High Stakes
| I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness; but you are already doing that. 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 one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. (2Corinthians11:1-4) |
The core trouble with the other teachers in Corinth was not that Paul's nose was out of joint because the Corinthians were clamouring after them, but his concern was that these teachers were false teachers.
We see Paul's heart in verse 2-3 - He is very serious about and committed to the Corinthians. This earnestness is expressed in the biblical analogy of the church as the bride of Christ. Throughout the Old Testament Israel is called to be faithful to God and in the New Testament the church is urged to prepare herself for the Groom. Paul sees himself as a "bridesmaid" preparing the Church for Christ who is the Groom who will come at the appointed time.
The bride has an enemy - Satan - who comes to steal, kill and destroy. He started his work in the Garden of Eden when he deceived Eve and continues to be a threat to the church using deception as his key weapon. He works subtly - He doesn't have to get us to deny a major doctrine, he only has to draw us away from sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
Let me say that again because this is very significant:He works subtly - He doesn't have to get us to deny a major doctrine, he only has to draw us away from sincere and pure devotion to Christ. When we are not in a healthy and vibrant relationship with Jesus, it becomes easier and easier for the Evil One to draw us from the main path down any one of a number of false rabbit trails.
And Paul is worried: It seems the Corinthians were so distracted by the "someones" who came that they would swallow whatever these people taught them.
There are two challenges for us today:
- How is your sincere and pure devotion for Christ? i.e. How goes it with your soul?
- When it comes to Christian teachers you guilty of being drawn to "someones" - the ones who are hip and cool and appeal to us? Or do we listen more carefully?
Serious questions indeed!
