‘For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for even Satan fashions himself into an angel of light. It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.'
And they do this because they are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into the apostles of Christ.
Note that their falsehood lies in their claim to be ‘Apostles of Christ'. They are seeking supreme authority, and seeking to supplant him. But it was he to whom the Apostleship to the Gentiles had been granted, both by the Apostles and by God (Galatians 2:8; Romans 11:13; Acts 9:9; Acts 9:15-16). It is not that Paul seeks to prevent others labouring among the Gentiles. He stated himself that one sows and another waters (1 Corinthians 3:6-9), and he was delighted that Christ was preached even by those who were not in full accord with him (Philippians 1:18). But it was another thing when they claimed supreme authority and the right to take over the church.
They are false because they make false claims to be Apostles, they are deceitful because they back those false claims with spurious authority, and reveal it by their deceitful activities, and in the end they are only self-made ‘Apostles'. No one has appointed them as Apostles. They do not have the rights that they claim.
Given the unique status of the Twelve it is not surprising that men should seek such a privilege. The Apostles were the deposit of the truth. Those who sought self-glory would never be satisfied with less, even though it was patently not available. It was for those for whom it had been prepared in the same way as was authority under the Rule of God (Matthew 20:23; Mark 10:40). The church constantly had to reject such false claims (Revelation 2:2). And later the same sad state of affairs would result from the false application of the term ‘Bishop', which came to mean almost the equivalent of ‘Apostle', one who could make authoritative declarations. But these men who rejected Paul had taken their ‘sending forth' (apostello) by the Jerusalem church as more significant than it was. They had got above themselves. (Given its importance it is in fact quite remarkable how few did tend to make such claims for themselves).
But this should not surprise anyone, says Paul. For Satan too sets himself up as having false authority. He sets himself up as an angel of light in order to deceive. This was apparent when he came to Jesus after His baptism and sought to give Him ‘heavenly' guidance (Matthew 4:1-10; Luke 4:1-12 compare Matthew 16:23).
There is no real need therefore to turn to Jewish fables for an explanation although some suggest that he is drawing on a Jewish legend similar to what is later found in the Life of Adam and Eve 9:1, where Satan transforms himself into brightness as of angels and pretends to grieve with Eve, who sits weeping by the River Tigris, and in the Apocalypse of Moses 17:1-2, where Satan comes to Eve in the form of an angel at the time when the angels are going up to worship God and tempts her to eat of the fruit of the tree.
Paul often writes elsewhere about false teachers, but nowhere else does he speak of false apostles. Thus he is not here just calling them false teachers, even though he does make clear that their teaching also is deficient (2 Corinthians 11:4). They were not just conflicting with Paul's teaching. He could have dealt with that by doctrinal teaching as in Galatians. They were denying him any right to authority in the sphere to which he had been appointed. Thus he has to defend his authority.
‘It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness.' Just as Satan, ruler of the ‘power of darkness' (Colossians 1:13) presents himself as an angel of ‘light', so do his servants and ministers who are unjustified before God and unrighteous before men put on the shape of being ministers of righteousness. They act out a form of righteousness, a form of godliness without its power (2 Timothy 3:5). They are play actors acting out a scene so as to impress men.
‘Whose end shall be according to their works.' But note that their end will be in accordance with what they reveal themselves to be by their works. In the end all judgment is by works, because they finally reveal what a man is. It is just that the Christian has been cleansed from his evil works, has been covered with the works of Christ Who is made to us righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21), and begins a new life of righteousness evidenced in his works. Yet he too will in the end be justified by works, both the works of Christ imputed to him, and the resulting works he does in Christ (Matthew 12:37; James 2:21-25; Revelation 20:12). The former are the basis of his salvation, the latter the fruit.