(11) For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. (5) For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. (6) But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things. (7) Have I committed an offense in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? (8) I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service. (9) And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself. (10) As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. (11) Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth. (12) But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. (13) For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. (14) And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (15) Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
In the opening of this paragraph, in which, Paul speaks of one coming, and preaching another Jesus, or another Spirit, or Gospel, to which he adds, ye might well bear with him; the meaning at first sight, doth not seem so clear to be understood, In the margin of the Bible, the words bear with him, are rendered bear with me. And certain it is, that neither the one, nor the other, him, or me, are in the original. But it should seem, that as the Apostle was complaining of their late unkindness to his person, and the jealousy he felt, lest they should be led away, from his ministry; he put the issue of judgment upon this point: that if there was a preacher, that could hold forth another Jesus, more divine, more lovely? more powerful to save; and more easy of access, to commit their souls into his hands for Salvation, and happiness, than Paul had shewed them: or another Holy Ghost, more lovely and loving, more effectual to regenerate their fallen nature, and to lead them more effectually to Christ: or, in short, another Gospel, which contained more glad tidings, than he had preached; there might be a cause for suspending their attention to him. The Apostle stated the argument in this manner, by way of making it, the more manifest to their own hearts, how very weak, and childish it must have been in them, to pause for a moment over the reception of such a Gospel as he had brought for them, in proclaiming God's Christ, and God's Spirit, in all the fulness of grace, mercy, and salvation.
I pause, at what the Apostle saith concerning the transformation of Satan into an angel of light, to make a short observation, which may not be improper, Satan hath no power, to act as an angel of light; for by his apostacy, he is become an angel of darkness, Jude 1:6. But in his temptations, as in his first lie to Eve, he put on the appearance of meaning good, when the most desperate evil he intended; so in all his after temptations on our nature, his devilish sagacity will assume sometimes the most specious appearances of light, like the shining bogs of the earth, to decoy the incautious traveler into utter darkness; when his whole design is ruin, and destruction, And the Apostle explains what he saith in allusion to Satan, by exemplifying it in the conduct of his ministers. Who more zealous, more apparently earnest for the divine glory, than those who hold forth the importance of a good life, as they call it? What volumes upon volumes have been published, and sermons upon sermons preached, in insisting upon good works, as among the means of salvation? What multitudes of studied compositions have been, still are, and must continue to be, as long as men untaught and unsent of God, minister in holy things, sent forth into the world, which like the heathen moralist descant upon the loveliness of virtue, and recommend men to follow after it in order to obtain the favor of God? And indeed, if such preachers of virtue and moral goodness, as they call it, had hearers of pure and virtuous hearts, able to the performance; (though even in this case, it would be totally, foreign to the Gospel of Christ;) there would be nothing cruel or offensive in such preaching and doctrine. But when it be considered, that all men are guilty, sinful, and stand, condemned before God; that none of the sons, or daughters of Adam, have any power of themselves to any one act of goodness; such Preachers are like the Physicians Job speaks of: forgers of lies, and physicians of no value, Job 13:4. How different are all such to Paul's preaching. And I brethren, (said he), when I came unto you declaring the testimony of God; determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified: 1 Corinthians 2:1-2. This was Paul's Gospel. And elsewhere he saith: If any man preach any other gospel, let him be accursed, Galatians 1:9.