2 Corinthians 11:1-17. St Paul's Defence of himself against his accusers 1. _Would to God_ The words -to God" are not in the original. _bear with me a little in my folly_ i.e. the folly of boasting, which (ch. 2 Corinthians 10:8; 2 Corinthians 11:16-18; 2 Corinthians 12:11) the Apostle regards as... [ Continue Reading ]
_with godly jealousy_ Literally, WITH A JEALOUSY OF GOD, i.e. either (1) which comes from Him, or (2) which is pleasing in His sight, or (3) as Chrysostom, with the jealousy with which God is jealous, or (4) with a jealousy for God "like that of the paranymph," Estius (see next note). The literal re... [ Continue Reading ]
_as the serpent beguiled Eve_ The Church, as a second Eve, is espoused to Christ, the new Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45). She must beware lest, like Eve, she listen to the voice of the same tempter, who ever lieth in wait to deceive, and so lose the privileges she was destined to enjoy. See ch. 2 Corint... [ Continue Reading ]
_he that cometh_ This shews that the false teachers came from elsewhere, whence they brought their corruptions. Chrysostom. Cf. Acts 15:1; Acts 15:24; Galatians 2:4; Galatians 2:12. Otherwise, says Olshausen, they would have been excommunicated. _another Jesus_ The word is not the same as that tran... [ Continue Reading ]
_For I suppose_ The connection of thought seems to be as above. If they had been preaching another Gospel, you might have borne with them, but when preaching the same Gospel they can arrogate no superiority over me, for I am on an equality with the very highest. _I was not a whit behind_ Rather, I... [ Continue Reading ]
_But though I be rude in speech_ The word (see note on 1 Corinthians 14:16, and cf. Acts 4:13; 1Co 1:17; 1 Corinthians 2:1; 1Co 2:4; 1 Corinthians 2:13, and ch. 2 Corinthians 10:10) signifies one not specially instructed in an art. "It does not mean one who is not eloquent, but one who has not learn... [ Continue Reading ]
_Have I committed an offence_ Literally, COMMITTED SIN (_don sinne_, Wiclif. _Did I therein synne_? Tyndale, Cranmer and the Geneva version). This passage is ironical. The Corinthians had allowed St Paul's anxious desire not to be burdensome to them to be used against him (see 1 Corinthians 9:1-14).... [ Continue Reading ]
_I robbed other churches_ "An hyperbolical expression" (Meyer). And yet in one sense it was true, for the Corinthians were just as much bound to support the Apostle when at Corinth as any other Churches were when the Apostle was with them. And, therefore, if when at Corinth he availed himself of ass... [ Continue Reading ]
_and wanted_ Rather, WAS IN WANT. The same word is used in 2 Corinthians 11:5. See note on 1 Corinthians 1:6. _I was chargeable to no man Greuous_, Tyndale. Our translation is Cranmer's (though Wiclif's is almost identical, - _chargeous_"). The Geneva version is nearer to the original, _I was not sl... [ Continue Reading ]
_As the truth of Christ is in me_ Rather, THE TRUTHE OF CRIST IS IN ME (Wiclif, whom the Geneva and Rheims versions follow here) or _if the truth_(Tyndale and Cranmer). "There is no oath" (Dean Alford, who refers to Romans 9:1). "The mind of Christ is in him (1 Corinthians 2:16), the heart of Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore? because I love you not_?] See 2 Corinthians 11:7 and note. The same ironical tone is adopted. -Can you suppose that _this_is a proof of my indifference towards you?" And then the Apostle suddenly becomes serious, and appeals to God who knows the heart.... [ Continue Reading ]
_occasion_ See ch. 2 Corinthians 5:12. _that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we_ These words seem to imply that the Corinthian false teachers did _not_accept money or maintenance for their services. But then it is difficult to see how they could have made that very practice an argument... [ Continue Reading ]
_For such_ The link of connection is as follows. You cannot believe them in their boasting. They are false and deceitful in all their doings. They have not _your_interest at heart, but their own. Cf. ch. 2 Corinthians 2:17. _false apostles_ See Revelation 2:2; also note on 2 Corinthians 11:26. _dec... [ Continue Reading ]
_And no marvel No wondre_, Wiclif, where we may remark that the older English expression has held its ground against the French equivalent. _Satan himself is transformed_ Cf. ch. 2 Corinthians 2:11. Not that he is _really_so transformed, but that he appears to be so, to those who judge -according to... [ Continue Reading ]
_whose end shall be according to their works_ Cf. Proverbs 24:12; Matthew 16:27; Romans 2:6-11; 1 Corinthians 3:8; Philippians 3:19; 2 Timothy 4:14; Revelation 20:12, &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I say again_ Cf. ch. 2Co 10:8, 2 Corinthians 11:1; 2 Corinthians 11:6. "Three times he has attempted to begin his boast. First he is interrupted by the recollection of the hollowness of the boast of his opponents: again, he is checked by the difficulty of pressing it on men so perverted by the infl... [ Continue Reading ]
_not after the Lord_ i.e. (1) according to the example of the Lord; see for similar forms of expression 1 Corinthians 3:3; 1Co 15:32; 2 Corinthians 1:17; 2 Corinthians 10:3 (in the Greek); or (2) not _inspired by the Lord_(cf. 1Co 7:12; 1 Corinthians 7:25; 1 Corinthians 7:40). "There are many things... [ Continue Reading ]
St Paul permits himself to enumerate his labours for the Gospel's sake 18. _after the flesh_ See note on _after the Lord_, and Philippians 3:4. Also note on ch. 2 Corinthians 10:3. St Paul means after the manner of those who judge only by what is outward and visible, or perhaps he may mean boasting... [ Continue Reading ]
_For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise_ Literally, FOR GLADLY DO YE TOLERATE MEN WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING, BEING PRUDENT (or perhaps better SENSIBLE MEN). The word here translated _suffer_is translated _bear with_in 2 Corinthians 11:4. The translation here is Wiclif's. It is a quest... [ Continue Reading ]
_For ye suffer (susteynen_, Wiclif). "This may be understood in three ways. (1) He may be understood as reproving the Corinthians ironically, because of their inability to bear with anything, or (2) as charging them with sluggishness of spirit, because they had shamefully enslaved themselves to the... [ Continue Reading ]
_I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak_ Literally, AFTER reproach (or dishonour, see ch. 2 Corinthians 6:8, and see note on 2 Corinthians 11:17), "to my reproach" (Stanley), or perhaps -about the dishonour that has been cast upon me," that _I_ventured to do none of these things,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Are they Hebrews_?] We may take the words Hebrew, Israelite, seed of Abraham, as referring respectively to the _nationality, theocratic condition_, and _Messianic rights_of the Jewish people. Thus the _Hebrew_would not only be one who was of pure descent, but whose attachment to Jewish nationality... [ Continue Reading ]
_Are they ministers of Christ_?] St Paul here cannot be content with the simple -so am I." These men (see ch. 2 Corinthians 10:7; 1 Corinthians 1:10) claimed to be in some special sense Christ's ministers. But when the Apostle thinks of the singleness of his devotion to Christ's cause, of which he h... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of the Jews_ Literally, UNDER JEWS, as though it were a disgrace to them to have treated one of their brethren thus. Cf. St Matthew 10:17. _forty stripes save one_ Cf. Deuteronomy 25:3. The Mishna (_Makkoth_, iii. 10 [9]) prescribes that one below the number there mentioned were to be given, clear... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thrice was I beaten with rods_ See Acts 16:22-23, and note on 2 Corinthians 11:23. _This_punishment is also said frequently to have caused the death of the victim. It was inflicted by the Romans on those who did not possess the privilege of Roman citizenship, Acts 22:25. A precisely similar scene t... [ Continue Reading ]
_in perils of waters_ Literally, RIVERS (_flodis_, Wiclif). Cf. 1 Corinthians 15:30. When bridges were rare, such perils were frequent. What they are, even now, in less civilized regions, the recent loss sustained by our troops in Afghanistan (in April, 1879) by a sudden _spate_, after several regim... [ Continue Reading ]
_in weariness and painfulness] In laboure and travayle_(Tyndale), more literally. So Cranmer also. Our translators followed the Geneva version. Cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:8, where the words in the Greek are the same as here. _in watchings_ Literally, IN SLEEPLESSNESSES, i.e. in repeated nights of sleepl... [ Continue Reading ]
_Besides those things that are without_ The six principal English versions interpret this expression (1) of _external_trials, of which the Apostle has hitherto been speaking "the thynges which out wardly happen unto me" (Tyndale). As the Apostle now begins to speak of _inward_troubles this rendering... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who is weak, and I am not weak_?] St Paul goes on to explain in what that care consisted. It consisted in taking upon himself the anxieties of every individual member of the flock. We may see how true his words are by a reference to Romans 14:1 to Rom 15:7; 1 Corinthians 1:11; 1 Corinthians 5:1-5;... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I must needs glory_ See note on ch. 2 Corinthians 1:14; 2 Corinthians 5:12. _I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities_ Cf. ch. 2 Corinthians 12:5; 2 Corinthians 12:9; 2 Corinthians 13:9. If St Paul turns aside for a few moments to boast -according to the flesh," his thoughts soo... [ Continue Reading ]
_The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ_ St Paul is now about to give a remarkable proof of the truth of what he has just said, and one which he confirms by a solemn asseveration (cf. ch. 2 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 1:23). That these words belong to what follows, and not to what precedes,... [ Continue Reading ]
_In Damascus_ Cf. Acts 9:23-25. _the governor_ Literally, the ETHNARCH (ruler of the nation the title of an Oriental provincial governor. See 1Ma 14:47; 1Ma 15:1, &c.). _under Aretas the king_ Aretas (see Josephus" _Antiquities_, xviii.) was the king of Arabia Petraea. His daughter had been divorce... [ Continue Reading ]
_in a basket_ The word literally means a PLAITED CORD. Hence a basket made of cords. The word in Acts 9:25 is not the same. _was I let down by the wall_ Theodoret well remarks, "He shews the greatness of the danger by the mode of his flight." The peroration of Chrysostom's homily here is an eloquen... [ Continue Reading ]