In Second Corinthians 11 Paul goes into attack mode against the Greek teachers and preachers who have been welcomed into the Corinthian church, but are presenting a twisted version of Christian doctrine. Paul considers it his responsibility before God to present the truth to the Corinthians, but also, warn them that these men who present themselves as “super-apostles” are actually “false apostles.”
“For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.” - Second Corinthians 11:13
These false speakers are trained presenters who mix their contemporary Greek philosophy with Paul’s apostolic doctrine. They are using terms like “Christ,” “Holy Spirit,” “Gospel,” and other Christian terms, but their meanings, doctrines and applications are different than Paul’s”
“For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” – Second Corinthians 11:4
The “super-apostles” encourage their Corinthian followers to reject Paul because he does not use the eloquent speaking style of the Greek rhetorician or the “superior wisdom” of the Greek philosopher:
“I do not think I am in the least inferior to those ‘super-apostles.’ I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge.” – Second Corinthians 11:5, 6
Paul had said in First Corinthians that his intentions when he spoke in Corinth were to teach the apostolic doctrine and not imitate rhetoricians or philosophers:
“When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.” – First Corinthians 2:1
Paul considers the Greek rhetoricians and philosophers who are posing as Christian apostles in the Corinthian church to be doing the same thing that the serpent did to Eve in the garden, which is leading their minds astray. Because of this Paul vows in Second Corinthians 11 to continue to expose these deceitful speakers.
“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.” – Second Corinthians 11:12
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