Footsteps #199

In “But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent” NLT (2Cor.11:3) Paul is a little self-conscious about defending himself. He would much rather be teaching them truth or encouraging them in their spiritual walk, but his opponents have forced him to take valuable time to defend himself and his Gospel. What he has to say is not really foolishness, it’s extremely important and relevant. The reference to jealousy reminds us of the fact that jealousy is not always a vice; sometimes it is a virtue. The dictionary defines jealousy as “hostility toward and intolerance of a rival.” God is described as a jealous God 40 times. Paul portrays himself as a proud father who has betrothed his daughter, the church at Corinth, to the best of husbands–the heavenly bridegroom, Jesus Himself. But now his daughter is on the verge of giving her heart to another, and Paul lays the responsibility directly at the feet of these predators. They led the people astray, “just as Satan deceived Eve.” Paul hints at a conscious effort on the part of the spiritual predators to move the church away from devotion to Christ, and the church didn’t have the discernment to know it was being hoodwinked. We aren’t told exactly how they did this, though there are some hints. Firstly, they sought to undermine the people’s confidence in the Apostle Paul, and since Paul was himself devoted to Christ, that tended to lead the people away from their devotion to Christ. Another thing they did was to draw attention to themselves. You can take some of the attention to yourself or you can give it all to Christ; not both. There are many other ways, of course, that people can be led away from devotion to Christ. It can happen through apathy, becoming lukewarm, or just plain cold in our relationship with Christ. It can happen through intellectualism, i.e. treating the Christian faith as just an intellectual, theological endeavour, cramming as many facts into our heads as we can, and in the process neglecting the heart. On the other hand, it can also happen through emotionalism; substituting a warm feeling or emotional response for truth. However, it happens, it is a tragedy.