2 Corinthians 11:1-15 - Gospel Imposters

2 Corinthians 11:1-15

Concern for Their Faithfulness

1 Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

Paul and False Apostles

5 For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles. 6 Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge. But we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things.

7 Did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you. 9 And when I was present with you, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia. 11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows!

12 But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. 13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

Impostors deceive people as the serpent did with Eve in the Garden of Eden.  The deceiver used crafty words to subtly change God’s commandment first to a questionable understanding as if Eve had heard it wrong, and then he outright lied and changed it to make it seem that God was keeping something from her and Adam.  The simplicity of God’s word has not changed in the gospel either; the cunning false wisdom still attracts many and pulls them away from Christ, while others who know Him are led astray into doubting all God has to say by explaining parts away.  The prosperity ‘gospel’ we hear to so often is a good example of this deceit where the simplicity of the gospel is morphed into a self-centered and self-serving message for our benefit instead of God’s glory and honor in facing the challenges and suffering for Christ’s sake (Romans 8:17, Philippians 1:29, 2 Timothy 3:12).  Too many who profess Jesus Christ as Savior neglect the fact that He is also Lord, sovereign in the heavens and on earth, and is to be taken at His unadulterated word.  We should not put up with these additions and subtractions to the scriptures and especially to the gospel that we do not portray or offer a false hope that leads to eternal suffering instead of everlasting life in the presence of God whom we shall worship in spirit and in unadulterated truth just as He spoke it and it was written for our learning and obedience.  Paul himself was slandered even though God had called and chosen him to speak and record the word of God for us in his letters of the New Testament that we now possess and study to cut straight (2 Timothy 2:15) and be approved by God (1 Thessalonians 2:4) in pleasing Him by recounting to others the bad news of our lost state in sin from birth, our certain judgment and accountability apart from Christ’s deliverance, our inability to ever do enough good to undo our sin’s punishment, and the good news of that great salvation by the grace of Christ’s work which alone can save us.  We follow the apostle’s example also in not making the ministry of the gospel a commodity to earn money from, freely presenting the unhidden truth (Isaiah 55:1-3, John 7:37, Revelation 21:6) to be received by faith without rituals or works to be made worthy to obtain reconciliation with God in Christ and His work alone.  Paul demonstrated the free offer of God’s grace by refusing to be paid for his ministry that he not be slandered with false motives but freely gave as he had received from the Lord.  Imposters who were false ministers and faux self-appointed apostolic boasters were identifiable by their selfish actions as well as their twisting of the scriptures to their own advantage and destruction (2 Peter 3:16).  Such false apostles are deceitful workers who transform themselves into apostles of Christ as they mislead with half truths and feigned righteousness as outward makeup of holiness covering inward corruption.  They mishandle the word of truth and cut it up instead of cutting it straight in right interpretation and presentation as true ministers of the gospel strive for as they teach and preach the truth in love and service to others as living sacrifices and priests of true worship who do not stick their hooks into the pot to satisfy their own hunger as the corrupt sons of the priest Eli who did not know the LORD had done in 1 Samuel 2:12-14, 4:11 as a warning to us all.  We can identify the false workers and self-proclaimed apostles by the results hidden in false light of outward righteous acting as their true works result in confusion and destruction instead of life and peace in Christ.  Just as Satan transforms himself into a false angel of light, so those who follow him put on this false image of righteousness that is unveiled by the truth of their actions and resulting fruit (Matthew 7:15-16, 20, Luke 6:44-45) of unrighteousness.  The way to beware of gospel imposters is by knowing the truth of scripture through studying the Bible (Acts 17:11) to demonstrate your approval by God and not man.  The simplicity of the gospel of grace reveals the overly complicated lies of deceit in added conditions that deny the Lord who bought us at such a price!