COMBINATIONS. 2 Corinthians 10:1. “Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence and base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:”
Some things just naturally go together – Stormy winds along with rainy weather. Butter on bread – bees and honey; Debts we’ve run up and the need for money
Love and light can be seen by men, Love motivates and light will show. These two combined will make it plain, The Savior of sinners you truly know.
Faith and works, declare your words are true, When to the way of salvation, you testify. Faith may be hidden, but the works you do Indicate to observers, you are what you say.
Far greater than these, are the combinations, We see in Christ when He came in the flesh. His grace and truth met each new situation – And fully made clear the extent of God’s grace.
Christ’s meekness and lowliness, are revealed in His Word, As He, among men, brought deity to light. His lowliness of heart – right to the cross – clearly showed, He alone is the Way and the Truth and the Life.
When meekness and gentleness are mentioned together, It indicates something is important to learn. Meekness, not weakness, shows strength with a tether. That balance is gentleness, so that truth may be borne.
With the strength of His character and gentleness of heart, Correction can be accepted with thanks. And with grace given to us that our Lord can impart, The combination helps us in Christ-likeness to act.
"THIS IS FOR YOUR GOOD." 2nd Corinthians 11 True fathers do not find joy in correcting their children, but they know that afterward when the behavior and attitudes are changed, the outcome will be better for everyone. The process is not easy, but the results are well worth the effort when we must deal with things that are wrong. "No chastening for the present seems joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."
Paul had to turn up the heat on his spiritual children at Corinth because they were being led astray. He had to speak candidly to them in a way he was not used to doing as a spiritual father. But these immature believers who should have known better had gone a long way out of the right way by following false teachers. So as a father, he had to deal bluntly with them. He could see they were losing their focus in life by being distracted by the serpent-like subtlety that Eve had experienced.
Under normal circumstances, to compare what we do with what others do has boasting and pride as the motivation behind such foolish talk. However, there are times when we have to be embarrassed by telling others about ourselves and the work we have done in order to stop those who would undermine the work of God that He has done through us. This was one of those times for Paul. He had to cite some of his own virtues and accomplishments to counter the charges and criticism being made against him by “false apostles.” He had to defend himself in order to protect his spiritual children from the deception that found its source in Satan. He loved the Corinthians church like a father loves his daughter who is of age to become a bride.
Like a father whose daughter is going to get married, he wanted to be able to present the Corinthian believers to Christ like a morally pure virgin to her future husband. His desire expressed was that they would listen to him for their own sake as well as for his. Paul had a single-minded love for Christ. He wanted them to have that. “Jealous” in this passage of scripture should not be confused with envy or spite which has a serious negative meaning. In this place, it comes from the same root word “zealous,” which means a sincere, energetic, defense of the purity and rights of a person, or in this case, an assembly of God’s people. Paul could not bear the thought that there were rivals to Christ and the Gospel who would turn them away from the Lord.
Love has a right to be jealous. That is godly jealousy that any spiritual father has for those he led to Christ and who he knows is in danger of making a serious mistake. It would be wrong for us to overlook evil in order to have false peace and false comfort among God's people. Smooth-talking men with a smooth, eloquent way of speaking are the ones spiritually immature people like to listen to. They may sound like they have authority because of their command of language or the degrees they might hold from a university or a seminary. But we must "try the spirits," test the teaching, by searching the word of God and comparing what men say with what God says.
Any distortion of the truth is wrong and is dangerous to the spiritual life of believers, and the person teaching it has Satan behind him. The opposition of the devil is not always open and confrontational. When it comes to attacks against the people of God, it is often by means of deception as an “angel of light.” Simple believers can be deceived by letting their minds be corrupted by philosophy and vain reasoning based on “observational science.” This has permeated the minds of many who say, “If I can’t see it, I won’t believe it.” These comments are not made by thoughtful people, but by those who memorize what they have been told are “scientific facts.”
When we hear one speak and their teaching about the Lord Jesus is different from what is plainly taught in the Bible, Jesus is God in the flesh, yet eternally God, then all he has to say must be rejected. Different teaching about the Holy Spirit that emphasizes the wrong things must be rejected. Teaching about the Gospel that tries to make it "seeker friendly" and doesn't bring teach conviction of sin, eternal consequences for sin, repentance for sin, and faith in Christ alone for salvation, must be rejected as well as those who will not preach the Gospel biblically.
Those "super-apostles," not true apostles, were eloquent in speech but servants of Satan. A loving father will rise to the challenge of preserving his daughter from the deceptive peril of smooth-talking suitors who want to take what they can get for themselves. A loving parent will gladly sacrifice himself instead of burdening his young children. Godly jealousy produces a godly fear of satanic influence. A father has authority that no one else can claim. The proof of that authority is demonstrated in the cost he is willing to pay for the safety of his children.
The false teachers at Corinth used Christian words and spoke of Jesus, the spirit, and the gospel, but did not mean the same thing as when Paul had taught them. For some reason, the Corinthians ‘put up” with the changed meanings of these words. Oratory may not have been the apostle Paul's high point, but with his brilliant mind, he could discern people. He knew their capacity to understand his message and could adapt and simplify his teaching so they could easily grasp its truth. He knew the Gospel personally because he had experienced its saving power and he got it from God directly. He also knew how to pass it on to other people.
The false teachers who came to Corinth considered themselves the “chiefest apostles” or eminent super-apostles which Paul spoke of with a degree of sarcasm. They must have been trained orators or had a certain charisma about them to overcome the “thoroughly manifested” authority of the apostle Paul. He had knowledge of Christ that was powerful, God-given, and could not be denied. In those days the same as today, “professional religionists” charge money for their teaching and passing on information that they have. Greek philosophers, Jewish rabbis, and Roman instructors all charged a fee to pass on their expertise.
The fact that Paul had not taken anything from the Corinthians was one of their charges against him. To people who had the character traits of the Corinthians, not taking payment in proportion to the worth of the message a teacher gave, meant that what he said and taught, and even the teacher himself was of little value. Paul asked no money from the Corinthian believers and so he seemed like an amateur with no authority because of that. He knew that financial profit from them would be misunderstood by carnal believers. False teachers still make a profit from preaching and many even ask publicly for money. Paul separated himself from that kind of people, and so should we. Paul explained his demeanor was based on his love for them. He had superior learning as far as training is concerned. His leadership was selfless because he had the love of a shepherd for his spiritual children.
Repentance toward God is evident when a person is humbled down in sorrow for sin and has a complete change of mind about God, themselves, and salvation. When faith is placed in Christ alone for salvation, there is no question that rebirth by the Holy Spirit has taken place and the word of God assures us of that fact. A person who represents the Gospel simply is not simple-minded. A person who loves the Lord knows that content is more important than the expertise displayed when the Gospel is preached. God's word and the Gospel message do not need our skill to give it value. Nothing we can say or do gives it merit. This is the responsibility of any minister of the Gospel today. We must have understood it ourselves by experiencing it right from the conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come when the Holy Spirit awakened us to our need for salvation.
It is our responsibility to give the message, and it is God alone who gives eternal life when it is accepted. We all have our strengths and weaknesses when it comes to a public presentation of God's truth. But when any person charges a fee for giving the Gospel message to lost souls, those words are no more than a speech a politician gives, no matter how well it is put together or how well it is presented. However, God can bless the truth of the Gospel for the salvation of souls in spite of whoever preaches it, not because of who they are.
Biblical Christianity goes contrary to what is accepted practice in Christendom today. Deceptive preachers and teachers become rich quickly by asking for, and in some cases, demanding, financial contributions for their “services.” How different this is from those who like Paul, are “bond slaves of Jesus Christ.” It is of great importance that those who serve the Lord give no opportunity for people to accuse them of greed, self-interest, and being a financial burden on the people.
In contrast to that, Satan and his servants seem to be good people, who can talk well, quote the Bible, and are attractive and moral people who have a smooth way with words. Those who appear righteous, moral, family-oriented people outwardly, often cover inward motives with words that seem all right, but come from another source instead of the scriptures. They portray themselves as those who came to Corinth as "apostles of Christ," following the same pattern as Satan who presents himself sometimes as "an angel of light." They consider themselves as "ministers of righteousness."
True teaching must confirm the scriptures. The lifestyle of true teachers should be consistent with biblical standards of morality and doctrine. All teachers will be judged as to their teaching. True teachers will have their teaching tried by fire as gold, silver, and precious stones, or as wood, hay, and stubble. Those who false teachers, "their end shall be according to their works."
Paul had accepted gifts from other assemblies of believers and was glad to do so because he considered those expressions of fellowship as “fruit that would abound to their account.” To him, they were a “sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice that was well-pleasing to God.” He knew God is no man’s debtor, but that the Corinthians were being influenced by false teachers who would consider him a debtor, a paid servant of theirs.
To boast about what one has accomplished is foolish, and yet Paul found it necessary to go over some of the things that had happened to him in furthering the Gospel, to stop their willful ignorance. They were already putting up with fools because they considered themselves to be wise. In this case, Paul knew that this kind of boasting was not characteristic of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul gave a list of his credentials that should have silenced every critic and removed every doubt as to His authority.
These were extenuating circumstances in which Paul thought he should give a brief account of some of the things that had happened in his apostolic ministry in comparison to those who were deceiving the assembly at Corinth. By taking them on their own premises, he attempted to counteract their influence over the Corinthians. False apostles measured themselves by their own standards, not God’s. Paul gave his credentials so the people could see the comparison. He acknowledged bragging was silly but his credentials as an apostle were far superior to those counterfeit teachers on every point of experience, background, and effectiveness in ministry.
He acknowledged that as a true “minister of Christ,” his authority was only because he had received it from God, not because he had suffered or had been successful. The fact of the suffering he endured showed him to be a real servant of Christ more than the deceivers. The list indicates there was a lot more Paul went through in reaching out to the Gentiles with the Gospel than is recorded in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Five times beaten, three times shipwrecked even before the one on the final journey to Rome, testified to the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ he went through.
His boasting was legitimate. He expanded his defense by pointing out he was a Hebrew. This would silence the Judaizers in regard to his learning. He had actually been a student at one of the most well-known prestigious schools of that day, the School of Gamaliel. As an Israelite, he was faithful in keeping the laws on which so many of the false teachers prided themselves. Paul knew, and kept, the spirit of the law which was even more important than the letter of the law. His lineage was of the seed of Abraham, and he was from the tribe of Benjamin. Further though, was the fact that he was of the faith of Abraham, not just the pedigree, Abraham being the father of the faithful.
Externals have their place in Christian testimony, but that which is from within is what is important and lasting. The outward trials of Paul indicated the degree of his commitment and authority. The outward expression of our faith indicates what is behind our motivation to further the work of the Lord. Paul's concern for the new assemblies that God had raised up across Europe and Asia was genuine. The welfare of God's people is always in the hearts of those who reach out with the Gospel and see lamp stands arising as the Lord's people gather together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
Paul’s personal connection of soul and spirit with the Corinthians made him feel the weakness of the weak and indignant with those who made his spiritual children stumble. His weakness opened the way for him to boast of the strength of God’s grace at work in his life. He concluded this whole account with a personal example of his humiliation when he was let down over the wall of Damascus in a basket. He was totally at the mercy of others. All of these examples of divine power, grace, and authority even through times of suffering, would show the difference between real apostleship and the counterfeit which those in Corinth had accepted and been led astray by.
It is impossible to avoid difficulties when furthering the work of the Lord. Many people will criticize methods that are different from those used where they have lived all their lives. Most will not understand why these difficulties are experienced. When we take the Gospel to "regions beyond" where we will not be making claims on another man's work, there will be persecution because Satan does not take inroads of light into his dark kingdom sitting down. There are also perils on the journeys that have to be faced every day when we leave our "comfort zones."
The work of the Lord itself generates pressures in which decisions have to be made and the servant must accept the consequences of those decisions himself, whether they be good or bad. Another of the difficulties is the attacks of one kind or another that are placed on the worker. Temptations, trials, tests, and even personal problems of health, finances, and the maintenance of an effective devotional life are in jeopardy when busy with the work. Yet God is sufficient to meet all these needs from all of the abundant supply of His grace.
We can learn from Paul's example that for the good of others, there are costs we must pay. His good jealousy for the Corinthian church was because he had a right to be jealous of the well-being of the people God had committed to his care. We cannot avoid the cost involved emotionally and in other ways when we carry out the work of the Lord. His generosity to the church teaches us that in our labors for God's people, we do not expect reimbursement, but have given to the Lord what we have received from others. His anxiety for that church reminds us that we will never avoid the pain, problems, and blessings of spiritual fatherhood. None of the things that happen to us escapes the "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." He knows. His interests in the assembly are greater than ours, and He knows the future. We will do what we must and leave the all results to Him.