II Corinthians 11
11
Concern for Their Faithfulness
1Oh, that you would bear with me in a little #Matt. 17:17; 2 Cor. 11:4, 16, 19folly—and indeed you do bear with me. 2For I am #Gal. 4:17jealous for you with godly jealousy. For #Hos. 2:19; (Eph. 5:26)I have betrothed you to one husband, #Col. 1:28that I may present you #Lev. 21:13as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3But I fear, lest somehow, as #Gen. 3:4, 13; John 8:44; 1 Thess. 3:5; 1 Tim. 2:14; (Rev. 12:9, 15)the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds #Eph. 6:24may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a #Gal. 1:6–8different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
Paul and False Apostles
5For I consider that #(1 Cor. 15:10); 2 Cor. 12:11; Gal. 2:6I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles. 6Even though #(1 Cor. 1:17)I am untrained in speech, yet I am not #(1 Cor. 12:8; Eph. 3:4)in knowledge. But #(2 Cor. 12:12)we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things.
7Did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you #Acts 18:3; 1 Cor. 9:18; 2 Cor. 12:13free of charge? 8I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you. 9And when I was present with you, and in need, #Acts 20:33I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked #Phil. 4:10the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself. 10#Rom. 1:9; 9:1; 2 Cor. 1:23; (Gal. 2:20)As the truth of Christ is in me, #1 Cor. 9:15no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia. 11Why? #2 Cor. 6:11; 12:15Because I do not love you? God knows!
12But what I do, I will also continue to do, #1 Cor. 9:12that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. 13For such #Acts 15:24; Rom. 16:18; Gal. 1:7; Phil. 1:15; 2 Pet. 2:1; Rev. 2:2are false apostles, #Phil. 3:2; Titus 1:10deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into #Gal. 1:8an angel of light. 15Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, #(Phil. 3:19)whose end will be according to their works.
Reluctant Boasting
16I say again, let no one think me a fool. If otherwise, at least receive me as a fool, that I also may boast a little. 17What I speak, #1 Cor. 7:6I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were, foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. 18Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast. 19For you put up with fools gladly, #1 Cor. 4:10since you yourselves are wise! 20For you put up with it #2 Cor. 1:24; (Gal. 2:4; 4:3, 9; 5:1)if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face. 21To our shame #2 Cor. 10:10I say that we were too weak for that! But #Phil. 3:4in whatever anyone is bold—I speak foolishly—I am bold also.
Suffering for Christ
22Are they #Acts 22:3; Rom. 11:1; Phil. 3:4–6Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. 23Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: #1 Cor. 15:10in labors more abundant, #Acts 9:16in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, #1 Cor. 15:30in deaths often. 24From the Jews five times I received #Deut. 25:3forty #2 Cor. 6:5stripes minus one. 25Three times I was #Acts 16:22, 23; 21:32beaten with rods; #Acts 14:5, 19once I was stoned; three times I #Acts 27:1–44was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, #Acts 9:23, 24; 13:45, 50; 17:5, 13; 1 Thess. 2:15in perils of my own countrymen, #Acts 14:5, 19; 19:23; 27:42in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27in weariness and toil, #Acts 20:31in sleeplessness often, #1 Cor. 4:11; Phil. 4:12in hunger and thirst, in #Acts 9:9; 13:2, 3; 14:23fastings often, in cold and nakedness— 28besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: #Acts 20:18; (Rom. 1:14); 2 Cor. 7:12; 12:20; Gal. 4:11; 1 Thess. 3:10my deep concern for all the churches. 29#(1 Cor. 8:9, 13; 9:22)Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
30If I must boast, #(2 Cor. 12:5, 9, 10)I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. 31#Rom. 1:9; Gal. 1:20; 1 Thess. 2:5The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, #Rom. 9:5who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. 32#Acts 9:19–25In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me; 33but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
2 Corinthians 11
11
Pseudo-Servants of God
1-3Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I’m afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth tongue, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ.
4-6It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot “apostles,” why can’t you put up with simple me? I’m as good as they are. It’s true that I don’t have their voice, haven’t mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I’m talking about. We haven’t kept anything back. We let you in on everything.
7-12a I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God’s Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn’t be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it’s a point of honor with me, and I’m not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It’s not that I don’t love you; God knows I do. I’m just trying to keep things open and honest between us.
12b-15 And I’m not changing my position on this. I’d die before taking your money. I’m giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing “preachers,” vaunting themselves as something special. They’re a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ’s agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn’t surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they’re not getting by with anything. They’ll pay for it in the end.
Many a Long and Lonely Night
16-21a Let me come back to where I started—and don’t hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you’d rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn’t learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it’s a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn’t admit it to you, but our stomachs aren’t strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff.
21b-23a Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I’m their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can’t believe I’m saying these things. It’s crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I’m going to finish.)
23b-27 I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.
28-29And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut.
30-33If I have to “brag” about myself, I’ll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I’m not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.