VINDICATION OF HIS APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY AGAINST TRADUCERS.
The tone of these concluding Chapter s is so very different from that
of all that precedes them, that though it is impossible to doubt that
both came from the same pen (only two or three of the wildest critics
have ever alleged the contrary),... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:1. WOULD THAT YE COULD BEAR WITH ME IN A LITTLE
FOOLISHNESS: NAY INDEED BEAR WITH ME or (with other interpreters)
‘but indeed ye do bear with me.' The former, however, suits better,
we think, with what follows.... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:2. FOR I AM JEALOUS OVER YOU WITH A GODLY JEALOUSY:
FOR I BETROTHED YOU TO ONE HUSBAND, THAT I MIGHT PRESENT YOU AS A PURE
VIRGIN TO CHRIST. The apostle here speaks, like the Baptist, as “the
friend of the Bridegroom,” who having betrothed them to Christ at
their conversion, hoped t... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:3. BUT I FEAR, LEST BY ANY MEANS, AS THE SERPENT
BEGUILED EVE IN HIS CRAFTINESS, YOUR MINDS SHOULD BE CORRUPTED FROM
THE SIMPLICITY (the single-mindedness) THAT IS TOWARD CHRIST. The
Revised Version adds “and purity,” on good, but not preponderating
evidence, and (with Meyer) we thi... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:4. FOR IF HE THAT COMETH (any one so coming)
PREACHETH ANOTHER JESUS, WHOM WE DID NOT PREACH, OR _IF _ YE RECEIVE A
DIFFERENT SPIRIT WHICH YE DID NOT RECEIVE, OR A DIFFERENT GOSPEL WHICH
YE DID NOT ACCEPT, YE DO WELL TO BEAR WITH HIM. The import of this
verse is not quite clear, and... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:5. FOR I RECKON THAT I AM NOT A WHIT BEHIND THE VERY
CHIEFEST APOSTLES or (according to others, and the margin of the
Revised Version) ‘those pre-eminent apostles.' In this last case,
pretended but false apostles (those of 2 Corinthians 11:13-15) are
meant; but to us it appears pret... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:6. BUT THOUGH. _BE _ RUDE IN SPEECH. Probably his
detractors, pandering to that tinsel rhetoric which he disclaimed,
talked of his want of polish, and no doubt those profound truths which
he announced would not flow smoothly through the current forms of
Greek speech. But granting th... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:7. Or changing their ground of complaint DID I COMMIT
AN OFFENCE (_Gr._ ‘sin') IN ABASING MYSELF THAT YE MIGHT BE EXALTED,
BECAUSE I PREACHED THE GOSPEL OF GOD FOR NOUGHT? He had claimed for
apostles the right to temporal support from their converts (1
Corinthians 9:13), but, consci... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:8. NAY, I ROBBED OTHER CHURCHES, TAKING WAGES OF THEM
THAT I MIGHT MINISTER (gratuitously) TO YOU;... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:9. AND WHEN I WAS PRESENT WITH YOU, AND WAS IN WANT,
I WAS NOT A BURDEN ON ANY MAN, BUT THE BRETHREN FROM MACEDONIA
SUPPLIED THE MEASURE OF MY WANT. From the Macedonian brethren of
Philippi and Thessalonica he accepted support, expressly that no
breath of suspicion, as to any mercen... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:10. AS THE TRUTH OF CHRIST IS IN ME not quite an
oath, but a very solemn asseveration, NO MAN SHALL STOP ME OF THIS
GLORYING IN THE REGIONS OF ACHAIA (of which Corinth was the capital).
There seems to have been something about that locality which rendered
it peculiarly desirable tha... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:11. WHEREFORE? BECAUSE I LOVE YOU NOT? GOD KNOWETH.... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:12. BUT WHAT I DO, THAT I WILL DO, THAT I MAY OUT OFF
OCCASION from them WHICH DESIRE OCCASION; THAT WHEREIN THEY GLORY,
THEY MAY BE FOUND EVEN AS WE. Opinions differ as to what is meant
here. But since it is clear that his opponents were irritated at his
declining that temporal sup... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:13. FOR SUCH MEN ARE FALSE APOSTLES, DECEITFUL
WORKERS, FASHIONING THEMSELVES INTO APOSTLES OF CHRIST. He now tears
off the mask, giving his opponents their true name in which character
they but copy their real master, as next verse says.... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:14. AND NO MARVEL; FOR SATAN FASHIONETH HIMSELF INTO
AN ANGEL OF LIGHT. His own element is darkness (2 Peter 2:4; Jude
1:6), and all his power over men lies in his power to keep them in the
dark (a Cor. 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 1:13). But
knowing that men love t... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:15. IT IS NO GREAT THING THEREFORE (nothing
surprising) IF HIS MINISTERS ALSO FASHION THEMSELVES AS MINISTERS OF
RIGHTEOUSNESS: WHOSE END SHALL BE ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS “for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7;
Romans 6:21; Philippians 3:19).
Advanci... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:16-18 . I SAY AGAIN, LET NO MAN THINK ME FOOLISH; BUT
IF YE DO SO, YET AS FOOLISH RECEIVE ME, THAT I ALSO MAY GLORY A
LITTLE, etc. He feels the conflict between what may be called
legitimate boasting and what is mere folly. His boasting was “not
after the Lord;” but being wrung from... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:19. FOR YE BEAR FOR THE FOOLISH GLADLY, BEING WISE
YOURSELVES. ‘As the wise, pitying the foolish, put up with their
foolishness, so put ye up with me while I tell you what I have to
boast of.' The irony here is obvious and keen.... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:20. FOR YE BEAR WITH A MAN IF, etc. The five things
here said to be borne with are clearly just the things which the
Corinthians had suffered those deceitful workers to do against
himself, IF HE BRINGETH YOU INTO BONDAGE tyrannizing over them, IF HE
DEVOURETH YOU alluding to their m... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:21. I SPEAK BY WAY OF DISPARAGEMENT, AS THOUGH WE HAD
BEEN WEAK. YET WHEREINSOEVER ANY IS BOLD (I SPEAK IN FOOLISHNESS), I
AM BOLD ALSO. ‘I refer now to the reproach cast upon me, as a
“weak” preacher, because, forsooth, I showed none of that proud
and insolent bearing which they do... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:22. ARE THEY HEBREWS? of pure Hebrew descent (compare
Acts 6:1; Philippians 3:5), SO AM I. ARE THEY ISRAELITES? children of
the covenant, SO AM I. ARE THEY THE SEED OF ABRAHAM and heirs of the
great Abrahamic promise? (Genesis 12:3; Genesis 17:7-8; Genesis
22:17-18; Galatians 3:8),... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:23 _._ ARE THEY MINISTERS OF CHRIST? (I SPEAK AS ONE
BESIDE HIMSELF) I MORE. Be it so that his opponents _are_ ministers of
Christ, but at least he himself will claim to be one, and a great deal
more, referring to the labours and sufferings which he is now to
detail, exceeding that... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:24. OF THE JEWS FIVE TIMES RECEIVED I FORTY STRIPES
SAVE ONE. Not one of these cases is recorded in the Acts. The rule,
not to exceed forty, was very strict, and for a merciful reason,
‘lest their brother should seem vile unto them' (Deuteronomy 25:3).
And to prevent the letter of t... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:25. THRICE WAS I BEATEN WITH RODS. This was the Roman
mode of scourging, and this also sometimes issued in death. Only one
of these three cases is recorded in Acts (Acts 21:22-23). In the
apostle's case, this was an illegal act, and inflicted barbarously and
with cruel aggravations,... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:26. IN JOURNEYINGS OFTEN, IN PERILS OF RIVERS having
perhaps to swim across swollen rivers at the risk of life, IN PERILS
OF ROBBERS for some of the mountainous regions which he traversed are
known to have been infested with robbers, and indeed are so still, IN
PERILS FROM MINE OWN... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:27. IN LABOUR AND TRAVAIL, IN WATCHINGS OFTEN, IN
HUNGER AND THIRST (see 1 Corinthians 4:11 ; Philippians 4:12), IN
FASTINGS OFTEN not voluntary fastings, which he would not mention as a
privation he had endured, but in the sense of the next clause, IN COLD
AND NAKEDNESS such as he... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:28. BESIDES THOSE THINGS THAT ARE WITHOUT over and
above all such external things, THERE IS THAT WHICH COMETH UPON ME
DAILY, ANXIETY FOR ALL THE CHURCHES of which see note at close of this
chapter.... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:29. WHO IS WEAK, AND I AM NOT WEAK? WHO IS MADE TO
STUMBLE, AND I BURN NOT? Who is there who, ‘weak in the faith,' is
troubled with scruples of conscience, does not draw out my sympathy
and find me ‘burning' with indignation against abusers of their
Christian liberty, and thereby en... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:30. IF I MUST NEEDS GLORY, I WILL GLORY OF THE THINGS
THAT CONCERN MY WEAKNESS. The reference here is thought by many
excellent critics to be to the infirmities spoken of in the following
chapter. But this seems unnatural, and we cannot well doubt that it is
to the whole preceding d... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:31. THE GOD AND FATHER OF THE LORD JESUS [1] KNOWETH
THAT I LIE NOT.
[1] Such is the true reading.... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:32. IN DAMASCUS THE GOVERNOR (_Gr._ ‘ethnarch')
UNDER ARETAS THE KING of that division of Arabia which had Petra for
its capital, GUARDED THE CITY OF THE DAMASCENES showing that though
not within its natural boundaries, it had fallen into the hands of
this king, IN ORDER TO TAKE ME... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 11:33. AND THROUGH A WINDOW WAS I LET DOWN IN A BASKET
BY THE WALL or ‘over' it; that is, from an overhanging house, such
as is still to be seen at Damascus (and see Joshua 2:15; 1 Samuel
9:12), AND ESCAPED HIS HANDS.
_Note._ The catalogue given by the apostle in this chapter of his
la... [ Continue Reading ]