Discernment

2 Corinthians 4. Here Paul continues to defend his apostleship as he condemns those who twist God's Word. As often the case, the very thing these Corinthians were guilty of [twisting God's Word], they were accusing Paul of. But Paul exposes their craftiness and defends his ministry by saying "we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord..." (v.5). Paul says in verse two that "he had renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully..." That word "craftiness" comes from the Greek word "panourgia", a compound word that comes from two root words "pas" [pan] which means "all" and "ergon" which means "work" yielding the meaning "capable of all work" or as Aristotle viewed it, "an unprincipled [capability] to do anything." That is the false teacher. He will do anything, go to any extent, stoop to any level needed to manipulate error, to make something look like truth and thereby deliberately mislead folks from the truth.
Many false teachers today claim to base their doctrine on the Word of God, but false teachers handle God's Word in deceptive ways. You can prove anything by the Bible, provided you twist the Scriptures out of context and make it say what you want it to say. That's what the false teachers and preachers do. And tragically, and almost daily, so-called Christians books hit the shelves--books that do not handle the Scripture rightly, but twist it to say what the writer wants it to say.
Our challenge: Be Careful! Be Discerning! Be like the Bereans in Acts 17:11 and search the Scriptures daily so that you can discern the truth. We need to investigate, question, scrutinize, and sift through every aspect of what is being taught and written. And we do so by using the Word of God. So my friends, be careful, be discerning and "study to show thyself approved." (2Tim.2:15).