2 Corinthians 11 | How Can I Spot a False Teacher? Lessons from 2 Corinthians 11

What Does 2 Corinthians 11 Teach Us About False Teachers?
How do I protect myself from false teachings? 

In 2 Corinthians 11, the Apostle Paul passionately defends his apostolic authority and the authenticity of his ministry against a group of false apostles who were misleading the Corinthian church. 

Paul begins by expressing his deep concern for the Corinthians, likening them to a bride promised to Christ, only to be led astray like Eve by the serpent's deceit. He emphasizes the subtlety of Satan’s deception, reminding believers that false teachings often appear as righteous or enlightened paths, but in reality, they lead away from the truth of Christ.

The apostle addresses the challenge of false apostles who were preaching a different Jesus, a different spirit, and a different gospel. He calls out the Corinthians for tolerating these imposters and contrasts his own ministry with theirs. Unlike the flashy and boastful super-apostles, Paul humbly served the Corinthians without burdening them, even when it meant relying on support from other churches.

Paul’s sarcastic tone peaks when he lists the hardships he endured for the sake of the Gospel—beatings, imprisonments, shipwrecks, and constant dangers. Unlike the false apostles who boasted of their strength and achievements, Paul boasts in his weaknesses, showing that his trials are evidence of his commitment to Christ and his ministry. 

This chapter also serves as a sobering reminder for modern believers about the prevalence of false teachings and the importance of biblical literacy. Paul’s concern for the Corinthians reflects a broader issue in today’s church—many are being led astray by teachings that are close to the truth but are ultimately deceptive. The only way to discern truth from error is by knowing the Scriptures and being guided by the Holy Spirit.

In conclusion, 2 Corinthians 11 is a powerful exhortation to hold fast to the true Gospel and to be wary of those who distort it for their own gain. Paul’s willingness to boast in his weaknesses rather than his strengths serves as a model for all believers, encouraging us to rely on God’s power rather than our own abilities. As we navigate a world filled with competing voices, Paul's message remains relevant: stay grounded in the Word of God, avoid false teachings, and boast only in what Christ has done in and through us.

#2Corinthians11 #BibleStudy #FalseTeachers #ApostolicAuthority #GospelTruth #BiblicalTruth #PaulTheApostle #SpiritualDiscernment

Transcript

 2 Corinthians 11

2 Corinthians 11

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome to God's plan, your part year two, where this year we're reading through and studying the entire New Testament one chapter at a time. Thanks again for joining us in discovering God's plan and your part in it. Today, we're looking at second Corinthians chapter 11. It is. part of kind of a larger argument that I think starts out in chapter 10 and runs through chapter 12, but Paul is specifically calling out this rebellious group of people that are questioning his apostolic authority.

And I think also based on the context of chapter 11, uh, questioning his message altogether. So Paul is really going hard after this group of people that are questioning him because he is trying to defend this. Young church of very new believers, and he doesn't want them to fall into false teaching. Now, this particular chapter is kind of interesting because Paul appears to be defending his ministry through sarcasm.

So if you don't understand that sarcasm is [00:01:00] occurring, um, I think the entire chapter seems a little bit weird and perhaps pretty inappropriate. Well, I would say that he at least gives you like their sarcasm, but it's like, Hey, just, just bear with me. He does give you a heads up in verse one. It says, do bear with me.

So, uh, when you actually start reading it, The first part is really challenging because he's saying, like, I'm, I'm jealous for you because I essentially Presented you to Christ as this bride And what you're doing is you're becoming like Eve and it's like you you automatically have like this bride who's ready for the groom like this beautiful picture of this union between this group of believers in Christ and And then you get this horrible opposite, I guess, of Eve, who completely turns her back on God and follows along with what [00:02:00] the serpent says in the Garden of Eden, so it's like this really, like, dark, dark, dark, dark.

Contrast right off the bat. And it's like, Ooh, that hits pretty hard. I think. And the problem with the Corinthian church and with Eve is deceit from Satan. And I think something that's really interesting to remember, and even more interesting is very important to remember is that oftentimes when Satan tries to mislead us, it's not by saying like, Hey, this is evil.

You should do it. It's by saying, Hey. This is really the way you should do it. This is the more right way to do it. And oftentimes it's wrong. Are you sure that this is actually what it is? I think that really came through to me as the chapter continues in this first section, verses 14 and 15 go on to essentially describe.

These false apostles, these deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And I think even for, this is like applicable to the [00:03:00] audience, but I think it's applicable to us today. How many false teachings of God's word of what is right, what is true is out there. And what really caught my attention was verse 14 and 15 says, and no wonder For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. Um, but I think that's like, that's very, I don't know, it's, it's very telling for me with the times that we're in. Because how often have I. Like, considered what I have learned, what I have always known to be true, and what it comes up against, what seems like decade after decade, like, what the truth is becomes so watered down.

Because some, like somewhere along the line, some deceitful workman or false apostle decides that's not actually what it [00:04:00] is. Like, it was different for that time, it was different for that culture, it was different for whatever. That's not what it means for us today. And you can see, like, over the last, I don't know, I'm 30.

What? Five? I think. Ha ha ha. Over the last couple of decades, I would say there are a lot of things that are not so clear anymore and it causes a lot of believers, my generation, to be confused. 100 percent the generations after us, um, that really put into question or get really offended by what the Bible says.

And it's, it's so interesting to me that this conversation was happening with these people as well. It's interesting. It's, it's tapping into a larger conversation I've been having with quite a few people actually. It gets my attention lately. Um, one, it is a proven thing that biblical literacy is decreasing significantly.

So that is like people, people's ability to know and understand and [00:05:00] be familiar with the Bible. There are less and less people that know what the Bible teaches. That is why Jenny and I are really excited to be doing this podcast. I feel like we've talked about that plenty of times. Um, but along with that.

that there seems to be an increasing amount of people that are passionate about the fact that they do not know what the Bible says, and they defend the position, their position of not knowing what the Bible says. Uh, and what I keep bumping up against a lot lately is people that are like, Hey, listen, It's, it just seems like you worship the Bible.

It seems like you're led by the Bible. I'm led by the spirit. And, and there's almost like this emerging idea that being spiritual is one thing and being biblical is another thing. And you can't be biblical and spiritual and being spiritual is almost in the conversations I've had, being spiritual is almost this angle of like, no, what I'm doing is better.

And it's like, well, yeah, but. What the Bible teaches is actually different than what you're doing. Yeah, but I'm being led by the spirit. So this is a really dangerous thing. I feel like that is a [00:06:00] really good question. This is a really, this is a really dangerous thing and I won't dive into it. Too far because that's not really the topic at hand.

I think the topic here is just like overall. False apostles. But the point that I do want to make is that the way that we have today to evaluate false apostles is what has been revealed to us in God's word. And a hundred percent, we believe and follow the lead of the Holy spirit, but we also believe that God's word has been revealed to us by the Holy spirit because it was the Holy spirit that inspired the people to write these words.

And so when we read the Bible, we actually are. Are interacting with what the Holy Spirit has already revealed. The Holy Spirit is moving and working in our own lives to help us understand what's been written and how to apply it to our lives. That's why God's word is living and active. That's why we can interact with God's word.

And it speaks to us in different ways at different times. So we don't ever want to be. Pulled away from what has been revealed in God's [00:07:00] word, and certainly we don't want to, um, distract ourselves from the Holy Spirit either, but you cannot do one without the other, and that is, you cannot live a life just only led by the words on the page.

You have to be led by the Holy Spirit. You also cannot be led by the Holy Spirit without considering the words on the page because these two things go hand in hand. So, As Paul is confronting these false apostles, he's saying that, Hey, these guys are flashy. These guys have a really compelling message, but they are deceiving you from the truth and they are drawing you away from Christ and away from the gospel.

And, and this is a problem we're seeing in, in today's world. It's a problem that Paul was seeing in the Corinthian church and other churches at the time. It's also a problem that Jeremiah was dealing with extensively. Like in Jeremiah's time, I just resonate a lot with, um, What was going on in his time, there, there were widely recognized famous prophets that were saying, Hey, everything's fine.

God loves us. God's going to take care of us. He's going to continue to bless us. And Jeremiah was like, [00:08:00] no, no, no, no, no. You guys are not following God's law. God is not going to bless you for being disobedient. And nobody wanted to listen to Jeremiah. Just like in second Corinthians 11, nobody wants to listen to Paul.

Just like in our world today, many people. Do not want to listen to the true gospel and commit themselves to a life of following Christ because it's not always flashy. It's not always prosperous and it's not always, uh, wordy and trouble free. Well, I think I was going to kind of hit on this too. The second part of the chapter, it lends itself to Paul really fleshing out.

Like, I'm not just doing this. I'm not just telling you this because it's like some fancy free ride. Yeah. Um, because most times when we suffer, when we go through hardships, we don't want to continue. Yes. But he is saying that like, I'm going to continue on with this mission. I'm going to boast in my weakness because it ultimately like it magnifies what the Lord is doing.

Um, and he, he really kind of just goes through. Um, all of the stuff [00:09:00] that he's had to, I guess, endure, and he's still purposefully following After Christ ministry, which is what reminded me of what you were saying with Jeremiah. It's very similar. Like, Jeremiah was a sad, sad guy. He had a very difficult ministry.

Yeah, because he was trying to tell the people those things, like you were saying, but they did not care because it was like, oh, whatever. You don't know what you're talking about. Like. Life is great. Life is fine. Uh, but all the while living a life that is completely deceived by These false teachings and again, remember these false teachings are always sort of right, right?

And that's what's so incredibly difficult and challenging I think because it's easy to believe like the love and acceptance and whatever But there's also, like, even if you look at Jesus own words, Go and sin no more. I love you. Go and sin no more. There's always both. It's always both. And I think it can get [00:10:00] really, really muddled if we don't actually take that into consideration or just blow it off as whatever.

You don't understand or you're close minded or whatever it is. So to move along through the passage here, what we end up getting is this list of struggles that Paul has been through. But I would say like, if you could hear him speaking it, if it was a recording, uh, you would hear the sarcasm. On his lips, because he's used to dealing with these super apostles.

You can't see my air quotes, but they're there. He's used to dealing with these super apostles that brag about all their accolades. And so Paul is saying, fine, I'll brag about my accolades. I've been beaten half to death. I've been shipwrecked, shipwrecked all over the place. I've been, uh, lowered in a basket to try to escape people.

He, he lists all these things that he knows are not really flashy, catchy things. They're actually terrible things. And the daily pressure of the anxiety that he has. for the churches. That's actually a really compelling line in and of [00:11:00] itself. I think he is telling the truth there that he daily is dealing with this weight of love and concern for the churches like that.

That to me, uh, being a pastor at one point and a pastor type still, I really love that. short little line there, like what would it look like for the shepherds of the church today to be con like constantly under the weight of caring for their people? Like, man, that's, that's such a cool picture that Paul sets out.

But it is important to catch that Paul has already said, like, Boast in Christ, don't boast in yourself. So, so the whole pretext for this passage is like, Okay, you guys want to brag? I'll brag. I went through this, and I went through this, and I went through this, and none of them are flashy things, but Christ brought him through them.

I was going to say, at the very end, verse 30, it says, If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. Yeah. I think that's really important and critical. Because, In our weakness, we magnify the strength of God because when people would have seen Paul [00:12:00] and the things that he's gone through, um, one, Paul himself apparently was not a very impressive person, at least to the Corinthians, but his experiences are certainly like, Whoa, like you went through that and God pulled you through that.

And like. God did that in your life and God's doing this in our church because you were obedient like that is amazing. So again, it's another encouragement to really magnify what God has done in your life, the fruit of what God has done in your life, because that is what speaks to, um, the power of Christ.

And those are the things that we boast in. Well, even to the very last example, this one kind of threw me a little bit, but it makes more sense as we're just like talking through it. Verse 33, actually 32 and 33 is when he came to Damascus and he was actually like a sought out person. They were supposed to seize him and capture him.

But verse 33 says, But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hand. And so even that, like, he's so, like, [00:13:00] humbly broken and weak that he had to be. Delivered out of his foes hands because he was let down in a basket from a window So he is just letting it out there Like this is not some fancy free ride that I'm just so excited about all the time and there's no worries and whatever I'm like putting myself in harm's way Often or in danger, whatever, for the sake of the gospel.

So it is no little job for sure for Paul. So we are quickly coming in on the end of second Corinthians. There's only two chapters left. Um, the remaining two chapters will continue to kind of make this. defense for Paul's ministry. And then there'll be some wrap up stuff. Um, but I would say again, your part for today is a little bit of a reminder from yesterday.

Uh, I am so encouraged by Paul sticking to the message. He does not compromise on the message of what the gospel is. Um, he, he very easily could have lived a better looking life, but he chose a less good looking life, [00:14:00] uh, to honor Christ. And in all of it. He refuses to boast in himself and he has plenty of things he could try to present as things that he's proud of.

He has plenty of things in his background in history that he could highlight as flashy things, but he chooses to highlight how God has moved and worked in his life because he refuses to boast in anything but in Christ. And I think it is so applicable for us today. So there's, there's two parts here. One, really, really do your best to avoid false teachers and the other Only way you can wisely avoid false teachers is to know what the Bible teaches.

And it does take time. I think that's one of the things that, um, I think that's one of the major barriers in places that it does take time to understand God's word and to live by God's word. And, and we just want to encourage you to put the time in. That's why we tell you to read it for yourself or listen to us.

Read it. Uh, that's why we invest in this podcast because Jenny and I want to know God's word better. We We want you to know God's word better. You can't avoid false prophets unless you know what God has [00:15:00] revealed in his word. And two, uh, don't be proud of your knowledge of God's word. And I know sometimes I come across that way.

I promise I'm not that way. Um, Be proud in what Christ has done in your life and what God is doing in your life. Use the Bible and what you know about the Bible to guide you, use the Holy Spirit to guide you, but ultimately be proud, proud of what God is doing and speak to what God is doing, not to your own self, boast in your weakness.

Yes. Boast in your weakness and let the evidence of what Christ is doing speak for itself. So we'll be back again tomorrow. Uh, digging into second Corinthians chapter 12. We'll see you then. Thanks for joining today's episode of God's Plan, Your Part. As always, please consider partnering with us as we are a listener supported podcast that we hope to continue to grow with support from listeners just like you.

We've made it super easy to partner with us and you can support us by following the link in our show notes or our description. You can support us with as little as 3 a month. Every [00:16:00] little bit of this helps so much and we're so thankful for your support. With that in mind, take care. Here's today's reading.

Second Corinthians chapter 11. I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me, for I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super apostles.

Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge. Indeed, in every way we have made this plan to you in all things. Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God's [00:17:00] gospel to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.

And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. And why? Because I do not love you?

God knows I do, and what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

So, it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. I [00:18:00] repeat, let no one think me foolish, but even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. What I am saying, with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would, but as a fool.

Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. For, you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves. For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that. But whatever anyone else dares to boast of, I am speaking as a fool.

I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one. I am talking like a madman, with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings and often near [00:19:00] death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea, on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people. Danger from Gentiles. Danger in the city. Danger in the wilderness. Danger at sea. Danger from false brothers.

In toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak? And I am not weak. Who is made to fall? And I am not indignant. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. At Damascus, the governor under King [00:20:00] Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me. But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of God's Plan, Your Part.

Don't forget, you can find us on just about every social media platform and YouTube. Let us know what you thought of today's episode, and if you have any questions, go ahead and post them there. You can also reach out to us directly at godsplanyourpart at gmail. com. As always, If you don't have a Bible, or if you'd like to use the one that we use, uh, reach out to us via email and we'll be happy to send one to you.

Thanks again for listening. We'll see you again tomorrow.