"My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness."

I try to imagine the false doctrines that Paul is coming up against in Corinth back then the subtle deceptions that were being passed as truth.  And here we are today with many of the same issues the only way to stay in truth is to KNOW the truth giver and that is Jesus and once again to continually wash your mind in the Word of God allowing the Holy Spirit to transform your thinking to that of Christ.  It is our constant challenge none of us are above being deceived. With that in mind we must then be hard workers in prayer and the study and meditation of scripture in order that we might know the truth.  And the greatest truth of these passages is this that His grace is sufficient and He is made perfect in our weakness.  I pray that today God's Word will fall fresh on your heart I know He will highlight different things for you than were highlighted for me.

Questions will follow

2 Corinthians 11-12:10 (New International Version)

2 Corinthians 11

Paul and the False Apostles

 ¹I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness; but you are already doing that. ²I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. ³But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. ⁵But I do not think I am in the least inferior to those "super-apostles." ⁶I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.

 ⁷Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? ⁸I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. ⁹And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. ¹⁰As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. ¹¹Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! ¹²And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. ¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. ¹⁵It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

Paul Boasts About His Sufferings

 ¹⁶I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. ¹⁷In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. ¹⁸Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. ¹⁹You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! ²⁰In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face. ²¹To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!

   What anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. ²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. ²³Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. ²⁴Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, ²⁶I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. ²⁷I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. ²⁸Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. ²⁹Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?

 ³⁰If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. ³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. ³²In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. ³³But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.

2 Corinthians 12

Paul's Vision and His Thorn

 ¹I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. ²I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. ³And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— ⁴was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. ⁵I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. ⁶Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.

 ⁷To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Questions:

Why was Paul so concerned for the Corinthian Christians?  see first Gal 1:6-10

Galatians 1:6-10
No Other Gospel  ⁶I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! ⁹As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!  ¹⁰Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

On what two grounds was he amazed that they should so readily tolerate these false teachers?

What warning for our own day can be drawn from what Paul says about the false teachers, their methods, and their message?  Is 'another Jesus' preached today?

In what ways does Paul distinguish his own way of life while at Corinth from that of the 'false apostles'?  Have you learned anything new about Paul's character from this passage?

Follow Paul through the experiences which he describes.  In particular let your imagination dwell clause by clause on the list of sufferings.  Why do you think Paul felt it necessary to 'boast' of his experiences?

Why did Paul believe he had been given the 'thorn in the flesh'?  What did Paul do about this 'thorn' and with what result?  Note the present tense in the Lord's reply.  What lesson did Paul learn that changed his whole attitude to trial?  Have we begun to understand these things?  see first Rom 5:3-5; 1 Peter 4:14

Romans 5:3-5

³Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

^1Peter4:14

¹⁴If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Blessings on your journey today,

Kris Munoz

Comments

[Guy Bergstrom]

Great words Kris! It's an issue I speak to our students about often. How will you know & recognize false teaching & heresy, if you are not grounded in the Truth of God's Word? If we spent as much time reading God's Word as we do reading the latest, glossy-covered, best-seller, we'd be much better off in this area! Study the Truth, and the lies will become obvious. Love ya Sister!