2nd Corinthians Lesson 2

Introduction

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Listen to Lesson Audio:

---

Lesson Transcript

Introduction and Class Updates

Welcome to lesson two of our series of lessons on 2 Corinthians. If you missed last week, we began looking at the second letter to the Corinthians, and we had an introductory class, which we’re going to continue with tonight. Let me mention that these are being recorded, and if you have any interest in getting any of those recordings, let me know, and I can see that you get those.

Also, we mentioned last week that we had done three lessons in our introduction of 1 Corinthians, and those have also been recorded. I’m certainly not going to repeat all of that for the second letter. Much of it is still applicable.

I mentioned last week we’re going to be talking about what the theme of this letter is. And when we get to that in a moment, I’m going to be asking for your thoughts on what the theme of 2 Corinthians is. So I hope you’ve spent some time this week thinking about that.

Next week, I will be out of town, and we will have a guest speaker. My dad, Jess Hall, will be speaking next week, and I think the introduction will continue through that week as well.

Why Was 2 Corinthians Written?

Let’s continue with what we were looking at when class ended last week, and that is the question, why was 2 Corinthians written? Last week we mentioned that the problem was that certain false teachers, who in fact claimed to be apostles, so they were really false apostles, had infiltrated the ranks of the Corinthian church.

And in promoting their own claims, they had gone out of their way to discredit the Apostle Paul and to call into question the genuineness of his apostleship. In fact, they were suggesting that Paul is just kind of brave from a distance, they would say. He writes impressive letters, but when he shows up in person, they said he’s not impressive at all. And so we shouldn’t pay attention to what he says.

In fact, they seem to have even argued that Paul was not really worth listening to because he didn’t accept payment from his listeners. So, you know, you get what you pay for, I’m sure they would say. And if he’s not charging anything, I guess he’s not worth much.

And they even seem to have suggested that Paul may have been lining his own pockets with the collection for the saints. And that may even explain why the collection for Jerusalem had slowed down a bit, which we’ll get to later in the letter.

The False Apostles’ Accusations

I’m sure they were asking: you know, if Paul’s for real, then why does he suffer so much? If God’s on his side? And why is his ministry so lackluster compared to all the wonderful things that we are doing? And why is his preaching so dull when we’re all so exciting and have such a wonderful message?

And in fact, they would say, why did he change his travel plan? Which is a question he’ll deal with in this letter. If God’s directing everything in his life, why is he changing his travel plans? They ask.

And why isn’t he accepting payment for his services as most preachers did? Is he really collecting money for the poor? Where is he getting his money? I’m sure they were slyly suggesting. And why doesn’t Paul have these letters of recommendation like we do? Maybe there aren’t any letters of recommendation.

You can just kind of see them asking these questions and trying to undermine Paul’s authority and his apostleship. That’s really the problem here in 2 Corinthians that nearly the entirety of this book deals with, this letter deals with.

Paul’s Response Strategy

Paul is going to remind the Corinthians of something they already knew, they already knew this, but in contrast to these pretend apostles, Paul’s apostleship was one of continuous suffering, he’s going to remind them, and continuous self-denial. And in fact, Paul will tell them that it’s in this weakness, in fact, that the power and the grace of God will be magnified.

Jesus had spoken to Paul about this very issue, and we’ll see that when we get to chapter 12, verse 9. “For my strength is made perfect in weakness,” Jesus will say to Paul. In fact, in verse 13, verse 4, we’ll see, “for though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God.”

So that’s why Paul is so focused on the weakness and that issue because they’re accusing him of weakness. And they’re saying, we’re strong, Paul’s weak, you should listen to us instead of listening to Paul.

And Paul will also ask them some questions. Had any of these false apostles spoken personally with Jesus as Paul had? Had any of these false apostles received a special revelation from Jesus, as Paul had? Had any of these false apostles been caught up to the third heaven to hear unspeakable words, as Paul had? And we’ll see that in chapter twelve.

Paul had earlier told the Corinthians that he could come to them with a rod. He said that in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 21, and chapter 13, verse 2 of this letter. Paul writes, “If I come again, I will not spare,” he says. These false apostles seem to have mistaken weakness for meekness. And that’s a very common mistake, not only with Paul.

These false apostles were why 2 Corinthians was written. So perhaps we owe them that, if nothing else. That if it hadn’t been for these false apostles, we might not have had 2 Corinthians. And we talked last week about what a wonderful, beautiful, powerful letter that is. Perhaps if there’s anything positive to say about heresy, that’s it. Although Paul gave us something else positive to say about heresy, if you look in the first letter, chapter 11, verse 19.

So that’s why we have 2 Corinthians, because of those false apostles.

Who Were the False Apostles?

Who were those false apostles? Who were they? Much ink has been spilled trying to answer that question. Here are some of the proposals that I read about in commentaries:

• Wandering Jewish preachers

• Jewish Christian Gnostics

• Pneumatic Libertine Gnostics

⠀Let me pause for a moment on that one. The pneumatics in Gnosticism was the highest order of Gnostic. It was the highest order you could reach. So that was one proposal: that these were the ultra-ultra-gnostics.

• Another possibility was Alexandrian syncretistic Antinomian pneumatics. Syncretistic, that’s the fusion of different things. In fact, Gnosticism was a syncretistic religion. Antinomian was the view that Christians are released by grace from all moral law. Paul dealt with that in the book of Romans.

• Another possibility was Hellenistic Jewish Christians

• Non-Judaizing Jewish Christians

• Conservative Hebrew pneumatics from Jerusalem

• Jewish Christian nationalists representing the Judaizing wing of Palestinian Christianity

⠀Could go on and on and on. They are way overcomplicating this question with all those answers.

A Simpler Answer from the Text

I think we can answer this question without going down those rabbit trails. We can instead look at the text itself to answer the question of who were these false teachers. What does the text say about them?

Well, we know they were deceitful, chapter 11, verse 13. We know they falsely transformed themselves into apostles of Christ, same verse, 11:13. They falsely transformed themselves into ministers of righteousness, chapter 11, verse 15.

They were focused on outward appearance, chapter 10, verse 7. They criticized Paul’s appearance, chapter 10, verse 10. They criticized Paul’s speaking ability, chapter 10, verse 10.

They compared themselves with each other, they commended each other, chapter 10, verse 12. They preached another Jesus. They preached another Spirit. They preached another gospel, chapter 11, verse 4.

They criticized Paul for not accepting money, chapter 11, verse 7. They gloried after the flesh, chapter 11, verse 18. They brought people into bondage. They devoured people. They took from people. They smote people, chapter 11, verse 20.

Professional Speakers and Sophists

Who is being described here? Do you remember the professional speakers we talked about all the way back in our introduction to 1 Corinthians, and we talked about them at the beginning of the letter of 1 Corinthians? Those professional orators that went around, the traveling speakers. I think that’s who we’re looking at here. I think they’re the false apostles.

They’re the ones who got paid for speaking and who tried to have these competitions with other speakers and drum up a bigger audience. These professional sophists spoke for a living. They were powerful speakers. That’s how they made their living. They could take any side of an argument and speak on it with seeming conviction. No lawyer jokes, please.

The Greek word sophia means wisdom. It denotes someone skilled or educated in rhetoric. We get our word sophisticated from that word. It usually denoted a public speaker, a traveling speaker, who would come into town and try to start a school to educate the children of the elite class. And this public speaking is how he advertised his skills to the parents. And he would then seek out private lessons and he would get paid for that.

There were tremendous competitions between these supposed wise men related to their reputations, their ability to attract students. And they would speak down about the others because they wanted people to come to them instead of to others.

How the Conflict Developed

Well, when they started talking bad about Paul, how do you think the Corinthians initially responded? Well, they probably started off by saying, well, you know, that’s not what Paul said. Or they may have said, Well, what, you want us to pay you? Paul didn’t charge us anything.

And then, how do you think those professional speakers responded? They then attacked Paul, didn’t they? They said, Well, Paul doesn’t charge you anything because he doesn’t really care anything about you. And in fact, he’s been stealing from the treasury. That’s why he’s not getting money that way. And Paul’s not a good speaker like I am, so why should you listen to him?

You can just see them turning their attack on Paul as soon as Paul’s name was brought up to them in response.

The Best Description: Peddlers of God’s Word

I think the verse in chapter 2, verse 17, is probably the best description of these false apostles. Chapter 2, verse 17. Here’s what the King James says: “For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ.”

I think the English Standard Version is much better on that verse. Here’s how it reads: “For we are not like so many peddlers of God’s word.” The Greek word translated peddler there means huckster, huckster.

They were treating the word of God like a commodity that could be bought and could be sold. They were adulterating it. They were corrupting it. That’s what the word connotes. They were turning it into a product, and they were doing everything they could to make that product as appealing as they could to their audience.

Parallel in Romans

You know, I think another description of these hucksters in 2 Corinthians is found not in 2 Corinthians, in fact, not in 1 Corinthians, but in Romans. Romans chapter 16, verses 17 and 18.

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. For they are such that serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. And by good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple.”

Well, why is it that I think that’s a description of the Corinthian false apostles? This is a letter to the Romans. Because Romans was written from the city of Corinth. In fact, it was written during Paul’s third visit before he went on to Jerusalem. You see that in Romans 15, verse 25, which means Romans was written shortly after Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, and while he was in Corinth dealing with this problem. I think he’s also warning the Roman Christians about the same problem.

Modern Parallels

Does any of this sound familiar as I go through what these false teachers are like? Yes, this letter is addressing a very modern problem, isn’t it? The TV preacher, the TV evangelist, right? The Joel Olsteens of this world.

You don’t have to look very far today to find peddlers of the Word of God, do you? They will take any doctrinal position so long as the crowds keep coming. Yes, they’re powerful speakers, but they’re not powerful in the Word of God, are they?

They’re selling a product. And when you’re selling a product, the one to whom you’re selling it are your what? Your customers. And the customer is always right. And you’ll do anything to keep the customer happy, won’t you? So instead of trying to change that customer, you’ll change that message to suit that customer and that customer’s tickling ears.

This problem hadn’t gone anywhere. We’ve got it all around us, don’t we?

Jewish Background

Finally, notice that these false apostles appear to have been Jewish. We see that, for example, in chapter 11, verse 22. “Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they of the seed of Abraham? So am I.” They were Jewish.

Should that surprise us? No, not at all. It’s true many and perhaps most of these professional speakers were Gentiles, but there were certainly Jewish sophists around. In fact, the Jewish sophist may have been particularly drawn to the Christians and to the church to kind of prey on them and to attack Paul.

Well, do we have any examples in the Bible, perhaps even in Corinth, of powerful Jewish speakers? Yes, Apollos. Apollos. Acts 18, verse 24. “An eloquent man, competent in the scriptures.” Now Apollos used his eloquence for right. He used it in the right way. But you can be sure there were many like Apollos in speaking ability who used their abilities for the wrong purposes. And I think that’s the sort of person, the opposite of Apollos, that in fact we see here as these false apostles.

What Is the Theme of 2 Corinthians?

Well, that brings us to the next question, and that is: what is the theme of 2 Corinthians? Now, I’d ask everybody to kind of read through the letter this week. In fact, that’s a really good thing to do every week as we study this letter, because we’re going to start inching through it shortly, verse by verse by verse by verse.

And as you inch through it verse by verse, it’s sometimes easy to kind of miss the big picture of what the thrust of the book and the thrust of an entire chapter is. And the best way to keep that going is to read it on your own outside of class.

So, any suggestions on what the theme of 2 Corinthians is? Here’s one of those rare moments of class participation.

Class Responses

Student 1: “Two parts of it. Two parts of it. One is Paul’s ministry that he is substantiating his purpose, and the other is the vindication of his apostle. And then in the middle of that is talking about stewardship and giving that he’s collecting from the saints to—”

Teacher: “Excellent. So giving and collecting in the middle, also a vindication of his own ministry, plus a representation of what he had taught and what he had told them in the first letter. All good points?”

Brother Andrew: “It’s kind of different from 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians seem to be practical and instructional.”

Teacher: “Yeah, that’s good. That First Corinthians is more instructional, Second Corinthians is more autobiographical. In fact, I think Second Corinthians is the most autobiographical book about by Paul, certainly in the Bible. Any other suggestions on the theme?”

Proposed Themes

Well, a lot have been suggested by commentaries. One that comes up a lot is suffering. And in fact, we don’t find one, but in fact, we find two separate lists of Paul’s hardships and suffering in this one letter. We find a list in chapter six starting in verse 4, and we find another list in chapter 11, starting in verse 23. We find a lot about suffering in this letter. One commentary described this letter as the source of Paul’s most definitive discussion on suffering in the Christian life.

So certainly that’s a candidate for the theme of the book. And as for suffering, just think for a moment about what Paul suffered. What he endured when the Corinthian Christians turned their backs on him in favor of these false apostles, as many, not all, but many of them did.

You know, have we suffered in the church due to disagreements and due to splits and due to controversies? Well, if so, we’re not alone. Look at what Paul suffered. And in fact, we’ve never suffered over anything the way Paul was suffering here.

And in fact, if you’ve never suffered over something that’s happened in the church, you may just need to ask yourself how important the church is to you. Because we suffer over what we love, don’t we? And if we don’t suffer over the problems facing the church, then maybe we need to ask ourselves if we love the church as we should. We know how much Jesus loves the church. Should we love it any less?

Other themes that have been proposed by commentaries include generosity, which is one that was mentioned, the Trinity, there’s a lot in here about that, glory, reconciliation. And I think each of these and the others that were mentioned here tonight certainly have a place in this letter.

The Primary Theme: Strength Through Weakness

But if I had to choose the primary theme of this letter, I would give one that hasn’t been mentioned yet. In my opinion, the theme of Second Corinthians that runs from beginning to end is the theme of strength through weakness. Strength through weakness.

That thread runs throughout this letter, and in fact, that thread alone, in my view, is enough to tell us that this book is not a hodgepodge of separate letters that have been glued together. There’s a continuous theme that runs from the beginning to the end of 2 Corinthians.

If you look in chapter 1, verse 5, “for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth in Christ.” Chapter 2, verses 13 and 14. “I had no rest in my spirit, but now thanks be unto God, which causes us to triumph in Christ.” And it goes on, chapter 3, verse 5, chapter 4, verse 7, chapter 4, verse 16, chapter 5, verse 1, chapter 6, verse 10. Chapter 7, verses 5 and 6. Chapter 10, verses 17 and 18. Chapter 11, verse 30. Chapter 12, verse 5. Chapter 12, verse 9. Chapter 13, verse 4: “For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God.”

That theme runs throughout this letter: strength from weakness.

The Key Verse

And in fact, the theme of 2 Corinthians, I think, is pretty easy to spot if you happen to have a red-letter edition of the Bible. Because it’s the only text colored red in this entire letter. And you see it in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9. It’s Christ speaking to Paul, “for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”

My strength is made perfect in weakness. When we get to chapter 12 later in our study and start studying about Paul’s thorn in the flesh, we need to keep in mind that that thorn is inextricably linked with the theme of this letter, strength through weakness.

Paul had been accused of weakness by the false apostles. And rather than argue the point, Paul embraced it. He embraced it. Yes, Paul was weak, and God was at work in that weakness. That weakness was the source of Paul’s strength.

In fact, as Paul writes in chapter 13, verse 4, which we’ve quoted, Jesus was crucified through weakness, yet liveth by the power of God. To reject Paul, and his apostleship, because Paul had suffered and appeared to be weak, was to reject the entire gospel. Because the gospel message is strength through weakness.

Is 2 Corinthians a Single Letter?

Is 2 Corinthians a single letter, or is it a combination of separate letters? That’s something that I said we’d come back to. I would like to talk about that briefly. It’s a very hotly debated issue in commentaries today.

It had never really been questioned up until our modern times. Before modern age, people took for granted it was a single unified letter, but now it’s become very fashionable to question that as well as question many other things.

The Modern Theory

In fact, a very commonly held view today is that the final four chapters are not really part of the first chapters, but they’re a separate letter. In fact, they think it was a letter written before the first nine chapters, and they, in fact, many of them identify it with what’s called the severe or the sorrowful letter that’s mentioned in chapter 2, verse 3. And then somehow they’ve been, it was misplaced and then glued to the end, and on and on they go.

Examining the Arguments

And they have a number of arguments. They say, oh, look, there’s a really abrupt change in tone when you get to chapter 10, so that means it must be a separate letter. Look, I mean, you’ve read it. The tone does not change that abruptly at all. In fact, there is a change in tone, but it’s not abrupt. In fact, you’re certainly prepared for it by the time you get to chapter 10, you kind of know what’s coming, right? You know what’s coming when Paul’s heading down the path toward chapter 10.

The tone doesn’t really change that much either as you read it. I just think that’s a really poor argument on their part. Let’s assume there is a change of tone. Someone writing a letter can’t change the tone when they change to a different topic? I mean, that whole argument seems to go away.

You know, another thing that they point to. Let me find it here. I’m skipping around a bit. Is that they say, you know, Paul had a lot of severe things to say in chapters 10 through 13, but they say, and that’s a totally different spirit than we find of Paul in chapters 1 through 9.

But again, that’s not at all what we find in chapters 1 through 9. When we look at chapters 1 through 9, what we find, and in fact, is Paul talking to the same church, the same group, but he’s focused more on those who had come back, who had repented, who had returned to him in the first nine chapters. I think when he gets to chapter 10, he starts focusing more on those who were still in the false apostles’ camp.

Addressing the “Inconsistencies”

Some also look at these final chapters and they say, look, there’s some logical inconsistencies, they say, between the final four chapters and the first nine chapters. Okay, well I’m thinking if that were true, we’d have a lot bigger problem than just the fact that the chapters are out of place. That would also question inspiration. But of course, there are no inconsistencies, and the examples they give, again, really don’t make much sense.

One they point to, for example, is in chapter 1, verse 24, where Paul writes, “For by faith ye stand.” And then when he gets to chapter 13, verse 5, he says, “Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith.” And they say, well, look, there’s an inconsistency. That means these aren’t the same letter.

You know, we know what that means. We know that’s in perfect harmony. Back in chapter 1, Paul is talking to the entire group there, and he’s telling them that they’re standing by faith. It’s the same message in Romans. They’re saved through faith. That’s the message of chapter 1. And then when he gets to chapter 13, he’s asking them individually to look at themselves to see if, in fact, they’re living up to that ideal in chapter 1. And the other examples are similar to that.

In fact, in 1 Corinthians, Paul started off in a similar way in verse 4 of chapter 1, where Paul said, “I thank my God always on your behalf.” And you can certainly remember all the problems that Paul proceeded to deal with in 1 Corinthians. So, this is kind of a common way that he starts off.

More Weak Arguments

Some also argue that there are statements in chapters 10 through 13 that refer back to things that are referred back to in chapters 1 through 9. In other words, chapters 1 through 9 are referring back to things that they say happened earlier in chapter 10. And they give an example of that.

They say, well, look in chapter 12, verse 16. Paul says, “Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.” And then you go back to chapter 4, verse 2, he says, “I don’t walk in craftiness.” And some commentaries say, oh, well, look right there. That means that Paul wrote chapter 12, and then that created a false impression, and then later he corrected that false impression with chapter 4.

You know, when I read something like that in a commentary, I just have to stop and wonder: have they ever read the letter? I mean, did they ever actually sit down and read it before they decided to write a book about it? Because if you read the letter of 2 Corinthians, you would see immediately how ridiculous that argument is.

Because when we get to chapter 12, what Paul is doing is he’s deliberately echoing the things that have been said against him. That he’s a crafty person, that he’s dishonest, etc., etc., and he’s turning that back on the Corinthians so that they will see how false those charges are.

There in chapter 12, they apparently had said Paul was crafty, and so Paul says, Yeah, yeah, I’m so crafty, that’s how I taught you about Christ. Well, the Corinthians knew how Paul had come to them and taught them about Christ. So that would make them think: well, yeah, Paul was not crafty. He’s not like these false apostles. That’s the purpose of chapter 12. Paul did not walk in craftiness, as he says in chapter 4. And the Corinthians well knew that. And the other examples these commentaries gave have similar explanations.

Why These Arguments?

Why do so many people argue that 2 Corinthians is not a unified letter? I mean, we could spend two or three weeks going over that question. Just using the notes I’ve skipped tonight, we could spend two or three weeks going over that. But why do so many people make that argument? Let’s ask that question.

2 Corinthians is not the only letter where they make such arguments. Commentaries argue that other letters are a patchwork of separate letters, some of which they argue were written years after the fact, some of which they argue were not written by the authors who are ascribed in Scripture to the various letters.

As with arguments against 2 Corinthians, most of these arguments against these other letters are also of recent origin. Recent origin. Prior to recent times, very few questioned the authenticity of the New Testament letters. Why now?

Well, we could certainly point to many possible reasons, but one reason stands out to me. Our graduate educational system promotes novelty. As it should when someone is making his or her name as a researcher. But that quest for novelty often leads to wild and outlandish theories, particularly when it comes to texts like this, that have been commented upon for 2,000 years.

If you’re going to try to dream up something new, it sometimes leads to very wild, outlandish theories. If they were careful, they could find novel areas of research in the Bible because the Bible is an inexhaustible source of wisdom. The deeper we dig, the more wisdom we will find. But they don’t do that. They don’t dig. They’re not careful. And instead, they spin out wild theories with little support, with mountains of evidence to the contrary, and they call it scholarship.

Now let me add that as someone who, between going to college and teaching in college, was in college for 18 years, I’m not against higher education. In fact, I was 36 before I had a year without a spring break. And let me tell you, that’s a difficult transition. But scholarship comes with responsibility, and a great deal of false teaching has started its life out by first being dreamed up inside a university. I think that’s a lot of what we’re seeing with these wild, crazy theories about books like 2 Corinthians.

Lessons About False Teachers

Let me say something else in closing here, and that is these false teachers had a game plan. They had a strategy. And I think we can learn a great deal about that as we study 2 Corinthians. How did they operate? Because how they operated in 2 Corinthians has not changed much in the intervening 2,000 years.

Their Strategy: Attack Authority

For starters, they attacked authority. Here it was the authority of the Apostle Paul, but today it could just as easily be the authority of the elders or the authority of Scripture, the authority of Christ. To build up their own authority, they first sought to tear down the credibility, the authorities of those who stood in their way. That has not changed.

Twin Motivations: Money and Sex

We also see here in Corinth, I think, the twin motivations that so often accompany false religions today, and that’s money and sex. These false apostles were peddling the Word of God for money, and they were falsely suggesting that Paul had his own hand in the collection plate, which suggests to me that they may have been trying to distract people from the people from those who really had their hand in the collection plate.

Also, much of the trouble here perhaps stemmed from Paul’s commands in the first letter about the man living with his father’s wife. A lot of commentary suggests that may have been very intimately bound up with the problems here, and that may have suggested that a lot of this false teaching dealt with libertinism in the sexual area. And we talked about that as some of the proposals for who these false teachers were earlier.

And that kind of teaching would have taken hold very, very quickly in the city of Corinth. Because we know what those people were like and had been like, because in the first letter, chapter 6, Paul would list off the sins, and he said, “Such were some of you.” And these false teachers were trying to drag them back into that evil.

Their Message Was Different

I think we also see something about these false teachers that should have been clear, but sadly was not then and often is not now, and that is their message was different. Their message was different. Paul summarizes the situation in chapters 11, verse 4. They taught a different spirit, they taught a different gospel, they taught a different Christ. It was different from what Paul had taught, what Paul had taught.

And if that test sounds simple, it is, because it is simple. That’s how you test for false teaching. You compare it with the Word of God. Isn’t that what Paul said in the immediately preceding verse, chapter 11, verse 3? “But I fear lest by any means as a serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the what? From the simplicity that is in Christ.”

If the situation is complicated, it’s because we’ve made it so.

Being Forewarned

To be forewarned is to be forearmed, and Paul will also talk about that in this letter, chapter 2, verse 11, “lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.” We need to make sure we can also say that, that we’re not ignorant of his devices.

Those devices haven’t changed, if much, if any, from what we see here in this letter. Satan thrives on confusion, he thrives on lies. So we have to focus on clarity and we have to focus on truth. And the only sure and certain source of clarity and truth is the Word of God. The sword of the spirit, Ephesians 6, verse 17.

Conclusion

Next week, we’ll continue on with our introduction with a guest speaker, and then when I come back, Lord willing, in two weeks, we’ll start off with verse 1. Thank you so much for your attention. Let’s end with a closing prayer.