Post by Les on Jan 9, 2023 14:49:26 GMT -5
The Right Jesus By: Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Click here for the Audio Message
If someone . . . preaches a [false] Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, . . . you [wrongly] put up with it.
2 Corinthians 11:4
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Corinthians 11:1–4, 12–15
The buzz in the room faded to a comfortable silence as the book club leader summarised the novel the group would discuss. My friend Joan listened closely but didn’t recognise the plot. Finally, she realised she had read a non-fiction book with a similar title to the work of fiction the others had read. Although she enjoyed reading the wrong book, she couldn’t join her friends as they discussed the right book.
The apostle Paul didn’t want the Corinthian believers in Jesus to believe in a wrong Jesus. He pointed out that false teachers had infiltrated the church and presented a different ‘Jesus’ to them, and they had swallowed the lies (2 Corinthians 11:3–4).
Paul denounced the heresy of these phony teachers. In his first letter to the church, however, he’d reviewed the truth about the Jesus of Scripture. This Jesus was the Messiah who “died for our sins . . . was raised on the third day . . . and then [appeared] to the Twelve,” and finally to Paul himself (1 Corinthians 15:3–8). This Jesus had come to earth through a virgin named Mary and was named Immanuel (God with us) to affirm His divine nature (Matthew 1:20–23).
Does this sound like the Jesus you know? Understanding and accepting the truth written in the Bible about Him assures us that we’re on the spiritual path that leads to heaven.
Reflect & Pray
How do you know that you believe the truth about Jesus? What might you need to investigate to make sure you understand what the Bible says about Him?
Dear God, help me to walk in the light of Your truth.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The apostle Paul was careful to protect those he’d been privileged to influence for Jesus, which explains the tone and language we find in 2 Corinthians 10–13. We see this same fierce posture of protection in Galatians 1:1–9 as well. Paul was “jealous” (2 Corinthians 11:2 ) for the believers’ stability and well-being in their faith in Jesus, and where their belief and conduct were jeopardized, he pulled no punches. The apostle countered the unhealthy persuasion of those he sarcastically referred to as “super-apostles” (v. 5; 12:11). His words are cautionary (11:5–11), a warning for those who are more impressed with style and method than substance. A key word in verses 13–15 (used three times) is metaschēmatizō , which is translated “masquerade/masquerading.” It’s a compound word meaning “to transfigure, to transform.” It describes people who are not who they appear to be.
Arthur Jackson
2 Corinthians 11:1-4
King James Version
11 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.
2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
2 Corinthians 11:12-15
King James Version
12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
For further study, read In Pursuit of Jesus: Who He Is and Why It Matters.
Click here for the Audio Message
If someone . . . preaches a [false] Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, . . . you [wrongly] put up with it.
2 Corinthians 11:4
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Corinthians 11:1–4, 12–15
The buzz in the room faded to a comfortable silence as the book club leader summarised the novel the group would discuss. My friend Joan listened closely but didn’t recognise the plot. Finally, she realised she had read a non-fiction book with a similar title to the work of fiction the others had read. Although she enjoyed reading the wrong book, she couldn’t join her friends as they discussed the right book.
The apostle Paul didn’t want the Corinthian believers in Jesus to believe in a wrong Jesus. He pointed out that false teachers had infiltrated the church and presented a different ‘Jesus’ to them, and they had swallowed the lies (2 Corinthians 11:3–4).
Paul denounced the heresy of these phony teachers. In his first letter to the church, however, he’d reviewed the truth about the Jesus of Scripture. This Jesus was the Messiah who “died for our sins . . . was raised on the third day . . . and then [appeared] to the Twelve,” and finally to Paul himself (1 Corinthians 15:3–8). This Jesus had come to earth through a virgin named Mary and was named Immanuel (God with us) to affirm His divine nature (Matthew 1:20–23).
Does this sound like the Jesus you know? Understanding and accepting the truth written in the Bible about Him assures us that we’re on the spiritual path that leads to heaven.
Reflect & Pray
How do you know that you believe the truth about Jesus? What might you need to investigate to make sure you understand what the Bible says about Him?
Dear God, help me to walk in the light of Your truth.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The apostle Paul was careful to protect those he’d been privileged to influence for Jesus, which explains the tone and language we find in 2 Corinthians 10–13. We see this same fierce posture of protection in Galatians 1:1–9 as well. Paul was “jealous” (2 Corinthians 11:2 ) for the believers’ stability and well-being in their faith in Jesus, and where their belief and conduct were jeopardized, he pulled no punches. The apostle countered the unhealthy persuasion of those he sarcastically referred to as “super-apostles” (v. 5; 12:11). His words are cautionary (11:5–11), a warning for those who are more impressed with style and method than substance. A key word in verses 13–15 (used three times) is metaschēmatizō , which is translated “masquerade/masquerading.” It’s a compound word meaning “to transfigure, to transform.” It describes people who are not who they appear to be.
Arthur Jackson
2 Corinthians 11:1-4
King James Version
11 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.
2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
2 Corinthians 11:12-15
King James Version
12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
For further study, read In Pursuit of Jesus: Who He Is and Why It Matters.