2 Corinthians 11

Paul and the False Apostles

1I wish you would tolerate me, even when I am a bit foolish. Please do! 2I am jealous for you, just as God is; you are like a pure virgin whom I have promised in marriage to one man only, Christ himself. 3#Gen 3.1–5, 13I am afraid that your minds will be corrupted and that you will abandon your full and pure devotion to Christ — in the same way that Eve was deceived by the snake's clever lies. 4For you gladly tolerate anyone who comes to you and preaches a different Jesus, not the one we preached; and you accept a spirit and a gospel completely different from the Spirit and the gospel you received from us!

5I do not think that I am the least bit inferior to those very special so-called “apostles” of yours! 6Perhaps I am an amateur in speaking, but certainly not in knowledge; we have made this clear to you at all times and in all conditions.

7I did not charge you a thing when I preached the Good News of God to you; I humbled myself in order to make you important. Was that wrong of me? 8While I was working among you, I was paid by other churches. I was robbing them, so to speak, in order to help you. 9#Phil 4.15–18And during the time I was with you I did not bother you for help when I needed money; the brothers and sisters who came from Macedonia brought me everything I needed. As in the past, so in the future: I will never be a burden to you! 10By Christ's truth in me, I promise that this boast of mine will not be silenced anywhere in all Achaia. 11Do I say this because I don't love you? God knows I love you!

12I will go on doing what I am doing now, in order to keep those other “apostles” from having any reason for boasting and saying that they work in the same way that we do. 13Those men are not true apostles — they are false apostles, who lie about their work and disguise themselves to look like real apostles of Christ. 14Well, no wonder! Even Satan can disguise himself to look like an angel of light! 15So it is no great thing if his servants disguise themselves to look like servants of righteousness. In the end they will get exactly what their actions deserve.

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

16I repeat: no one should think that I am a fool. But if you do, at least accept me as a fool, so that I will have a little to boast of. 17Of course what I am saying now is not what the Lord would like me to say; in this matter of boasting I am really talking like a fool. 18But since there are so many who boast for merely human reasons, I will do the same. 19You yourselves are so wise, and so you gladly tolerate fools! 20You tolerate anyone who orders you about or takes advantage of you or traps you or looks down on you or slaps you in the face. 21I am ashamed to admit that we were too timid to do those things!

But if anyone dares to boast about something — I am talking like a fool — I will be just as daring. 22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. 23#Acts 16.23Are they Christ's servants? I sound like a madman — but I am a better servant than they are! I have worked much harder, I have been in prison more times, I have been whipped much more, and I have been near death more often. 24#Deut 25.3Five times I was given the 39 lashes by the Jews; 25#Acts 16.22; 14.19three times I was whipped by the Romans; and once I was stoned. I have been in three shipwrecks, and once I spent 24 hours in the water. 26#Acts 9.23; 14.15In my many travels I have been in danger from floods and from robbers, in danger from fellow-Jews and from Gentiles; there have been dangers in the cities, dangers in the wilds, dangers on the high seas, and dangers from false friends. 27There has been work and toil; often I have gone without sleep; I have been hungry and thirsty; I have often been without enough food, shelter, or clothing. 28And not to mention other things, every day I am under the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29When someone is weak, then I feel weak too; when someone is led into sin, I am filled with distress.

30If I must boast, I will boast about things that show how weak I am. 31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus — blessed be his name for ever! — knows that I am not lying. 32#Acts 9.23–25When I was in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas placed guards at the city gates to arrest me. 33But I was let down in a basket through an opening in the wall and escaped from him.

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II Corinthians 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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