2 Corinthianschapter 11
33 verses · Paul · about AD 56 · Paul's letters
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
Introduction
Paul, Paul's letters, 2 Corinthians Overview.
Paul wrote this chapter, with Timothy named beside him in the letter's first verse, to the church of God in Corinth and the saints throughout Achaia. It stands in the last part of the letter, where Paul answers rival teachers who had won the church's admiration. Here he does the thing he calls foolish, and boasts. Listen for how often he names it foolishness before he begins. Listen also for what he chooses to boast about, beatings and danger and hunger and a basket. Hear it as a lesson in how to measure a servant of Christ.
Context
- Who
- A congregation being won over by impressive newcomers with Jewish credentials and expensive manners.
- What
- Paul's reluctant boast, spoken as a fool, in answer to rivals who called themselves apostles and had won the Corinthians over.
- Where
- Written from Macedonia to the church at Corinth, recalling dangers met on journeys by land and sea and an escape from Damascus.
- When
- About AD 55 to 56, with the escape from Damascus in verses 32 and 33 recalled from the first years after Paul's conversion.
- Why
- To keep the church faithful to the Christ he had preached to them, and to show that the marks of a true servant of Christ are labour and suffering.
Historical context
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.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
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.
Significance
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.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The chapter also redefined credentials permanently. If boasting is required, he will boast of the things that show his weakness.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Another Jesus, Another Spirit, Another Gospel
2 Corinthians 11:1-2
bear with a little of my foolishness: Paul names the coming boast foolishness, aphrosyne, and gives its motive. His godly jealousy, zelos theou, is a father's, who promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:1
“Would to God - Greek, “I would” (Ὄφελον Ophelon). This expresses earnest desire, but in the Greek there is no appeal to God. The sense would be well expressed by “O that,” or “I earnestly wish.” Ye could bear with me - That you would bear patiently with me; that you would hear me patiently, and suffer me to speak of myself. In my folly - Folly in boasting. The idea seems to be, “I know that boasting is generally foolish, and that it is not to be indulged in.”
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
2 Corinthians 11:1
“He calls this folly, because too often it is really no better. In his case it was necessary; yet, seeing others might apprehend it to be folly in him, he desires them to bear with it. Note, As much against the grain as it is with a proud man to acknowledge his infirmities, so much is it against the grain with a humble man to speak in his own praise.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Corinthians 11:1
“Not as if he were a fool in glorying; for he was constrained to it by necessity, and besides, he restrained himself in such a manner, that no one could justly regard him as going beyond bounds; but as it is an unseemly thing to herald one's own praises, and a thing that is foreign to the inclinations of a modest man, he speaks by way of concession.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
I promised you to one husband: Paul speaks as the one who arranged the marriage. Adam Clarke compares the friends of the bridegroom in John 3:29, whose office was to keep the bride pure until she was presented.
2 Corinthians 11:2
“When also he (in a later passage) enjoins us "to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and blood" (since this substance enters not the kingdom of Gods ); when, again, he "espouses the church as a chaste virgin to Christ," a spouse to a spouse in very deed, an image cannot be combined and compared with what is opposed to the real nature the thing (with which it is compared).”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Marcion Book Vpatristic
3 more voices on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:2
“I am jealous over you, etc. - The apostle evidently alludes either to the שושבינים shoshabinim or paranymphs among the Hebrews, whose office is largely explained in the notes on Joh 3:29, and the observations at the end of that chapter (see note at Joh 3:36); or to the harmosyni, a sort of magistrates among the Lacedemonians who had the care of virgins, and whose business it was to see them well educated, kept pure, and properly prepared for married life.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Corinthians 11:2
“That on the other hand, is the only pious and right zeal, that has an eye to God, that he may not be defrauded of the honors that of right belong to him. For I have united you to one man. That his zeal was of such a nature, he proves from the design of his preaching, for its tendency was to join them to Christ in marriage, and retain them in connection with him.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
2 Corinthians 11:2
“What Paul here says he desires to do, namely, "present" the Church as "a chaste virgin" to Christ, Christ Himself is said to do in the fuller sense. Whatever ministers do effectively, is really done by Christ (Eph 5:27-32).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 Corinthians 11:3-4
just as Eve was deceived: Paul applies the deception of Genesis 3 to Corinth: just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, minds may be led astray. Haplotes, simplicity, is singleness of devotion, a bride's undivided loyalty drawn away by a smoother speaker.
2 Corinthians 11:3
“But I fear - Paul had just compared the church to a virgin, soon to be presented as a bride to the Redeemer. The mention of this seems to have suggested to him the fact that the first woman was deceived and led astray by the tempter, and that the same thing might occur in regard to the church which he was so desirous should be preserved pure.”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:3
“So your minds - We might therefore be tempted, even if there were no sin in us. Might be corrupted - Losing their virginal purity. From the simplicity that is in Christ - That simplicity which is lovingly intent on him alone, seeking no other person or thing.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 Corinthians 11:3
The same Greek stands for "minds" as for "thoughts" (2Co 10:5, also see on 2Co 10:5); intents of the will, or mind. The oldest manuscripts after "simplicity," add, "and the purity" or "chastity." in Christ--rather, "that is towards Christ."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed: Adam Clarke reads the verse as a test. A rival would need a Jesus able to save more fully, and a spirit richer in gifts than the Holy Spirit already given.
2 Corinthians 11:4
“For if he that cometh - The false apostle, who came after St. Paul had left Corinth. Preacheth another Jesus - Who can save more fully and more powerfully than that Jesus whom I have preached. Or if ye receive another spirit - And if in consequence of believing in this new saviour ye receive another spirit, the gifts, graces, and consolations of which are greater than those which ye have received from the Holy Ghost, which has been given to you on your believing on the Christ whom we preached.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Corinthians 11:5-6
in no way inferior to those: Super-apostles renders ton hyperlian apostolon, an ironic phrase that could name the original Twelve or the false teachers' own inflated title. The second fits, since Paul nowhere else speaks so slightingly of Peter, James or John.
2 Corinthians 11:5
“For I suppose ... - I think that I gave as good evidence that I was commissioned by God as the most eminent of the apostles. In the miracles which I performed; in the abundance of my labors, and in my success, I suppose that I did not fall behind any of them. If so, I ought to be regarded and treated as an apostle; and if so, then the false teachers should not be allowed to supplant me in your affections, or to seduce you from the doctrines which I have taught.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:5
“For--My claim is superior to that of the false teachers, "For," &c. I suppose--I reckon [ALFORD]. I was not--Greek, "That I have not been, and am not." the very chiefest apostles--James, Peter, and John, the witnesses of Christ's transfiguration and agony in Gethsemane.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
not a polished speaker: Paul grants the charge about his speech. Jerome says Paul was learned in Hebrew letters at the feet of Gamaliel but made little of Greek eloquence. In Jerome's account his preaching lay in the power of signs.
2 Corinthians 11:6
“But though I be rude in speech - Ιδιωτης τῳ λογῳ Though I speak like a common unlettered man, in plain unadorned phrase, studying none of the graces of eloquence; yet I am not unskilled in the most profound knowledge of God, of spiritual and eternal things, of the nature of the human soul, and the sound truths of the Gospel system: ye yourselves are witnesses of this, as in all these things I have been thoroughly manifested among you.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:6
“Paul was learned in Hebrew letters and sat at the feet of Gamaliel, whom he was not ashamed to acknowledge, but he showed a contempt for Greek eloquence, or at least he kept quiet about it because of his humility, so that his preaching lay not in the persuasiveness of his words but in the power of his signs.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Against Rufinus 1.17patristic
Satan Dresses as an Angel of Light
2 Corinthians 11:7-9
to humble myself in order to exalt you: The rivals apparently charged fees, yet Paul, who preached the gospel of God to you free of charge, is the one accused. Macedonian gifts covered his needs at Corinth, as Philippians 4:15-16 confirms.
2 Corinthians 11:7
“Have I committed an offence - Have I done wrong. Greek, “Have I committed a sin.” There is here a somewhat abrupt transition from the previous verse; and the connection is not very apparent. Perhaps the connection is this. “I admit my inferiority in regard to my manner of speaking. But this does not interfere with my full understanding of the doctrines which I preach, nor does it interfere with the numerous evidences which I have furnished that I am called to the office of an apostle. What then is the ground of offence? In what have I erred?”
I robbed other churches: Robbed is a strong word for gifts freely given. John Wesley calls it a military term, taking the spoils. Adam Clarke explains the word for support as the daily pay of a Roman soldier.
2 Corinthians 11:8
“I robbed other Churches - This part of the sentence is explained by the latter, taking wages to do you service. The word οψωνιον signifies the pay of money and provisions given daily to a Roman soldier. As if he had said: I received food and raiment, the bare necessaries of life, from other Churches while labouring for your salvation. Will you esteem this a crime?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I was not a burden to anyone: The word for burden is an unusual one. Albert Barnes explains it as lying like a dead weight on someone. He reports Jerome's view that it was a word of Paul's home province of Cilicia.
2 Corinthians 11:9
“And when I was present with you - When I was laboring in order to build up the church in Corinth. I was chargeable to no man - I was burdensome to no one; or more liter ally,” I did not lie as a dead weight upon you.” The word used here, which occurs nowhere else in the New Testament (κατενάρκησα katenarkēsa), means, literally, to become torpid against, that is, to the detriment of anyone; and hence, to be burdensome. According to Jerome, its use here is a Cilicism of Paul.”
2 Corinthians 11:10-12
the truth of Christ is in me: The false apostles apparently boasted of ministering on Paul's terms. By refusing pay he denies them the standing of those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals.
2 Corinthians 11:10
“As the truth of Christ is in me - Εστιν αληθεια Χριστου εν εμοι· The truth of Christ is in me. That is: I speak as becomes a Christian man, and as influenced by the Gospel of Christ. It is a solemn form of asseveration, if not to be considered in the sense of an oath. In the regions of Achaia - The whole of the Peloponnesus, or Morea, in which the city of Corinth stood. From this it appears that he had received no help from any of the other Churches in the whole of that district.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:10
“Greek, "There is (the) truth of Christ in me that," &c. (Ro 9:1). no man shall stop me of--The oldest manuscripts read, "This boasting shall not be shut (that is, stopped) as regards me." "Boasting is as it were personified . . . shall not have its mouth stopped as regards me" [ALFORD].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
God knows I do!: Refusing money could be read as refusing friendship. Matthew Henry notes that love and friendship are shown by giving and receiving, which is why Paul's refusal gave offence. John Chrysostom sees Paul acting in two opposite ways from one love, receiving from some churches and refusing to receive from Corinth.
those who want an opportunity: The rivals wanted Paul on their own footing. Adam Clarke reads them as men who took much from the church and would have been glad to see Paul take support too.
2 Corinthians 11:12
“But what I do, etc. - I act thus that I may cut off occasion of glorying, boasting, or calumniating from them - the false prophets and his partisans, who seek occasion - who would be glad that I should become chargeable to you, that it might in some sort vindicate them who exact much from you; for they bring you into bondage, and devour you, 2Co 11:20. Nothing could mortify these persons more than to find that the apostle did take nothing, and was resolved to take nothing; while they were fleecing the people.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:12
“Who desire any occasion - To censure me. That wherein they boast, they may be found even as we - They boasted of being "burdensome to no man." But it was a vain boast in them, though not in the apostle.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 Corinthians 11:13-15
false apostles, deceitful workers: Paul names the rivals false apostles, pseudapostoloi, a term used only here in the New Testament, whose disguise is apostleship itself. Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light, so it is no surprise if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.
2 Corinthians 11:13
“For--reason why he is unwilling they should be thought like him [BENGEL]. such--they and those like them. false apostles--those "overmuch apostles" (see on 2Co 11:5) are no apostles at all. deceitful workers--pretending to be "workmen" for the Lord, and really seeking their own gain.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light: Disguise is Satan's habit. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the verb as he transforms himself, and trace his first disguise to the tempting of Eve, as Clarke also does. Cyril of Jerusalem compares the disguise to tares that look like wheat until they are tasted.
2 Corinthians 11:14
“And no marvel - Και ου θαυμαστον· And no wonder; it need not surprise you what the disciples do, when you consider the character of the master. Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light - As in 2Co 11:3 the apostle had the history of the temptation and fall of man particularly in view, it is very likely that here he refers to the same thing.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:14
“But if you maintain that a transfiguration and a conversion amounts to the annihilation of any substance, then it follows that "Saul, when changed into another man," passed away from his own bodily substance; and that Satan himself, when "transformed into an angel of light," loses his own proper character.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On the Resurrection of the Fleshpatristic
Their end will correspond to their actions: The disguise lasts only until the end. Albert Barnes reads their end as their final destiny, fixed by their real character and works, since they cannot deceive God. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown set the righteousness these servants pretend to beside the light of verse 14.
2 Corinthians 11:15
“Therefore it is no great thing ... - It is not to be deemed surprising. You are not to wonder if people of the basest, blackest character put on the appearance of the greatest sanctity, and even become eminent as professed preachers of righteousness. Whose end shall be ... - Whose final destiny. Their doom in eternity shall not be according to their fair professions and plausible pretences, for they cannot deceive God; but shall be according to their real character, and their works. Their work is a work of deception, and they shall be judged according to that.”
Boasting Like a Fool: Whippings, Shipwrecks, and a Basket
2 Corinthians 11:16-18
Let no one take me for a fool: Paul enters the boast as a deliberate, ironic concession to Corinth's taste, since many are boasting according to the flesh. He stays in it only long enough to expose it, and sets it apart from ordinary apostolic speech.
2 Corinthians 11:16
“Let no man think me a fool - See the note on 2Co 11:1. As the apostle was now going to enter into a particular detail of his qualifications, natural, acquired, and spiritual; and particularly of his labors and sufferings; he thinks it necessary to introduce the discourse once more as he did 2Co 11:1.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:16
“The Greek denotes one who does not rightly use his mental powers; not having the idea of blame necessarily attached to it; one deceived by foolish vanities, yet boasting himself [TITTMANN], (2Co 11:17, 19). that I--The oldest manuscripts read, "that I, too," namely, as well as they, may boast myself.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
I am not speaking as the Lord would: Paul marks his boast as outside the Lord's manner. Albert Barnes thinks Paul more probably means he departs from the Lord's own example, since Christ never boasted.
2 Corinthians 11:17
“That which I speak - In praise of myself. I speak it not after the Lord - see the note on 1Co 7:12. The phrase here may mean either, I do not speak this by inspiration or claiming to be inspired by the Lord; or more probably it may mean, I do not speak this imitating the example of the Lord Jesus or strictly as becomes his follower. He was eminently modest, and never vaunted or boasted. And Paul probably means to say, “I do not in this profess to follow him entirely.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:17
“Therefore this passage gives no proof that any portion of Scripture is uninspired. It merely guards against his boasting being made a justification of boasting in general, which is not ordinarily "after the Lord," that is, consistent with Christian humility. foolishly--Greek, "in foolishness." confidence of boasting-- (2Co 9:4).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
boasting according to the flesh: means boasting of outward things. John Chrysostom lists them as high birth, wealth, wisdom, circumcision, Hebrew ancestry and popular renown.
2 Corinthians 11:18
“Seeing that many glory ... - The false teachers in Corinth. They boasted of their birth, rank, natural endowments, eloquence, etc.; see 2Co 11:22. Compare Php 3:3-4. I will glory also - I also will boast of my endowments, which though somewhat different yet pertain in the main to the “flesh” also; see 2Co 11:23 ff.”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:18
“Plainly, a Christian will "glory" even in the flesh; but (it will be) when it has endured laceration for Christ's sake, in order that the spirit may be crowned in it, not in order that it may draw the eyes and sighs of youths after it.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On the Apparel of Women Book IIpatristic
2 Corinthians 11:18
“But he would not glory in those things, though he had as much or more reason than others to do so. But he gloried in his infirmities, as he tells them afterwards.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Corinthians 11:19-21
you gladly tolerate fools: The irony sharpens into sarcasm: you gladly tolerate fools, since you are so wise. Corinth's wisdom proved gullible toward the false apostles, men who enslave, exploit and strike them in the face.
2 Corinthians 11:19
“For ye suffer fools gladly - You tolerate or endure those who are really fools. This is perhaps, says Dr. Bloomfield, the most sarcastic sentence ever penned by the apostle Paul. Its sense is, “You profess to be wondrous wise. And yet you who are so wise a people, freely tolerate those who are foolish in their boasting; who proclaim their own merits and attainments. You may allow me, therefore, to come in for my share, and boast also, and thus obtain your favor.” Or it may mean, “You are so profoundly wise as easily to see who are fools.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:19
“A plea why they should "bear with" (2Co 11:1) him in his folly, that is, boasting; ye are, in sooth, so "wise" (1Co 4:8, 10; Paul's real view of their wisdom was very different, 1Co 3:1-4) yourselves that ye can "bear with" the folly of others more complacently.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
strikes you in the face: The list describes what the rivals had done. John Chrysostom takes the word rendered exploits as proof that they took from the church in excess, both its money and its freedom.
2 Corinthians 11:20
“For ye suffer - As you are so meek and gentle as to submit to be brought into bondage, to have your property devoured, your goods taken away, yourselves laid in the dust, so that others may exalt themselves over you, yea, and will bear from those the most degrading indignity; then of course, you will bear with one who has never insulted, defrauded, devoured, taken of you, exalted himself against you, or offered you any kind of indignity; and who only wishes you to bear his confident boasting, concerning matters which he can substantiate.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:20
“Translate "brings," not "bring"; for the case is not merely a supposed case, but a case actually then occurring. Also "devours" (namely, by exactions, Mt 23:24; Ps 53:4), "takes," "exalts," "smites." take of you--So the Greek for "take" is used for "take away from" (Re 6:4).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
we were too weak for that!: The line is irony. Matthew Henry reads the second half as a fair claim, since a church that bore so much from the rivals could bear Paul's boldness.
2 Corinthians 11:21
“The "we" is emphatically contrasted with the false teachers who so oppressively displayed their power. I speak so as though WE had been weak when with you, because we did not show our power this way. Howbeit (we are not really weak; for), whereinsoever any is bold . . .”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 Corinthians 11:22-23
Are they Hebrews? So am I: Paul matches the false apostles' claims point for point: Hebrews, Israelites, descendants of Abraham. At the one place credentials matter, the service itself, he claims excess over equality: I am so much more.
2 Corinthians 11:22
“Are they Hebrews - Speaking the sacred language, and reading in the congregation from the Hebrew Scriptures? the same is my own language. Are they Israelites - Regularly descended from Jacob, and not from Esau? I am also one. Are they the seed of Abraham - Circumcised, and in the bond of the covenant? So am I. I am no proselyte, but I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews both by father and mother; and can trace my genealogy, through the tribe of Benjamin, up to the father of the faithful.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:22
“PAUL was proud of his extraction as a Jew. Taking this expression in its literal sense, I feel that he had much to be proud of. Judah's banner must not rank second among the nations. The nation of Israel is most ancient and most honorable. When as yet Greece and Rome were not known, God had brought forth His people out of Egypt "with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm," and had cast out Amorite and Perizzite to make room for the vine which He had brought out of Egypt.”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3091: “Pedigree” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
in more imprisonments: Paul turns from descent to service, and here he claims more than his rivals. Matthew Henry rests the claim on proofs the Corinthians had seen for themselves, since God had counted Paul faithful and put him into the ministry. The list that follows is his evidence.
2 Corinthians 11:23
“Paul was the apostle of the Gentiles, and for that reason was hated of the Jews. They did all they could against him; and among the Gentiles also he met with hard usage. Bonds and imprisonments were familiar to him; never was the most notorious malefactor more frequently in the hands of public justice than Paul was for righteousness' sake.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:23
“I speak as a fool--rather, as Greek, "I speak as if beside myself"; stronger than "as a fool." I am more--namely, in respect to the credentials and manifestations of my ministry, more faithful and self-denying; and richer in tokens of God's recognition of my ministry.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 Corinthians 11:24-25
the forty lashes minus one: Paul five times received the forty lashes minus one, the synagogue discipline of Deuteronomy 25:3, which Jewish practice stopped at thirty-nine against miscounting. These beatings appear nowhere in Acts, and he stayed within the community that inflicted them.
2 Corinthians 11:24
“Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. We have no account in the Acts of the Apostles, or elsewhere, of any one of these five scourgings, which the apostle underwent from the Jews; but there is no doubt to be made of them. The number of stripes he received at each time agrees with the traditions and customs of the Jews.”
3 more voices on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:24
“Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one - That is, he was five times scourged by the Jews, whose law (Deu 25:3) allowed forty stripes; but they, pretending to be lenient, and to act within the letter of the law, inflicted but thirty-nine. To except one stripe from the forty was a very ancient canon among the Jews, as we learn from Josephus, Antiq. lib. iv. ch. viii. sec. 21, who mentions the same thing: πληγας μιας λειπουσης τεσσαπακοντα· forty stripes, excepting one. The Mishna gives this as a rule, Mish., Maccoth, fol.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Corinthians 11:24
“Five times I received from the Jews forty stripes save one - Which was the utmost that the law allowed. With the Roman he sometimes pleaded his privilege as a Roman; but from the Jews he suffered all things.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 Corinthians 11:24
“De 25:3 ordained that not more than forty stripes should be inflicted To avoid exceeding this number, they gave one short of it: thirteen strokes with a treble lash [BENGEL]. This is one of those minute agreements with Jewish usage, which a forger would have not been likely to observe.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Three times I was beaten with rods: Rods were a Roman punishment. John Gill and Albert Barnes note that Acts records only one such beating before this letter, at Philippi.
2 Corinthians 11:25
“Thrice was I beaten with rods,.... Or "wands", by the Romans; for this was a Roman punishment, distinct from scourging with cords used by the Jews. There is mention made but of one time only that he was so beaten, elsewhere, and that is in Act 16:22 which was at Philippi; but that he was so many times beaten in this way, there is no room to doubt: once was I stoned.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:25
“Thrice was I beaten with rods - In the Acts of the Apostles there is mention made of his being beaten in this manner but once before the time when this Epistle was written. That occurred at Philippi; Act 16:22-23. But there is no reason to doubt that it was more frequently done. This was a frequent mode of punishment among the ancient nations, and as Paul was often persecuted, he would be naturally subjected to this shameful punishment. Once I was stoned - This was the usual mode of punishment among the Jews for blasphemy.”
2 Corinthians 11:26-27
in danger from rivers: Constant travel opens a list of dangers, from rivers and from bandits, on the sea and among false brothers. The last lands hardest, placed at the end with no qualifier, betrayal from within ranked with shipwreck and robbery.
2 Corinthians 11:26
“In journeyings often - He means the particular journeys which he took to different places, for the purpose of propagating the Gospel. In perils of waters - Exposed to great dangers in crossing rivers; for of rivers the original, ποταμων, must be understood. Of robbers - Judea itself, and perhaps every other country, was grievously infested by banditti of this kind; and no doubt the apostle in his frequent peregrinations was often attacked, but, being poor and having nothing to lose, he passed unhurt, though not without great danger.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
often without food: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the pairs as causes and results, hunger and thirst following from going without food, and cold from too little clothing. Albert Barnes explains toil as wearisome effort. John Chrysostom sees labours and perils following one upon another without a pause for breath.
2 Corinthians 11:27
“In weariness - Resulting from traveling, exposure, labor, and want. The word κόπος kopos (from κόπτω koptō, “to beat, to cut”) means, properly, “wailing and grief,” accompanied with beating the breast. Hence, the word means “toil, labor, wearisome effort.” And painfulness - This word (μόχθος mochthos) is a stronger term than the former.”
2 Corinthians 11:28-29
my concern for all the churches: After the physical sufferings Paul names a heavier burden, the pressure of my concern for all the churches, epistasis, carried daily. In asking who is weak, and I am not weak, he takes every struggling believer's weakness as his own.
2 Corinthians 11:28
But the oldest manuscripts for "that which cometh," read, "the pressure": "the pressing care-taking" or "inspection that is upon me daily." ALFORD translates, "Omitting what is BESIDES"; namely, those other trials besides those recounted. But the Vulgate, ESTIUS, and BENGEL, support English Version. the care--The Greek implies, "my anxious solicitude for all the churches."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:28
“He mentions this last, as if this lay the heaviest upon him, and as if he could better bear all the persecutions of his enemies than the scandals that were to be found in the churches he had the oversight of. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Corinthians 11:28
“Beside those things that are without - Independently of all these outward things, I have innumerable troubles and mental oppressions. Which cometh upon me - Ἡ επισυατασις· This continual press of business; this insurrection of cases to be heard, solved, and determined, relative to the doctrine, discipline, state, persecution, and supply of all the Churches.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Who is weak, and I am not weak?: Paul feels each believer's trouble as his own. John Chrysostom notes the force of burn, a grief like fire, which he counts greater than anything Paul has listed before it. Cyprian quoted the verse to his people as he grieved with them over brothers who had lapsed.
2 Corinthians 11:29
“Who is weak ... - I sympathize with all. I feel where others feel, and their sorrows excite deep sympathetic emotions in my bosom. Like a tender and compassionate friend I am affected when I see others in circumstances of distress. The word “weak” here may refer to any lack of strength, any infirmity or feebleness arising either from body or mind. It may include all who were feeble by persecution or by disease; or it may refer to the weak in faith and doubtful about their duty (see 1Co 9:22), and to those who were burdened with mental sorrows.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:29
“Who - So he had not only the care of the churches, but of every person therein. Is weak, and I am not weak - By sympathy, as well as by condescension. Who is offended - Hindered in, or turned out of, the good way.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 Corinthians 11:30-31
the things that show my weakness: The boast promised at verse 1 reaches its true content: I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The line is the hinge to the thorn passage of chapter 12, where glory is found in weakness.
2 Corinthians 11:30
“I will glory - which concern mine infirmities - I will not boast of my natural or acquired powers; neither in what God has done by me; but rather in what I have suffered for him.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:30
“In the last two verses , he mentions one particular part of his sufferings out of its place, as if he had forgotten it before, or because the deliverance God wrought for him was most remarkable; namely, the danger he was in at Damascus, soon after he was converted, and not settled in Christianity, at least in the ministry and apostleship.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
knows that I am not lying: Paul calls God to witness. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown refer the oath forward to the escape from Damascus, an old event with few human witnesses.
2 Corinthians 11:31
“The God and Father ... - Paul was accustomed to make solemn appeals to God for the truth of what he said, especially when it was likely to be called in question; see 2Co 11:10; compare Rom 9:1. The solemn appeal which he here makes to God is made in view of what he had just said of his sufferings, not of what follows - for there was nothing in the occurrence at Damascus that demanded so solemn an appeal to God.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:31
“This solemn asseveration refers to what follows. The persecution at Damascus was one of the first and greatest, and having no human witness of it to adduce to the Corinthians, as being a fact that happened long before and was known to few, he appeals to God for its truth.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 Corinthians 11:32-33
the governor under King Aretas: The chapter closes with the escape from Damascus of Acts 9:23-25, when the governor under King Aretas secured the city. Aretas IV of Nabatea held the city in the years around Paul's conversion, one of the few fixed points for his early chronology.
2 Corinthians 11:32
“The governor under Aretas - King of Arabia and Syria of which Damascus was a chief city, willing to oblige the Jews, kept the city - Setting guards at all the gates day and night.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
2 Corinthians 11:32
“In Damascus the governor under Aretas - For a description of Damascus see the note on Act 9:2. And for the transaction to which the apostle refers see Act 9:23. As to King Aretas, there were three of this name. The first is mentioned 2 Maccabeans Act 9:8. The second by Josephus, Antiq. l. xiii. c. 15, sec. 2; and l. xvi. c. 1, sec.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Corinthians 11:32
“In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king,.... Aretas or Al-Hareth was a king of Arabia, of the family of the Gassanii; among whom were many of this name (r); and who for some hundreds of years ruled over Syria, of which Damascus was the metropolis. The fourth king of that family was of this name, and perhaps is the person here meant; and after him there were four more of the same family so called; it was a name of Arabian kings in other families.”
lowered in a basket through a window: The list of dangers ends with an escape in a basket. John Chrysostom reads it as Paul preserving himself for the preaching, willing to use ordinary means when the occasion called for them.
2 Corinthians 11:33
“And through a window - That is, through a little door or aperture in the wall; perhaps something like an embrasure, that might have been large enough to allow a man to pass through it. Luke says Act 9:25 that they let him down “by the wall.” But there is no inconsistency. They doubtless first passed him through the embrasure or loop-hole in the wall, and then let him down gently by the side of it. Luke does not say it was over the top of the wall, but merely that he descended by the wall.”
How this psalm is built
The form: Paul's own praises, entered upon only after much correction of himself beforehand, as Chrysostom classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The catalogue of hardships | Verses 23 to 27 list Paul's sufferings, some counted exactly: five times the forty lashes minus one, three times beaten with rods, once stoned, three times shipwrecked, a night and a day in the open sea. Verse 26 says in danger four times and names eight dangers, and verse 27 adds labour and toil, sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, going without food, cold and exposure. John Chrysostom notes that Paul numbers only the trials that were few enough to count, and leaves the rest unnumbered because he had suffered them so often.John Chrysostom, Homily 25 on 2 Corinthians, on 2 Corinthians 11:28. | 2 Corinthians 11:23, 2 Corinthians 11:24, 2 Corinthians 11:25, 2 Corinthians 11:26, 2 Corinthians 11:27 |
| The fool's boast named in advance | Fool or foolishness stands in verses 1, 16, 17, 19 and 21, twice in verse 16, and verse 23 adds I am speaking like I am out of my mind. Some form of boast comes nine times in the chapter. John Chrysostom gathers these warnings together and reads them as Paul drawing back and correcting himself before every step of his own praise.John Chrysostom, Homily 25 on 2 Corinthians, on 2 Corinthians 11:21. | 2 Corinthians 11:1, 2 Corinthians 11:16, 2 Corinthians 11:17, 2 Corinthians 11:21, 2 Corinthians 11:23 |
| So am I | Verse 22 asks three questions of the same shape and answers each with So am I. Verse 23 asks a fourth and breaks the pattern, answering I am so much more. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the three names in order, Hebrews of language and nation, Israelites of descent from Israel, and descendants of Abraham of a share in the Messiah.Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on 2 Corinthians 11:22. | 2 Corinthians 11:22, 2 Corinthians 11:23 |
| Eve and the serpent | Verse 3 names Eve deceived by the serpent's cunning, from Genesis 3. Verse 14 says that Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. Adam Clarke holds that Paul still has the history of the temptation in view at verse 14, as he had at verse 3.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, on 2 Corinthians 11:14. | 2 Corinthians 11:3, 2 Corinthians 11:14 |
How the chapter is built
7 more paragraphs on the patterns
Verses 1 to 6 give Paul's jealousy for the church, his fear that it will be led astray, and his claim to be no less than the super-apostles. Verses 7 to 15 defend his preaching free of charge and name the rivals as false apostles. Verses 16 to 21 set up the fool's boast. Verses 22 to 29 give it, first his descent and then his labours, sufferings and care for the churches. Verses 30 to 33 turn to boasting in weakness, ending with the escape from Damascus.
Where it stands in the letter
Chapter 10 set the rule that the one who boasts should boast in the Lord, and warned the rivals who commended themselves. Chapter 11 carries out the boast that chapter 10 prepared, under the name of foolishness. Chapter 12 goes on with visions and revelations and the thorn in the flesh, where the boast in weakness reaches its point.
The debated reading: the super-apostles
John Chrysostom reads verse 5 as Paul comparing himself with Peter and the rest of the apostles (Homily 23 on 2 Corinthians, on 2 Corinthians 11:5), and Albert Barnes and Adam Clarke also take it of the most eminent of the true apostles (Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, on 2 Corinthians 11:5, and Commentary on the Bible, on 2 Corinthians 11:5). Jamieson, Fausset and Brown name James, Peter and John at verse 5, and yet at verse 13 they call the overmuch apostles of verse 5 no apostles at all (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on 2 Corinthians 11:5 and 11:13).
The debated reading: the oath of verse 31
Albert Barnes refers the oath back to the sufferings already listed (Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, on 2 Corinthians 11:31). Jamieson, Fausset and Brown refer it forward to the escape from Damascus, an event long past with no human witness Paul could call (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on 2 Corinthians 11:31), and John Chrysostom gives the same reason (Homily 25 on 2 Corinthians, on 2 Corinthians 11:31).
Keep studying
Studies10
Places1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, on 2 Corinthians 11:16; John Calvin, Commentaries, on 2 Corinthians 11:1 and John Chrysostom, Homily 23 on 2 Corinthians, on 2 Corinthians 11:1.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Augustine of Hippo, LETTER 228, To Honoratus; Charles Hodge, An Exposition of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians; Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor Book 1; Cyprian, Epistle XI; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 4:1; Frederic Godet, Commentary on the Epistles to the Corinthians; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Against Rufinus 1.17; John Chrysostom; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women Book II.