free because those people you "hired" to teach aren't teaching Christ Crucified"..... they are preaching to the paycheck. They are telling you what you want to hear so you will open your purses and pour them in the plate. So... what do we call those guys who go around popping up a tent.... preaching a fake revival... taking up collections... and then folding up their tents and moving on????? Aren't they in the same class as the guy in the "Wizard of Oz" with his fancy cart and snake oil?
Who is really preaching the gospel?
