2 Corinthians 11 (5)

Pray Psalm 53.1, 2.
The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity;
There is none who does good.
God looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.

Sing Psalm 53.1, 2.
(Leoni: The God of Abraham Praise)
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God at all!”
Corrupt are they in whole and part, unjust and small.
Not one of them does good; God sees their wicked ways.
None understands the Word of God or gives Him praise.

Read 2 Corinthians 11.1-21; meditate on verses 16-21.

Preparation
1. How did Paul regard the boasting he was about to do (in vv. 22-33)?

2. Why did he think it was necessary?

Meditation
Fools boast about themselves, seek to draw attention to themselves, and work to impress others to gain their loyalty and devotion. And this is the proof that they are indeed fools—that they have no true knowledge of God.

Paul warned the Corinthians not to regard him as a fool (v. 16), even though he was about to take on the methods of one in his effort to break the Corinthians free from the real fools who had taken them captive (v. 20).

Only fools listen to fools and follow their ways. And the Corinthians were acting like fools in listening to those who boasted about themselves (v. 20).  They failed to see the danger latent in such folly (v. 20). They seemed even to be looking at Paul as a fool (v. 16), so foolish had their thinking become. And, since that was indeed the case, then Paul would lower himself to their foolish thinking and boast a little about himself, though he had not done this before with the Corinthians (v. 21). They loved that kind of stuff, wrongly considering themselves “wise” by listening to fools (v. 19); so if Paul had to “stoop to conquer” by adopting the method of the false teachers, then that’s what he would do (in vv. 22-33).

But, as we shall see, even Paul’s “foolish boasting” was really only holy boasting, designed to glorify God Who was at work in and through him.

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162.
Paul’s argument with the Corinthians seems to be begging these questions of them:

“What foolishness are you acquiescently accepting from your false teachers and the world?”

“In light of that, why are you so critical of me and my teaching?”

And I would put those same questions to us today:
“What huge amount of nonsense do we accept daily from false teachers and the world?”

“And if we do, then why are we so critical of the church, our pastors, and the Word of God?”

Think about it:
We sit quietly and complacently in front of our television sets and listen to lie after lie, watch immoral behaviors galore, and take it all in without so much as a whimper.

But God help the Sunday morning pastor who might stumble a bit in his presentation, or make a point that we don’t fully enjoy, or maybe the music is not to our complete liking, and whammo! We pick him and his message apart, minutiae by minutiae, and complain ad infinitum of everything else that happened in that hour and a half.

God’s people are expert disassemblers of church business.

But, not so much on calling out things that mightily displease God in our lives and others’.

“He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just,
both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD” (Prov. 17.15).

Of course, if your pastor is a false teacher, it is a different story.

But really, what are you doing? Why are you even there?
“The Corinthians were acting like fools in listening to those who boasted about themselves.”

What were they doing by even sitting under their teaching?

We must constantly be on our guard against our adversary the devil who “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5.8).

Instead of sitting quietly and complacently, and letting the things of the world pour into our lives, in front of our TVs, or on “anti-social media”, or in what we read or listen to, let us “Fight the good fight, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Tim. 6.12) and “Resist [the devil], steadfast in the faith…” (1 Pet. 5.9) so that we will not hear the condemning words that the Corinthians did, “…you put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face” (2 Cor. 11.20).

Make no mistake, foolish boasters are coming at us from all corners, because our adversary’s only job is to   push us off the Jesus Path. So, don’t let him do it.

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15.58).

For reflection
1. What can you do to ensure that you will always be steadfast and immovable from the truth of God’s Word?

2. How does false teaching hinder us from always abounding in the work of the Lord?

3. How can we know that our work in our Personal Mission Field is not in vain in the Lord?

Doubtless here is reference to facts in which the character of the false apostles had been shown. It is astonishing to see how such men bring their followers into bondage, and how they take from them and insult them. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on 2 Corinthians 11.16-21

Pray Psalm 53.4-6.
Pray that God will sanctify all your boasting, so that when you boast of Him, it will be clear that the truth of Christ is in you.

Sing Psalm 53.3-6.
(Leoni: The God of Abraham Praise)
Have all these wicked men no knowledge of God’s grace?
The Church they hate with passion and seek not God’s face.
LORD, strike their hearts with fear, where fear was not before.
And scatter all who camp so near Your holy door.

The wicked flee in shame; their ways our God rejects.
Renew Your people in Your Name with great effects!
Let great rejoicing sound once we renewed have been,
and let salvation’s Word resound from us again!

T. M. and Susie Moore

The Church in Corinth was in need of revival. But there was much to be done before that would happen. The Church today is in need of revival, and the same is true for us. Our book, Revived!, can help us to discern our need for revival and lead us in getting there. Order your copy by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter, available by clicking here.