Paul's Boasting Continues - 33

This boasting of which the apostle Paul speaks begins in chapter 10 and continues on into chapter 11 where we are sojourning this morning. Paul clearly considers such boasting to be unwelcome and distasteful, but he was forced to do so by particular circumstances. Paul's teachers, who closely followed Paul's travels and ministry, and wherever Paul successfully planted a new church, these false teachers quickly set up shop in the same location and worked diligently to draw disciples away from Paul and from Christ and unto themselves.

In short, they seem to have been moderately successful in this endeavor. They apparently exploited the vacuum in leadership after Paul's departure. I have often wondered where were the elders of the Corinthian church, and there's no reference to them, interestingly. In the second Corinthians constitute two of our longest epistles, only behind Romans. And in these long epistles that are very personal and deal with many church matters, there is no mention of the elders.

It is certain that there were elders, but I think it is also likely that they were not very strong, not functioning very well, not capable for whatever reason of discerning the dangers and fortifying the church in the way they needed to be helped. That's what required Paul's continual attention to this church. And so Paul wrote to rescue the Corinthian Christians from deception by the false teachers.

And in our passage today, verses 16 through 33, I have four divisions. Number one, Paul justifies his boasting, verses 16 through 18. Number two, Paul expresses his concerns in verses 19 through 21.

Third, Paul enumerates his credentials in verses 22 through 31, and finally, Paul adds another episode in verses 32 and 33. Paul justifies his boasting in verses 16 through 18, and there are three concepts that Paul wants to get across here. First, he says my boasting is not normal. Secondly, my boasting is not Christ-like. But third, my boasting is necessary. My boasting is not normal. Verse 16, I say again, let no one think me a fool, if otherwise, at least receive me as a fool. But I also may boast a little. What in the world is he saying? Well, he's saying, I hope you don't think that I am a fool because I am boasting in this way.

But if you do, even if you do, at least give me a hearing. You're listening to these other guys in their boasting, so at least be willing to do the same for me as I take up my boasting in response to their boasting. My boasting is not normal. It is not my normal procedure.

It is not what I generally do. I avoid it as much as I possibly can, but in this case, there's a purpose for it, and so please give me a hearing as I boast in a way that I would prefer not to do. My boasting is not normal. But number two, my boasting is not Christ-like, and that's interesting. Verse 17, what I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were, foolishly, in this confident boasting. Paul mentions what he knows. They may have not known it until he drew their attention to it, but namely, you won't find anything similar to this in the record of Christ-life and ministry upon earth.

You won't find Paul boasting in the way that Paul is now boasting. Christ Jesus did not do this. But there's an implication that Paul does not spell out here, and I think it is this, that Jesus didn't do it because he didn't face the same situation.

The only reason that Paul was forced to do something that Christ didn't do was because he was facing a situation that Christ did not face, and that situation put him in a corner where he felt it necessary to do this. When he says that this is not something that Christ did, he's not saying that this is something which is antithetical to Christ-likeness. He's not saying I'm sinning and doing this.

I'm not doing something that is dishonoring to the Lord. But he's saying I'm doing something that Jesus frankly didn't do because, remember, what's going on here is that Paul's critics are boasting of their accomplishments, they're listing all of their accomplishments, and they're doing so for the purpose of displacing Paul and his leadership and his authority and his apostleship, displacing Paul out of their lives and replacing him with the false teachers. They were listing their accomplishments for the purpose of replacing him, but of course we don't find anyone in the Gospel accounts listing their accomplishments for the purpose of replacing Jesus Christ. Christ suffered a lot of things, a lot of scorn, a lot of rebuke, a lot of opposition, a lot of innuendo and false accusations, but nobody said, Now, my list of accomplishments, my list of endeavors, my credentials are greater than yours and put me in a position to exceed you in your claim to being the Christ.

Nobody did that. But these false teachers were doing that very activity in order to replace Paul and evidently to claim that they were apostles who were greater than Paul and whose credentials were more impressive than Paul's, more genuine than Paul's. So Jesus Christ did not do this, but he didn't face this exact situation. And though such behavior of listing your accomplishments is foolish and displays fleshly confidence, nevertheless there are times when it is absolutely appropriate, in fact it is absolutely essential. As Paul goes on to say in verse 18, Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I will also boast. I'm reminded of that Proverb, Proverbs 24 verses 4 and 5, you're aware of it. It's one of those puzzling back-to-back Proverbs which seem for the one to cancel out the other, but when you understand what it's saying, it's very important. Proverbs 26, 4, Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. Verse 5, Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

Which is it? Don't answer a fool according to his folly, or do answer a fool according to his folly? Well, it depends on the situation and the need. Most of the time it's better to ignore fools in their foolish statements and their boasting. But there are times where it's appropriate to, as it were, fight fire with fire and to speak to a fool according to his folly in a way similar to his folly because that's the only way to get the point across, and that's exactly what Paul is doing now. And so he's saying the false teachers are employing fleshly boasting, and, as he said elsewhere, you are listening to them favorably and being deceived by them. Therefore, I find it necessary to join their folly in this kind of boasting in order to rescue you from their deception.

It seems to be the only approach that you're paying attention to at the moment. You seem to have ignored the truth of God's word, so let's lay down their list against my list, and let's go at it and duke this thing out. Now, don't forget what boasting is. Boasting is listing human qualifications and accomplishments for the purpose of gaining honor and influence. And that's what the false teachers were doing, and that's what Paul is now doing to regain his God-given influence and authority with these people. He's saying, I'm going to go right up to the mat with them. I'm going to match them boast for boast, credential for credential, accomplishment for accomplishment.

Let's do it. And so even though boasting, for the most part, is not appropriate for God's children and should only be employed in extreme circumstances and for God-honoring purposes, nevertheless, there are times when it needs to be employed for, and this is the key, for God-honoring purposes. The false teachers, of course, were doing it for self-aggrandizement and for sinful purposes, but Paul was employing the same technique for God-honoring purposes. And so thus we have Paul justifying his boasting. And then secondly, in verses 19 through 21, we find Paul expressing his concerns.

And his concerns are the following. Number one, the Corinthians were favorably impressed by carnal boasters, verse 19. Number two, the Corinthians were deceived by abusive charlatans, in verse 20. And number three, the Corinthians were rejecting a true messenger of God, verse 21. And so the Corinthians were favorably impressed by carnal boasters.

That's a concern of Paul's, and he expresses that in verse 19. For you put up with fools gladly. You put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are wise.

You'll notice that little dig. They thought they were wise. I put in my notes in parentheses, sarcasm alert, sarcasm alert. This is sarcastic.

This is what Paul is doing. You put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are wise. And what he's saying is this behavior of yours shows that though you think you are wise, you are actually foolish.

They were so wise that they honored fools. Yeah, you're really wise, aren't you? You think you're wise? You think you have understanding?

You think you have achieved a high level of spiritual maturity? No, evidently not, because if that were true, you wouldn't be listening to fools like this. Your reception of these false teachers and their carnal boasting is evidence that you're not wise either.

If you were wise, you wouldn't do that. And so Paul is concerned because the Corinthians were favorably impressed by carnal boasters, and Paul is concerned because the Corinthians were deceived by abusive charlatans. They were impressed by displays of carnal dominion, verse 20, carnal domination. For you put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours from you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face.

Now, as we look at this list of activities that Paul is ascribing to these false teachers, we are amazed. You put up with it if someone brings you into bondage, if they devour you and take from you, put those two phrases together, he's talking about taking advantage of you financially, you put up with that. If one exalts himself, the NIV says, puts on airs. If one strikes you in the face, you say, surely that must be, figuratively speaking, not literally.

No, it's probably literal. It wasn't that uncommon in that day. We can find several examples of that in the Bible. Remember when Paul was before the Sanhedrin, Acts chapter 23, and I forget the statement he made. He may have rebuked them for judging him by the law, though they were judging him contrary to the law, and Ananias, the high priest, commanded the man next to Paul to smack him across the mouth, strike him in the face. That was the kind of behavior that was pretty common in that day, so he probably means it literally. These false teachers had gained a place of authority and honor in the church that they never should have had, it never should have been yielded to them, and they were acting like abusive, domineering dictators, and even going so far as to smacking people across the mouth. And he says, you're taking all this, you're impressed by the displays of carnal domination. And we would say, well, that may have been going on in the first century, but surely nobody would allow that kind of activity today.

Well, I'm not so sure. You can see the same kind of submission to this kind of abuse in many of the cults today, and even in legalistic churches, where there is more emphasis upon a list of do's and don'ts that are beyond what Scripture says, and that becomes more important even in the Bible itself, and it becomes very domineering and very abusive and very much a bondage situation. People are held into emotional bondage. They're not free in the liberty that we have in Christ Jesus.

And it even sometimes goes so far as to being abused physically. That's why we have things like Jonestown a number of years ago, and those people followed that leader down there blindly and took the poison that he offered them, and they all committed suicide together. You say, what kind of an idiot would do that?

Probably more idiots than we would like to think. Amazingly, within this Adamic flesh of ours, there is on the one hand an insistence that we will be free, we will not submit to authority, we will be our own person, and then we'll turn right around, and the same sinful heart will slip into a position of submissiveness to ungodly domination. And so Paul's concerned. He's concerned that they were favorably impressed by carnal boasters, and he's concerned that they were deceived by abusive charlatans. He has reason to be concerned, doesn't he, when you realize what's going on here.

And he's concerned that the Corinthians were rejecting a true messenger of God, verse 21. To our shame I say that we, speaking of himself of course, we were too weak for that. We were too weak. He had been accused by the false teachers of being a weak leader, not strong enough. Yes, he says, we were too weak for that kind of activity. We were too weak to act that way, thank God for that. We were too weak for that, but in whatever anyone is bold, I speak foolishly, I am bold also.

In other words, I'm able to be bold when it's proper and God-honoring and necessary, but not in this kind of sinful, abusive boldness that seems to impress you. You see people acting this way and you say, oh, what a great leader, what a great leader this person is. Look how strong they are. Look how decisive they are.

Look how forceful they are. And you consider yourselves wise? I'm surprised Paul doesn't just come right out and say, you are a bunch of idiots to take this. Yes, says Paul, I'm too weak to abuse you. I put it in parentheses again in my notes. Another sarcasm alert.

He's speaking sarcastically again. But what he's saying is that I'm too Christ-like to behave in such a manner, but make no mistake about it, I am able to exercise appropriate boldness when needed, but only when necessary for your welfare, your well-being, your spiritual health, your progress in Christ. And it's far better if your response to the word of God makes that entirely unnecessary. I don't intend to be bold and to exercise strong authority except when it's absolutely necessary. You think that's a mark of godliness.

I know that that's a mark of carnality in most cases. And what we learn from this is that godly strength, which all Christians ought to have and certainly all spiritual leaders ought to have, but godly strength must be carefully controlled. It should not be exercised often, but we must not be unwilling or unable to exercise it when needed. That's what Paul is saying here.

You've accused me of being weak. Yes, thank God I am too weak to act like this, but you can be certain, and he's already said this before, this is just reiterating, you can be certain that I'm strong enough and I'm bold enough to confront those who are deceiving you and to confront those in your church who are sinning and to carry out whatever is necessary to deal with such situations. But, oh, how much better if your response to Christ and to His word would make that unnecessary. It's a good lesson for parents. Sometimes parents have a hard time finding the right biblical balance. Some are too harsh and are not tender and loving and considerate enough, and that's not good. Others are, frankly, too weak.

All they can do is just offer a soft approach no matter what the offense, no matter what the need, no matter what's appropriate. May God give us as parents wisdom to know what is needed at the right time with our children, how to be tender when that's appropriate, and it should be most of the time, but how to be bold in the language of Paul, how to be strong, how to be authoritative when that's needed, because that is needed at times, and your children will suffer if you don't exercise that when it is needed. But, oh, how much better it is that it's not needed.

How wonderful it would be if it were never needed. That's the ideal, and that's what Paul is saying in regard to the Corinthian congregation. But the same principle is true for parents. It's true to, I suppose, a lesser extent to teachers. It's true for pastors and spiritual leaders. The meekness of Christ should be the prevailing position, but strength and boldness when that's needed in order to maintain godly order in the church, when that's being threatened in some way. So Paul expresses his concern. Number three, Paul enumerates his credentials, and this is this section where he goes through all of these things, and I've kind of broken it down, though there is some overlapping. But Paul enumerates his credentials, first of all, his Jewish credentials, secondly, his ministry credentials, and thirdly, what I've called his shepherding credentials.

And his Jewish credentials come first, verse 22. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham?

So am I. Now, this is helpful because this really, I think, gives us more insight into who these false teachers were than probably anything else in the whole book. Just that one verse tells us something about them.

Who were they? They were Jews, clearly. Paul is responding to that. They were boasting in their Jewish credentials and were apparently saying, Paul doesn't have the same strong Jewish credentials that we do. We are Jews born in Jerusalem and raised up in Jerusalem. We are Hebrews of the Hebrews. We are Israelites of the highest degree.

We are the seed of Abraham. And Paul, yeah, he's a Jew, but he was born out there in Tarsus in the dispersion among the Gentiles, and he doesn't have the same credentials we do. Now, it might be thought strange that such strong Jewish credentials would be considered important in the Gentile church, but these Gentiles recognized that the Gospel had come to them by way of the Jews. They recognized that their Savior was a Jewish Messiah. They recognized that those who first preached the Gospel to them were Jews. They recognized that the apostles of Christ were all Jews. Now, Paul was a Jew of the highest credentials, as he's going to make clear here.

He says something similar to the Philippians when he says, I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and he goes through a list of his Jewish credentials there, and yet he says, for the cause of Christ, I count all those things as lost. I count them all as done. They really don't matter. They're not important.

They're not impressive. That doesn't matter anymore. In Christ, there is no Jew and Gentile. There is no bond slave and free.

There is no rich and poor. All of these distinctions are erased in Christ, but here were these false teachers who were elevating the very distinctions that Christ was erasing, and they were saying that we have greater credentials to be authoritative leaders in this church than Paul does because we are Hebrews. We are Israelites.

We are the seed of Abraham. To claim to be Hebrews apparently is a reference to language. We are Semitic, not Hellenistic. We are Hebrews who speak Hebrew. Not like those Jews out in the dispersion whose first language is Greek. They may learn to speak Hebrew or to read it and write it as it's taught in the synagogue so they could read the Hebrew Scriptures, but that's our first language, and Paul is saying, you're wrong.

Yes, I was born in Tarsus, but guess what? In my home, we spoke probably Aramaic, a derivation from Hebrew, but we spoke Hebrew. We were Hebrew Hebrews, and furthermore, when I was very young, my parents sent me to Jerusalem so that I could train in the school of Gamaliel, the highest credentialed teacher in Jewish society living at that time and one of the half a dozen most important Jewish teachers in all of history, and you can't be more Hebrew than that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites?

That probably is referring more to the nation, the national connection. Well, I am too. I have the same national heritage. Are they the seed of Abraham? Are they inheritors of the Abrahamic covenant? I am too.

They don't have anything over me on that. I can match them point for point. Are they Hebrews? Yes, so am I. Are they Israelites? Yes, so am I. Are they of the seed of Abraham?

Yes, so am I. But as I say, this really begins to reveal to us who these false teachers were. They are what we've come to call Judaizers. They're the same bunch that we find in Galatians and that seems to pop up in other places. Paul often makes reference to these false teachers that are in the various churches, the various towns where he's established churches, but he doesn't usually clarify exactly what their nature was, who they were, what they're teaching, but this tells us.

Now, we can be almost 99% certain we know who they were and what they were teaching. They were Jewish people who said they trusted in Christ. You've got reference to these types of people, but they didn't really understand the gospel and they were out teaching. Wherever they could find people who claimed to believe the Bible, they were teaching Christ isn't enough except you be circumcised after the law of Moses, you shall in no wise be saved, corrupting the gospel.

Now, they didn't make a single convert from a pagan Gentile because those people didn't have any interest in how one would be saved, whether a circumcision was necessary or not, but they could find a hearing among Christians. These false teachers had never planted the church anywhere because they didn't have the ability to do that and they didn't have a message that would be blessed of God to do that, but they sure did keep a close eye on the apostle Paul and wherever he planted the church, they showed up and they started draining away people from that church and draining resources from that church and they were living off the finances of these people. Paul wouldn't take a penny from them as we learned earlier and they were glad to take money from them and Paul is just amazed that these Corinthian Christians are so gullible, so deceived, so foolish, thinking themselves to be wise.

Paul's Jewish credentials. Secondly, he lists some of his ministry credentials and it's interesting in verse 23, he says, Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more.

Now, notice that change in language. He said, Are they Hebrews? He didn't say, I am more. He said, So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I.

Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am more. And the first time I read that, in fact, many times when I read that, I thought he was saying, Well, I'm a better servant of Christ than they are, but I think what he's saying is they really aren't servants of Christ.

I really am. I am more a servant of Christ than they are because they aren't. They just claim to be. And then he lists credentials. He talks about his work ethic. He talks about his persecutions. He talks about his deprivations. Are they ministers of Christ?

I speak as a fool. I am more. And then this phrase, In labor's more abundant. He said, Just look at their work ethic compared with mine. Who is the most committed to working for the Lord?

They claim to be servants of Christ. Who puts in the most hours? Who works the hardest?

You know. In labor's more abundant. And then in persecutions. Stripes, five times. This is a Jewish whip.

They whipped people as a punishment. And they did it 39 times because in Deuteronomy 25, 3, they were told that they couldn't exceed 40. And being meticulous keepers of the law in certain areas, they said, Well, you know, if we miscount, we might think we reached 40 and it might really be 41.

So let's just put a limit on 39 to make sure we stay within the law. Very meticulous with the law. So five times Paul was beaten like this, whipped like this by the Jews. Three times with rods. That would be the Romans.

They used rods, the Roman lictors, and they beat Paul with rods on three occasions. He was shipwrecked, he tells us, three times. And on one of those occasions, he spent hours in the ocean before he was rescued.

And it was in constant danger because of false brethren. He goes through a whole list of things here. I don't have time to go through them all.

They make a very interesting study. But what is notable is that only a few of these, only three or four of these are recorded in the book of Acts in the life of the apostle Paul. He mentions here having been stoned once, so we know where that happened. It happened in Lystra. Shipwrecked.

That hadn't even happened yet. We have one shipwreck recorded to Paul, and that doesn't come until Acts chapter 27. That's after this epistle was written.

He had been shipwrecked three times by the time this epistle was written. We don't have any record of that. We don't have a record of these five lashings by the Jews or the three beatings by the Romans, Lictors. And what's the point of all that? Well, a couple things. Number one, there's a whole lot about the apostle Paul that we do not know.

We have no idea what all he went through. It's not all recorded. There's only so much space. How long do you want the book of Acts to be?

Not that it's up to us, but there's only so much space. It's kind of like John said about all the other miracles that were performed by Christ. He said, why, if they should all be written in a book, I don't think the world could contain all the books that would have to be written to record all of these miracles. There were so many more.

And we get that idea here with Paul. There were so many more shipwrecks, so many more persecutions, so many more imprisonments that we don't know anything about. But it does tell us that Paul, who, according to the record, we have suffered an awful lot for the cause of Christ, suffered really a whole lot more than we have any idea.

His life was more one of suffering and sacrifice and persecution and deprivation and hardship than we have any idea. And he says, do you see these guys being willing to suffer for Christ like that? They claim to be ministers of Christ. Where are their beatings? Where are their lashings? Where are their imprisonments?

Where are the things that they have been willing to subject themselves to for their cause? And then he gives his shepherding credentials in verses 28 through 31. He said, beside all this I have the concern of the churches, verse 28. That comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches, which by implication seems to be a greater burden than all these others. All these other things are bad enough, but I want to tell you what's even a heavier load, a heavier emotional load, a heavier spiritual load, a heavier weight upon me. It's my concern for these churches that God has allowed me to establish, and I am concerned for every one of them.

And I carry a heavy burden whenever I see any of them not developing the way they should. But not only a concern for churches, but a concern for individuals, verse 29. Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble and I do not burn with indignation? When I know of Christians in these churches who are demonstrating weakness, I felt their weakness, whether we're talking about illness or something else. When I become aware of Christians in these churches who are filled with shame because they've fallen into sin, or something else, I feel their shame as well.

And I burn similarly. We don't know what that indignation is exactly. It can be indignation toward the tempter, Satan, who dragged these people down into sin.

It may be indignation toward other seducers who have deceived them, misled them in some way. And then he kind of winds up his shepherding credentials with his confession of weakness, verse 30. If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmities. And he follows that with a strong oath in verse 31, certified by God himself. So it's interesting now that he's listed his credentials, he certainly hasn't listed them all, and you take a look at them, well, what do they look like? He's boasting more of weaknesses than of strengths, more of defeats than triumphs, more of his sufferings than his accomplishments. When he's listing his credentials, he didn't say, I planted 15 churches, how many did they plant? Now, he implied that earlier.

I have seen X hundreds of people rescued out of pagan idolatry, how many have they rescued? He doesn't mention that either, though he's implied it. When he comes down to listing his credentials, it's not the kind that most people would list. And yet they are credentials.

But only the spiritually minded would probably think to list them as so and would appreciate them, because only the spiritually minded would understand that these are the true credentials. Only a true servant of God would be willing to work this hard. Only a true servant of God would be willing to suffer this much. Only a true servant of God would be willing to put up with all of this again and again and again and again and again for the cause of Christ and for the spiritual welfare of men. And he closes out the chapter, surprisingly, with one more episode that he hadn't listed earlier, and you think, well, it's almost like it slipped his mind and now he wants to stick it in at the end.

One more, one more. In Damascus, verse 32, the governor under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me, but I was let down in the basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands. He attempted arrest in the city of Damascus. Well, that takes us clear back to the beginning of his life when he was first saved on the Damascus road and spent his first months in the city of Damascus. And there in Damascus, who was it that was carrying out this major operation? It was the governor under the authority of the king, and they had a garrison of Roman soldiers. That's a big number.

No doubt they were put up to it by the Jews, but you can see this is a major operation. And it looked like that was insurmountable, and Paul said, I got out of that one. My friends let me down from the wall in a basket. Most commentators say it was probably a fish basket. I don't know.

If so, that makes it all the worse. He was smelling that fish. But anyway, here he is going down the wall in this basket to escape, and he did escape successfully. And we say, why did he stick that one in at the end? Why did he add something?

And I don't know. That one is probably his first occasion of persecution. That's when the persecutor, Saul, started to become the persecuted, Paul.

And it's interesting. One of the things that Paul seems to keep before him in all his persecutions is, I don't resent this, and I don't ask God why. I deserve this. This is what I was doing to Christians before I was saved. I know what they're doing to me because I was doing it myself. I have no complaints.

I'm willing. But that was his first occasion of persecution in Damascus. That was his first occasion of divine intervention in Damascus, where God took him out of a tight situation that looked like certain capture and probably execution. And that was a foretaste of things to come, a pattern of a lifetime of similar events. Close calls, impossible situations, divine rescue.

Again and again and again and again and again. Another close call, another divine rescue. Another impossible situation, another divine rescue. Sometimes by amazingly ordained circumstances that are human, and yet the coincidences are more than you could probably explain any other way than God's hand at work. And some of them, of course, are absolutely miraculous, like the earthquake that shook the Philippian jail and threw the doors open and all of that. So, Paul says, how about it? You know what they're boasting of.

I don't have to remind you of that. Here's my list. Which looks the most like a man of God? Which looks the most like a true servant of the Lord Jesus Christ? Which looks the most like a genuine apostle?

And which is the most spiritually oriented and God-honoring? Are you beginning to see what's wrong with your thinking, Corinthians? Well, to just wrap this up with a few thoughts, what do we learn in this passage? Number one, be wary of boasters.

You should learn that. Number two, be wary of abusive leadership, though don't confuse abuse for godly strength. What many people do, they see this abusive behavior and they say, ah, that's a strong leader, that's a strong man. Strong leaders aren't acting that way except on very rare occasions when it's absolutely necessary. And then, by the help and grace of God, they rise to the occasion and stop the assault forcefully when necessary.

But they don't act like that all the time. Come on, folks, be a little more discerning. Be wary of being misled. The only way you can keep from being misled is to be committed to scripture and saturating yourself in it all the time and being fervent in prayer before the Lord regularly and diligent to acknowledge and confess and root sin out of your own life and mindful of the blindness of pride. It's pride that blinds us to truth. It's pride that caused the Corinthians to be misled in this way and to diminish the true authority and blessed help that was given to them by Paul as Christ sent Paul to them and to diminish that on the one hand and to exalt those who had nothing to give them from Christ, nothing from the Word of God, nothing to help them, and yet somehow they were being misled.

It was their pride, remember? You think yourselves wise. Oh, you must be puffed up with your thoughts of how wise you are, how knowledgeable you are, how much smarter you are than other people, you idiots. If you were so wise, you wouldn't be this way, and we've got to be on constant guard as well. Shall we pray?

Oh, Father, you who created this universe, you who hold this world and all worlds in your hands, you who control all things and guide them according to your perfect will. Oh, Lord God, teach us to know Christ aright. Teach us to know your Word aright. Teach us to know ourselves aright, for we are so easily self-deceived. Teach us to recognize godliness aright and not be misled by those who are counterfeit leaders. Teach us these things, oh Lord, we pray, in Christ's name. Amen.