Poisoned Wells

II Corinthians 11:1–15

“I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! 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. 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. 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 Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.” I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”

Deception is such a double difficulty for Christians and in the Church; I say that because in every human community there is bound to be those who poison the well. It’s double because underhanded means are not how we engage the battle for the world, and yet the ungodly uses every tactic imaginable, including bearing false witness and deception, he is, after all, the father of lies and they all masquerade and deceive (vv. 13–15); we simply cannot expect the Adversary and his minions to fight fair like we do because we were called to love our enemies (Luke 6:27, Matt 5:43) —the very same humanity but influenced by the devil, and we were* those prior to salvation granted upon us in Christ’s grace (I Cor 6:11). Bible commentator Matthew Henry writes, the Apostle Paul “was desirous to present them [that is the Corinthian church] as a chaste virgin —pure, and spotless, and faithful, not having their minds corrupted with false doctrines by false teachers, as Eve was beguiled by the subtlety of the serpent. This godly jealousy in the apostle was a mixture of love and fear; and faithful ministers cannot but be afraid and concerned for their people, lest they should lose that which they have received, and turn from what they have embraced, especially when deceivers have gone abroad, or have crept in among them.” It is difficult enough to have enemies seeking to undermine our message and witness from the outside attacking, let alone internal conflicts and ‘friendly fire’. It is one thing to deal with enemies from without and quite another, and pretty heartbreaking, to deal with adversaries from within influenced, deceived by weeds planted by the true enemy. To this kind of internal conflicts, the governor Nehemiah relates to us his righteous disgust: “When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry. I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them, "You are exacting usury from your own countrymen!" So I called together a large meeting to deal with them and said: "As far as possible, we have bought back our Jewish brothers who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your brothers, only for them to be sold back to us!" They kept quiet, because they could find nothing to say (Neh 5:6–8).” There is an additional layer of self-restraint which is a handicap in the way we deal, perhaps God allows it to train our reslove to depend on His Holy Spirit in discernment and good judgment and correct action in the community. Holy Spirit protect us, and cover all our fellowships with Christ’s precious blood, pervade in our hearts, move in our midst, help us trust in You alone O God.