"Deceitful Workers"

“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15 ESV)

The Apostle Paul now turns his letter from practical teachings about giving with a cheerful heart to the matter of having to defend himself and his companions against charges that they are not speaking with the Lord’s authority.

If you remember, a common theme always accompanied Paul as he took the “gospel of the grace of God” from city to city on all three of his missionary trips, through Southern Galatia, Macedonia, and Achaia, and finally through Asia Minor. Remember, as soon as he shared God’s Word, people started coming to faith in Jesus as the promised Messiah, lives started to change, and people were turning from the worship of Pagan gods and trying to please God through following the Old Testament Law, to the “gospel of the grace of God”. The established religious leaders, whether Pagan or Jewish, could not have this truth being shared. There were always “false apostles” coming behind Paul and his team, preaching a “different gospel” to these new converts, trying to confuse them and to pull them away from God’s grace.

As a matter of fact, the Apostle Paul said in 11:13, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.” For the past two thousand years, little has changed in this regard. No matter where we turn, there are “false apostles” and “deceitful workers” attacking the true gospel of grace presented in Scripture. From multiple “Christian” cults to powerful denominations and TV (and now Internet) Evangelists preaching everything from having to work to receive and keep our salvation, to the prosperity gospel that if you want to be blessed by God, you have to give money to them. They distort the truth and pull thousands away from God’s Word to their lies of death.

Paul goes on to say in verses 14-15, “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” He continues to warn the Corinthians to be very careful and not to be fooled by these false teachers. If you continue to read Chapter 11, you will see the troubles Paul suffered for sticking to God’s gospel of grace and not straying from it even for a moment. He talks about his imprisonments, beatings, being stoned, receiving floggings, being beaten with rods, shipwrecked, and being in danger from the Gentiles and Jews; and during all of this, he remained true to God’s Word.

So, how are we to identify these false apostles and deceitful workers? “According to their deeds.” You see, our works or deeds do not put us in God's good favor. Only faith in Jesus will put us into a righteous relationship with God the Father. But our “deeds” will show who we follow, who we really believe in, and who we are trusting for our eternity. If we have the Spirit of Jesus and the Holy Spirit living in us (and any who are saved do), then we will live our lives accordingly. If Jesus is important to us, then we will show that in our lives; we can’t help it, it's a part of who we are.

We need to know the Scriptures so we can know when we are being deceived by Satan’s “servants as they disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.” It is the Word of God that shows us the truth, and the deeds of these false apostles will show us their false teachings.

The Apostle Paul loved these churches, these young believers who put their trust and faith in Jesus alone. He knew deceivers would be attacking them, and he encouraged them to stay true to the truth as presented to them, the true “gospel of God’s grace.”

Believers, this encouragement is for us today as well. We all need to be careful about what we listen to, who we watch, and what they teach. There are many false apostles and deceitful workers teaching things they should never teach, trying to pull all of us away from the true Gospel of God’s grace.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"