2 Corinthians 11 • Response to Hardships Reveals Whom We Follow

How do you recognize if you are following a true servant of the Lord Jesus or someone masquerading as a servant of righteousness? And as you go through troubles and difficulties of life, do your reactions reveal that you are a true servant of the Lord Jesus and not someone masquerading as a Christ-follower? Those are tough questions. This is post #10 in the God-Dependent Woman blog series. In the last article, we looked at the importance of grasping truth to protect you from captivity. In this post, we will look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and see how our response to hardships reveals whom we are following—Christ, ourselves, or the world.

Listen to this post as a similar podcast from The God-Dependent Woman Bible Study covering 2 Corinthians in the New Testament. (11 lessons)

The Reality of Deception

Cults manipulate followers

Through the years, I have met several women who were freed from the brainwashing associated with various cults claiming to be Christian. From a Christian perspective, a cult is a religious group that denies one or more of the fundamentals of biblical truth. Women historically seem to be more drawn to religious cults than men. Why is that?

Cult leaders are usually charismatic and persuasive, inviting women to follow them. A cult may promise to satisfy a woman’s heart needs through community and a sense of controlled boundaries. Women like community and a controlled environment. But cult leaders usually control an individual’s associations, deliberately withhold or distort information, discourage critical thinking, and manipulate their followers through fear, guilt, and indoctrination.

The result is that these women become victims of false teachers and often become false teachers themselves. Many present-day cults were started by women. The modern spiritualism movements, such as goddess worship and mysticism, are saturated with prominent women.

Being deceived

Are women more easily deceived than men? Absolutely not! The Bible teaches that being seduced by evil is a human thing, not a woman thing. Paul made that clear in his warning to all of the Corinthians (not just the women) in 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2-3)

Not all fear is bad. Fear is a normal human emotion designed by God to alert you to danger so you will take action against it. That is what Paul is doing regarding his beloved Christian brothers and sisters.

Paul’s jealousy was in line with God’s purposes. The false teachers were not only calling his apostolic authority into question. They were also leading the Corinthians astray from pure devotion to Christ. This was serious. Paul used what happened to Eve as an example of Satan’s deception and distortion of God’s Word. We covered how to overcome that distortion in the last article “Grasping Truth Protects You from Captivity.”

How Do You Recognize the Deceivers?

Preaching a different Jesus

For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. (2 Corinthians 11:4)

Since Christianity is Christ, the central theme of any deception will be what they are teaching about Jesus Christ? Is He less than God? Is He just a good teacher? Is He the way to eternal life after you die but not judging your life on earth now? Often, the teacher will present himself or herself as powerful and worthy of following, making you dependent on them and their teaching more so than on God and His complete Word.

Masquerading as angels of light

As we continue to look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11, we see Paul’s warning that those influencing his Corinthian family may be claiming to be “super-apostles,” but they are actually deceivers.

For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)

Deceivers masquerade as servants of light but are really being used as servants of Satan instead. Judging by physical appearances, they most likely didn’t look like evil people. Their teaching and behavior betrayed their motives. Christian or not Christians, they are doing Satan’s work. What do I mean by that?

Genuine believers can still allow themselves to follow Satan’s example of deception. The false teachers perverted the thinking of and misdirected the affections of the Corinthians away from the one who taught them the gospel in all its glorious truth. Paul called them out for who they were—pretenders.

Let me put in a word of caution here. Several years ago, a popular Christian fiction book taught people to look for demons everywhere and in everything. Someone in my church who didn’t agree with a decision the elders made called several people in the church and declared that the elders were all under demonic control. The decision was not really the issue. She just did not like that they would not let her do what she wanted to do. Looking for demons in everything and everyone is not a spiritually healthy exercise because it puts your attention on them rather than on Christ.

Recognizing fakers by their fruit

We can recognize someone masquerading as a servant of light by the fruit of their work. They separate you from other well-respected, biblical teachers. They pretend to love you but are using you instead.

In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. (2 Corinthians 11:20)

Those masquerading as angels of light but serving Satan instead enslave you to their thinking so that you are dependent on them and submit to being abused by them. Bad teaching and dictatorial behavior lead to exploitation—what we might even call cultic behavior, including the kind of treatment listed. They exploit you and your resources for their own self-centered purposes. They manipulate you by fear and guilt. And they lead you astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. What a horrible loss for you!

The best choice is to follow the one who is following Christ with sincere and pure devotion.

Following the One Who Is Following Christ

Paul emerges as the truly Spirit-led apostle. He was the one following Christ. That is the mark of a trustworthy teacher—following Christ more than your own preferences and more than the culture.

We all follow somebody. If you are a Christ follower, the practice of following Him well may be one of the greatest tests of your character. Are you living in self-sufficiency and boasting in your own success? Or are you living in God-dependency and boasting in what the Lord is doing in and through you? The answer to those test questions is revealed in how you respond to difficult situations like Paul described in the second half of 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

Response to Hardships, Suffering, and Pressure

Paul’s approach to ministry was to promote Christ, not himself. Because of the false apostles claiming to be servants of Christ yet denying Paul’s authority, Paul felt pressed to talk about his own life choices and experiences, especially hardships. These are evidences of the Lord Jesus’ commendation of his work and vindication of him as an apostle

I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:23-28)

As you read all that Paul had endured, did you go, “Oh, wow? My life is easy compared to that!”

Instead of citing all the things he had accomplished including ministry successes or honors that he had received from others, Paul boasted about things that others would consider defeats instead. He boasted about all the hardships he experienced up to that point in his life. That covered only the first 20 years of his ministry, not even what happened to him in Acts chapters 21-28 and beyond. Living life in the extremes had become such a part of Paul’s life following Christ.

Paul bragged about his hardships and his weaknesses compared to those false apostles who had risked nothing. He boasted about how much he depended on the Lord, magnifying the amazing grace of God which is sufficient for his every need. Jesus never failed him. Yet, Jesus allowed him to experience all that pain and suffering.

What is absolutely amazing is the number of times the Bible says that Paul is joyful and rejoicing during those extremes. Sure, I can be joyful when I have plenty of money, and I am really comfortable in life. But how do you live joyfully when the storms of life hit?

Releasing Your Expectation of Acceptable Outcomes

Joy requires release

When we go through such difficulties of life, we all have what we would consider acceptable outcomes. Years ago, I read a statement that stunned me. It just stopped me in my tracks. I have used it in my teaching ever since. And it fits so well here.

Joy requires us to release our expectation of what is an acceptable outcome. (Jenny Heckman, Just Between Us, Spring 2018, p. 44)

When we approach troubles with expectations of what we think are acceptable outcomes and then something else happens, our disappointment and anger can explode like geysers shooting out of the ground.

For a more complete discussion of this topic, read “Release Your Expectations of Acceptable Outcomes.”

It is okay to ask for specific answers to prayer. But we need to hold onto those expected answers with open fingers. We must release them to Jesus, and let Him decide what to do. That is releasing expectations.

We see in 2 Corinthians how Paul did that. This is what he wrote in chapter 5

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. (2 Corinthians 5:6-9)

Paul wanted to be with the Lord—whether in heaven or on earth did not matter. He wanted whatever the Lord wanted.

In chapter 11, he showed that he had released expectations of being protected from hardship. He was an official apostle. That was a big deal in Christ’s kingdom. As a servant of Christ, he might have expected protection.

I love what long-time seminary professor Dr. Tom Constable said about this,

[Paul] could maintain a truly joyful attitude, even in unpleasant circumstances, because he derived his joy from seeing God glorified—rather than from seeing himself exalted. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on Philippians 2024 Edition, p. 34)

He could rejoice at any one of God’s acceptable outcomes. You and I can choose to do that, too.

Recognize God’s goodness and rejoice

I heard Bible teacher Chuck Swindoll say this,

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. (Chuck Swindoll)

A God-honoring response to whatever happens to us would be to recognize God’s goodness on your adventure with Jesus even in the most painful times. When you release your expectation of acceptable outcomes, you can rejoice at what God has done or is going to do instead of complaining about what God did not do. It’s okay to ask for your heart’s desire. But leave the decision in His hand. Accept the outcome that He provides. In adversity, God can avert the trouble, deliver you from it, or allow you to suffer through it. Give Him the glory for whatever He chooses to do. That’s what Paul modeled for us throughout the book of 2 Corinthians and in his life of service to Christ.

For more about this, read the blog, “Experience God’s Goodness on the Adventure.”

Reactions reveal reality of Christ in our lives

Our reactions to those extremes, whether comfort or pain, reveal to those around us the reality of Jesus Christ in our lives. In fact, we discover more about our own hearts as we face the extremes of life—whether we will be faithful to Christ alone in the midst of what the world might consider “success” or “failure.” Our response to hardship, suffering, and pressure reveals whom we are following—ourselves, the world, the devil, or Christ.

Dear believer, make sure your responses show that you are following Christ and depending on Him while living life in the extremes.

That requires humility and trust. One of the best pictures of that is what Paul described at the end of chapter 11.

In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands. (2 Corinthians 11:32-33)

Paul was dependent on God to rescue him. God helps those who trust in Him. God used people to do His work. Paul could do nothing on his own except get in the basket, be quiet, and trust the rope holders. That is humility and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord.

Do you depend on God when everything else you try to do for yourself fails?

This is our saying to evaluate in this post, “Reasons why I depend on God: 1. Because everything else I tried to do for myself failed. The end.” True or false?

What is wrong with this saying? Not everything you try to do for yourself will fail. You may be very gifted at doing a lot of things. Depending on God will assure that you will do them His way which will make you more successful at doing anything good than you could do on your own.

Reasons Why God Wants Us to Depend on Him More Than on Ourselves

From our passage, here are some reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves:

• To keep us from being led astray by false teaching. (11:3)
• To help us recognize error in teaching. (11:4-5)
• To know the truth about God. (11:6)
• For financial support that enables us to share Christ and disciple others. (11:7-9)
• To show us those masquerading as His servants and release us from their grip. (11:13-15)
• To rescue us from danger. (11:23-27; 32-33)
• To help us handle the daily pressures of that which concerns us. (11:28)
• To teach us the value of boasting about the things that show our weakness and need for Him. (11:30) 
• To keep praising God in all our afflictions. (11:31)

In the next post, we will see that God’s grace is sufficient for every need.  

Let Jesus satisfy your heart with confidence that you can depend on Him. Then, live each day as a God-dependent woman!

All of the above information is covered in The God-Dependent Woman Bible Study of 2 Corinthians.

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