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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday April 29, 2018
PAUL
AND THE FALSE APOSTLES
2
Corinthians 11:1-15
The false apostles in Corinth were
dead set on establishing their own claims of authority by highlighting their
strengths alongside Paul’s weaknesses. They often followed Paul from church to
church, literally “un-teaching” everything about CHRIST that Paul and his crew
had originally taught, as he struggled mightily to plant the seeds of
Christianity in the minds of the people of the first century.
Paul often returned to those same churches
and re-established the teachings of CHRIST, and put a damper on the false
teacher’s boasting of themselves, telling the churches that all boasting should
be only in what GOD has done for them, and not what they as men had done.
In the Greek, the word used for “authority”
is “exousia” and it is “freedom to act in a given situation, role, or
position”. The last four chapters of 2 Corinthians provide significant insight
into the nature of spiritual authority. Paul says that, in the Christian
Church, a leader’s authority is given so that he can build up the congregation,
not tear it down. On the other hand, the authority of a leader is also limited,
in that, they can’t use that authority to control behavior, but rather, they
can only use it to influence or evoke, hopefully, a voluntary, GODly response.
Here in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul’s
deep concern for the Corinthians spiritual well-being and protection from the
infiltration of false prophets and their doctrine, moved him to go against his
own principles regarding not boasting about his credentials, or “authority
under CHRIST as an apostle”. The fact that he hadn’t taken any money from the
Church at Corinth gave him a leg up on the false apostles who, Paul says,
masqueraded as “angels of light” and always preached for financial benefits or
gains (Vs.12-15).
Paul
says in the opening lines of this chapter, in an apologetic way, that, he hoped
that the Corinthians would be patient with him as he was once again being
compelled by them to defend his calling and reputation, explaining his
credentials to the church again and again. He feared that he was beginning to
sound like “the foolish braggarts”, those “false apostles”, whom he constantly
warned them about.
Here in verse 2, Paul says he was jealous
of the relationship that may be forming between the church and the false
teachers, but it was a jealousy as GOD would be jealous of a relationship
between them and an idol god. He explains that he had already promised them
over to CHRIST to be HIS pure bride, and now it seemed as if they were being
led away by the serpent, pretty much the way Eve was in the Garden of Eden.
They were becoming very gullible to whatever strange doctrine that may come
down the pike (Vs.2-4).
Paul assured the Corinthians that he did
not feel inferior to these “super apostles” just because he himself was not a
trained speaker. The only thing that mattered to him, and should matter to
them, is that, he knew what he was talking about, and had proven his legitimacy
through his lifestyle, hard work, and persecutions that he suffered over the
years.
PAUL’S
MANY TRIALS
2
Corinthians 11:16-33
The world’s standards are far different from
the standards that GOD places on HIS people as their goal and aspiration. In
fact, the wisdom of GOD is not only “not accepted” by the world, it is
foolishness as far as the world is concerned. Here in verse 16, Paul starts to
feel as though he is sounding like a fool to the people of the church at
Corinth.
The false apostles had obviously been
bragging about how polished and accomplished they were in their training, work,
appearance, and presentation, and Paul knew that such boasting of oneself was
not something that GOD was pleased with from those who were actually called by
HIM.
However, in this instance, since the
Corinthians seemed to enjoy listening to a bunch of fools, he decided that he
might be able to make some headway by doing a little boasting of his own, and
playing along with the “method of entertainment” that had been working so well
for the false apostles, only he would hit them with the wisdom of CHRIST,
instead of using the same human plans and methods that they themselves had
conjured up as mere men without GOD (Vs.18-21).
Paul begins his defense by saying that,
while they may all share the same pedigree as he does (all the false teachers
were Hebrews, Israelites, and descendants of Abraham), they were not called by
CHRIST as he was, even though they made that claim also (Vs.22-23).
Paul’s service to CHRIST was evidenced in
his history, and in his walk. He had been put in jail multiple times for
defending the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST, he had been beaten countless times,
including the five times that he had been given 39 lashes, and 3 others times
when he had been beaten with a rod. He had been stoned, shipwrecked, once
spending an entire night and day adrift at sea, he had traveled thousands of
miles, mostly on foot, and faced dangers from nature (flooded rivers) and from men
(robbers and thieves) (Vs.23-25).
Paul says that both, his own people, the
Jews, and, the Gentiles had often sought to kill him. He had faced dangers in
the cities, in the deserts, and on the stormy seas, from men who claim to be
Christians, but of course, were not. Paul lived a great deal of his life in
pain and weariness after he dedicated his life to CHRIST. He had many sleepless
nights, hungry and thirsty, sometimes shivering from the cold because he didn’t
have enough clothing to keep himself warm (Vs.26-27).
Paul goes on to say that, besides all of
these tribulations and burdens, he also had the continued burden of seeing
after the Christian churches which he and others had founded over the years.
Paul felt that, if he must boast, he would rather boast about his weaknesses
and how a powerful, almighty GOD has shored him up to do even more works,
despite his weaknesses.
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
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