Chapter Eleven
2 Cor. 11:1. Oh, that you would bear with me a little in my foolishness! But indeed you do bear with me.
Intending to begin a discourse about his own praises, he made many qualifications, avoiding what is offensive to others in self-praise. Necessity compelled him to this, and the fear that it would harm his disciples if they began to despise him while regarding the false apostles as persons of importance. For even to the most slow-witted it is clear that he came to this out of pressing need and for the benefit of his disciples. For how would one who remembered his former errors, from which he was delivered through baptism, and who acknowledged himself unworthy of the apostolic calling, boast of himself without necessity? So he says: Oh, that you would bear with me a little in my foolishness! But you are very forbearing. For I am convinced that you love me and bear with me in all things.
2 Cor. 11:2. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy,
He did not say "I love," but, to express it much more strongly: "I am jealous." For jealousy arises in those who love ardently. Then, lest they think he is jealous over them for some human motives, for the sake of money or glory, he adds: "with godly jealousy"; for it is said that God also is jealous, having exceedingly loved us, not in order to gain some advantage, but to save us, bringing us into communion and union with Himself. Such, he says, is my jealousy for you as well: it proceeds not from desire for my own profit, but so that you may not perish.
2 Cor. 11:2. for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
I betrothed you, he says, to Christ. So I am jealous for Him, and not for myself. For I am not the husband, but the friend of the bridegroom. Notice that he did not say: I am your teacher, and therefore you ought to hold fast to me; but he placed them in the position of the bride and himself in the position of the friend of the bridegroom, ascribing greater significance to them. He attributed something wondrous to the Church; for in the world, after marriage, women do not remain virgins, but here even those who were not previously virgins become virgins after this marriage. Thus, the entire Church is a virgin. For Paul says this to all, both husbands and wives. And what did he promise as a dowry? The Kingdom of Heaven. Something similar occurred with Abraham, when he sent his servant to betroth a bride of the same tribe for his son (Gen. 24:4). For here too God sent His servants, the prophets, to betroth the Church to His Son Christ—such as David, who says: "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear" (Ps. 44:11)—and the apostles, for example Paul, who says: we are sent in the name of Christ. Thus, the present time is the time of betrothal, but the future is the time of the wedding, when the voice shall be heard: "Behold, the bridegroom comes" (Matt. 25:6).
2 Cor. 11:3. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his craftiness, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
For though it is you who are perishing, it is I who fear. He does not say openly: you will be corrupted, although they were already corrupted, but expressed it indefinitely: "I fear lest your minds should be corrupted." For that one also deceived by promising something better; and the false apostles, praising themselves and telling you something great, beguile with their craftiness. But just as neither the craftiness of the serpent nor the simplicity of Eve were sufficient for her forgiveness, so neither will it be granted to you on that basis. And he did not say that Adam was beguiled, in order to show that being beguiled is characteristic of women. And he did not say: lest you be beguiled, but: "lest your minds be corrupted" (in Slavonic: be defiled), using the image of defilement; for the word "defilement" is used in reference to virgins. "Lest they be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." That is, lest you be beguiled on account of your simplicity. Some interpret it thus: lest you turn aside from simple faith to the cruelty of outsiders (unbelievers), for this constitutes the greatest corruption.
2 Cor. 11:4. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another Spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him.
What are you saying, Paul? In the Epistle to the Galatians you wrote: if anyone preaches to you a gospel other than what you have received, let him be anathema (Gal. 1:8); so how can you now say that if they preached another Jesus, your forbearance would be justified? Listen, then: the false apostles boasted that they brought more than the true apostles. So since they spoke much foolishness, using worldly wisdom, the apostle says: if they preached another Christ, who ought to have been preached but whom we overlooked, then your forbearance would be justified. For this reason he added: "whom we have not preached." But if the articles of faith are the same, then what is new about them? Note further that he did not say: if anyone coming should preach something more (for they did speak somewhat more, with greater arrogance and greater beauty of speech), but: "preach another Jesus, whom we have not preached," and for this there is no need for embellishments of speech. "Or if you received another Spirit," that is, if he enriched you with more spiritual gifts, which have no need of verbal subtleties. "Or another gospel," which must consist not merely in words. Everywhere he shows that one should be forbearing not in this case, if they merely speak somewhat better, but if they say what ought to have been said, but about which we were silent. Notice: another Jesus, "whom we have not preached, or if you received another Spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted." So if they say the same thing, then why do you listen to them with such eagerness? And since they say the same, then why do you, Paul, hinder them? Because, using hypocrisy, they introduce new dogmas.
2 Cor. 11:5. But I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
At last he compares himself with the followers of Peter, wishing to show by this that if they know more than he, then they also know more than the chiefest apostles, reducing the matter to absurd conclusions. See what self-abasement: "I suppose," he says, but affirms nothing. Not simply apostles, he says, but "the very chiefest," alluding to Peter, John, and James. He says this because now it was necessary, whereas in another place he said: "I am not worthy to be called an apostle" (1 Cor. 15:9).
2 Cor. 11:6. though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge,
Since the false apostles prided themselves on not being unskilled, he shows that he does not shun such lack of skill, but even considers it an honor. And he does not say: if I am unskilled, then the other apostles are the same—so as not to appear to condemn them; instead he demeans the very matter of worldly wisdom, as he also showed in the first epistle that it is not only useless but even harmful to the glory of the Cross. So, I am rude in speech, but not in knowledge. By this he hints to them that the more they boast of eloquence, the more they are deprived of the knowledge of God and remain unskilled in this matter.
2 Cor. 11:6. But we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things.
Not like the false apostles, who are one thing in reality but appear to be another; rather in all that we do and say, we are known to you. There is in us no duplicity or hypocrisy, as in those who only cover themselves with a mask of piety but in everything act incomparably worse.
2 Cor. 11:7. Have I committed an offense in abasing myself that you might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?
Did I sin, he says, by this, and can you accuse me and boast against me, that I abased myself, living on charity and enduring hunger, "that you might be exalted," that is, be established in the faith? For they were not scandalized (which constitutes their greatest accusation) by the fact that they would not have been established otherwise, had he not endured hunger. And since they slandered him, saying that in person he appears humble, but in absence he boasts, now, as though defending himself against this, he strikes at them, saying: though I was abased, it was so that you might be exalted through this.
2 Cor. 11:8. I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service,
Although he could have said: I ate from the labor of my own hands; but, making his speech more expressive, he says: I received from others while serving you. The expression "I robbed" he used in the sense of: I stripped them and made them poor. He means the Macedonians: being extremely poor, they still supported him, though he was a burden to them, even though he did not need anything superfluous, but needed only what was necessary. I received support, but not from you; this indeed constitutes the greatest accusation, all the more so because all this was for serving you; for while preaching to you and doing your work, I was fed by others.
2 Cor. 11:9. and being present with you, though in need, I was not a burden to anyone.
A threefold accusation: first, that while being with you and serving you, suffering need, I did not gain your respect, for you not only did not send me anything, as the Macedonians did, but even when I was with you, you did not support me. The expression "I was not a burden to anyone" means: I was not burdensome to anyone. By this he shows that they help hesitantly and feebly. Some, however, take the word "I was not a burden" (ου κατενάρκησα) to mean: I was not negligent, I was not careless in preaching, but as much as was required of me, everything was done for your salvation; I lived in need and did not ask for anything, I did not grow weak in endurance, having trained myself in it.
2 Cor. 11:9. For my lack was supplied by the brethren who came from Macedonia,
He arouses jealousy in them in order to further encourage them toward charity, so that, having been surpassed by the Macedonians in providing him with support, they would not also be surpassed by them in almsgiving. By saying "lack," he shows that he received nothing beyond what was necessary; and it was the Philippians who provided him with support.