Summary of 2 Corinthians, Chapter 11

Paul hopes they will put up with some of what he calls "foolishness" (boasting of his own credentials to counter the opponents). He says he loves them so much that he is jealous over them, even as God is over His people. Paul has promised to present them as a chaste bride to Christ. But he fears that just as the serpent deceived Eve, so they may be corrupted from the simplicity and holiness that leads to Christ.

For if someone preaches a different Jesus from what Paul preached, or if they receive a different spirit, or a different Gospel -- they readily accept it.

But Paul insists he is not at all less than the "superapostles" as the opponents seem to call themselves. Even if he does not have rhetorical skill in speaking, he does have the knowledge about Christ. He has been making that clear to them in everything.

Did he do wrong in lowering himself to exalt them, i.e., by preaching the Gospel without taking financial support for himself? He "plundered other churches," i.e., did take some support from them, to get what he needed to live to serve the Corinthians. For before when he was in Corinth and in need, he did not ask them for anything, but Christians from Macedonia supplied what he needed. So he insists he has not been at all a burden to them. He will continue that way. He swears by the truth of Christ that he will not give up this pledge. Why? Is it that he does not love them? God knows he does. But he refrains from asking for support, to cut off a chance for the opponents to criticize him.

These opponents are false apostles, fraudulent

workers. They transform themselves into apostles of Christ -- not strange, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. So if his agents do the same it is not surprising. But their end will be like their works.

Again he begs them not to think him senseless, or if they do, may they at least accept him even as a fool. What he is going to say is not the way the Lord talks. He is going to indulge in the folly of boasting. For since many opponents boast of matters of the flesh, he will do the same. For (in sarcasm) they gladly put up with fools, since they are wise. They put up with it if someone makes them slaves, if someone devours them, if someone robs them, if someone exalts himself, if someone strikes them on the face.

He says, in sarcasm, he is ashamed that he has been too weak to do as they do.

But if these superapostles boast of something -- in folly he says -- he can do it too. Are they Hebrews? So is Paul. Are they Israelites? So is Paul. Are they descendants of Abraham? So is Paul. Are they ministers of Christ? In foolish boasting Paul says: He is more. He is in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in beatings beyond measure, in dangers of death many times. Five times the Jews gave him 39 blows. Three times he was beaten with rods. Once he was stoned. Three times he was shipwrecked. He spent a night and a day in the sea. He often has had to travel on land, with dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from his own people, dangers from the gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the desert, dangers on the sea, dangers from false brothers -- in labor and hard work, often in loss of sleep, in hunger and thirst, in fastings many times, in cold and nakedness.

Besides all this there is his daily pressure, his concern for all the churches.

Who is weak and Paul is not weak? Who is scandalized and he is not set on fire, in concern if they found any obstacle in him?

If he must boast, he will boast only of the things of his weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ knows -- may He be blessed forever -- that Paul does not lie. At Damascus the Ethnarch of King Aretas was guarding the city, to catch him. But he was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped.

Comments on Chapter 11

Paul hates to have to rehearse his own qualifications, to "boast." He calls that foolishness. But in view of the principle he expressed in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, of doing all things that are not wrong to gain souls by any means, now he is prepared to "boast," though he will take a bit of time before starting it.

Meanwhile he fears that the Corinthians have accepted another Gospel, a false one. We recall how vehemently he spoke in Galatians 1:8-9 that even if an angel were to come down from the sky bringing a different Gospel, the angel should be cursed. Paul even says here that the Corinthians readily accept such falsifications of the Gospel!

His enemies call themselves superapostles, and say he is a poor speaker, not impressive in appearance, and claims too much authority. No matter, he says, but I bring the truth of Christ.

Then to show his sincerity he stresses that he does not ask the Corinthians for his material support -- in general he does not do that, though he has gotten something from the church at Philippi when he was in need.

This practice of Paul's seems not to have helped in Corinth. Perhaps Paul was making a psychological mistake. People do not like to be in a one-way arrangement, only receiving, never returning a favor. It makes them feel inferior. So Aristotle, in Ethics 8.2, says that for friendship, there must be favors both received and given, in each direction. The fact that Paul writes under inspiration does not guarantee that he would use the best judgment. It only guarantees he will write the truth about what he is actually doing.

He says the false apostles transform themselves into apostles of Christ. He does not really mean they are such, they just seem to be such. He says Satan also puts on the appearance of a good angel to deceive people. That was happening in Paul's day, and it happens in every age, including our own. Especially today we see a distortion of love which wants to so care for material needs of others that it neglects direct relation to God. A friend of mine once said: "If I were alone on a desert island, I could have no relation to God: I can have that only through people."

After this long intermission Paul finally gets to what he dislikes to do, to boasting. He says he too is a Hebrew, an Israelite, a son of Abraham. But as to being a minister of Christ, he has very different credentials: His great continued sufferings which are needed to bring the Gospel. He was often in prison, beaten many times. The Jews stopped at 39 blows, since Deuteronomy 25:1-3 ordered a limit of 40 blows. Among other things, he mentions hunger and thirst, and then he speaks of fastings, which seem to be self-imposed, otherwise he would be repeating himself, saying, in effect, hunger and hunger.

In addition, he is under stress in his concern for the churches everywhere.

He goes further, and says he will boast of the things in which he was weak. First he tells of his escape in a basket from Damascus. In the next chapter, there will be remarkable experiences.