I hope you will put up with a little more of my foolishness. Please bear with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. 3 But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. 4 You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed. NLT

Some people are charmed by novelty and are forever seeking it out. But ”different” is not always better – or true! A sure way to have your heart stolen away is by opening your mind to ”different” teaching that does not tally with what the Bible actually says. God’s Word must always be the touchstone whereby we test all things. The difference may be subtle. On occasions we may simply ‘smell’ that something is awry, without being able to put our finger on what is wrong – at least not initially.

‘The problem is that they are talking glibly about Jesus; they are claiming the power of the spirit; they are enthusiastic about the gospel – but there is a subtle and all important difference between their Jesus, their gospel, and the true one. The true Jesus was the one who suffered unspeakably. The true spirit is the one who groans within the suffering of the world (Romans 8.18-27). The true gospel is the message of the crucified Lord. And the teachers who have come to Corinth after Paul left have been quietly toning down this hard, rough edge of the gospel. It doesn’t fit with their social and cultural aspirations. It doesn’t sound so good in terms of rhetorical style. In particular, it doesn’t give them the reputation and status they are hoping for. If you really believe in the suffering Messiah, and pattern your life accordingly, they think, you might end up looking like…yes. Like Paul. And that’s what they don’t want.’ Tom Wright.