Manipulation vs. Humility

Listen to our friend Mo tell how Paul embraced true prosperity instead of manipulation.

Paul wrote to the church in Corinth to express his concern. False doctrine had infiltrated the church. The false teachers hoodwinked the congregation with their polished appearances and professional debate skills. Paul compared the church’s acceptance of this superficial appeal to Eve’s acceptance of Satan’s deception in the garden:

But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed (2 Corinthians 11:3–4 NLT).

Paul contrasted the fanciful manipulation of the boastful false teachers by reminding the church that even though he wasn’t a great speaker, he knew and served the humble King Jesus. It was the good news of Jesus that he spoke to them. And then, quite memorably, Paul boasted in his true prosperity—his weakness. He boasted in the sufficiency of God’s grace and the perfect power of God that was undeniable in Paul’s weakness. Paul begged the church not to fall for the deceit of the flashy false teachers but to remember their Savior, Jesus, who was crucified in weakness but lives by the power of God.

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If you'd like to read more about Paul's time in Corinth and how he responded to the Corinthians' tendency to be manipulated by false teachers after he left, take a look at Acts 18:1–18 and 2 Corinthians 11–13.

For more stories about true prosperity, visit https://africaonmission.org/pearl/