Can you imagine what it would be like to be involved with a Church that was actually overseen by Satan? It sounds like a strange question, but humour me... if Satan ran the Church, what would it look like? Perhaps before you go any further it would be a ‘fun’ thought-experiment for the group to engage in... If Satan ran MIE, what would happen?
We might think such an idea so utterly preposterous that it isn’t even worth the time and energy to ask the question. That would be dangerously naïve. Paul has spent 10 chapters preparing the Corinthian Church for the theological bombshell he is about to drop. This is exactly the situation at Corinth – and alas in many Churches since. That’s why II Corinthians is in the NT – because the issues it addresses are ‘catholic’ – universally applicable, irrespective of place in history or cultural context. Satan is relentless in his desire to gain control in Churches. Simply on verse count, it would appear that the Bible considers this the place where demonic activity is most focussed.
So what did it look like at Corinth when Satan held sway. The truth is disarming... it looked a lot like a Church. There were preachers, who had ‘open Bibles’, there was talk of Jesus, and the Spirit, and the Gospel. Unfortunately, that seemed to be enough to pull the proverbial wool over many eyes. But Paul sees through the illusion. Yes, there is a Jesus, but not the Jesus the Apostles preached; there is a spirit, but it is not the Spirit the Corinthians received through Christ; there is a Gospel, but it is not the Gospel they believed in to be saved. Yes, there were preachers who masqueraded as ‘servants of righteousness’ but they were servants of Satan. It may seem extraordinary to us that the Corinthians could be hoodwinked. But let us not be so dismissive of the genius of our enemy. What makes us so sure we would fare any better..?
When Christians reject doctrinal preaching as ‘too intellectual’, or worry that their children will be put off Church if they are asked to study the Bible, because that might make it all seem a bit like school; or when Christians gullibly believe that everyone who talks about Jesus, or the Gospel, or the Spirit must all be talking about the same things; or when we confess we don’t really know our Bibles, or understand our faith, then we are frighteningly susceptible to making the same mistakes that the Corinthians made. Paul has spent 9 chapters explaining the spiritual physiology of a healthy Church (the Body of Christ). And our enemy prowls around, still looking for those he can devour (I Pet.5:8).
Questions:
Is Paul being sexist in 11:1-3? Should such a passage be read or preached on in today’s culture? ...or are we in danger of reading back into Paul something that isn’t there? Why does Paul link to the story of Eve when talking about the Church?
Can you think of examples in today’s Church scene where people are using the same language of Jesus/Spirit/Gospel, but meaning different things? Should we ‘judge’ between such groups? How could we do that? ...or should we simply assume that everyone who is talking about Jesus and the Gospel and the Spirit must be Christians?
How can we be confident that the Jesus we preach at MIE, or believe in ourselves, is the Jesus preached by the Apostles? How can we know that when someone (or a Church) claim to experience the Spirit, it is the Spirit we receive from Christ?
Why is the question of who pays for ministry in the Church an issue (vv.5-11)? To what extent should Churches pay for the ministry of other Churches? Isn’t the situation Paul is describing at Corinth at variance with the principle he laid down in I Cor.9:14, ‘? What wider teaching in I Cor.9 helps us understand Paul’s decisions here?
As an Anglican Church should we pay (in our parish share) to support ministry in Churches that preach a different Jesus, Spirit or Gospel?
Is Paul being too harsh in describing the ‘Super-Apostles’ the way he does in vv.13-15? What do we know of these ‘Super-Apostles’ from the rest of the letter that supports Paul’s allegations? Is this something Paul could only have ascertained by some special ‘apostolic’ insight, or are there tell-tale signs that anyone should have been able to read?
What does it mean to boast ‘in the way the world does’ (v.18)? Why does such boasting have no place in the Church? Where do we see it anyway?
Why does Paul, by contrast, boast of ‘the things that show my weakness’ (v.30)? What does that prove? And why is being lowered in a basket from a window the climax of the list?
Why does Paul spend so much time listing out his sufferings? How is he building on what he has already taught in e.g. Chapter 4? And why does this so powerfully show that the Super-Apostles are teaching a different Gospel?
How does this begin to help us understand God’s purposes in suffering?
What has kept Paul going through this litany of sufferings (Acts 9:16)?
