Reading… and Thinking

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. 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 11:3-4 (NIV)

Possibly the most dangerous philosophy of recent years is the thought that there is no such thing as absolute truth. Everything is “perception”, and no one’s perception is any more valid than another’s. A few years ago, high school and college students were surveyed about the holocaust—the slaughter of 6 million Jews by Hitler’s government. A large number of people declared that “it is impossible to know” if it actually happened. Even more thought that it was impossible to declare that Hitler was morally wrong—he simply had a different set of standards.

If you are tuned in to it, you will see this philosophy often in your daily life. Many believe that, not only are there no absolute standards of right and wrong, there is nothing that can be considered “true” in an objective sense. Pilate’s famous question, “What is truth?” reflects the same philosophy that we can never really know what’s true.

The first century Christians were confronted with something of the same problem. There were apostles, and there were “apostles”. Some taught the truth, and others taught other things. More than one Jesus was being preached. More than one “holy spirit” was at work in the congregations, and more than one hope was being offered. The situation hasn’t changed, of course. There are still multiple versions of Jesus out there, still multiple “spirits” that are purportedly from God, and many different hopes offered.

Paul’s point is that only one Jesus is the true one. There’s only one Spirit from the living God. Only one gospel of salvation. All else is false, and cannot save. I can’t think of a message more appropriate in the time we’re living in.

Paul went on to talk about those who preach these other things: “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 Cor 11:13-15)

The motivation for such masquerading isn’t directly mentioned in this passage, but it’s clear elsewhere that there are two problems. First, a lot of people want to be “somebody”, and will go to amazing lengths to make a splash. And second, sometimes people get confused and are simply misled. In either case, it can be a real problem to distinguish the true from the false, because of the masquerade.

What does Paul mean by saying, “Satan masquerades as an angel of light”? Just that our hearts are deceitful, that is, self deceitful (see Jeremiah 17:9). People can build elaborate justifications for what they do. And because those who serve Satan (sin, falsehood) in this way convince themselves, they can convince others that they are actually servants of righteousness.

But we can avoid being taken in. We have the written Word of God. It can be twisted, as Peter says (2 Pet 3:16)—and as you’ve witnessed if you’ve ever talked with those who preach a different Jesus and a different gospel. But the Word is powerful, able to instruct in truth. (See 2 Timothy 3:13-17) An honest, seeking mind will find truth there—that’s a promise.

So we really must ask ourselves: have I been taken in by a false Jesus, a false hope? Of course we all say, “No way!” But how can we be sure? Only by investigation of the Word! The only truth is what the Bible teaches—not what anyone else has to say. So we must, really must, dig in to the Bible to learn from it, no matter how convincing and right-sounding our human (fallible) teachers are.