2 Corinthians 11:15

Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

It was no mere caprice of an erratic genius that caused Paul to act thus in the case of Corinth, as he now brings out. First of all, he states, with the greatest emphasis, that he intended to continue his course as he had begun, by pledging the truth of Christ which lived in him, in opposition to all falsehood and hypocrisy, as a security for his statement that this particular boast was not to be obstructed for him, should not be suppressed, so far as the regions of Achaia were concerned; no one should ever succeed in stopping his mouth, in changing the firmness of this resolve. And lest someone in the Corinthian congregation might think that there was a personal reason in this determination, directed against the members as such, he hastens to add: Why? Because I do not love you? God knows! He calls upon God to be witness of the fact that his resolution to receive nothing from them did not originate in any absence of love for them. His affection for the members of the congregation as such remained unaltered: it was in no way concerned in this matter.

The apostle now states the reason for his resolve: But what I am doing, that I must I do in order that I may cut off the occasion from those that desire an occasion, that in the matter of their boast they may be found even as we. Paul was firmly determined to continue his course of not accepting financial help from the Corinthian congregation because he wanted to take away every valid reason on the part of the opponents for continuing their career of malicious misrepresentation. They boasted of their own unselfishness and disinterestedness without reason, and therefore Paul was determined by a course of absolute disinterestedness, not only to cut off all occasion for ascribing to him mercenary motives, but to compel them to assume a like position in actual practice Let them do what Paul was doing, and there would be some reason for listening to their claims; let them do at least so much before proclaiming themselves as the examples of superiority and excellence, as the paragons of true apostles and exemplary workers!

This was, of course, out of the question in men that sought only their own advantage, and so Paul characterizes them in their true colors: For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves outwardly into, assuming the appearance of, apostles of Christ. That is their proper place, that is their true character. Professing to be apostles of Christ, they were lying; urging their work in the interest of the Lord, they were deceiving; although nothing but base hypocrites, they were assuming the form of Christ's emissaries. As one commentator has it: "They disguised themselves, first, in respect to doctrine, inasmuch as they retained many words and names which belonged to Christianity, but which were only like empty husks wrapped around some seeds which belonged not there; secondly, in respect to conduct, inasmuch as they outwardly imitated the works which Christ's apostles wrought, but they were destitute of that benevolence which constituted the perfection of a Christian's doings."

This the apostle finds altogether natural: And no wonder! For Satan himself assumes the form of an angel of light. So it is no great surprise that his servants assume the form of the ministers of righteousness; whose end will be according to their works. The disguise assumed by the false prophets accords altogether with their character. Satan is a power of darkness, Ephesians 6:12; Acts 26:18, but for reasons of his own, as in the various temptations, he assumes the form and appearance of a pure and holy angel. And, so his agents, the false teachers, having learned to dissimulate just like their master, appear in the guise of messengers of righteousness: they resent the idea of their being impostors with a great show of righteous indignation. But the doom of such false apostles will be that of their lord, Philippians 3:19; Romans 6:21; 1 Peter 4:17. Their assumed form of saintliness will be removed at the Last Judgment, and they will suffer the punishment of the hypocrites of all times. Mark: The spirit of our times aptly illustrates Satan's ability to convert himself into the form of an angel of light, for the very words which are in the mouth of so many reformers today: enlightenment, progress, liberty, equality, culture, -are baits used to snare the unwary for unbelief. Mark also the uncompromising attitude of the apostle toward false teachers, entirely at variance with the false charity and unionism of our day which finds it expedient to accept even error for the sake of an outward union.