Monday, November 24, 2014

2 Corinthians 11:12-15

2 Corinthians 11:12-15
And that which I do I will also continue to do in order that I should cut off the unwarranted excuse of the ones who desire an unwarranted excuse: in order that the thing in which they boast should be similarly found even in us.  For the ones such as these are false apostles, deceitful workers, while changing from their true form into apostles of Christ.  And there is no marveling – for Satan himself changes from his true form into an angel of light.  Therefore it is no great thing if even his servants change from their true from into servants of righteousness.  The end of these will be according to their works.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Paul talks about a concept here that is not spoken about much in his letters: Satan.  Don’t get me wrong.  I believe Paul taught in person about Satan frequently.  We just don’t hear about Satan often in his letters.  In all of Paul’s letters, Satan is only mentioned a total of 10 times.  So what are we to make of this?  The reality is that Paul doesn’t write much about Satan because when he is writing he mostly is writing letters of encouragement and exhortation.  Typically, Paul wants his audience to focus on God and God’s ways rather than talking about Satan.  Paul would rather encourage and enforce the good behavior in Christ.  Christ should be the majority of our focus.

Why is it important to remember that Christ should be the focus?  What is the danger of talking too much about Satan and focusing on avoiding His ways instead of focusing on how to live according to God’s ways?

Second Thought:

When Paul does talk about these Satan – and his false apostles – in this passage, the verb that he uses repeatedly is “changes their true form.”  What Paul means by this is that their goal is attracting people to something besides God.  Here’s a very important lesson to learn about Satan.  Satan doesn’t want you on his team.  Satan isn’t looking to convert you to his side.  Satan is jealous of humanity.   Satan loathes humanity.  What Satan wants to do is to disrupt your relationship with God.  Satan isn’t collecting converts to his side; he is looking to break relationship between creation and creator.  Satan knows what his end will be.  Satan doesn’t think that if he can just amass as big of an army as possible that he can change the outcome.  Satan doesn’t believe that he will be victorious.  Satan wants to do as much damage before the end as he can.  He “changes his form” to give you something to focus upon besides God.  He doesn’t want you on his side; he wants you distracted so that you don’t have the relationship with God that God desires you to have.  Satan changes his form in order to distract you from God and God’s desire for your life.

How does this understanding about Satan really make sense with the idea that the word Satan means “adversary?”  How easy are you to be distracted away from God?

Third Thought:

In the end, Paul lays a really stunning label upon the people who had influenced the Corinthians.  He calls them false apostles.  The Greek word is actually “psuedapostolos” (ψευδαπόστολος).  They are literally pseudo-apostles.  They change their appearance to make people like them.  They are deceitful.  They change their form to please.  They are not genuine.  This is an important thing to remember.  Paul isn’t saying we cannot change our methods to reach different groups of people – of course we have to do that!  But what Paul is saying is that even if our methods change the core of the message must remain true.  We must remain focused upon drawing people to God through Christ.  If our message strays from that at any point, we are in danger of being one of these pseudo-apostles.  It is not about getting people to like us or even be like us.  The apostle of Jesus Christ is about getting people to be like Jesus Christ so that they can imitate Him.

Do you think it is an easy task to get people to imitate Christ and not ourselves?  Where are your personal pitfalls in this process – because we all have them!


Passage for Tomorrow: 2 Corinthians 11:16-21a

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