A Pure Bride

 2 Corinthians 11:1-4

I am especially struck by the image of the church in this passage. Verse two says "For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin." (NASB) In our human relationships, purity is seen as something that must be preserved and protected, for once it is lost, it is gone forever. The church, however, is populated by people who were born impure and are purified and continue to be purified by the Holy Spirit by the power of the blood of Christ. 

Paul's concern here is that silver-tongued preachers of a different gospel have captured the imaginations of the church at Corinth. Though he spent a year and a half with them, grounding them in the one true gospel, they followed ideas that sounded good to them, but which represented a different message than the one Paul had presented. 

We, today, have an advantage over the folks at Corinth. We have the benefit of the collected writings of the church fathers in our Bibles. We can read, search, and meditate on scripture, comparing every message we hear against the word of God. The question is, do we take advantage of that. It should be plain to every believer that God spoke the truth in Isaiah 55:8 when He said, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord." (ESV) How could we ever see the world the way He sees the world if we do not spend time communing with Him every day in His word? How could we ever hope to protect ourselves from pleasant-sounding diversions from the truth?


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