<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The apostle Paul writes: \u201cFor such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising<\/em>\u00a0themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan\u00a0disguises<\/em>\u00a0himself as an angel of light. So it is no great surprise if his servants also\u00a0disguise<\/em>\u00a0themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works\u201d (2 Cor. 11:13-15, emphasis added).<\/p>\n Paul continues to expose the \u201csuper apostles\u201d in Corinth for what they are: deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. They present a triple threat to the church as they proclaim \u201canother Jesus,\u201d \u201ca different spirit,\u201d and \u201ca different gospel\u201d (2 Cor. 11:4). And yet, the church welcomes them with open arms. That\u2019s because the \u201csuper apostles\u201d successfully disguise themselves as true apostles. They don\u2019t necessarily oppose the apostle Paul, but they claim to have eclipsed him in spiritual gifts and public ministry.<\/p>\n For example, their speaking skills are far superior \u2013 or so they say \u2013 and their boldness in the church projects a contagious confidence that Paul seems to lack, as evidenced by his humility and self-inflicted poverty (2 Cor. 10:10; 11:5-10). If that isn\u2019t enough, Paul\u2019s physical presence is \u201cweak\u201d (2 Cor. 10:10), no doubt in part from the beatings, stoning, shipwrecks, and other hardships he faced as he carried on his apostolic ministry.<\/p>\n The \u201csuper apostles\u201d likely are physically fit and attractive, while Paul, if alive on earth today,\u00a0\u00a0would never make it on Christian television. In all of this, the false apostles are rotten to the core but come wrapped in the clever disguise of eloquent purveyors of the gospel.<\/p>\n This shouldn\u2019t take us by surprise, writes Paul. The \u201csuper apostles\u201d are simply following the lead of Satan, who masquerades as an angel of light. Three times in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, Paul uses a form of the word rendered \u201cdisguise\u201d in English. The \u201csuper apostles\u201d are\u00a0disguising<\/em>\u00a0themselves as apostles of Christ. Satan\u00a0disguises<\/em>\u00a0himself as an angel of light. And the false apostles, whom Paul identifies as Satan\u2019s servants,\u00a0disguise<\/em>\u00a0themselves as servants of righteousness.<\/p>\n The Greek verb\u00a0metaschematizo<\/em>\u00a0means \u201cto change in fashion or appearance.\u201d\u00a0This is not a change of character but of clothing, an outward transformation for the purpose of hiding one\u2019s true nature and intentions. Various English translations seek to capture this meaning, rendering the word as \u201cmasquerade\u201d (NIV), \u201cdisguise\u201d (NASB, ESV), and \u201ctransformed\u201d (KJV). The Message uses \u201cposing,\u201d \u201cdressing up,\u201d and \u201cmasquerade.\u201d<\/p>\n The evil one is a master of disguise. When he appears, people don\u2019t fall at his feet as dead men, the way they respond in holy fear of Christ (cf. Rev. 1:17). Rather, he is alluring, attractive, seductive, and glamorous. He approaches with beauty and flattery. He offers special knowledge, or unique privilege, or exalted position. His minions feed on the same human frailties.<\/p>\n Corinthian believers, who want to become rich and reign like kings (1 Cor. 4:8), \u201care particularly susceptible to a false gospel dispensed by jaunty, diamond-studded apostles that appeals to their innate human pride and desire to be special. Swollen with pride themselves, these rivals gull [take advantage of] the Corinthians by stoking their vanity.\u201d<\/p>\n Satan\u2019s attacks on the church are seldom frontal. They don\u2019t need to be. The evil one is contented with false apostles, who gain a foothold in a community of believers and destroy them with flattery and false doctrine from the inside out. Paul\u2019s description of these \u201cdeceitful workers\u201d employs the adjective\u00a0dolios<\/em>, which means someone who deals dishonestly or treacherously with others. The false apostles\u2019 misrepresentation of their missionary work does not result from self-deception or even prideful exaggeration. The masquerade is quite deliberate.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why Paul concludes these verses with the assurance that the false teachers\u2019 end \u201cwill be according to their works\u201d (2 Cor. 11:15). Just as Corinthian believers stand one day before the judgment seat of Christ, resulting in varying degrees of rewards (Rom. 14:10; 1 Cor. 3:11-15; 2 Cor. 5:10), the \u201csuper apostles\u201d are to be summoned before the great white throne and punished for their evil deeds. Not surprisingly, their role model also is banished to the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15; cf. Matt. 25:41).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The apostle Paul writes: \u201cFor such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising\u00a0themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan\u00a0disguises\u00a0himself as an angel of light. So it is no great surprise if his servants also\u00a0disguise\u00a0themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works\u201d (2 Cor. 11:13-15, emphasis … Continue reading “Enduring Word Devotion”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188950"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":188953,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188950\/revisions\/188953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}