2 Corinthianschapter 11
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Speaks with:2 Corinthians 11×52 Corinthians 12×5Galatians 1×41 Corinthians 9×3Philippians 4×3Romans 9×3
Summary
Chapter summary
Paul, in the folly of necessity, boasts. I have espoused you to one husband, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ. I am jealous over you with godly jealousy. The false apostles. Ministers of Satan transformed as angels of light. Paul rehearses his sufferings. Stripes, prisons, shipwrecks, perils, weariness, painfulness. For the gospel's sake. If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. Wesley reads the chapter as the apostle's reluctant self-defense, crowned by weakness.
Context
Epistle · Paul — 2 Corinthians overview
- A. 1–6 Another Jesus, Another Spirit, Another Gospel
- B. 7–15 Satan Dresses as an Angel of Light
- C. 16–33 Boasting Like a Fool: Whippings, Shipwrecks, and a Basket
The outline
A.Another Jesus, Another Spirit, Another Gospelvv. 1 to 6
Read vv. 1 to 6 →B.Satan Dresses as an Angel of Lightvv. 7 to 15
Read vv. 7 to 15 →C.Boasting Like a Fool: Whippings, Shipwrecks, and a Basketvv. 16 to 33
Read vv. 16 to 33 →
The world behind this chapter
2 Corinthians 11The history
The rivals claim Hebrew descent, Israelite standing, and Abrahamic ancestry — Paul matches each claim item by item. They also, unlike him, accepted support from the Corinthians, and that is the sore point. In a patronage culture, taking money established a relationship of honour; Paul's refusal was read as evidence that he did not value them, or that he knew he was worth nothing.
His answer is stinging. He robbed other churches, taking wages from them, to serve Corinth free of charge, and brothers from Macedonia supplied his needs. The poorer province paid for the richer one's apostle.
The hardship catalogue here is the most detailed we have of his life: five times the thirty-nine lashes, three beatings with rods, a stoning, three shipwrecks, a night and a day adrift, danger from rivers, robbers, his own people, Gentiles, false brothers. Most of these episodes appear nowhere in Acts.
He ends it with the least heroic story he owns: lowered in a basket through a window in the wall at Damascus to escape the governor under King Aretas. Roman soldiers competed for a crown awarded to the first man over an enemy wall; Paul boasts about going down one in a basket.
What it meant to them
For the Corinthians, the warning underneath the sarcasm was serious. He feared their minds would be led astray from a sincere devotion to Christ as Eve was deceived, and he named the danger plainly: another Jesus, a different spirit, a different gospel.
The chapter also redefined credentials permanently. If boasting is required, he will boast of the things that show his weakness.
Sources cited
- F. F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free
- Bruce W. Winter, After Paul Left Corinth
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on 2 Corinthians 11. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.