The Letters · New Testament

2 Corinthians 11

2 Corinthians 11: speaking as a fool and boasting of hardship

General context

Paul asks the readers to bear with a little folly. He says he is jealous over them with godly jealousy, having promised them to one husband to present as a chaste virgin to Christ, and fears their minds may be corrupted as the serpent beguiled Eve. He notes how readily they bear another Jesus, another spirit or another gospel. He claims to be no whit behind the very chiefest apostles, grants that he is rude in speech but not in knowledge, and asks whether he offended by preaching without charge, taking wages from other churches and accepting supplies from Macedonia rather than burdening them. He says no one in Achaia will stop this boast, denies that it means he does not love them, and says he acts to cut off opportunity from people who want one. Those people he calls false apostles and deceitful workers who disguise themselves, as Satan is transformed into an angel of light. Then he takes up the fool's role deliberately, since many glory after the flesh. He notes bitterly that the readers tolerate being enslaved, devoured and struck in the face. He matches his rivals point by point as a Hebrew, an Israelite and of the seed of Abraham, then outruns them with labours, stripes, prisons and deaths: five floggings of forty stripes save one, three beatings with rods, one stoning, three shipwrecks, a night and a day in the deep, journeys among many perils, hunger, thirst, cold and nakedness, and daily care of all the churches. He says he will glory in weakness, calls God to witness, and ends with being let down through a window in a basket to escape arrest at Damascus.

2 Corinthians 11 (KJV)

¹Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.

²For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

³But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

⁴For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

⁵For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.

⁶But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.

⁷Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?

⁸I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.

⁹And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.

¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.

¹¹Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.

¹²But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.

¹³For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

¹⁴And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

¹⁵Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

¹⁶I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.

¹⁷That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.

¹⁸Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.

¹⁹For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.

²⁰For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.

²¹I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.

²²Are they Hebrews? 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; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

²⁴Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

²⁵Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

²⁶In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

²⁷In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

²⁸Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?

³⁰If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.

³¹The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.

³²In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:

³³And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.

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Historical context

The chapter names Eve and the serpent, Abraham, Satan, and Aretas the king, with the governor under him left unnamed. Its places are Macedonia, Achaia, Damascus and the city of the Damascenes. The reference to Eve is an allusion rather than a quotation; the letter prints as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, while Genesis 3:13 prints the woman's own words, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. The letter identifies Paul's opponents only by description, as false apostles and as the very chiefest apostles, and names none of them. The hardship list is the letter's own record and gives no places or dates for the beatings, the stoning or the shipwrecks, except that the forty stripes save one came five times of the Jews. The Damascus escape is told in two verses with no date and no reason given for the governor's interest beyond his being desirous to apprehend me.

Cited passages: 2 Corinthians 11:3, 2 Corinthians 11:5, 2 Corinthians 11:9, 2 Corinthians 11:10, 2 Corinthians 11:13, 2 Corinthians 11:14, 2 Corinthians 11:22, 2 Corinthians 11:24, 2 Corinthians 11:25, 2 Corinthians 11:32, 2 Corinthians 11:33, Genesis 3:13

Literary context

The chapter is framed as a performance Paul keeps labelling. He calls it folly at the start and keeps relabelling it, as it were foolishly at verse 17 and then two parenthetical asides, I speak foolishly and I speak as a fool. The frame lets him do what the previous chapter refused, and it keeps the boast disowned even while it runs. The comparison with rivals is staged as four questions with the same one-line answer, Are they Hebrews? so am I, until the fourth breaks the pattern by claiming more. Then the boast collapses into the wrong material. Instead of successes the list gives beatings, prisons, hunger and exposure, and the climax is not a victory but a man lowered over a wall in a basket. The sarcasm in the middle is direct, telling readers who are wise that they suffer fools gladly, and the marriage image at the opening gives the jealousy a reason before any accusation is made.

Cited passages: 2 Corinthians 11:1, 2 Corinthians 11:2, 2 Corinthians 11:16, 2 Corinthians 11:17, 2 Corinthians 11:19, 2 Corinthians 11:20, 2 Corinthians 11:21, 2 Corinthians 11:22, 2 Corinthians 11:23, 2 Corinthians 11:27, 2 Corinthians 11:30, 2 Corinthians 11:33

Key moments

Jealous over you (2 Corinthians 11:2). Paul says he promised them to one husband and wants to present them chaste to Christ.
Another Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:4). He notes how readily they bear with a different message from a newcomer.
Preached to you freely (2 Corinthians 11:7). He asks whether preaching without charge counted as an offence.
An angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). He says Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Forty stripes save one (2 Corinthians 11:24). Paul records five floggings received of the Jews.
The care of all the churches (2 Corinthians 11:28). He adds a daily pressure that is not physical to the list of hardships.
Down the wall in a basket (2 Corinthians 11:33). The boast ends with an escape from Damascus through a window.

For reflection

Paul says that if he must glory, he will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities, and he ends the list with an escape rather than a victory. What would your own account of yourself look like if it had to be built out of the parts you usually leave out?

People in this chapter

Also indexed here:

Aretas