2 Corinthians 11:2

ζηλῶ γὰρ ὑμᾶς θεοῦ ζήλῳ. This explains the second half of 2 Corinthians 11:1 : because his feeling for them is of so lofty a character, he is sure that they will not refuse him toleration, however foolish they may think him. As the first half of 2 Corinthians 11:1 has been corrected by the second (ἀλλά), we must not refer the γάρ to the first half. The accent is on θεοῦ: ‘it is with a zeal of God that he is zealous over them.’ ‘Of God’ may mean, ‘which comes from God,’ or ‘which is on God’s behalf,’ i.e. to His glory, or ‘such as God has’ (Zechariah 1:14; Zechariah 8:2). In any case, it is no mere human passion which inspires the Apostle. Comp. εἰλικρινίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ (2 Corinthians 1:12). On ζηλῶ in the sense of ‘I take interest in’ see Lightfoot on Galatians 4:17 : but some understand it of jealousy in the literal sense. “What the Apostle now urges is that it is as natural for him to be jealous for the purity of the Church which owes its birth to him, as it is for a father to be jealous over the chastity of the daughter whom he has betrothed as to a kingly bridegroom” (Plumptre).

ἡρμοσάμην γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἑνὶ�. For I betrothed you to one husband. The betrothal of the Corinthians took place when S. Paul converted them; and as the friend of the Bridegroom he takes the keenest interest in the bride’s character. See ‘Bride’ and ‘Bridegroom’ in Hastings’ DB. and comp. Genesis 24. The verb occurs nowhere else in the N.T. In the LXX. it occurs Proverbs 19:14, παρὰ δὲ κυρίου ἁρμόζεται γυνὴ�. In classical Greek ἡρμοσάμην ὑμᾶς would mean ‘I betrothed myself to you,’ the active being used of betrothing another person to a spouse. But here ἑνί� places the meaning beyond doubt (see Winer, p. 323): προμνήστωρ ὑμων ἐγενόμην καὶ τοῦ γάμου μεσίτης (Theodoret). The ἑνί implies that she can have no such relations with any one else. There is probably no such definite idea as ‘the ἄλλος Ἰησοῦς whom the Judaizers preached.’

παρθένον ἁγνὴν παραστῆσαι τῷ χριστῷ. To present a pure (2 Corinthians 7:11; Philippians 4:8; 1 Timothy 5:22; James 3:17) virgin to the Christ, when the Lamb at His Return is married to the Church. At Christ’s first Advent John was the παρανύμφιος: in reference to the Second Advent S. Paul claims that office. In Ephesians 5:27 Christ is said to present the Church to Himself. Comp. Colossians 1:22; 1 Thessalonians 3:13. For παραστῆσαι Cyprian (Ep. lxxv. 14) has adsignare, the Vulgate exhibere.

Here again (see the last note on 2 Corinthians 10:17) it is evident that the Apostle is addressing the whole Church of Corinth. The theory that the first nine Chapter s are addressed to the loyal many, while these four severe Chapter s are for the disobedient few, is untenable. Was it the rebels that he specially betrothed to Christ? Comp. 2 Corinthians 11:8-9, and see note on 2 Corinthians 12:14-19.

2. What is the precise meaning of ἐθνάρχης here? In the Nabataean kingdom of Aretas, the government was by tribes, and in inscriptions in the Haurân ἐθνάρχης occurs of the head of a tribal district (Schürer, Studien und Kritiken, 1899, 95–99). The title was also used of Jewish governors in Palestine and Alexandria, and perhaps came to mean a viceroy who was somewhat higher than a tetrarch (1Ma 14:47; 1Ma 15:1-2; Joseph. B. J. II. vi. 3). Origen says that in his day the ethnarch in Palestine differed in nothing from a king.