“Counterfeits”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Tuesday, June 13, 2023
2 Corinthians 11:1-21a(Forward, p. 46) CEV p. 1212
It used to be the norm that only money—paper or coin--and only money of a certain denomination or larger, was considered fair game for counterfeiters. But now there are myriads of counterfeits of a different sort, fake news, online scams, bogus investment schemes—the list goes on. And not just in the financial or material realm either: there are now spiritual counterfeits as well.
But, hasn’t that always been the case! Right from the time of Paul and the early church there have been false or counterfeits in terms of the faith. Here, in today’s passage, Paul speaks of them, without, however, going into any detail. (He does that in numerous other places in his writings.)
Here is what He does mention:
-another Jesus
-another spirit
-a different message
-super apostles, false apostles, dishonest workers, pretend apostles
-people who take advantage of them, cheat and steal from them, and
lead them to a place of slavery.
And don’t we see all of these today?
-another Jesus: a ‘cosmic Christ’, a Christ who is not the same as
Jesus. A Jesus who is not truly ‘God and man’. A Jesus who did
not really experience life, and death, as we know them, but only
pretended to. A Jesus who did not ‘really’ do miracles or predict
the future. A Jesus who did not ‘really’ rise from the dead.
-another spirit: the spirit of ‘this age’, a spirit who is somehow the
same or compatible with the spirit of wicca or new ‘incarnations’ of
ancient woodland or pagan religions.
-a different message: that Jesus is not the once and for all sacrifice
for sin; that we still have to make atonement, still have to perform
certain actions in order to ‘earn’ it; that it is not a free gift of God’s
grace and love; that all are saved and that faith in Jesus Christ is
not necessary.
-super apostles, false apostles, dishonest workers, pretend apostles:
Aren’t there myriads of people, especially in the media and online,
who take advantage of people, especially the vulnerable, who cheat
and steal from them and lead them to a place of spiritual slavery.
There is nothing new or surprising in Paul’s laundry list of things that need to be ‘cleaned up’ among the Corinthian believers. We see almost all of them in one form or another in our world today.
And, in contrast to these frauds and shysters, there is Paul himself. He willingly takes a ‘cut’ in earnings, at least as far as what he might legitimately expect to receive from the Corinthian congregation. Instead, he either works for a living as a tentmaker in order to support himself, or relies on contributions from elsewhere, from other congregations or individuals. So, not only does Paul preach the true Jesus and the true message, motivated and empowered by the true Spirit, he also does so with no ulterior motives at all, but only out of a sincere and true love and care for them. Would that all of us, and all the church, do the same. Amen.
Forward notes: “I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me!” (verse 1)
“There are several times in Paul’s letters where he says, Ok, this next part is going to be me speaking like a fool. I’m not a fool, but I’m going to act like one to make a point. Humour me.
“It’s like Paul is a verified, popular Twitter account who normally posts earnest, on-brand stuff about God, grace, faith, and churchwork. He typically ignores the trolls who write mean stuff and the accounts that regularly tweet bad theology, not letting them disrupt his content. But every now and then, he simply cannot let another awful take go by without ‘quote tweeting’ it in dispute (‘dunk on it,’ as the kids say).
“The most effective dunk tweets are often satirical—they use the absurdity of the original post/thought against it. So, Paul uses sarcasm to wield false apostles’ own folly against them, and yet his rhetorical ‘boasting’ always
serves an ultimate display of humility. He reasserts his own legitimacy not ultimately to defeat the trolls but rather to defend the true gospel.”
Moving Forward: “When have you stood up to foolishness?”