For such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.
Paul's rivals in Corinth were passing themselves off as apostles of Christ, and here he names them plainly. His three words — false, deceitful, disguised — raise the question every reader faces: how do you tell a real servant of Christ from a good copy?
Each word lands on a different part of the problem — their sending, their work, and their disguise:
They were false apostles, because they had never been sent by the Lord as the true apostles were. They were workers, true enough. But they were deceitful workers, since they turned themselves into what they were not. In this they shared the character of the one they served, and their end will match their deceitful works.
Up to this point Paul has been half-mocking, granting his rivals more than they deserve. Verse 13 changes the tone, and one writer explains why the words are so strong:
His ironical concessions are now replaced by direct and unsparing denunciation. These grand and all too convincing pretenders are no true shepherds. They are wolves in sheep's clothing. The strength of his language matches the seriousness of the evil he is opposing. Unreal claims are lies by their very nature; and no lie is of the truth — they all have the same parent, the devil. In every attack on the truth there is a power at work below the surface, and it is the office of the Spirit of truth to uncover it and strip off its mask. That Spirit glorifies Jesus.
These men looked impressive. Their claims ran high, and one thing was missing:
Complete wickedness can wear a religious dress. That is no wonder, since Satan himself takes the form of an angel of light, and his servants appear as ministers of righteousness. Notice the claims here: superior light and assumed righteousness. They are high, showy claims, but they leave out the cross of Christ, and so the pure grace of God. The whole thing becomes a hollow and deadly sham.
Paul had already told the Corinthians what these men preached. He could also see where it would end:
With Satan's own cunning, these men twisted the truth. They preached "another Jesus," "a different spirit," and "a different gospel" (v. 4). The Apostle also saw what was coming. If the churches put up with these evil workers, the Christian circle would lose its simple devotion to Christ. Believers' hearts would be pulled away from true loyalty to Christ. They would follow men who drew disciples after themselves to make themselves great (v. 20). So they pretended to be what they were not. They twisted the truth, corrupted the Christian profession, and lifted themselves up at the cost of others.
Paul's verdict was not a private opinion that others had to take on trust. Another assembly did the checking for itself, and the Lord commended it for doing so:
They tested the claim of some to be equal with the apostles. They tested it so well that every false claim showed up in the light of the signs that marked out the Lord's apostles (1 Cor. 9; 2 Cor. 11; 12). The word "tried" means tested, or put to the proof (2 Cor. 13:5; 1 John 4:1). "Have found them to be false." These men claimed apostolic office and authority on no ground at all. The test overturned that claim and branded the men themselves as liars — or, as Paul puts it, "false apostles."
Commentators trace this beginning forward. One sees in it the seed of an official class claiming authority without any real gift from Christ, and notes how the target shifted once Paul was gone:
The evil ways that soon produced a clergy class were already at work. That class did away even with any claim to gift from Christ, and leaned instead on the made-up claim of apostolic succession. Such men then opposed the apostle in person, as now they oppose his doctrine.
Another writer gives the practical test:
Our only hope of spotting these frauds is to look at what such movements actually do. Do the marks of the Word of God show up in their practice? If not, stay well away from them.
- Counterfeit. They were false, because the Lord never sent them. They were deceitful, because they made themselves into what they were not.
- Costume. The disguise was religious, not shocking: high claims to light and righteousness, with the cross of Christ left out.
- Cost. Left alone, the fake pulls hearts away from simple loyalty to Christ and ties them to men who are building a following of their own.
- Check. Test the claims. One church put men who called themselves apostles to the proof and found them false.
- Consequence. The costume does not decide the end. The end will match the works.
And [it is] not wonderful, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Paul has just called his rivals false apostles and traced their disguise back to Satan, who dresses himself as an angel of light. If the master can pose as light, his servants can pose as servants of righteousness — so how does that disguise work, and how does it end?
The disguise is not random. Satan takes the form of the very thing he wants to destroy, so the copy looks as much like the real thing as possible.
God is light, and Satan is His opposite; his power is the power of darkness, but his craft is the mimicry of light. To corrupt and destroy truth is his unceasing aim, and to do it he takes the form of the very thing he attacks. When Paul calls these false apostles "ministers of Satan," he describes them by the destructive nature of their influence in the church.
Paul's word for "servants" is the ordinary word for anyone who serves.
The Greek word is more often translated "minister" and "servant" than "deacon." It twice refers to Christ, Romans 15:8; Galatians 2:17. It is used of Paul and others, Colossians 1:7, 23, 25, and of magistrates, Romans 13:4. It is even used of Satan's agents, 2 Corinthians 11:15.
God's truth is holy, and God fits His servants to it. The enemy copies that fit.
The God of holiness is holy in His ways; and His instruments must match this in character. The truth itself is holy; and those who make it known must do so in a way that shows in their own lives and ways. Satan is the great opposer of truth. He shows his full knowledge of this when, as Paul says, he is transformed for his purpose into an angel of light. "Therefore," he goes on, "it is no small thing if his ministers also are transformed as the ministers of righteousness." Even he sees that the ways must morally suit the end.
The older wording quoted here, "transformed as the ministers of righteousness," is the ESV's "disguise themselves as servants of righteousness."
Loud claims to holiness often point the other way.
High, showy claims to personal holiness usually come from a certain kind of person. They offer to guide others in the way of peace, but they have no true knowledge of the grace of God themselves. They preach themselves and not the cross of Christ. So they deny God's righteousness while trying to set up their own.
The claims are high. The gap is at the centre.
Complete wickedness can be dressed in religious clothing. It is nothing to wonder at, since Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light, and his servants as ministers of righteousness. Notice, these are high, pretentious claims — superior light, and assumed righteousness. But they leave out the cross of Christ, and so the pure grace of God. The whole thing becomes a hollow and deadly sham.
The same gap shows in what these men serve to hungry people.
They appear as ministers of Christ, but they do not preach Christ. The world wants entertainment, so these men take up the art of entertaining. Even starving souls are caught for a time. They are like Nero. When Rome was starving, he sent to Egypt for shiploads of sand for the arena instead of grain for the hungry people.
Open bad behaviour will not always give them away. There is a better test: what the teaching does in a soul that is truly hungry for God.
Satan, when he comes in as an angel of light, does not send out open evil-doers to recommend his teaching. On the other hand, an evil life may dishonour a preacher of real truth. But a true and needy soul tests the fruit of what is spoken for itself. Such a soul will surely find that the truth has its own witness to the heart and conscience, such as nothing but the truth can have.
The verse does not stop at how these men look. Its last clause says where they are going.
They were false apostles, because they had never been sent by the Lord as the true apostles were. They were workers right enough, but deceitful ones, since they transformed themselves into what they were not. In this they shared the character of the one they served, and their end will match their deceitful works.
The damage did not stop with a few men in Corinth.
Copying their master, these false men covered up their evil with a show of good works, as if ministers of righteousness. These ministers of Satan stood against the true minister of Christ. In that we see the beginning of a vast system of corruption.
- Mimicry. Satan's craft is the imitation of light; he takes the form of the very thing he means to destroy.
- Mask. Satan picks righteousness as the costume because God's truth is holy. Loud claims to personal holiness make the best disguise.
- Missing. The cross of Christ, and with it the grace of God, is what the copy always leaves out — which makes the whole display hollow.
- Measure. Bad behaviour will not expose them; the test is whether their teaching carries truth's own witness to a needy heart and conscience.
- Match. The mask is temporary, the verdict is not: their end will match their deceitful works.