If one comes and preaches another Jesus

2 Corinthians 11:1-15 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. ² For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. ³ But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds will be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴ 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, this you tolerate very well! ⁵ For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. 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.

⁷ Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge? ⁸ I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you; ⁹ and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brothers came from Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so. ¹⁰ As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹ Why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do!

¹² But what I am doing I will also continue to do, so that I may eliminate the opportunity from those who want an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. ¹³ For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ¹⁵ Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

In Matthew 24:4-14  Jesus says: “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many people. And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains. Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold. But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”  In the same way, in today’s text Paul warns: I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds will be led astray from sincere and pure 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, this you tolerate very well!  The devil uses the same deception today that he used against Eve. Many are misled because they don’t truly know Jesus and what God’s word says. They tolerate the false gospels and false teachings of false prophets who preach a different christ, because they don’t know the true Christ and the true gospel.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says: All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work. It is all scripture, the entirety from Genesis to Revelation that is inspired by God. We are deceived when we add to or take away from all scripture. God’s word should be interpreted through the lens of God’s word and not through human opinion. With that in mind, along with not adding to or taking away from scripture, we need to be careful not to take isolated verses out of context. The devil attempted to twist the meaning of scripture when he tempted Jesus, but Jesus not only knew all scripture, John 1:14 says: And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  Jesus was the embodiment of the word. Like Him, we have been filled with grace, and so we need also to be full of truth. John 17:17 says: Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. When people are trained to detect counterfeits and fraud, they do not study what is false, because there are too many ways things can be counterfeited. Instead, they become completely familiar with what is true. Knowing what is true, it is easy then to recognize what is false. There are many things that are false, but God’s word is truth.

The text says: Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.  There are many today who claim to be servants of righteousness, but are actually opposed to Christ. In John 8:12 Jesus says: “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” In Isaiah 5:20 God says: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Those who claim to be servants of righteousness, but call evil good and good evil, those who substitute darkness for light, those will have an end according to their deeds.

May the words of the psalmist from Psalm 37 be our exhortation today: Do not get upset because of evildoers, Do not be envious of wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass, And decay like the green plants.  Trust in the Lord and do good; Live in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring out your righteousness as the light, And your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Amen.