2 Corinthians 10:7

Do you look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trusts in himself that he is Christ's, let him think this again: as he is Christ's, so are we. For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord has given us for edification and not for destruction, I should not be ashamed. I do not want it to seem as if I would terrify you by letters, for his letters say they are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible. Let such a one think this: as we are in word by letters when we are absent, so will we also be indeed when we are present.

Father, we ask for your wisdom as we look into your Word, knowing that all wisdom comes from you. We look to you for knowledge, understanding, and insight in all things, Lord. You promised that you would give the Spirit of Truth, who would guide us in all truth and teach us all things. So that is our prayer today, Holy Spirit: that you would instruct us, not just so that we would know new things or more things, but that the knowledge of you and the knowledge of your Word would transform us, Lord. We desire to be more like you and to reflect you in a dark world. So God, work in us. We ask that when we leave here at the end of our study today, we would leave transformed in some way by the renewing of our minds, for we ask this in Jesus' name. And all God's people agreed, saying, Amen. You can be seated.

Amen. I received many questions this last week. What happened with your car? To those questions, I had to answer all week long, "I don't know; I'll let you know." But then, Friday afternoon, I talked with the dealership, and they said that the warranty company had agreed to pay for the repairs. So praise the Lord! This Tuesday, they are going to be putting a new engine in the car.

So praise God. He is good. He's on the throne, and your pastor didn't have to lose his cool again.

As we considered last week in our study of 2 Corinthians, this book is divided into three major sections. Chapters 1 through 7, the first section of the book, are where Paul is writing to the larger body of Christ in the city of Corinth. You really see the soul of Paul revealed, his passion for his friends in that church, as he writes to them with joy over the restored relationship they had. You remember that the church at Corinth had, for a time, a tainted opinion of Paul due to slanderers. There was a divide between him and a church that he loved very much—a church that he planted and spent a lot of time with over the years.

However, he had written a letter prior to this, before 2 Corinthians, that was effective in restoring their relationships. In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul says, "Listen, I'm a worker together for your joy." In those first seven chapters, you see Paul working for their joy. He was passionate about the people in the city of Corinth, in that region of Greece.

The second section of 2 Corinthians, chapters 8 and 9, deals with an offering that Paul was going to receive from the churches he had ministered among to take back to the church in Jerusalem because they were very needy. He instructed them about this offering—what it was for, how it was to be used, how it was to be received, and all the details surrounding it.

Now we come to the last section of 2 Corinthians, which we began to look at last week, chapters 10 through 13. In this section, Paul directs most of his attention, actually all of his attention, to the critics of his ministry and of himself in the city of Corinth. There were those who rose up and sought to destroy Paul's ministry. This happened not only in Corinth but in many of the places he visited. As Paul even said in 1 Corinthians, "A great and effective door is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries." Anytime God is working, you can be certain that the enemy, our adversary, the devil, is also at work.

The enemy is also at work, seeking to destroy everything that God does. As Jesus said in John chapter 10, the thief, that is the devil, has come to steal, to kill, and to destroy. God was moving mightily through the ministry of Paul and those who co-labored with him. In response, the enemy was also working diligently to try to undermine that work.

One of the ways the enemy sought to destroy the work of the Apostle Paul was through slanderers who followed his ministry. These individuals had been given something of an open door by those in the city of Corinth. Paul has been speaking directly to them—these slanderers and critics. Although we do not know the exact identity of these individuals who came against his ministry, we can piece together some of the puzzle by examining what Paul wrote in his letters to the Corinthians.

Considering what Paul says to the church at Corinth, we glean a few ideas about these slanderous critics. We looked at this a little bit last week, and we continue to explore it now. Paul's critics in the city of Corinth seem to have been outsiders; they were not part of the church. They had come from somewhere else and had not personally been under the ministry of the Apostle Paul. As a result, they were somewhat anonymous individuals, unknown to the church at Corinth. Nobody really knew much about them other than what they said about themselves and what they declared to those they interacted with. They could present themselves as whoever or whatever they wanted.

These critics entered the church at Corinth and, through their words and ministry, seduced many of the believers over to their position, driving a wedge between the church and Paul the Apostle. Not only were they anonymous outsiders to the ministry of Paul and the church at Corinth, but these critics also claimed a greater apostolic authority than the Apostle Paul himself. They positioned themselves as being superior to him, so much so that Paul would sarcastically refer to them as "super apostles" in this passage. He also called them false apostles.

Because that's certainly what they were, sarcastically, a few times he said, these super apostles that come and minister to you. Apparently, when they would come into the city of Corinth or wherever they would go, they would follow the ministry of Paul, as they did in the city of Galatia. They would come in and seduce people away by saying, "That Paul, who is he? He's a nobody." They would put themselves forward as being something great.

If you've been a part of the church for any length of time, not just this church, but the church in general, you know that from time to time you interact with people within churches. I don't even want to necessarily say that they're a part of the body of Christ because oftentimes they're not, but they are in churches, and they put themselves forward as being something great in the church. You might call them the spiritual elite. They consider themselves to be God's gift to the gospel, with the mindset that God doesn't even know what He has in me. This is kind of the way that these individuals were. They were outsiders to Corinth and outsiders to the ministry of Paul, and they also put themselves forward as something great.

Thirdly, these critics of the Apostle Paul not only put themselves forward as greater apostles than Paul, but they also claimed to be true Jews and true representatives of the Messiah and the gospel. Certainly, they could not discount Paul's Jewishness. Many people knew about Paul's background; he had been a Pharisee, he was of the nation of Israel, a son of Abraham. They could not discount the fact that Paul, by his heritage, was Jewish, but they essentially claimed that Paul was not the true Jew who truly represented the religion of the Messiah. They put themselves forward as the ones who really had the best take on the Messiah.

However, 2 Corinthians chapter 11 reveals in verse 4 that these outsiders preached a different gospel. They preached another Jesus and another gospel. It's very possible that this is the same group of individuals, the same crew that came against Paul's ministry in the region of Galatia, specifically in the cities of Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. That's where Paul planted the first Gentile churches.

God used Paul to plant churches on his first missionary journey in the book of Acts with Barnabas. After Paul had left the region of Galatia, a group of people came in, known as the Judaizers. This was a negative term that Paul and others applied to them. They would enter the places where Paul had ministered the gospel of grace and preach another gospel.

The Judaizers used similar terms; they invoked the name of Jesus and the titles of Christ and Messiah. However, they added something more to that message, drawing people away to Jewish traditions. They led people away from the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ, which was Paul's central core message. The simplicity of the work of Jesus Christ must always remain the central key message of the church, as the church is founded upon Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The church is built on Jesus, the Son of God, the anointed one. Any church that strays from that message has deviated from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Paul expressed this concern in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Speaking to the church at Corinth, he said, "I am fearful, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." Paul had a very real concern that these false apostles, these super apostles, and outsiders would come into Corinth, preach another gospel, and draw people away from the simple message of the gospel.

The simple message of the gospel was central to what Paul preached. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 2, he stated, "For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." This was the focus of his message: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, he said, "Listen, this is the gospel that was revealed to us: that Christ died according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." This central message of the church continues to be relevant 2,000 years later, and if it ever changes, it risks losing its essence.

In a church that you may attend if you move away from here someday, make sure you leave that church. That is not a church you want to be a part of if it exalts anything other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified as the central focus of the body. He came to save sinners, as Paul says. I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

These outsiders came in and exalted themselves as super apostles, leading people astray to a false gospel. They presented elements of Jewish legalism as gospel. What do I mean? They boasted of their Jewish heritage and lineage, something that Paul apparently did not do unless it was in response to others doing this. He thought it was foolish and boastful to brag about one's heritage because it doesn't matter what your heritage is once you're in Christ. It has nothing to do with anything; your bloodline is irrelevant.

Yet these false apostles exalted themselves by claiming, "We are children of Abraham, and we have this great bloodline, so you should respect us and listen to us because we are greater than the average individual." Paul says that is not the case. Even if it were, he had more to boast of than they did. As we see in Philippians chapter 3, if some think they have something to boast about, he had even more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He goes on to explain his heritage, but only in response to these false apostles, these accusers of the brethren who came in.

Paul thought it was folly and foolish to exalt your heritage as something great in Christ. Why? Because in Christ, there is no Jew or Gentile. All those distinctions are torn down. We are made one in Christ, and anyone who wants to separate the body into hierarchical categories is in the wrong. They are not in accord with the gospel.

Paul essentially mocks these individuals sarcastically in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 22. Turn just one page from where you are. I have to tell you, I love the fact that Paul uses sarcasm; it endears me to him all the more.

Remember, this is in response to these Judaizers, these false apostles who were saying they were something greater than Paul because of their lineage. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11:22, "Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they of the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I'm speaking foolishly. I am more so."

You see, he thought it was foolishness to boast about these sorts of things. He continues, "I am more so in labors more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often." He was mistreated for his preaching of the gospel, something that these Judaizers apparently never experienced because they preached a false gospel.

The enemy, the adversary, the devil, does not come against people who preach a false gospel. There is no spiritual warfare against false teachers. He is perfectly fine with whatever sort of false teaching you promote. As long as it is not the true gospel, he could care less. However, as soon as you begin to preach Christ crucified and raised from the dead for our sins, you can anticipate persecution. You can expect some form of spiritual warfare because Satan hates the gospel; he hates God.

These false apostles had never experienced any opposition to their work. It was just smooth sailing for them, and I'm sure they thought that was something admirable, that it somehow commended what they were doing. They might have thought, "Look at Paul; he's always being beaten and thrown in prison. We never have any of that." But that's not exactly a good thing; the fact that everything was smooth sailing is not commendable.

So Paul sarcastically says, "Well, are you Hebrews? So am I. Are you children of Abraham? So am I. Are you ministers of Christ? I'm more so." You may question why Paul would use sarcasm. Isn't that coarse language? The sarcasm reveals the absurdity of these false apostles' claims. It shows how ridiculous it is to put your faith in your bloodline, how absurd it is to rely on something that has no eternal consequence whatsoever.

Listen, church, when you get to heaven...

When you meet saints of old standing in heaven, you're not going to ask them what language they spoke on earth, what country they came from, or what their background is. It won't matter one whit. It might be something that we care about here on earth, but it means nothing in eternity. It means nothing in Christ.

These individuals exalted this to something that it ought not to be exalted to. They presented themselves as super Jews, super apostles, and super representatives of the Messiah. They brought with them a focus on Jewish customs and ceremonies into the church. They would come into the body of Christ and say things like this: "Yes, we know that Paul preached Jesus crucified and raised from the dead, and that is good and important; it's even essential. But it's not sufficient for you to truly be saved. You need to be circumcised, or you need to keep the feast days of the Jews, or you need to keep the Sabbath, or you need to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols. If you truly want a right standing with God, you need to do, do, do these things."

That is so appealing to the mind and heart of man because, at our core, in our sin nature, we all have this deep-rooted pride and arrogance that would love to be able to say, "Look what I did to get to heaven." Every one of us, in the deep core of our sin nature, would love to be able to point to some work that we did or some family relation that we had that made us special.

But the only reason that we stand in Christ is because of what Christ has done for us. It has nothing to do with us. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as being of ourselves. Our sufficiency is of God. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for His work. We're saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the work of God, not of anything that we could boast in.

Humanity loves religion because humanity would love to be able to boast in something that they did in religion. It always gives people little checkboxes to tick off and say, "I did this, and I did this, and I did this." These Judaizers would come into the church where Paul had preached the simple gospel of Christ crucified for our sins, and they would say, "That's great, but it's not enough." And it still happens.

Two thousand years later, there are churches that call themselves Christian churches and say things like, "Well, if you're truly to be saved, then you need to do this. You need to go knock on doors. If you're truly to be made righteous, you need to be baptized in our church. If you're truly to be made righteous, then you need to worship on this day over that day." And it just continues.

The reality is that any time you move away from the simplicity that is in Christ, you diminish the work that Jesus did. You take for granted what He accomplished on the cross. These critics of the Apostle Paul were outsiders; they considered themselves super apostles. They brought in a different gospel and introduced legalistic practices to the church.

They mingled mysticism and elements of superior secret knowledge, claiming to have greater revelation than Paul and others. What do I mean? They came in and said things like this: "Listen, that Paul, he's nothing. He may have preached the gospel to you; he may have preached this message to you, but he held something back. He didn't give you all the information. We have a greater revelation than he did. We have some secret knowledge that he didn't even know about. And so we have to tell you about this information."

You know what? Again, we love that kind of stuff, don't we? That's why books like The Secret sell so well in our culture; people go, "Oh wow, there's something we didn't know." That's why people get so enamored with these false gospels, like the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Enoch, which came hundreds of years after the apostles were led of the Lord to write. People think, "Oh, there's something special and secret that we could find out."

No, God wants His revelation to be known. He doesn't make it a secret. These false apostles would say, "Well, we have a greater revelation than the Apostle Paul." Paul speaks about the absurdity of that in this passage, but because he does not want to boast in his revelation—the revelation that God gave to him—he speaks of it in the third person. He says, "I knew a man," even though he is talking, I believe, about himself. He says, "I knew a man who, whether in the body or out of the body, fourteen years ago, was caught up into the third heaven, and he saw..."

He heard things that could not even be uttered. In that very same passage in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, he says, "Because of the greatness of the revelations that God has given to me, so that I would not become conceited, God gave me a thorn in the flesh to keep me from conceit, to keep me from becoming arrogant."

You see, even the Apostle Paul, whom so many Christians look up to and honor as a great man of God, was subject to conceit and arrogance. God knew that because he had such amazing revelations of the awesomeness of God, having seen the risen Lord after Jesus ascended into heaven. Paul states that because of the greatness of the revelation, God gave him this thorn in the spirit to keep him humble, so he would not get a fat head.

In contrast, these false apostles boasted everywhere they went. They bragged about how much greater they were than Paul, how much greater revelation they had, and the secrets they knew. They boasted about the amazing things and works they were able to do.

These critics of the Apostle Paul came to the city of Corinth and other places with counterfeit letters of recommendation. They criticized Paul because he did not have such letters. When they entered the church, they would ask, "How long have you been here?" The response would be, "Well, the Apostle Paul came here and shared the gospel with us. We've been gathering together and worshiping the Lord."

The critics would then ask, "Oh, the Apostle Paul? Who's that?" When they learned that he planted the church, they would inquire, "Did he have letters of recommendation when he came to you from Jerusalem?" The answer would be, "Well, no." They would then boast, "Well, we do."

In reality, only one time in Paul's life did he have a letter of recommendation from Jerusalem, and it was from the chief priest so that he could go and persecute Christians in Damascus. After that point, Paul realized he did not need such letters. He did not come to Jerusalem, Corinth, Philippi, Lystra, or Derby with letters of recommendation telling people, "Hey, listen to this guy." But these false apostles did. Paul again sarcastically mocks this in 2 Corinthians.

Chapter 3, verse 1: Do we begin again to commend ourselves, or do we need, as some others do, letters of recommendation to you or letters of commendation from you? Do you really think I need a letter of recommendation? Paul says, "When I came to you, or when I leave from you to go somewhere else, did I ask for you to write me a letter when I went on to another city so I could say, 'See what I did at Corinth'?" No.

What does he say in the next verse, in 2nd Corinthians, chapter 3, verse 2? "You, church at Corinth, are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read of all men. For as much as you are manifestly declared to be the letter of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone but in the fleshly tables of the heart."

Paul says, "I'm not going to boast that I have letters of recommendation. I don't even need letters of recommendation. If someone wants to know if God is at work in the life of Paul the Apostle, all he has to do is look at Corinth, look at Philippi, look at Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, and look at Thessalonica and Berea."

Do you see? There are churches planted in places like Ephesus. Why? Because he had a letter of recommendation? No, but because the Spirit of God was working through Paul and those who labored with him.

So, they were outsiders. They came with a false gospel and turned people away from the simplicity that was in Christ. They came with letters of recommendation and boasted against Paul because he had no letters of recommendation.

They boasted of their rhetorical ability; they boasted that they could speak well. Why is that even a boast? Well, Paul, when he came to places like Corinth, did not speak well. The Greeks were enamored with rhetorical skill; they loved a good speech. To the Greeks, if someone could speak well, that was about all that was needed to prove that they would be a good candidate for leadership.

We don't have anything like that in our day, do we? First-century Greeks fell down in a dead faint over great oratory. They loved to hear a good speech. I was reading a book on Greek history a number of years ago, and...

Christian history reveals that the ancient Greeks, 2,000 years ago, were not all learned people. There was a very small demographic of wealthy individuals, part of the philosophical elite, who could read, write, and understand complex ideas. However, the bulk of the population in Greece and most of the ancient world could not. An intelligent speaker could make them feel smarter just by speaking.

What about Paul? Did he speak well? Certainly, Paul could articulate his thoughts effectively. When you read his writings, you see that he had an incredible vocabulary and much to say, demonstrating awesome logic. In Acts chapter 17, he contends with philosophers at Mars Hill in Athens, one of the centers of philosophy in the ancient world, and he is able to engage with them.

However, when he went to Corinth, we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 1, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, I did not come with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God." He continues in verse 3, "And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." He explains that his speech and preaching were not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in the demonstration of the power of the Spirit of God.

Why did Paul speak this way? In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 5, he states that the reason he spoke like this was "that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Paul did not want the church at Corinth to elevate him on a pedestal and say, "Look at what a great speaker we have." Instead, he wanted them to receive the simple gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, placing their trust in the wisdom of God to save humanity, rather than in the ability of man to save himself.

These critics of Paul, although they boasted of their Jewishness and introduced a form of legalism to the church at Corinth, were also libertine and antinomian.

What in the world do you mean by "libertine" and "antinomian"? Antinomian is a big word coined by Martin Luther, which comes from the Greek words "anti," meaning against, and "nomos," meaning law. These individuals were essentially lawless. They had a religious form of life; they would not eat meat sacrificed to idols, worship on the Sabbath, be circumcised, or keep the feast days of Israel. They engaged in religious practices, yet they lived a lawless moral life. Morally, they were reprobates.

How do we know this? In 2 Corinthians 12:21, Paul says, "Unless when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall bewail many who have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed." They were telling the church, "Listen, you need to keep the Sabbath, you need to be circumcised, and you shouldn't eat meat sacrificed to idols." Very likely, they were also involving themselves in the temple prostitution of Corinth, which was a rampant industry there.

There is an incredible disconnect in their lives, and sadly, that is often the case. We tend to gloss over our deep immorality by being religious. We see this in our day as well. You find people who are not Christians, and they will say, "Well, I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual." Yet, they live a lawless, immoral existence. Even within the church, there are people who have a religious form of life. They insist on calling Jesus "Yeshua," worshiping on the Sabbath, and if you worship on any other day, then you're wrong. They insist on being baptized in their church or in their way, and if you don't do that, then you're out of step with them.

It is understandable that the non-church world would look into the church and say, "I don't want to go there because the church is full of hypocrites." It is interesting to consider how someone could be an antinomian legalist. How could someone be a lawless legalist?

The way that you do that is by erecting a form of religion that appeases your conscience and allows you to do whatever you want. You can go to church, serve, tithe, and engage in a few church-related activities on Sunday so that from Monday through Saturday, you can live like the rest of the world. That is what it means to be a lawless legalist. You insist that everybody else must live well, and in doing so, you become pharisaical in the way that you conduct yourself.

Paul's critics were apparently all of these things. They were outsiders claiming greater apostolic authority than Paul and deeper Jewish heritage than he had. They were legalistic mystics and sophists with a counterfeit letter of recommendation wherever they went, possessing great rhetorical ability to entice people within the Greek culture in which they ministered.

The only way that such individuals could gain an upper hand in a church like Corinth, where the congregation loved their pastor and the Apostle Paul, was to demean, defame, and disgrace the character of Paul. They had to somehow get the Corinthians to see insincerity in the Apostle Paul. They needed to malign him, smear him, and slander him. This is exactly what they did; they had to plant doubt in the hearts and minds of the Corinthians regarding the genuineness of Paul's character.

This is the way that Satan works; it is the way that he has operated since the very beginning. Paul brings this to mind in 2 Corinthians 11:3. He says, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."

Do you recall that important story in the Bible? It is one of the most significant stories in the Bible, found in Genesis chapter 3.

In the book of the Bible, turn to Genesis chapter 3, verse 1. There we read, "Now the serpent was more subtle, more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made." He said to the woman, "Has God said?" You should underline that in your neighbor's Bible: "Has God said, 'You shall not eat of every tree in the garden?'"

The woman responded to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"

The serpent, being beguiling and more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, said to the woman, "You shall not surely die," discounting God's word. Now, the serpent had to do something to get the woman to question the genuineness and sincerity of God. God created this place, God created her, and He placed her in this paradise. Why should she have any reason to doubt God?

In verse 5, the serpent continued, "For God does know that in the day you eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." What does the serpent do? He plants in her a seed of doubt. He suggests that God is holding her back, keeping a secret from her. "You’re not going to die," he says. "He just knows that you’re going to be like Him if you do this, and so He doesn’t want you to do it. He’s keeping you back."

Thus, the serpent beguiled Eve. We know the story: in Genesis chapter 3, both she and Adam partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and as God...

In the day that you eat of it, you shall die. They certainly did; they died spiritually first, as illustrated by the fact that there was a disconnect between them and God. Ultimately, they died physically. Through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and death spread to all men, for all sinned. The wages of sin is death.

These false apostles, the enemy, this is how he works. He questions the genuineness of God and the genuineness of God's messengers. He subtly sows suspicion in the minds of individuals about the sincerity of God. This is why slander is satanic. In fact, the word translated "slanderer" in the New Testament is the Greek word "diabolos," which is translated as "devil" elsewhere. Slander is the work of the devil, the accuser of the brethren, as he is called in the book of Revelation. He plants these seeds of doubt.

So, what is Paul's response to such false accusers? Look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 10, verse 7. Paul's response is, "Do you look on things after the outward appearance?" Paul says to the church at Corinth, "If any man trusts himself and has confidence in himself that he is Christ's possession, let him think this again: that as he is Christ's possession, even so are we Christ's possession."

Verse 7 is quite honestly a hard verse to translate and interpret in the New Testament. The reason this verse is difficult to translate and interpret is that in different English versions, you will find that this verse is almost completely the opposite at the beginning. What do I mean? Well, the word "look" in 2nd Corinthians chapter 10, verse 7—"Do you look on the things of outward appearance?"—is the Greek word "blepo." The way that it is declined here in this passage makes it hard to tell exactly what it is saying. The way that it is declined can either be in...

The present active indicative in the Greek or the present active imperative is important to understand based on the context. At this point, you might be wondering what the present active means. Let me explain why this is significant.

These two moods, the indicative and the imperative, although they look exactly the same in writing, mean something entirely different. The indicative indicates a statement of truth. You are looking at the outward appearance, but it could also be translated, as it is in the English Standard Version and the New Living Translation, as a command. The imperative is a command; you should look at what is right before your eyes.

One is a declaration of fact, suggesting that you shouldn't be looking at the outward appearance of things. The other indicates that you need to look at the outward appearance of things. You might wonder which one it is. The translators of the New International Version write, "You are looking at the outward appearance of things," and then they include a footnote that states it could also be translated as "look." This presents a significant difference in interpretation.

There has been much discussion among Bible teachers and commentators about what Paul is saying. Is he instructing us to look at what is right before our eyes, or is he telling us to stop looking at the outward appearance of things? I believe there are great Bible teachers on both sides of this argument, but I lean towards this being a statement of fact: you are looking at the outward appearance of things, based on the rest of the context.

Continuing on, look at verse 8: "For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord has given us for edification and not for destruction, I would not be ashamed." He expresses that he does not want to seem as if he would terrify you by letters. "For his letters," they say, "are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible."

Let such a one think this: "As we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also indeed when we are present." This addresses the false perceptions that some may have.

Accusers of Paul were saying, "Listen, he just terrifies you with his letters. He speaks hard things to you in his letters, but when he's here, he's nothing to look upon. He's very little in stature, very unimpressive, and he has very little authority." Paul responds, "Listen, do not look at the outward appearance of things. You can't just look at what you see on the outside."

We all know that old saying: you cannot judge a book by its cover. These false brethren, these false apostles, put up a nice cover; they had a good facade. Paul says, "You're just looking at the outward appearance of things. You're enamored with what you see on the outside." Then these false brethren were saying, "Look at him! He looks like nothing. He's so unimpressive to look upon." How terrible is that? That's how they were coming against him. He just doesn't look good.

Paul continues, "You're too focused on the outward appearance of things. I'm not just planning to scare you with my letters. If I need to be forceful and bold with you when I'm in your presence, then I will be, but I don't want to be." The problem is that humanity tends to look at the outward appearance of things too quickly. We take things at face value.

There's a great story that illustrates this in the Old Testament, in the book of 1 Samuel. You might want to turn there—1 Samuel chapter 16. At a certain point in their history, the children of Israel wanted a king. God, up to that point, had been their leader; He had been their king. Ultimately, they came to a point where they went to Samuel, who was a prophet and a leader, a judge in the nation of Israel, and they said, "Listen, we want a king to rule over us like the other nations."

Samuel was brokenhearted, and God was brokenhearted too. However, God had said that this day would come in His law—that one day they would want a king. So, the people chose for themselves a king, and they chose a guy by the name of Saul. Saul was a head taller than everybody in the nation of Israel, and he was a good-looking guy. He was the kind of king that you would say, "That's our king!" When asked, "Who's your king?" the answer would be, "That one!" "Which one?" "The guy that's taller than everybody in the nation."

At first, King Saul seemed amazing. However, as is often the case when people choose leaders based on appearances, the reality was different. The people were devastated by King Saul, although they didn't necessarily want to admit it. God had a new king in mind; He chose a new king for the nation of Israel.

In 1 Samuel chapter 16, we read that the Lord said to Samuel, "How long are you going to mourn for King Saul, seeing that I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Are you done weeping over this whole thing? I want you to go and fill up a horn with oil, and I’m sending you to Jesse's house in the land of Bethlehem, for I have provided for Myself a king among his sons."

The nation of Israel had chosen King Saul, but now God was providing for Himself a king. Samuel was concerned and said, "How can I do this? If Saul hears it, he’s going to kill me." The Lord replied, "Take a cow with you; you’re going to go sacrifice it and call Jesse to the sacrifice. I will show you what you shall do, and you shall anoint for Me whom I name to you. I’m choosing the king this time."

So Samuel did what the Lord had spoken. He came to Bethlehem, and the elders of the town trembled at his coming, asking, "Do you come peacefully?" He replied, "I’m here peacefully. I’ve come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." He sanctified Jesse and his sons and called them to the sacrifice.

When they came before him, Samuel looked upon Eliab, the oldest of Jesse's sons, and said, "Surely the Lord's anointed is before me." I imagine Eliab was probably not a bad-looking man. However, the Lord said to Samuel, "Look not on his outward appearance, on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Then Jesse called Abinadab, his next son.

The son made him pass before Samuel, and he said, "Neither has the Lord chosen this one." Jesse made Shema pass before him, and he said, "Neither has the Lord chosen this one." Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, "The Lord has not chosen these."

Samuel then asked Jesse, "Are all your children here?" In another one of the English translations, Jesse responds, "Yes, but he's the least in my estimation. Where is he?" He is keeping the sheep. "Go get him. I'm not sitting down until he comes." They bring him in, and it is David. He is a junior hire; literally, he probably hasn't even gone through puberty yet. He has red hair and is skinny, yet the Lord says, "That's him."

The Lord does not see as man sees. God looks at the heart; man looks at the outward appearance.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul says, "For we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves; but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise."

I love this verse; it contains powerful truth. Paul states that we have no need to compare ourselves with these self-commending super apostles. I don't need to compare myself with them. Their folly, their foolishness, lies in the fact that they set themselves as the standard and compare themselves by others and by their vaunted opinion of themselves, their arrogant opinion of themselves.

You will always be able to find somebody whose life and walk are worse off than yours. It's not hard to do. You can always find someone who has inconsistencies and failings, and you can identify those things and those people. You can prop yourself up before others in your own estimation.

In his writings, Paul addresses the foolishness of glorying in one's power, strengths, and abilities, especially when contrasted with the feeble failings of others. He points out that such comparisons hold no value whatsoever. The false apostles boasted about their greatness, highlighting every inconsistency they could find in the Apostle Paul, often focusing on trivial and foolish things. They claimed, "He doesn't look very good; he doesn't talk very well," while asserting their superiority. They also pointed out that Paul lacked letters of recommendation, whereas they had them.

Paul advises against judging by outward appearances, reminding us that God looks at the heart. He warns not to be seduced by the subtlety of external facades and cautions against measuring oneself by those who measure themselves by their own standards.

So, what is the correct measure? Paul states in verse 13, "But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God has distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you." He emphasizes that they do not stretch themselves beyond their measure, as if they had reached out to the Corinthians without having come to them first in preaching the gospel of Christ. They do not boast about things that are beyond their measure, which would be the labors of others. Instead, they have hope that as the faith of the Corinthians increases, they will be enlarged by them according to their rule, allowing them to preach the gospel in regions beyond.

Notice how many times Paul uses the word "measure" in this passage. What is the right standard to determine whether a person is a true follower and representative of God? Paul asserts that they will not boast in things without measure. The measure of a man is defined by what he does, not by what he says or thinks about himself. For a Christian, the measure is what God does through him. Paul refused to boast about things without a proper standard of measure; he evaluated his work based on what he had accomplished with what God had given him and what God had worked through him. He gloried only in the work that was done through God's power.

Done in and through Him by the Lord, Paul would not boast or glory in the works of others—works that other people had done. Although he rejoiced with hope for greater opportunities in Christ, he hoped that one day he would have the chance to go to other places to bring the gospel where it had not gone before. He hoped for the greater glory of God working in him and not the glory of men.

So he gives this exhortation in verse 17: "But he that glories, let him glory in the Lord." For it is not he that commends himself who is approved, but whom the Lord commends. All this talk of glorying, or another word for glorying is boasting, makes it very clear where glorying and boasting should be directed. If anyone within the body of Christ is going to boast, let them boast in God, because even the works that they have been approved to do in Christ are works that God has wrought through them. Paul says that whom the Lord commends is the one who is approved, and not the one who commends himself.

Paul rightly looked forward to the commendation of God over the commendation of men because the commendation of God is eternal. What does the commendation of God look like? He says there is a master who had three servants. The master was going into a faraway country, but before he left, he brought his three servants to himself. To one, he gave five talents; to another, he gave two; and to the third, he gave one.

The master went away for a long time, and after that long period, he returned to clear accounts with his servants. To the one that he had given five talents, he came before him and said, "Look, Lord, you gave me five, and I've increased it to ten." The master said to that servant, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in a few things; I will make you ruler over many. Enter into the rest of the Lord."

The one who had increased from two to four came before his master and said, "Lord, you gave me two; I've increased it to four." The master replied, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few."

Things I will make you ruler over many. Enter into the rest of the Lord. That is the commendation of God; that is the eternal weight of glory. That is what was on Paul's mind as he sat years after this point in a prison in Rome, facing his soon death, where his head would be removed from his body, which typically is not a good thing. He was killed by Nero Caesar, and he would write to Timothy, his last letter. He would say, "I have finished the race; I have fought the good fight. There is now laid up for me a crown of righteousness," the commendation of God.

That's what he wanted. He didn't care about what people said. He didn't care for a letter of recommendation from the house of Chloe in the city of Corinth. He wasn't looking for the house of Lydia in the city of Philippi to write him a long letter about all the great things that he had done there. Although God worked great things through him, he was looking forward to the day when he would stand before his Lord and say, "Lord, this is the region that you gave to me. This is the measure of the sphere of influence that you gave to me. These are the talents that were entrusted to me, and here's what has been produced: Galatia, the churches of Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, Philippi, and the cities of Macedonia, Philippi, Berea, Thessalonica, there in the region of Achaia, the city of Corinth. Here it is, Lord."

You can be certain that at that moment, when his head was removed from his body, he entered into the presence of the Lord. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and I am certain that Paul heard, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. You were faithful in a few things; I will make you ruler over many. Enter into the rest of the Lord."

What would become of those who would boast of themselves like these false apostles? I believe an answer is given to us in the book of Philippians. If you want to turn there, Philippians chapter three, look at verse one. Finally, my...

Brethren, rejoice in the Lord! For me to write the same things unto you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision—these false apostles. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in spirit and truth, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. They boast in their flesh; we have no confidence in our flesh.

Though I might also have confidence in my flesh, if any man thinks he has more, I have more. I was circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; touching the law, a Pharisee.

Continuing on to verse 17, brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as you have us for an example. For many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction.

You see, there was a third servant in the story of the talents. One who had been given one talent came before his lord and said, "Lord, here is the one talent that you gave me. I knew that you were a tough taskmaster, that you reap in places you have not sown, so I buried it. Here you have what is yours." The master said, "You should have at least deposited it with the bankers, and they would have given it back with interest. You wicked servant!" He was judged.

Paul says there are enemies of the cross of Christ—these false apostles. I tell you even weeping; could you imagine that he would weep on behalf of those who slandered him throughout his entire ministry? It is phenomenal to me that Paul spent these four chapters, which we are looking at in 2 Corinthians chapters 10 through 13, pleading with the false apostles who slandered his name, that they would repent and come to a true knowledge of Christ.

I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls. Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. Why would you say you are enemies? Pray for those who despitefully use you.

Paul would say in Romans that in so doing, you heap coals of fire upon their heads. That doesn't exactly mean what you might think it means; it's actually a good thing. But it had to drive his enemies nuts, don't you think? He prayed for them. It's powerful.

Let's stand and pray. Father, I thank You that when we are weak, we are strong in You, that we can do all things through You as You give us strength. I thank You for the testimony of the Apostle Paul here, that he recognized his weakness and boasted in it because in his weakness, You were shown to be mighty.

So, God, use our insufficiencies, use our lack, our weaknesses, to be those things through which You shine greatly through us. Help us, Lord, to shine for You this week, to walk in a way that honors You, to walk in a way that brings glory to Your name. For we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.