“Do Not Boast” – 2 Cor 10:13-18; 11:1-3

Remember, this is where Paul has begun in earnest his defense of himself, not so much to lift himself up, not at all actually to lift himself up, but to protect the

Corinthian church from the false apostles which have descended upon it and are bringing false doctrine and are attacking the scriptures, attacking the deity of Christ, attacking the

Son of God, attacking Paul's authority to bring God's word to them. So let's start with verse 10 where they begin, where Paul retails one of their accusations against him.

For they say, that is the false apostles, his letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.

Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also indeed when present, for we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves, but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.

But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God has apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you.

For we are not overextending ourselves as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ.

Not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men's labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we shall be within our sphere enlarged even more by you.

So as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another, but he who boasts, let him boast in the

Lord. For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.

So there's a great many instructional bits of instruction here as Paul, who is truly a man of humility and finds himself in the difficult position of defending himself against the false accusations of those who would sweep the gospel out from under the feet of the

Corinthians. There is nothing more important than to bring the word of God.

And what is happening is these false apostles are attacking that very work that Paul did.

In some cases, they're boasting as though it was their work that was done in Corinth, when it was in fact

Paul's work. But in reality, it's the work of the Holy Spirit, and Paul knows that.

And so he's going to continue his defense. Last time we were together, he kind of, in some ways, threw down a gauntlet to those who accused him of being weighty in person, but lily -livered, or excuse me, weighty when he wrote a letter, weighty and brash and strong -worded when he wrote a letter, but lily -livered when in presence, when he was physically present.

And so he says, let you, you people consider this, think about this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also indeed when present.

Now why would they, Paul didn't use his authority willy -nilly. As he says, it's the authority he had was to build up the church of God.

And anybody who is in a position of responsibility, leading a church, attending to the needs of the people in the church, that is a position of servanthood.

I think a lot of our public servants have forgotten that, that are in government today. What does the word servant mean to you?

Just quickly, what does it mean? Excuse me? Giving. What else?

Slave. Correct. The word is doulos, it's bond slave. God didn't mince words when he gave titles to those who were in positions of responsibility.

The more responsibility you have, the more able you should be to serve more people at once.

That's what a public servant, that's what a minister of God is. And these false apostles were not doing that.

They were using their authority to usurp and to cast doubt on the word of God. And so Paul, in a little bit of sarcasm and irony here, reminds these false apostles what they're doing.

He says, for we are not bold, he uses that word that they used against him, to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves, look at me they said, but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.

Now, with the remarkable application of this irony and sarcasm, Paul deals with the false apostles' claims.

Clearly, they were measuring Paul according to their own standard. And that standard was themselves.

The list on my refrigerator. No one measured up to what they could do. They were remarkable people and they knew it.

All you had to do was listen to them and they would tell you that. They believed their own press releases, as it is said today, and so Paul uses the very word that they accused him of not demonstrating in person, boldness.

He would not stoop to comparing himself to those who set the standard as themselves or set the standard to themselves.

It's actually pathological to compare ourselves with ourselves or to even compare ourselves with others.

Sometimes we tend to see others in an improper and an uninformed light. Their lives seem perfect and ours, blemished.

I think I'm actually picking up where we were, where we left off last time, blemished. So we see them as, sometimes we see people in a far different light than they actually are living in.

Their lives look perfect when in reality they're struggling with just the same things that we struggle with.

And so Paul, who is a man of deep humility, tries to give an example to the believers in Corinth here.

Don't compare yourselves with yourselves. And so the false apostles in Corinth were doing that.

And again, as I mentioned earlier, once you set yourself up as the standard, everybody else is going to fall short.

And only you will meet that standard. And it's a sad thing to see. It's a very sad thing to see.

So Paul says that they are without understanding. They were unable, as he said, to put two and two together.

They could not even understand the disparity that they were wreaking, or the wreck that they were wreaking on Corinth by comparing themselves with themselves.

And people will fall for it. They'll fall for it. Well, yeah, he is pretty good. It's always a good thing to be brought down to measure when someone gets to think more highly of themselves than they ought to.

And I think every day we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to. It is God who has done what has happened, the wonderful things that have happened in our lives.

He has brought the people into our lives that have built into us the skills that we have. And if we are unable or unwilling to give credit where credit is due, then we will become like these false apostles, self -esteemed and worthless, without understanding.

So then Paul says, he uses the word boast again in verse 13, moving on from last time. But we will not boast beyond our measure.

But within the measure of the sphere, which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you.

The false apostles that apparently accused Paul of overstepping the bounds of ministry that God had assigned him. But in fact, he was commissioned to go to the

Gentiles as well as to the house of Israel. His primary mission was to bring the gospel as far as he possibly could, and most certainly to the

Gentiles. In Acts chapter 15, the Lord said to him, for he is a chosen instrument of mine.

When Paul had just had his Damascus road experience, and those people who were a bit concerned about the former church murderer,

Christian murderer, who now is a chosen instrument of God. The Lord has to calm their hearts and bring them to an understanding of what he's going to use

Paul for. So in Acts 9 .15, he says, go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the

Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel. And then in Romans 1 .5, through whom we have received grace and apostleship,

Paul says, to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for his name's sake.

And in Galatians 2 .7 -9, preaching and reading and speaking to that church that was having so many difficulties.

But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised, for he who effectually worked for Peter and his apostleship to the circumcised, effectually worked in me also, for me also to the

Gentiles. And recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the

Gentiles and they to the circumcised. So it's common knowledge that Paul was sent to the Gentiles, was sent with the ministry to the outer bounds of the world, as it were, to the

Gentiles. And then in Romans 15, verse 20, and thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man's foundation.

And that must have been a remarkable time to live, when the gospel, when you could go to a section of the world, a lot of the world, where the gospel had never been preached.

And so Paul was preaching the gospel to people who had never heard it before. Paul was, in fact, commissioned to go as far as possible and to bring the gospel to the

Gentiles. But either way, he was content to remain right inside the ministry that God had marked out for him.

He didn't need bigger or better, he just needed to do what he was called to do. And that's a good instruction for us.

Do what you're called to do. The false apostles, on the contrary, sought fame in many ways, including the fame that comes with being known far and wide.

Everybody wants their name up in lights. Everybody wants their name to be spread far and wide.

Paul wanted the name of the Lord Jesus Christ spread far and wide. Far different. Far different.

The false apostles sought that fame that comes with being known far and wide. Their pride was getting in the way of, most likely, their salvation, but for sure it was getting in the way of any good ministry that God might have had for them.

But they were false apostles, so their only concern was for themselves, not for the glory of God.

Had Paul actually established the church in Corinth, and he was most certainly, Paul had actually established the church in Corinth, and he was most certainly not building on another man's labors.

And there was what appeared to be what Charles Hodge calls a matter of courtesy among the apostles not to intrude on each other's sphere of influence.

Nevertheless, we find Paul writing to the church at Rome, even though he did not found that church, and he wrote with all the authority that the

Holy Spirit gave him, just as he already had authority in Corinth. The other thing that the false apostles did was to take to themselves gifts and powers that they did not have.

Paul simply reveled in what the Holy Spirit had given him and used it for the glory of Christ without parading it before others or trumpeting it to the world.

It was actually the false apostles who were appropriating to themselves the work that Paul had done in Corinth, and Paul would have none of that.

He began to defend himself about that. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he tells the

Corinthians that he does not intend to boast beyond his measure, but he will stay within the sphere that God appointed to him, which even reached to Corinth.

So the gospel was brought to Corinth by Paul, and the false apostles were apparently trying to appropriate even that bit of information or that bit of happening, and Paul would have none of it.

I brought the gospel to you. He had an authority that the founder of a church only can have, and he did not flaunt that authority.

He used it only for the glory of God. Any questions about or comments about verse 13?

Verse 14, for we are not overextending ourselves as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come, even as far as you, in the gospel of Christ.

Continuing, he reminds them here that it was he that brought them the gospel. He was their spiritual father.

He had founded the Corinthian church, 1 Corinthians 3 .6, I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth, 1

Corinthians 3 .10, according to the grace of God which was given to me like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation and another is building on it, but each man must be careful how he builds on it, and you would think that those false apostles would have taken that to heart.

The foundation was laid, which was the word of God preached to the Corinthians, and others came behind and worked on that foundation.

These men, whoever they were, were usurping the authority that God had given to Paul. 1

Corinthians 4 .15, for if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the gospel.

He was not, as he said, overextending himself by coming to them. He was right inside the exact will of God in bringing the gospel to the

Gentiles, and in bringing this correction to them, because as he said earlier, he wasn't doing it to be famous.

He was doing it to bring glory to God, and is not a restoration of a wayward church going to bring glory to God, and Corinth is restored.

We get to read the rest of the story. We get to see the last chapter. Well, not necessarily the last chapter, but the last 1st century chapter, where they kind of go quiet for 40 years, because the church began to function, as much as we know, appropriately and profitably for the work of the gospel.

Verse 14, anybody, any questions or comments about verse 14? Verse 15, not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men's labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be within our sphere enlarged even more by you.

What is it about the growth that happens in a church that blesses those in positions of responsibility?

It's that the church's influence grows. The church extends its influence into other spheres, into other places, sends out missionaries, sends out the teaching of God.

Paul would never take credit for other men's work as the false apostles were doing. He would not, as he says, boast beyond his measure.

His other concern was that as the Corinthian faith grew, he was hopeful that they would assist in sending him on even further to other

Gentiles who needed the gospel. This verse tacitly challenged the false apostles' desire to take the glory of other men's work.

John Calvin noted this in his comments. He said, he now reproves even more freely the false apostles who, while they had put forth their hand in the reaping of another man's harvest, had the audacity at the same time to revile those who had prepared a place for them at the expense of sweat and toil.

Paul had built up the church of the Corinthians, not without the greatest struggle and innumerable difficulties.

Those persons afterwards come forward and find the road made and the gate open, that they may appear persons of consequence, they impudently claim for themselves what did not of right belong to them, and disparage

Paul's labors. Now, how does that happen? Well, there would be enough people in the church,

Paul had planted the church years before, there would be enough people in the church who maybe weren't there to first -hand see that, and so they could be made to believe false things by these false apostles.

If you're an eloquent enough speaker, you can usually persuade people to your way of thinking, unless they're grounded in the

Word of God, and they're willing to question no matter who it is, they're willing to be, as many have said, be

Bereans about it. Did Paul really say that? If Eve had said that, when

Satan said, did God really say that? If she had put her foot down and said, well, yeah, as a matter of fact, He did. What a different world we would live in right now.

But by the providence of God, this is what we have. So Paul had laid the foundation for the church.

These people came in afterwards and pretended it was theirs. And it sounds like quite a few believed them.

So verse 16, Paul says, so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another.

And here it is, his encouragement to the Corinthians that they be ready to send him further, so that the gospel can be taken to the ends of the earth.

Driving home the idea that he would not take credit for another's work, he tells them that he never intends to boast about what has been accomplished by someone else.

He would assist and support, but credit was always given to the one whom it was due by Paul.

Also note that Paul could never be content with going to one place or another and stopping. His desire was to continue to regions beyond, as he calls them, and to bring the gospel to even more who have not heard of the

Savior. How much good can be done if people are not concerned about who gets the credit, but they're more concerned that all credit be given to the

God, to the Father, that all credit be given to the Savior? When we get tripped up, where we get tripped up is when we want to have people think, well, he's doing a great job, and he's this, and he's that.

Anybody who's in a position of responsibility that continually calls attention to themselves needs to be removed from their position of responsibility because they're misusing it.

God does the work in people's hearts. Which one of us, we four elders, can lay claim to anything that God has done in anyone's heart here?

Not a one. But God has provided that we can work together to use whatever gifts

God has, in his gracious insistence given to us, to build up the church to glorify him.

And these false apostles were not doing that. They were calling attention to themselves, and they were putting down the man that the

Holy Spirit had sent to that church to found it. This should have been an egregious crime in the minds of the

Corinthians at the church there, but it apparently, for many of them, wasn't. And so, Paul finds himself in the difficult position of telling them that you shouldn't commend yourselves, and then he has to defend himself.

And we're going to see in verse 12, or not verse 12, in chapter 12, his continued, and if you would,

I don't know how else to describe it, his apologetic defense of himself as he begins to walk through some of the things that the false apostles are doing, and who they are, what they are, and what kind of problems they will wreak in that church as he defends himself.

So then, Paul, in verse 16, he says that he's not going to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another, he says in verse 17, but he who boasts is to boast in the

Lord. Now, there's a couple of ways to do that, and I've fallen prey to some of the worst misuses of that in my life.

Well, someone will say you did something nice, and you just hang your head like you're the worst thing that ever existed, and why would they even comment on something that you did good?

That's not what this is talking about. And then you make the person who gives you the compliment, direct the glory to God and to those who built into you, but you can receive a compliment in a gracious, humble way.

That's not what these apostles were doing, these false apostles were doing. They were boasting in themselves, yeah, they were boasting in themselves.

Yeah, as a matter of fact, I'm glad you noticed, I am pretty awesome. Would you like to touch my hand? Wait a minute, are your hands washed?

That's, I mean, I'm kind of exaggerating, but not really. That is how that type of person thinks in their mind about themselves.

Whereas a true servant of God knows that everything he has or she has, everything that they have done has been provided by the mercy, and the blessing, and the teaching of God and of His Word, and by the patient, diligent work in their lives by others who love

God. And so, as they say, we're all in this together. So, Paul says, but he who boasts, but he who boasts is to boast in the

Lord. Now, this is all in caps in my Bible, and that means he's shouting, right? He's quoting.

Here, Paul quotes Jeremiah 9, 23, and 24, but he reduces it to a single phrase.

False teachers will seek for ways to glorify themselves. They'll seek for ways to glorify themselves and to brag about themselves.

True, humble teachers of God's Word will always seek to glorify God and others for the work that He has done in and through them, that He is doing in and through them.

Throughout the Old Testament, there are examples of this idea. This would have been, or should have been, a stinging rebuke to those false apostles in Corinth who actively promoted themselves.

Comparing themselves to themselves, and they drew great pride from the knowledge that they lived up to their own standards.

I think I've talked to you about this before, but even Ben Franklin, who wasn't a Christian, but he was evaluating himself on a series of character qualities, and one of the things he came to understand was that you really can't evaluate yourself on humility.

I was pretty humble today. Gong. So, it is others.

We're to boast in the Lord. We're to boast in the Lord. Jeremiah 9 says this in 23 and 24, thus says the

Lord, let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might. Let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the

Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things, declares the

Lord. He delights in loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on the earth.

Those are the things that those false apostles should have been attempting, by God's grace, to live out, and Paul was living it out.

Psalm 34, verse 2, my soul will make its boast in the Lord. The humble will hear it and rejoice.

Psalm 44, verse 8, in God we have boasted all day long, and we will give thanks to your name forever. And Isaiah 45, verse 25, in the

Lord, all the offspring of Israel will be justified and will glory.

And finally, Isaiah 41, verse 16, you will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the storm will scatter them, but you will rejoice in the

Lord. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel. This is not a new concept. And those people in Corinth should have known, they should have known better.

They should have known better because of what the Scripture says. They should have known better because of the example of the

Savior, who was the most humble man who lived. And when he was given an opportunity, if I might word it this way, to describe himself, to describe his character with one word in John 11, he described himself as meek, as meek, controlled strength, humble.

Any comments or questions about verses... I got carried away there, verses 16 and 17? So we'll finish up this chapter with verse 18 because that's where it ends.

For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.

How do you know when the Lord's commending you? Pardon? He says so.

How do you know when the Lord's commending you? This is going to be an interactive Sunday school. Yes, your fruit.

And what kind of fruit are we looking for? Pardon? Good fruit, love, joy, patience, kindness, those things in Galatians 5 that are outlined as well as in other sections of Scripture.

But if you're bragging about the fruit, then it's not the Lord commending you. If other people are noticing the fruit, that is the

Lord commending you. That is the Lord commending you. True approval, the approval that matters is that which comes from the

Lord himself. People who seek the approval of others are, frankly, not to be trusted. They're just not to be trusted.

People who boast about their own successes are to be viewed with suspicion as well. In fact, there are those who believe it should be an indicator that the teacher should be disqualified from their position.

One of the commentaries I was reading, in the Christian church, he says this, in the

Christian church, indeed, self -commendation should be viewed with suspicion as a mark of disqualification.

God's commendation of a person is shown not by verbal boasts but by the testimony of the consciences of those who have experienced the blessing attendant upon that person's labors and by the continuing and increasing fruits of their labors.

This is from Philip Hughes' commentary on the second epistle to the

Corinthians. Well, I can't even read my own writing here, and it's typed. It's to be shown through the blessing attendant upon the person's labors and by the continuing and increasing fruits of his labors.

And even there, you have to be careful. Well, didn't I do a good job today? Weren't my labors really, you can really get, it's really easy, very, very easy to become a boaster.

It's very, very spirit -controlled and difficult to remain aloof from that, to stay away from that.

And God would have us do that. All the glory needs to go to Him. He will not share

His glory with another. He says in Isaiah chapter 45, I forgot to push that one in here. I am the

Lord, and my glory will I not share with another. Doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter how important you think you are, all the glory must be given to God.

And that is attendant upon those who are serving Him. And who are serving Him the hardest should acknowledge

Him the most. So chapter 10 is quite a long journey, quite a journey.

Leaving off from Paul's encouragement to the Corinthians to participate in the gift to the Jerusalem church in chapter 9,

Paul embarks on a careful defense of his ministry. He intends to show the

Corinthians that the false apostles are just that, they are false. And he's going to even call them worse things, true worse things, in chapter 12, and as he finishes up this book, this epistle.

And they are disrupting the church of God. And not only that, they're disrupting the work of God.

If that can be done, these men are trying to do it. God will use that. He will use that to strengthen

Corinth, and we'll see that. As we have pointed out earlier, that the church at Corinth seems to have gained the knowledge necessary and the repentance necessary to become a useful group of people in the hands of the living

God during this period of time in history. But right now, they're struggling. They are braggarts, they are thieves, and they are heretics, and must be shown as such.

Their accusations against Paul are actually a laundry list of their own lack of character.

And this chapter begins that defense. So, you've all heard the saying, if one finger's pointing at you, how many are pointing back at me?

That's a fair statement. It really is. It's kind of colloquial, and it's kind of sometimes overstated, but it's a fair statement, especially if someone is in the habit of pointing fingers.

It's one thing to try to bring someone to repentance, proper repentance.

It's another to be an accuser. God does not want us to be accusers. They're braggarts, they're thieves, they're heretics, and they needed to be shown as such.

This chapter begins that defense. Paul compares himself to the character qualities of the Lord Jesus Christ that are most wonderful, meekness and gentleness.

He then alludes to the concept of war in dealing with the false philosophies that might mitigate against the gospel and against Scripture in general.

Remember, Chapter 10, verses 3 and 4, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.

He said, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

So he uses the language of war in dealing with the false philosophies that mitigate against the gospel and against Scripture in general.

And there's plenty of that today. More, I want to say more than ever, but probably not. Really, we think this is the worst time ever.

You know, I think history recycles itself. The bad things in history recycle themselves. And this is just another period in history where the people of God who are willing to stand firm on what the

Scripture says are going to be maligned. They're going to be vilified. They're going to be... It may very well come that they'll be harmed.

We need to be ready for that in this country. It's been an easy ride so far. As he said to the

Thessalonians, he said, you haven't striven unto blood yet. Now, there are some that have.

And so we need to keep that in mind as we pray for them. He challenges the false apostles who claim that he is brave when he is absent, but timid with present.

This is clearly not who Paul is. And then he takes them to task for arrogating to themselves the work at Corinth that Paul himself actually did.

He finishes this chapter by reminding the Corinthians that all the glory of whatever happens in life must go to the

Lord himself. And that is something that we would all do well to remember regularly. So I wasn't sure if we'd make it to Chapter 11 today, but we're going to at least get started on Chapter 11.

So let's read the first five verses of Chapter 11. So now, in Chapter 11,

Paul begins his defense in earnest. At the end of Chapter 10, Paul had made a statement against boasting.

And now, he must defend himself, and he finds that bothersome and disconcerting.

Throughout Chapter 11 and Chapter 12, whenever he makes some defense of his apostolic authority, he begs them to bear with him as he resorts to what he calls a little foolishness.

Three variations of the word foolish are used in these two chapters. In Chapter 11, verses 1, 16, 17, 19, 21, and 23, where he uses the word insane, which is a form of the same word.

And then in Chapter 12, verses 6 and 11. While it does bother him to toot his own horn, if you will, he feels he must make certain the

Corinthians know that he actually has apostolic authority, while the false apostles that are attempting to subvert the

Corinthian church not only do not have any authority, but are very evil. In this,

Paul apologizes, but he details not only his apostolic authority, but the lengths that he went to to bring the gospel to the

Corinthians. So he's going to talk to them about his authority, but he's also going to talk to them about all the things that he endured to bring the gospel to them.

His great desire is only that the Corinthians would respond to the gospel either in repentance and salvation or in correction, and there will be both.

There will be those in the Corinthian church that need to respond to his words and come to faith in Christ, and there will be those who will need to respond to his words and repent of the foolishness that they've been involved in and begin to seek the true things of the word of God.

So let's read Chapter 11, verses 1 through 5. I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed, you are bearing with me.

For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin, but I am afraid, lest, as the serpent deceived

Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

For I consider myself, not in the least, inferior to the most eminent apostles. I'm going to read through verse 6.

But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge. In fact, in every way, we have made this evident to you in all things.

So in verse 1, he says, I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Oh, I forgot, this is that quote from that remarkable bit of commentary on the

New Testament in the Christian church indeed. So, and that's the next one.

So, I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed, you are bearing with me. So, Paul starts out immediately in this chapter requesting that the

Corinthians would bear with him in the foolishness he must exhibit in defending himself. It is only a small foolishness, but nevertheless, he identifies it as such.

He is about to launch into a fairly lengthy description of the wickedness of the false apostles compared with his desire for the

Corinthian church to be pure and holy before God. Their desire, the false apostles, is avaricious, his is holy.

That is the first distinction. So, he has to defend himself, he has to tell them what he has done, and he feels, in some ways, kind of foolish about doing it, especially after he just said that he who boasts, boasts only in the

Lord. So, he's going to remind them of that. He will remind himself, I'm sure, as well.

For I am jealous, and we'll probably finish up here or in the next verse or two, but he says, I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.

The word for jealousy here is the word from which we get the word zealous. Paul is desirous that the church be presented to Christ as a wonderful and delightful pure bride.

He uses the word picture that depicts marriage as it is laid out in the Old Testament. It will become evident to the

Corinthians right away, as they read this letter, that his apparent boasting is actually a deep concern for the welfare of the believers in Corinth.

They knew he loved them. And even though they were recalcitrant, this is something that they would actually listen to.

Just as God, who was provoked by jealousy over Israel when they worshiped idols, so Paul has been provoked with a godly jealousy over Corinth when they went after false doctrine and false teachers.

Just as the father in the marriage betrothal was responsible to keep his daughter pure for the final marriage to the bridegroom, so Paul desired to keep the

Corinthian church pure as a bride betrothed to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the first reason that Paul gives for begging the

Corinthians to bear with him, loyalty to Christ. So the word picture he uses comes from the

Old Testament, the marriage concept, where the young people would actually be betrothed to one another before the actual marriage.

And that betrothal was essentially the beginning of the marriage. But they would live apart while the husband built his house, got things ready.

And then you've read the parables of the bridegroom coming and unannounced, and the ten virgins, the nine virgins that were ready and the one that wasn't.

And all of those are part of the word pictures that were presented by the Lord Jesus Christ when he talks about the marriage of the bride to the bridegroom, which is the church to the

Lord Jesus Christ. And the idea that these people would be listening to false teaching and falling for it was making them impure, and Paul would have none of that.

He was...whenever those who are in positions of responsibility see the believers being beguiled by false teaching, it can anger them.

It becomes horribly frustrating, and you have to be really careful how you deal with it.

And Paul has been very careful. As he writes these letters to the Corinthians, he was firm.

And as a matter of fact, that's what the false apostle said, well, you're firm in your letters, but you're not when present. He didn't want to continue to be firm.

What he wanted was for them to respond to the word of God. And that is what any true person in a position of responsibility wants for those that they're teaching.

They want them to respond to the word of God. And so, these false teachers were dispurifying,

I don't know how else to word it, they were rendering the people at the church in Corinth less than a pure bride, or they were attempting to do that, let me put it that way.

And so, Paul, when he's beginning to defend both his apostolic authority and his reasons for going there, he has to ask them, will you bear with me in a little foolishness?

I am a jealous father. I'm just like a jealous father. I want the bride that I present to the bridegroom to be pure, and I'm going to do everything that is necessary to make sure that happens.

So, that's what Paul was doing here. And then he says in verse 3, I am afraid that as the serpent deceived

Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

This is a word picture that none of them would have missed. The understanding of what had happened to the original couple in the garden being deceived by Satan.

So, who is he comparing Satan to? Those false teachers. That's pretty strong words, and rightly so.

Paul was alarmed by the behavior that the Corinthians had exhibited, and he compares the wicked craftiness of the false apostles to that of Satan himself.

And later on in this chapter, he'll come back to that, that people, even Satan's followers, even

Satan's emissaries can be mistaken as people, preachers of light.

Actually, I should look that up so I don't get it wrong. Angels of light. Thank you. Angels of light.

Even Satan's emissaries can be mistaken of angels of light. What do we come back to to combat that?

What do we come back to to make sure we're understanding correctly? We come back to the word of God. And so, that's what Paul's using.

He's going back to the original fall from grace, which was from in the garden.

Paul was alarmed that the Corinthians who had sat under his and others' teachings could be so easily deceived.

And so, it is in the church today that people will be seduced by the doctrines that make them feel good, by tolerance, where we misuse that word so badly that it no longer even resembles what the dictionary says about it.

They will seek those who will affirm them in what they wish to do rather than those who will obediently and lovingly call them to purity in Christ.

And so, today, it is deemed hurtful to speak the truth. It's actually deemed hurtful to speak the truth.

Well, I think it's always been that way. It's been anybody who is living a lifestyle that is deviant and is separated from God's call to purity, when you call them to account, they think you're being hurtful.

So, let's be very careful when we are in a position where we must call someone to account that we do it in a manner that lets the gospel be that which convicts them and not ourselves alone because we cannot convict.

Only the Holy Spirit can convict. Paul was no stranger to making people feel uncomfortable, but it was not his preferred method when dealing with his beloved church.

Devotion to Christ, he says, was simple and pure. It is pretty simple. What did the

Savior say? Do that. What did the Savior do?

Follow him. I know I'm simplifying it beyond simple, but really, when you read of the acts of the

Lord Jesus Christ, what he did, and he says to be like him, what does that mean?

It means to be like him, to do what he did. The machinations of the false apostles, however, were complex and dirty.

Christ and Paul's advice or Paul's scriptural admonitions were simple and pure.

It's also worth noting that the apostles treated the account of the serpent deceiving Eve as historical fact and not as myth or allegory.

Their stamp of approval here and elsewhere indicates that the Old Testament story of creation is a fact.

I think I'm going to finish with that. The world has to undercut the truth of the gospel.

And where do they start? They don't start in the book of Matthew. They actually start in Genesis 1 .1,

where God says, in the beginning, God created. Now, God set into motion in 20 million years later, this happened in 14 million years.

Do you think God's smart enough to have actually written that if that's what happened? I think he probably is.

I know that's being silly. I'm using foolishness. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And the earth was formless and void, formless and without, was void and without form. And then he created day, he created night, he created the animals, he created the flowers, he created the plants.

They did not evolve. Now, I know that's speaking to the choir as it were here, but that's where the serpent, that's where the deceiver starts.

He starts at the beginning. If you can't trust what the beginning says, how can you trust what the middle says?

And if you get to make the decision that what it says at the beginning is incorrect, then you will irrigate to yourself the right to make decisions elsewhere in the same book.

This book is a continuous revelation of the truth of God. And the truth starts with word one.

And so, Paul was afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness right at the beginning, here a couple thousand years later, several thousand years later, the

Corinthian minds would be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ because that's where it begins and that's where it ends.

I want you to be simply, purely devoted to Christ. And that's what he calls all of us to be, simply and purely devoted to Christ.

Let's pray. Father, not only do you call us to that simplicity and to that devotion, but you make it happen because you have said in your word that you who have begun a good work in us will finish it to the day of Christ, unto the day of Christ.

You will not let one of your believers fall aside. Not one of your sheep will escape the fold.

Now and again, they may mistakenly, sinfully not listen to your word.

But we pray, Lord, that if that's happening to any of us here, that you would bring us back. Bring us back to the simplicity and the devotion of loving

Christ, as Paul pleaded for the Corinthians to do. And we'll thank you for doing that in our lives today.