Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Corinthians 11:13

οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι ψευδαπόστολοι, ἐργάται δόλιοι. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers. The γάρ implies some such thought as, ‘I am justified in saying these severe things, for people of that kind (Romans 16:18) are most dangerous deceivers.’ No doubt οἱ τοιοῦτοι is subject, and the rest are predicates; yet the Vulgate adds ψευδαπόστολοι to the subject; nam ejusmodi pseudoapostoli sunt operarii subdoli; and Luther adds ἐργ. δόλιοι also to the subject; denn solche falsche Apostel und trügliche Arbeiter verstellen sich zu Christi Aposteln. Comp. ψευδόχριστοι καὶ ψευδοπροφῆται (Matthew 24:24; Mark 13:22), and ψευδάδελφοι (2 Corinthians 11:26); also τοὺς φάσκοντας εἶναι� (Revelation 2:2). They were δόλιοι in pretending to work for Christ, when they worked for their own ends (2 Corinthians 2:17). The adjective is frequent in Psalms and Proverbs and elsewhere in the LXX., but occurs nowhere else in the N.T. In classical Greek it is mostly poetical. With the asyndeton comp. 2 Corinthians 8:23.

μετασχηματιζόμενοι εἰς�. Fashioning themselves into Apostles of Christ. A less real change is meant than that which is implied by μεταμορφοῦσθαι (2 Corinthians 3:18), the word used of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:2; Mark 9:2), and of moral change (Romans 12:2). ‘Transform’ is too strong, and there is no article before ἀποστόλους: see on 2 Corinthians 2:16. For μετασχηματίζειν comp. 1 Corinthians 4:6 and Philippians 3:21; see Lightfoot’s detached note on Philippians 2:7; also Trench, Syn. § LXX.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Corinthians 11:13

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