Calendar

WORKERS OF DECEIT (I)
THURSDAY, MARCH 12
2 Corinthians 11:13-15
Isaiah 14:12-15
 
“… for Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light.”
 
WORKERS OF DECEIT (I)
 
In the devotion on March 5, we saw how the opponents of Paul accused him of denying them opportunity to serve. Why did Paul do so? 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 gives us the reason: those who sought such opportunity were not true workers of Christ in the first place. Thus, Paul as a responsible Apostle had to guard the church from such men. Similarly, any faithful pastor must also follow in the same footsteps. Such men must never be allowed to have a foothold in the church.
 
First, Paul called his opponents “false apostles.” They were “false” because God had not appointed them to such an office and calling. Yet they pretended to have such a call and exercised authority over God’s flock. The message they conveyed was also in opposition to God’s Word. They were not “super-apostles” like they claimed, but “pseudo-apostles.”
 
Second, Paul called his opponents “deceitful workers.” This expression refers to how they were like their spiritual father Satan, the father of lies. “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44).
 
The Corinthian Christians ought not to marvel that falsehood could so easily creep into the church via men who presented themselves as pious practitioners and teachers of religion. Why? Because Satan himself often disguises himself as an angel of light. Satan does not present himself like a creature with two horns and a pitchfork, as often depicted in folklore. In order to deceive, he must appear attractive to man. The whole idea is that Satan often “influences people by ideas which seem attractive on the surface,” but “his true nature is darkness and not light” (Kent). So it is with the false teachers who creep in with a facade of pseudo-credentials, but void of true spirituality.
 
THOUGHT: What are some marks of false teachers?
PRAYER: O Father, help me to discern the true from the false.

Search