2 CORINTHIANS 11
Verses 1-6
v1 I will now write some words about myself, like those fools who recommend themselves. Be patient, and you will understand my point. v2 I want to take great care of you, as God does. This is like a wedding. I promised you to one husband, that is, to Christ. I wanted you to be like a perfect bride who has never had sex. v3 The snake deceived Eve by his deceitful behavior. Therefore, I am afraid that the devil may lead you away from your pure and sincere love of Christ. v4 People are coming to you with new messages, and you believe them. You do not protest if someone preaches about a different Jesus. You accept a different spirit. And you accept a different piece of good news. You should continue to believe the things that we taught. v5 But I do not think myself less important than those who call themselves ‘superior apostles’. v6 I may not be a skilled speaker but I do have knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every way.
Commentary
Paul here uses the picture of marriage. The church at Corinth was like the bride. Jesus was like the bridegroom and Paul was like the bridegroom’s friend. The bridegroom’s friend had to make sure that the bride was ready for the wedding. The devil deceived Eve. Therefore, Paul was afraid that these false teachers would make the Christians at Corinth follow a different Jesus. This was not the same Jesus about whom he had taught them. Instead, it was an untrue message.
The false teachers said that they were superior apostles. They said that they were better Christians than Paul. The people in Corinth were very willing to follow the false teachers rather than Paul. He said that he was no less important than they were. He may not have been such a good speaker. However, he knew what he was talking about. The false teachers did not. Good speakers can easily impress us. It is important that a speaker has the right message. It is not important whether he is a skilled speaker.
Verses 7-15
v7 I preached the good news about God to you. I did not ask for any money. I do not think that I was wrong to be humble. I was humble so that you could become great. v8 It is as if I robbed other churches. I received money from them so that I could serve you. v9 When I needed anything during my time in Corinth, I did not ask you for help. The Christians from Macedonia brought me what I needed. I made sure that I was not a burden to you. I will continue to do this. v10 The truth of Christ is certainly in me. I am proud of this fact. Nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop me. v11 This is not because I do not love you. God knows that I love you.
v12 I will continue to do what I am doing. It will spoil the arguments of some people. They are proud enough to say that they are equal to us. v13 They are false apostles, dishonest workmen. They pretend to be apostles of Christ. v14 This does not surprise us. Even Satan himself pretends to be an angel of light. v15 And so his servants pretend to be servants of righteousness. In the end, they will get the punishment that they deserve for their evil deeds.
Commentary
The Christians at Corinth did not like the fact that Paul did not accept their money. But the false teachers accepted their money. The Greeks said that a teacher was better than even a skilled workman. The people in Corinth were angry that Paul accepted money from other churches. They said that he did not love them. In fact, he loved them very much. He did not want to be like other teachers. He did not make them feel that they had to provide for him. He said that he would continue to refuse their money. The false teachers’ claims to be equal to or superior to him were not true. Even the devil pretends to be an angel. These false teachers were the devil’s servants who pretended to be servants of righteousness. They taught that people had to obey the Jewish law to become righteous. Paul taught that people obtained righteousness by trust. This trust was in what Jesus had done for them on the cross. He said that the Christians at Corinth should not allow the false teachers to continue to teach. In the end, God would punish these false teachers.
Verses 16-21
v16 I repeat. Nobody should think that I am a fool. However, if you do, then I will add a few foolish words. Then I too may be proud. v17 I will write some words that are foolish and proud. This is not the way that the Lord wants us to speak. v18 But the false teachers tell you things that are proud and worldly. So now, I also shall write some things that are proud. v19 You gladly allow fools to speak as they do. And you think that you are wise! v20 You are allowing people to make you like slaves. They are using you in an unfair way. They take more than you intended to give. They control you. They are like men who slap you in the face! v21 I am sorry to say that we were too weak to do those things! But these men have spoken proud words to you. And, like a fool, I shall now write proud words, like theirs.
Commentary
His opponents accused Paul of being worldly, a fool and weak. He denied the first charge in chapter 10. But in his letters, Paul was happy to write as if the other charges were true. God knew the truth. People were usually proud about what they had done. Jesus tells a story in the Gospel of Luke. It is about a Pharisee who was proud of his prayers (Luke 18:10-12). Paul’s opponents were proud of what they had done. Paul would now write proud words as well. He did not want to be proud. He said that God does not want anyone to be proud. But Paul had to write these words. Then people could see that his good news had authority! Sometimes in these verses, Paul writes the opposite of what he means. In this way, he can make his point more strongly. The Christians at Corinth will allow him to be proud in a foolish way because they are so wise!
He says that they allowed people to make them like slaves. By this, he means that they were willing to obey all the old Jewish laws again. The false teachers took money from them. They said that, to get a place in heaven, the Christians at Corinth should pay the teachers. They told the Christians at Corinth what to do. Perhaps they used physical force to make them do it. Yes, says Paul, I was too weak to do those kinds of things to you!
Verses 22-25
v22 If they are Hebrews, then so am I. If they are Israelites, then so am I. If they belong to Abraham’s family, then so do I. v23 If they are servants of Christ then I am superior. (These are very foolish words.) I have worked harder. People have put me in prison more often. People have beaten me more cruelly. Many times I almost died.
v24 The Jews hit me 39 times with a whip on 5 occasions. v25 People hit me with sticks three times. Once, people tried to kill me by throwing stones at me. I have been in three shipwrecks. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. v26 I have always been moving from place to place.
I have been:
• in danger from rivers
• in danger from robbers
• in danger from people from my own country
• in danger from foreigners
I have been:
• in danger in towns
• in danger in the country
• in danger at sea
• in danger from false friends
Verses 27-33
v27 I have worked hard for a long time and become very tired. I have often been without sleep. I have been hungry and thirsty. I have been without food, shelter or clothing.
v28 As well as everything else, I am daily anxious about my care of all the churches. v29 When another Christian is weak, then I feel weak too. When someone causes a Christian to do sins, I get very angry. v30 If I must be proud, I will be proud of my weakness. v31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ knows that I am not lying. (Praise his name for all time!) v32 King Aretas’s Governor of Damascus placed guards at the city gates to arrest me. v33 But my friends let me down in a basket through a window in the city wall. So I escaped from him.
Commentary
Paul’s opponents said that they were real Jews. Paul says that he is also a real Jew. He spoke Hebrew and he belonged to the families of Abraham. He was a real servant of Christ, much more so than those who opposed him. Unlike his opponents, his many troubles showed that he was a servant of Christ. We can see the glory of Christ in his service for other people. He suffered much more than we read about in the Acts of the Apostles. The list of his troubles here shows this. He says that he suffered terrible pain. The Jews hit him 39 times with a whip on 5 occasions. Sometimes people died when this happened. The punishment in Deuteronomy 25:1-3 was 40 strokes of the whip. But they only beat criminals 39 times. If someone beat a criminal more than 40 times, then he would have received the same punishment. The Romans hit Paul with sticks. They should not have done this because he was a Roman citizen. Once, people tried to kill him by throwing stones at him. This was what happened to Stephen while Paul watched. (See Acts 7:54–8:1.)
Paul had traveled from place to place. He often went by sea. Jewish people were afraid of the sea. Their idea of heaven was that ‘there was no longer any sea’. (See Revelation 21:1.) Paul had been in great danger three times when a ship had sunk. He had spent a day and a night on the sea. On his journeys, he suffered danger from robbers. He was in danger when he crossed rivers. There were not many bridges in those days. People from his own country and from other countries had attacked him. Even some men, who had pretended to be his friends, had opposed him. He had worked hard and been without food and sleep. He suffered from cold and illness as a result of bad weather.
Moreover, there was the worry about the churches that he had started. He was angry when people tried to turn a weak, new Christian away from Christ. These false teachers had tried to do this. They said that they had traveled a long way to get to Corinth. They did not have the same traveling experiences that Paul did.
Finally, he talks about his escape from Damascus. This experience made Paul very humble. He says that he will be proud about that. He will not be proud about great things as his opponents are. They spoke about their successes. But Paul writes about how he had to be humble.
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