Second Corinthians 10:15

The Bible says in Second Corinthians 10:15-16, “Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men’s labors; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly. To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand.” What got Paul on this subject in the first place was the fact that he was being opposed by unspiritual people who had entered into the congregation of the Corinthians. These opponents of Paul were evaluating Paul in a negative way, and they were measuring themselves against Paul trying to get an advantage over him.

Paul said that he did not measure himself against other men, and he did not boast about himself compared to other men. The wise person never compares himself to other people. The comparison that is important is this: how do you compare to the person that God wants you to be and knows you to be? That is what is wrong with much of the competition in the world: it tends to be negative and to pit people against each other. If you want to compete, then compete with yourself and your potential.

Basically Paul spoke of how he should be measured. He wanted to have a part in seeing the faith of others “increased.” That is what Jesus did. Jesus said things and He did things for the purpose of helping people to start a life of faith and then to grow in faith. That is why Jesus became so disappointed and so displeased when the disciples should have had more faith than they did. Several times Jesus said to the disciples, “O ye of little faith.” There is nothing more important in life than having faith. If you are helping people to have faith or to have more faith, then you are doing a great thing.

Paul had preached the gospel to the Corinthians, and then others had not only come into his ministry, but had also comdemned and criticized Paul in order to get an advantage over him. Paul was pointing out to the Corinthians that the next thing that he was planning on doing was to go to the next place that needed to hear the gospel. He said that he wanted “to preach the gospel in the regions beyond.” This is the same motivation that all great missionaries have had. God gives them a special view of a spiritual need of a region in the world and they cannot rest until they have had a part in taking the gospel to the lost souls of that region. They are not interested in the region because of its beautiful scenery or its exotic location. They are interested in lost souls in the regions beyond. You do not have to compete with other people for a ministry. There are great needs in the world, and there is a place where the Lord wants you to fill in the gap.

The Bible says in Second Corinthians 10:17, “But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” The only one who should receive glory or praise or honor is the Lord. Man should not receive the glory. You should not receive the glory. If anything gets accomplished, it is the Lord who accomplished it. “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” In the next couple of chapters we are going to hear even more about the dedication, and sacrifice, and energy, and sufferings that Paul put himself through so that he could take the gospel to the regions beyond. But even Paul had to say, “But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

In Second Corinthians 10:18 Paul said, “For not he that commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.” The Lord is the judge. In the final analysis it does not matter what you say about yourself. What matters is what God says about you, and what Christ says about you. And those things will be said at the judgment.

Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 11:1-3, “Would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Paul was always thinking of the judgment and what would happen and what would be said when he stood before Christ. We are saved by grace through faith, but rewards will be determined by our works and our accomplishments. Paul had helped many of these people come to know Christ as Savior. That is what he meant when he said, “I have espoused you to one husband.” But Paul wanted more than to help people to come to know Christ. There is much more in the life of faith beyond that. After getting saved, Paul wanted believers to become all that they could become until they all stood before Christ. That is what Paul meant when he said “that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”

Once a person gets saved, what can keep them from going all the way to the judgment having become what they could become as believers in Christ? Paul gives the answer. He said, “lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” It has to do with being fooled and tricked in connection to what you think and believe concerning Christ. That is why Paul spoke of their “minds.” The dark spiritual purpose of all false teachings is to keep people from getting saved, and then to keep those who are saved from becoming all that they can become in Christ. All false teachings have these two purposes in mind.

The Bible says, “So your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” The simplicity that is in Christ refers to both salvation and to the Christian walk of faith. It is a simple thing to be saved. If you turn from your sins and turn to Jesus, you are saved. Jesus is the door to heaven. Jesus is the Light. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to understand this truth. A little child can understand it. It is a profound truth that goes deep into the soul, but it is a simple truth that anyone can understand who wants to understand it. False teachings will direct the minds of people away from the simplicity that is in Christ in regards to the salvation of the soul.

False teachings will also direct the minds of believers away from the simplicity that is in Christ in regards to the Christian life and what it means to live as a Christian. It is a relatively simple thing to daily put confidence in Jesus and His promises instead of the human way of looking at things and reacting to them. Jesus said, “Seek you first the kingdom of God.” That is a simple thing. You either do that or you do not do it. There is nothing complicated about it. Of course, it is a matter of your will: what you want. That is not rocket science either. You are either trusting in Jesus right now for the things that you are facing in life, or you are not. If you want to grow in Christ, and live by faith, and become everything that God wants you to be as a believer, then you must not lose the simplicity of trusting in Jesus. Do not “be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

The Bible says in Second Corinthians 11:4, “For if he that cometh preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him.” Paul gave three ways to identify a false teacher. If someone comes with another Jesus, another spirit, or another gospel than that which Paul preached and that which Paul brought then you know that it is a false teacher. There are several main things about the Jesus of the Bible. You must know and believe all of them in order to stay true. Jesus was born of a virgin. Jesus died for the sins of the world. Jesus was buried and rose from the dead. Jesus was more than just a man. Jesus was and is the divine Son of God. If anyone teaches any different than these things about Jesus, then they are not teaching about the real Jesus. They are teaching about a false Jesus. You had better know well the doctrine of Christ as the Bible teaches it. If you do not, you will be an easy prey for a false teacher who may have a pleasing voice but who teaches about a false Jesus.

Paul also said to watch out for those who bring a different spirit than Paul brought. You must have a good idea of what a teacher is all about. Why are they teaching? Are they teaching in order to gain financially or in some other way to take advantage of people? Are they teaching in order to glorify themselves? He that seeks to glorify God and Christ, will speak about God and Christ. He that seeks to glorify himself will speak about himself. Watch out. Some false teachers you will be able to recognize because of the spirit that they bring. You might need the gift of the discerning of spirits in order to recognize them. Of course, Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit. The things that he accomplished were by the power of the Spirit: not by the arm of man. Some people can build up a church organization with human organizational ability in the same way in which the Elks club or the Moose club is built up. You want to only listen to teachers who have the power of the Spirit.

Other false teachers will bring another gospel. It is not really another gospel because there is only one gospel. The best way to identify a counterfeit is to make sure that you know what the real thing is. You must understand that the gospel is salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You must understand Ephesians 2:8-9 and other passages like it that says, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” If you understand the great doctrinal book of the New Testament on the subject of the gospel, the book of Romans, then no one would be able to fool you with another gospel. If you understand the book of Romans thoroughly, you will understand sin, and salvation, and righteousness, and faith, and forgiveness, and redemption, and sanctification. You will understand the gospel of Christ; and then no one will be able to fool you as the serpent beguiled Eve. No one will be able to fool you into thinking that water baptism or church membership or confirmation or your own good works or anything else is a part of the gospel of Christ.

Because Paul was under such attack from the false teachers, he had to return once again to telling the Corinthians about the kind of ministry he had so that the Corinthians would see the difference between Paul and the false teachers, and so that the Corinthians would avoid falling under the control of the false teachers. Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 11:5-12, “For I suppose I was a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things. Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that you might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service. And when I was present with you, and was in need, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied. And in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself. As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. Wherefore? Because I love you not? God knoweth. But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.”

The key phrase to understanding this passage is when Paul said to the Corinthians, “I have preached to you the gospel of God freely.” To the Corinthians Paul preached the gospel freely. In other words, he did not take any money from them when he ministered to them. Not that there would have been anything wrong with doing that, if Paul had done so. They that preach the gospel shall live of the gospel. “You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn.” Paul said, “that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied.” Perhaps there was some circumstance among the Corinthians that made Paul think it best to take no money from them. Perhaps false teachers had profited from the Corinthians in the past, and Paul wanted to make sure that his message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ could not be blamed by those who viewed all religious teachers in the same light. Remember that there are false teachers, but there are also true teachers. Make sure that you know the difference between the false and the true, and make sure that you are following the one true way: the way of faith in Jesus Christ.

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