2 Corinthians 11:13 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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2 Corinthians 11:13

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This is how Satan works. Those false teachers are liars with false claims. ‘Do they know, I wonder, that they are servants of Satan?’ the apostle will say. Just as Satan turned himself into an angel, a messenger of light and always does – he came to Eve and he said in a sense, ‘What I say to you, I say to you for your good. God hasn’t really said that that you should not eat of the tree. You can be sure that God would never deprive you of things which you would enjoy; that would not be right. You have misunderstood, you have misheard what he said to you.’ He claims to come for Eve’s good, but in fact he comes to mislead. Now Satan always appears as an angel of light, so is it surprising, is it any wonder that his messengers do the same? So false teachers, whether they are theological liberals, or whether they are extreme charismatics, doing all manner of crazy things; whatever they are, do they know they are servants of the devil, doing just as he is doing? Well, I don’t think they do know that. I don’t think they realise that for one moment, but what the apostle says is true. They are dishonest. Today you could translate the word transformed as disguised, which is a little clearer. They come disguised as ministers of righteousness. Well, they proclaim salvation. They seem to be ministers of righteousness, of the word. It is a very shallow salvation but they proclaim salvation. They proclaim happiness and healing and gain and prosperity and power. They promote at the same time crass emotionalism and entertainment and worldliness, but they are not preaching obedience to the word. If they were, they would have to stop saying ninety percent of the things they say. They are not preaching separation from the world and, therefore, what Paul says applies to them.

Application

If people come with false teaching, they are liars; they are making false claims. They are in the pocket of the devil; they are just like him, though they may not know it. They may be blind to that but they know that the exaggerated stories they tell are not true. Their hearers may be innocent people who are misled; they may be good Christians, but their leaders and the extreme people you see on the television, they know what they are doing. They know they have made this up and made that up. They know that the first thing that comes into their heads is not necessarily a revelation of God. And you see some of them, they so swagger, they are such unreasonable people. They know this much and they will be judged for their own dishonesty, even if they are not aware that it is Satan who is controlling them.

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2 Corinthians 11:13 Commentary and Bible Study