ACC ~ 2 Corinthians 11 v12 - 15

OVERVIEW:

An angel of light is one who is free to speak because he stands close to God. This is what the devil pretends to be (CHRYSOSTOM, CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, AUGUSTINE). It is the devil’s custom to imitate the things of God (THEODORET OF CYR). The boast of the false apostles was that they received money. Paul’s reason for rejecting this practice was that he would not appear to be in any way like them (AMBROSIASTER). Nothing but the great mercy of God can save one from mistaking bad demons for good angels and false friends for true ones and from suffering the full damages of diabolical deception (AUGUSTINE).

11:12 | Undermining False Claims

HIS VULNERABILITY. CHRYSOSTOM: This was the point on which the false apostles evidently felt they could attack Paul, and so he had to refute them at such great length. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 23.6.

11:13 | False Apostles

ROBBING THE SOUL. CHRYSOSTOM: The false apostles looked good on the surface, but underneath they robbed the soul. Indeed, they took money as well, though they were careful to conceal that as much as possible. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 24.1.

11:14 | Even Satan Disguises Himself

AN ANGEL OF LIGHT. CHRYSOSTOM: An angel of light is one who is free to speak because he stands close to God. This is what the devil pretends to be. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 24.1.

ENSNARING SOULS. AUGUSTINE: These illusions are apparitions of that spirit who seeks to ensnare unhappy souls in the deceptive rites of a multitude of false gods and to turn them aside from the true worship of the true God, by whom alone they can be purified and healed. CITY OF GOD 10.10.

DIABOLICAL DECEPTION. AUGUSTINE: Satan sometimes transforms himself into an angel of light in order to test those who need testing or to deceive those who deserve deception. Nothing but the great mercy of God can save a man from mistaking bad demons for good angels and false friends for true ones and from suffering the full damages of this diabolical deception which is all the more deadly in that it is wily beyond words. CITY OF GOD 19.9.

DECENCY DEFORMED. AUGUSTINE: So powerful is the attraction of the virtue of purity that practically every human being is pleased to hear it praised, and no one is so sunk in depravity as to have lost all sense of decency. Hence, unless the malignity of the demons somewhere “transforms itself into an angel of light,” as we read in our Scripture, it cannot carry out its business of deception. CITY OF GOD 2.26.

ANGELS OF LIGHT, ANGELS OF DARKNESS. AUGUSTINE: As for the power of darkness, what is it but the power of the devil and his angels, who, after being angels of light, did not use their free will to stand in the truth but by falling from it became darkness? I am not teaching you this; I am advising you to call to mind what you know. So, the human race became subject to this power of darkness by the fall of the first man who was induced by that power to commit sin, and in him we have all fallen. LETTER 217, TO VITALIS.

THE GREAT MIMICS. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: Evil apes respectability, and tares do their best to look like wheat, but however close a similarity to wheat they have in appearance their taste completely undeceives the discerning. Even the devil “transforms himself into an angel of light,” not meaning to ascend again to his former place (for he possesses a heart as hard as an anvil and has no intention of repenting ever) but to snare those who are living the angelic life in blinding darkness and infest them with a condition of faithlessness. There are many wolves going about “in sheep’s clothing,” but though they wear the coats of sheep, they possess nonetheless both talons and teeth. They wrap themselves in the gentle creature’s hide and with this disguise deceive the innocent only to inject with their teeth the deadly poison of their irreligion. We therefore need the grace of God, a sober mind and watchful eyes, so as not to eat tares for wheat and come to harm for not knowing better; so as not to mistake the wolf for a sheep and be ravaged; and so as not to take the death-dealing devil for a good angel and be devoured. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 4.1.

DESERTING THE DOCTRINE OF HEAVEN. CYPRIAN: He invented heresies and schisms to undermine faith, pervert truth and break unity. Unable to keep us in the dark ways of former error, he draws us into a new maze of deceit. He snatches men away from the church itself and, just when they think they have drawn near to the light and escaped the night of the world, he plunges them unawares into a new darkness. Though they do not stand by the gospel and discipline and law of Christ, they call themselves Christians. Though they are walking in darkness, they think they are in the light, through the deceitful flattery of the adversary who, as the apostle said, transforms himself into an angel of light and adorns his ministers as ministers of righteousness. They call night day, death salvation, despair hope, perfidy faith, antichrist Christ, cunningly to frustrate truth by their lying show of truth. That is what happens, my brothers, when we do not return to the fount of truth, when we are not looking to the head and keeping the doctrine taught from heaven. THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 3.

11:15 | The End Corresponds to Deeds

TO DECEIVE. AMBROSIASTER: The servants of righteousness are the apostles, whose associates these people falsely pretended to be, so as to deceive their hearers. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

IMITATING THE THINGS OF GOD. THEODORET OF CYR: It is the devil’s custom to imitate the things of God. He sets up false prophets to oppose the true ones and assumes the form of an angel in order to deceive men. COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 344.