2 CORINTHIANS 11 (FIRST READING)
2 CORINTHIANS 11 (FIRST READING)
CAC Paul speaks here of “jealousy which is of God” (verse 2). It is priestly jealousy. In the previous chapters he presents priestly anointing, priestly raiment, the priestly spirit, and here priestly jealousy, on which the covenant of priesthood depends. Priestly jealousy would not tolerate anything that corrupts the people of God. God says of Phinehas in Numbers 25: “He was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace! And he shall have [p. 316] it, and his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for his God”. That is, the covenant of priesthood depends on jealousy for God. These men at Corinth were doing the same thing as that on which Phinehas executed judgment; they were seeking to corrupt the saints. Phinehas executed judgment on the corrupters; he considered only for God, and for the people in relation to God, and that is the foundation of priesthood. Paul said, “I am jealous as to you with a jealousy which is of God”. If we have not that we shall be cut off from the priesthood.
Eli was not jealous for God; he was not of the seed of Phinehas; only those of the seed of Phinehas can be priests. God said of him: “He shall have it, and his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood”. There are no other priests. We must be either of Phinehas or of Eli, and God says, ‘I have cut off Eli’. Eli had worthless sons, and he let them do what they liked; he was not jealous for God. If he had been of the seed of Phinehas he would have executed judgment on them. If I honour anyone more than God, I am not of Phinehas. Abiathar was the last of Eli’s seed, and he had to go; he did not disappear until Solomon’s day, and the Spirit of God remarks on it (1 Kings 2: 27). God removed all the seed of Eli, and then Zadok, a faithful priest, is put in their place. Paul was like Zadok, a faithful priest in the house of God, and he preserves all that is for Christ. “I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind; and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed continually”, 1 Samuel 2: 35. It is striking that he walks before God’s anointed. He walks before Christ and will not tolerate anything that takes the saints away from Christ. That is the whole pith of this chapter.
Paul speaks of presenting the saints as a chaste virgin to Christ. He could say, “I have espoused you”; no one else could have spoken thus; he had a special place in the sovereignty of God that no one else had. The God of measure had measured out to him this privileged service at Corinth, and he had come to them in the glad tidings of the Christ, as he tells them in chapter 10. It is clear that the special place that Paul had was in question at Corinth. The effect of his ministry was that a definite relationship had been established between these souls and Christ — a definite bond. He says, “I have espoused you”; it is not ‘married’, but there was a definite understanding involving that the saints, like Rebecca, had said, “I will go”. Paul had brought the proposal and they had accepted it. It is a great moment when the saints take the ground of being espoused to one Man. It is as a chaste virgin, for the saints are to be free from the influence of all but one Man. As long as they were under Paul’s influence, everything was confirming them as to “simplicity as to the Christ”. The enemy had brought along teachers who seemed to surpass Paul, but they were taking away the saints from “simplicity as to the Christ”, and priestly jealousy was awakened in Paul.
The saints are not only to be separate from the world, but from the subtle influences that work in our thoughts. He says, “lest ... your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ”. Worldliness would follow; this is something more subtle than the devil offering them all the pleasures and good things of the world. These false apostles were apparently very good men, beautiful preachers; they talked so sweetly. They put thoughts into the minds of the saints that corrupted them; that was the effect of their ministry. It is not the influence of the world, but Satan working by these men, spoiling Paul’s ministry by putting thoughts into the saints’ minds that are not of the one Man, but in a subtle way bring in another man. “I have espoused you unto one man!” If we could only have stamped on our hearts, and carry there as a seal, one Man! That is christianity.
Satan was not now tempting them to gross vices; he had tried that before at Corinth, as we see in the first epistle. He had tempted them on degrading lines, but self-judgment had come in and they were delivered from gross evil. Now it is spiritual error — Satan says, ‘I will help you to be very good and holy’. It is similar to what Judas suggested in John 12, where even the eleven were carried away for the moment by it. It sounded very plausible. What good three hundred pence could do! But Mary shows what it is to be espoused to one Man. Judas represents the false apostle, Satan’s man, the religious man. No doubt he was the most respectable man among the twelve, selected to be the treasurer. He was probably the only true Jew among them, so he added status to them. The others were Galileans, whom the Jews despised. It was said to Peter as a reproach, “Thou art a Galilean”, Mark 14: 70. The difference between Jews and Galileans is clearly marked in the gospels. So these false teachers at Corinth could show wonderful credentials: “Are they Hebrews? ... Are they Israelites? ... Are they seed of Abraham?” They came with all these credentials. This should put us on our guard against subtle influences that would commend what is religious to us. When Satan works he will suggest what will commend itself to our religious feelings and mind. How little do christians understand what is involved in the thought of “one man”! There are many attractive things that are not after Christ, but they are easily detected by the priest. When these false teachers came to be tested at Corinth, no doubt their character was seen as described in verse 20: “if any one bring you into bondage, if any one devour you, if any one get your money, if [p. 319] any one exalt himself, if any one beat you on the face”. That was the character of these men, exalting themselves — a complete contrast to everything the saints had seen in Paul. It seemed good to the Spirit that Paul should point out the contrast, but he felt bad about doing it.
The espousal of the saints to Christ cost the apostle something. It was not merely an official act; he went through all these sufferings to bring it about. There was not only his jealousy as to the corrupting influences at Corinth, but Paul was also jealous in a positive way, so he would go through anything and everything to bring the saints into this blessed bond with a Man in heaven. After the Lord Himself, I do not think anyone will have so much pleasure as Paul in seeing the consummation of the union of the saints with Christ. This jealousy should extend into every mind; we have all to take it up if things are to be preserved for Christ. We must begin with ourselves. The saints rightly judge by what we are, not by what we say. These influences are the intrusion of the natural, so that we bring in and judge of things along natural lines. It is a subtle form of attack, but Paul was walking in the Spirit of Christ, and ready to cast a javelin through anything that would corrupt the people of God. There are influences that corrupt our thoughts. What we are thinking about is a very serious matter. Paul was “leading captive every thought into the obedience of the Christ”, 2 Corinthians 10: 5. In Malachi we read of those who thought upon God’s name, and “they shall be unto me a peculiar treasure”, Malachi 3: 17.
What is really brought out here is that the saints are now put into secret relation with Christ, to be espoused to Him, to have a secret seal. Marriage is public; everyone will know then how we stand to Christ, but now there is a secret relation to Christ to be carried in the thoughts of the saints as a precious treasure. We want to [p. 320] preserve this virgin character. There will be no fear of corrupting influences when we meet Him, but now the snare is, as in the days of the apostle, the religious world and things which appear to be good. We are to preserve the virgin character by carrying in our thoughts the secret of our relations with Him.