Day 17 – 2 Corinthians 11:1-15

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, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But 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. 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. 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. Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge? I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you; and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brethren 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. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia. Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! But what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for 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.^[1]

It is a shame when one must defend themselves against vicious attacks. The Apostle Paul had to do just that. He had to defend his apostleship and his ministry as a whole because there were those in the community who, through their comparisons, were calling his service into question. The critiqued his preaching style and mocked his manner of speaking. They called into question the handling of his finances and accused him of living off of them. In the face of such attacks it became necessary for the apostle to defend himself.

Defending against false accusations is tiring. One would far prefer to let the accusations go unanswered in the hopes that people will soon tire of making them, but there are times when the accusations are so virulent that one has no choice but to answer them even knowing that the Lord will fight those battle. There is a verse from Isaiah believers love to quote, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn” (54:17). Get that last part? “You shall condemn.” God does His part, we do ours’.

Dear gracious Lord, thank You for fighting our battles. Thank You for covering us when assailed and assaulted. Now give us courage to stand up in righteousness when falsely attacked. Help us to stand on Your Word and Your promises demonstrating meekness, but not weakness. Amen.

^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), 2 Co 11:1–15.