2 Corinthians, 10:7-12
Hal Molloy · Apr 17, 2005
2 Corinthians (2004-05), No. 41
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4826232410837

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

OK, open your Bibles, please, to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Let's do this, let's read, well we read, Bob last week went through verses 1-6 and we're going to go down through verse 7 today. I don't think we're going to get very far, but let's do this. How about reading the first 10 verses. Bill, would you do us the honors?

Now I, Paul, myself, urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent. I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some who regard us as if we walk according to the flesh. But though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And we are ready to punish all disobedience whenever your obedience is complete. You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ's, let him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ's, so also are we.

For even if I boast somewhat further about our authority which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame. For I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters. For they say, His letters are weighty and strong, But his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech is contemptible.

OK. Let me tell you what I thought we'd do this this week. And and what I thought we'd do is just do an overview of these last four chapters. And Paul. In these last four chapters, I don't think he's addressing those in Corinth who received his first letter, repented of their sins, and were following the Word.

But he's addressing another group, a smaller group. I think it's a smaller group. We don't know from the text. But it's a smaller group. who have been listening to and following some false apostles and false teachers. And therefore, they've got this false teaching in their mindset. So in these last four chapters, he's kind of addressing them. So the question that comes up is, what's Paul's purpose in all of this? And why is he addressing this group of Corinthians.

And in order to answer this question, we have to go and take a look at, well, what's God's purpose? I mean, God's purpose has got to be Paul's purpose. So what's God's purpose? And then, what is Paul's intent? What's his intent in these last four chapters?

Last week, Bob went through verses one through six. And so if we ask this question, what's Paul's primary purpose? And so the first question is, is it to defend himself? And as Bob went through these first six verses, he pointed out this apparent defense of Paul. because of the accusations that were made against him by these false teachers. But what is his primary purpose? What's the purpose behind this apparent defense? Why? What's his purpose? Is it to defend himself? Is it to defend his apostleship? Or is there another purpose?

And Bob raised a couple of questions last week which we haven't answered yet, but why the apparent two positions in chapter 10, verses 1 and 2, when they were accusing Paul of, when he's with them, that he's meek when he's face to face, but when he's writing letters, he's bold. So why these apparent two positions?

In order to answer this, I thought that we have to answer the question, well, the answer, whatever answer it is, it has to be consistent with God's eternal purpose. So then, what's God's eternal purpose? And so we have to answer this question, are all of these above answers or possible answers consistent with God's eternal purpose. So without looking at your notes now, this is a test. What is God's eternal purpose? And by the way, as you go through scripture, like in these last four chapters, you can ask the question, what is God's eternal purpose and how is that being fulfilled in these last four chapters? So what is God's eternal purpose? To share His glory, to be glorified, to declare His glory, and to be glorified. You passed the test.

As we look at God's eternal purpose, in each and every one of our lives. As we walk by faith and abide in Christ, this is what He's doing. He's revealing His glory through us. He's sharing His very glory with us. And then as a result, we glorify Him.

Now, question. How does He reveal His glory to us? Don't look at your notes. Okay, through His Word. So the Lord takes the Word of God via the Spirit of God and reveals to us then His Word. He reveals the very glory of our Lord Jesus Christ through His Word. And then He shares that glory with us. How does He do that? So as we read the Word of God and the Spirit of God is leading us, how does He share that glory with us? Pardon me? He placed us in the sun. Okay. Think of 2 Corinthians.

318, for all we with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, are being changed or transformed moment by moment into the very same image from glory to glory. So as we behold Christ by faith, abiding in And the mirror is what? The mirror is the Word, as we behold Him in the Word. So the Spirit of God is the one that is transforming us, conforming us to the very same image. Is that positional or conditional? Okay, it's one of the two. Okay, and how do we know that? How do we know that positionally that we have all of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ? Because we're in Christ.

And remember the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Father in John 17. I mean, as you read John 17, it's an incredible chapter. And His prayer is, Father, my prayer is that they be one, all of us be one, as He is one with the Father, right? And this unity comes about in the very next verse in John 17, 22.

He says, Father, the glory that you have given me, what? I have given them. And it's a perfect tense. And it says that it happened in a point of time, completed action with abiding results. The moment that we have put our trust and faith in Christ, that very moment, Christ has given us his very glory and it abides with us forever.

Now, the totality of his glory as a man, positionally, we already have. But conditionally, we don't have a clue as to what that is, do we? I mean, we have no idea what His glory is that He's given us, right? So the only way that we come to know what His glory is, is through the Word, as we behold Him through the Word, right? And we're being transformed.

And maybe it's in Galatians chapter 4. where I'm trying to think of the word that is that Paul uses in terms of. I forgot it. Glacians. Now, maybe Galatians five. I don't know. In verse 19 in Galatians 4, he says, My little children of whom I prevail in birth again. And Paul had birth pangs. And his birth pangs were, until what? Christ be formed in you. So Christ is being formed in us. And we're coming to know more and more about the very glory that we possess. We don't have a clue as to what that is.

But as we study the Word and the Spirit of God, he reveals that very glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then as a result of that, we're to glorify God. We won't turn there, but in Romans chapter 5, it talks about the fact that having been justified by faith, that we have peace with God, and that the Lord Jesus Christ has led us into the grace in which we stand. And so we have a position in God's grace, and we stand, it's the military term, we're entrenched in God's grace. never, ever, ever to be taken out. We're so entrenched in God's grace. And we glory, and it goes on to say, and we glory in the hope of the glory of God. And so we're glorying in the hope, in the absolute certainty of God's glory.

And then in 2 Corinthians 10.17, so turn back to 2 Corinthians 10, where it says that, But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. So our glorying should be in the Lord. Now, what was happening is, These false teachers, false apostles, as they're called in 2 Corinthians, were coming along, and guess who they were glorying in? Right, they were glorying in themselves, in their teaching, in themselves. And not fulfilling God's eternal purpose, The thing I want you to notice is this, is that the process of God revealing his glory and sharing his glory with us is this whole process of edification, of building up the believer in Christ.

So I want you to turn to Ephesians chapter 4. And Verne went through this several weeks ago, maybe a month ago. Look at verse 11, 2 Corinthians, excuse me, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.

Why? For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry. And look at the last one. for the edifying of the body of Christ, for the building up of the body of Christ, for the spiritual building up of the body of Christ. And then in verse 13, for how long is that going to take? Well, it says, till we all, did somebody say forever? In verse 13 it says, till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature and fullness of Christ." Notice what it says. Here's the purpose in terms of the edification of the body. Till we come into unity of the faith, and there's a definite article there, and when there's a definite article for the faith, normally what's it talking about? I'm talking about the faith. Is he talking about personal faith? Our personal faith?

Okay. It's talking about the whole body of truth. Yeah, the whole body of truth that's in the scripture. The faith. And the knowledge of the Son of God. And that word knowledge is the word epignosis. And sometimes it's translated full knowledge. And it's the word that has to do with the intimacy of Christ.

That he's edifying us until we come into this, the knowledge of him. It's like that we might, in Philippians where Paul says that we might what? Know him and what? And the power of his resurrection. the coming to know Him, the intimacy, having that intimacy with Him. That's what this word is in Ephesians chapter 4. Okay, so that's the goal. So we're looking at God's eternal purpose. So here's the bottom line question. If all of this is God's eternal purpose, is this also Paul's purpose? And verse 5, are you in chapter 10 or 11? 10, okay.

And casting down, I'm going to read it from the King James, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Certainly one of his purposes.

Okay. So. So is it logical to assume that if this is God's purpose, that that's also Paul's purpose? Would Paul have any of the purpose? No. All right. So. No, exactly. So I think we can conclude that Paul's purpose is nothing less than God's purpose. And that Paul's purpose and focus is on the edification, the building up of the Corinthian believers.

And how do we know that? We can know that right from the text. So look at 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 8, which Bill read. And I'm going to read it from the King James. For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority which the Lord has given us, for what? He's given Paul the authority for edification, for the building up, the spiritual building up of the saints, and not for your destruction. I should not be ashamed. Just flip over to 2 Corinthians 12 and look at verse 19. He repeats it again.

So verse 19 says again, thinking that we excuse ourselves unto you, we speak before God in Christ, but we do How many? What things? We do all things. So every single thing that he's doing, right? Every single thing that Paul is doing, dearly beloved, is for what? For their edification. Okay. So that as we look at these four chapters, everything he's doing is for that purpose. Okay. Last point. So Paul's primary purpose and focus is not on defending himself or his apostleship.

And I quoted some of Bob's notes from last week or the week before. where Bob was talking about, you know, that Paul was coming to them in the meekness and gentleness of Christ. And meekness was the fruit, as Bob pointed out, of Christ's power and not our own. And it's the opposite of self-assertiveness and self-interest, right? It's diametrically opposed to self. It's equanimity or peace of mind or distress of spirit that is neither elated nor cast down simply because, and look at what Bob said last time, it is not occupied with self at all. So is Paul defending himself?

No. Okay. So, we look at the major problem. The fact that the minds of the Corinthian believers were corrupted. And that word corrupted in verse, well, look at chapter 11 in verse 3, because you have to see this from the text. He says, but I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his craftiness, so your minds should not be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. And notice the word there, corrupted, that he's concerned that their minds were being corrupted. And the word corrupted there just simply means to be led astray. And look at the analogy that Paul, or the example that Paul uses. He goes back to Eve being beguiled, or her being led astray by the serpent.

And he says, in the same way, You guys are being led astray and being beguiled by these false apostles that are coming along, and they're calling themselves apostles, but they're false apostles, and they're false teachers, and they're giving you false doctrine, and they're making false accusations against me. And they're coming to you with a lot of baloney. I mean, it is incorrect teaching.

And so, Bob? I was just going to ask, do you think this is different than the other Gospel of Galatians 1? Oh, where they were coming with another gospel in Galatians 1, which is another of a different kind. Well, let's throw out the question to the class. I've got my opinion. Let's throw it out to the class. What do you think? In Galatians 1, Paul says that he talks about, you know, I've given you the gospel.

And he says, here comes these Judaizers that come along, and they're giving you another gospel. And he goes on to say, which is not another. And so he says, they're giving you another gospel, a heteros gospel, another of a different kind. which is not another, which is not a Allah's gospel, one another of the same kind. Okay? You see what he's saying in Galatians? He's saying they're coming along with another gospel, another of a different kind, and it's not another, another of the same kind that I taught you.

So what do you think as we go as we've read down so far, in terms of these false teachers. It's in a sense that criticism is coming from the same types of people, the Judaizers, right? Okay. And there's probably a mixed group. There were Judaizers, there was these false apostles, as Paul will go on later in these four chapters, and he calls them false apostles.

So can we say that any gospel that differs from the gospel of grace is another gospel, another of a different kind? Or any teaching that is different from the Word of God is another gospel, another of a different kind? Absolutely. So the answer to Bob's question is yes, absolutely yes. Anything that deviates from the Word of God is another gospel, that is another of a different kind. Isn't that neat in verse 3? Okay, Pearl's question. Is that the same as adding on to? Okay, so good. So good. So either you're doing one or the other. Either you're adding to or taking away. Absolutely right. Yeah, that's what Bob was just saying. Isn't that wonderful where he says, just the simplicity that is in Christ. Don't need to make it complicated. Just a comment.

When you add to or take away, you really don't have good news anymore. No, no. That's because it's not the gospel. Okay, good. So, here's a question. When somebody's mindset is corrupted, is led astray by false teaching, either adding to or taking away from the truth, can their minds be edified, be built up in Christ? if the foundation is not there? I don't think so. I don't think so.

So then what would Paul have to do? But what's his purpose? His purpose is God's purpose is that they would be edified in Christ, right? That's his purpose. That's his goal. So what would he have to do? in order to accomplish that purpose with these believers whose mindsets have been corrupted or led astray by false doctrine and false teachers. What would he have to do?

Lay the foundation again. Have them come to a change of mind. In fact, remember earlier in 2 Corinthians, Paul was elated from the news that came back from Titus because they did exactly that. There were many believers that repented, they changed their minds as a result of his first letter to the areas that they were walking in. Okay, so you've got to change your minds. Here's the question.

Was external affliction, persecution or false accusations, and all of that had occurred with Paul, right? I mean, these false teachers were coming at Paul with everything. telling these people that he's really not an apostle, he's in this for the money, and he's not in it for your benefit, he's in it for his benefit, he's in it for his glory, and not your wealth. They had all these accusations. Was Paul used to this? Did Paul ever have to defend himself against that?

And a lot of it appears to be he's defending himself, but I don't think that his purpose, his bottom line purpose is defense of himself in any way. and we won't turn there, over in 1 Thessalonians, that he says, hey, you are appointed to these things, talking about us.

We're appointed to afflictions. We're like ambassadors to all of this, to persecution, to afflictions, to false accusations. That's what we're appointed to. And if you're walking, if we're, let me conclude myself, if we're walking, abiding in Christ, and Christ is being manifest through us, guaranteed we're going to be under attack. And guaranteed that there's going to be some attack somewhere, because once you tell someone that you're a believer, and you believe that the Bible is the Word of God, you are number one in the fishbowl, and you're being watched 24-7.

And people are looking for just the tiniest, right? Just the tiniest mistake. I knew it. That Hal, he says, he teaches, you know, but look at him. Okay, so the questions are this. Was Paul's modus operandi to defend himself? I don't think it was. And here's the other question. Do we ever need to defend ourselves and the ministry of Christ through us? No, I don't think so.

All we have to do is to say who we are and be who we are. We have to be. That's all God asks us to do is to be, is to be who we are. And if we're being who we are, we might be under attack, but that's okay. And Peter says, you know, it's a wonderful thing that if you're going to be under attack. And what the what they accuse you of is not true. But if it's true, then you have a different problem. Okay. And so we might add the question here, and maybe I'll add it in your notes. Did Christ have to defend himself? Did I add that? Okay. Did Christ have to defend himself or his ministry?

You know, he was under attack 24-7 by the Pharisees. And all he ever did is to say, well, yeah, this man was paralyzed, and yes, I healed him. Well, you told him to take up his bed on the Sabbath day? Yes, I told him to take his bed up on the Sabbath day. Well, he broke the Sabbath.

And Christ's answer was what? Well, you know my father works 24-7. And so do I. And so whatever my father does, I do. If my father works 24-7, I work 24-7. And so it's okay to take your bed up on Sabbath day. And he wasn't defending himself. He was just saying, this is what I do. And this is who I am. I am from my father. And well, our father is Abraham. Well, let me tell you something about Abraham. Before Abraham was, I am.

What did they do? pick up stones to kill him, because what was he saying? He was saying he was God, right? He was saying he was deity. Was it true? So all he did was to be, right? Was to be who he was and say who he was. And he wasn't defending himself. As we as we what I did is I went through some of the false accusations that that that were being levied against Paul. And here's well, let me just do it this way. First of all.

The word in the Greek there, in verse 3, is that they reckoned that Paul walked according to the flesh. They put it down as true, and they told all of these believers in Corinth that Paul walked according to the flesh. He walked, in the little word according to is a little word kata in the Greek, which means to a norm or standard. And the norm or standard that Paul was walking to was the flesh. And that was one accusation against Paul.

And the other thing they said, these false teachers taught these believers, they said, you know, if you're a minister of Christ, you should have a good outward appearance. You should have a Benny Han outward appearance with the silk suits. Yes, perfect. And that's the kind of appearance that, if you're going to be a minister of Christ, you need a Benny Han kind of appearance. You should be looking like Benny Han.

But Paul's bodily presence was weak. It was sickly. In verse 10 it says it was sickly. And Paul's speech was considered contemptible. It was despised. And boy, when I read passages like this, I say, Lord, thank you. And when Paul says to believers, I came to you not in excellency of speech, and he didn't. And he wasn't an orator.

And isn't that wonderful? that, you know, like some of the things I've taught here, Roy is going through and putting on the internet. And what he does is he goes through what I've said and he takes out all the ahs and he says there's probably about 56 ahs in every, you know, in every thing I've ever taught or each each lesson. So you see what I mean?

There's the other accusation that Paul's bull letters was for their destruction and and the word destruction. And I'm trying to think of the word apoluo, I think. It doesn't necessarily mean what we think in terms of destruction, but it's just a loss of well-being. They're saying that Paul's letter caused these believers to have a loss of well-being. That accusation, he was out to terrify the Corinthians. Why? because it tells us that his letters, they say that his letters were weighty and they were powerful in verse 10. Ministers of the Word commend themselves. They represent themselves as worthy.

Paul Listen, believers in Corinth, when Paul comes to you, he doesn't commend himself. There's no commendation of himself at all. He doesn't count himself as worthy. I mean, think about it. We, when we come to you, we count ourselves as worthy. And he should be counting himself as worthy. So you look at TBN. And do these guys on TBN count themselves as worthy? Oh boy. And the interesting thing is this.

Listen to these men and listen to whether or not they ever refer to the word Jesus Christ. That they refer to him and that they're concerned about the edification of believers. Listen to what they say. So, Paul wasn't commending himself. They were measuring themselves by themselves. They were comparing themselves among themselves.

So, they were saying, you know in 1 Corinthians that there were factions, right, in 1 Corinthians? And Paul was saying that there's factions. You guys are still carnal because there's still factions among you. Because some of you say, I'm of Apollos, right? I'm of Paul. I'm of this. I'm of that. And so there were these factions among them. And they were comparing men against men. They were comparing teachers against teachers, right?

Do we ever do that? So, I'm not a Verne Peterman. I'll never be a Verne Peterman. I'm not a Mike Doyle. I'm not a Bob Jekyll. I'm not a Jim Poole. I'm me. And I'm just part of the body. Right? I'm just that one little part of the body. And the Lord has me functioning in that part of the body. And you don't compare parts of the body with themselves, right? You don't say, well, the little toe is not that important. until you lose your little toe. If you talk to people who have lost their little toe, you know, and it's it's incredible how every single part of the body is critical.

All right. Bob can attest to that. Did you. Oh, I. OK. OK. They were glorying in measurable things, things that you cannot measure, and we're going to be going through this. They were overstretching themselves, or overextending themselves, and going off here, and going off there. And Paul said, no, the Lord has given you this ministry, and this ministry only, and I'm staying here. They were glorying in other men's labors. They were, again, glorying in themselves. And what they were saying is that God's approval of a minister is a function of seeing himself as worthy. So that if God is really going to approve and put his stamp on a minister, he has to see himself as worthy and say, I am worthy.

Right? Did Paul go around saying that he was worthy? I mean, what was Paul's mindset? Paul's mindset was, you know, I've got no sufficiency in and of myself. Right? Zero. But my sufficiency is of God. It's the only sufficiency I have. And so, he never counted himself as worthy, in and of himself. He's worthy because he's in Christ. In chapter 11, verse 4, it talks about the fact there's another Jesus, another spirit, and gospel. And it's interesting, some of these words, another, we were talking about heteros and elos, and both words are used, we'll get to that.

Paul's claim to be an apostle is probably false, because they were coming along and said, we're apostles. And Paul in chapter 11 is going to say, okay, you know, you want to be foolish, and you want to listen to these guys who say they're apostles, then bear with me a little bit, and I'm going to be foolish just like them. And then he says, you want me to compare myself against these apostles or the apostles?

I'll do that. And he goes on. I've only listed a few, and through the rest of these four chapters, there's a whole slug of accusations against Paul. So the question is, how does Paul correct the mindset? So we're going to go through this rapidly. So here's the point.

The mindset of these Corinthian believers had to be corrected before the process of edification could take place. That had to happen. So here's the process of edification of a believer, and that was hindered because of their corrupted mindset. And so Paul has to correct that mindset in order to resume his ministry of edification. So how does he correct their mindset?

Well, we won't go there, but in 2 Timothy 3.16, it says, for all scripture is given by how? for the inspiration of God, it's God-breathed, and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, purpose, that the man of God may be perfect, totally complete, to serve God's purpose, heaven being, but we just go back. So what Paul's going to do in these four chapters, he's going to come at their corrupted mindset And he's going to come at them with doctrine, with correct teaching from the Word of God. He's going to come at them with reproof, which is rebuke or reprimand. He's going to come at them with correction.

He's going to correct error with truth. And he's going to come at them with instruction of righteousness, what the life of Christ and the ministry of Christ is like. And the life of Christ and the ministry of Christ was the same as the life of Paul and the ministry of Paul. Paul's life, Paul's ministry, was the life of Christ and the ministry of Christ. Because he was abiding in him, he's walking by faith.

Questions. I felt important just to. Because these four chapters seem disoriented unless you look at the totality of the four chapters and understand what Paul is trying to do in these four chapters. Okay, that's where we're going. Let's close in a word of prayer.

Father, again, we are just so thankful for Your Word and knowing that it is given by Your inspiration and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction of righteousness. But we thank You, Father, for Your purpose in all of that, that we may be complete and thoroughly furnished into good works. We know, Father God, that You have created us, and we are your instruments unto good works, and those good works have been preordained before the foundation of the world. Father, we ask that our prayer is that we would be sensitive to you and to your good works and not ours. That anything that we do, that we do according to your plan that you preordained, and that it would be to your honor and to your glory. And we give you thanks now in Christ's name. Amen.