II Corinthians 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
6 But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.
7 Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?
8 I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.
9 And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.
We have warned in the past of the deception that is so rampant in our time. That deception is nothing new. There were people in Paul’s day who were imposters. They were false teachers who were preaching another Jesus. The Catholics have another Jesus as do the Charismatics and the New Evangelical crowd.
Again the foundation is the Bible. It is not based on feelings. The Jesus of the Bible is holy and He is the Creator of heaven and earth. He is the Saviour of mankind and He is without sin. He is not the promoter of the woke philosophies of today.
Paul also warned of another spirit. The Holy Spirit is at work in the lost and He indwells the saved. The Charismatics have another spirit. Their supposed tongues speaking and phoney healings are not of God.
Paul was concerned that the saints might well receive these false teachings. They had chosen not to believe the Word of God, and when a saved person does not receive and believe the Word of God, that person will fall for deception.
We do see much tolerance of false teaching today. Sadly, those who fall for that, fight against the Truth. They attack anyone who holds to the Truth. They would rather have the ear-scratching deceivers soothing their guilty conscience.
Paul used a little folly in verse 5. The Corinthians were into human comparisons. We know that from I Corinthians. Thus Paul stated here that he was equal to the other apostles. God did not have a chief apostle, but often, people tend to categorize things and people.
In verse 6 Paul acknowledged that they assumed him to be rude in speech. The Greek word translated as “rude” has the meaning of being “ignorant or unlearned”. Some, who did not want to hear the truth, tried to dismiss him as an illegitimate messenger. However, he reminded them that he was not lacking in knowledge. He was personally trained by the Lord Jesus Christ. He had a strong background in the Pharisaical heresies. He knew what he was talking about. Most importantly, he was trained by Jesus Christ and his authority was not in his previous humanistic training, but in the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ and the continued Word of the Lord that he was commanded to write.
Paul’s knowledge had been fully revealed to them. He was not a secretive man. He was not trying to hide anything from them. God wanted them to know the truth and He chose Paul as one of His twelve apostles.
In verse 7 he wanted to know if his coming to them in a plain manner was an offence. He did not come dressed in fancy clothing and demanding to be recognized as a great orator. He was well-trained, but he did not need to throw his weight around. He had nothing to boast about. As a saved man, he exalted Christ. He had not charged them for the preaching of the Gospel. He had not demanded anything from them in exchange for the Truth. He was a true servant of the Lord.
In verse 8 he put them to shame for their inhospitable nature. He had robbed other churches. They were not wealthy churches, but there were those such as Philippi, that had given generously so that he could preach in places like Corinth. The Corinthians had not appreciated the gift of Truth he was proclaiming to them.
Even while the apostle Paul was present in Corinth and had a need, he did not come begging from them. They knew he had needs, but they did not care. They were too full of themselves. As we noted in other studies, the brethren in Macedonia had helped him. God’s people should support God’s ordained servants. However, God’s ordained servants do not want to be a burden to the saints. The saints need to come to appreciate the blessing of having a true servant of God come to minister to their needs.
Paul had no intention of changing his method of doing things. He was not in it to get rich. He still had good enough health that he could go and do other work to support himself and also be able to continue to preach to the Corinthians. He did not leave them destitute just because they did not appreciate him.
The true servant of God needs to be sensitive to God’s leading and if God wants him in a certain place, He will provide for him. As mentioned, that may require a “tent-making” type of ministry for a time. The faithful servant of God does not prioritize fund raising as his work. His work is the proclamation of the Gospel and trusting God to help the saved to see the blessing of giving to the Word of the Lord.
Pastor Bartel