Some wanted a proof that Christ was with Paul. What impudence! He was greatly attested, yet because he was humble, he did not boast of it. By contrast the false teachers dominated and boasted and the Corinthians tended to respect this. There is a tendency for this still today, and therefore the Charismatic movement does as well as it does. It is a strange phenomenon. Maybe it is down to laziness – you don’t want to have to think or wrestle over issues. It is like those who put their trust in the Roman Catholic Church – it is easier to trust in the institution, maybe without even attempting to know the doctrine. ‘I prefer not to have to think.’ Often there is nothing in Charismatic ministry to challenge the heart, so there is no need for any great heart searching.
What causes backsliding? Corinth was certainly in a bad place; you gloried in sin in that city. They had been saved out of an unusually immoral background. But how did they slip back? Pride allowed them to put themselves above the word of God. What was our besetting sin before conversion? If we grow proud then we don’t examine ourselves: that will allow us to backslide. Or we fall by leaving off spiritual exercises.