Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

2 Corinthians 11:20

ἀνέχεσθε γὰρ κ. τ. λ.: for ye bear with a man if he (we cannot press τις so as to point to any special individual; cf. 2 Corinthians 10:7) enslave you (in contrast to any such tyranny, St. Paul describes himself as the δοῦλος of the Corinthians; see 2 Corinthians 4:5, and cf. Acts 15:10); if he devour you, i.e., robs you of your substance by greedily demanding maintenance, as these “superfine Apostles” did (see on 2 Corinthians 11:12, and cf. Romans 16:18; Philippians 3:19); if he take you captive (λαμβάνειν is thus used of catching fish, Luke 5:5; cf. chap. 2 Corinthians 12:16. Field defends the A.V. “taketh of you,” i.e., takes money, by appealing to the Peshitto, and also by the usage of good Greek writers); if he exalt himself (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:12; 2 Corinthians 11:18); if he smite you on the face. A blow in the face was, and is, a common form of insult in the East (cf. 1 Kings 22:24; Matthew 5:39; Matthew 26:67; Acts 23:2; 1 Corinthians 4:11); and the despotic teachers whom the Corinthians tolerated had very likely inflicted this last indignity upon them, Cf. 1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 1:7, where it is forbidden to the ἐπίσκοποι to be “strikers”. “Such are your teachers,” he says to them, “ I am but weak in comparison with these strenuous spiritual directors.”

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

2 Corinthians 11:20

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