1Kéž byste při mně snesli trochu nerozumnosti — ano, snášejte mne! 2Neboť na vás žárlím Boží žárlivostí; zasnoubil jsem vás jedinému muži, abych vás jako čistou pannu představil Kristu. 3Ale bojím se, aby snad tak, jako had svou vychytralostí svedl Evu, nebyla porušena i vaše mysl a neodvrátila se od upřímné a čisté oddanosti Kristu. 4Neboť když někdo přichází a hlásá jiného Ježíše, než jsme hlásali my, nebo když přijímáte jiného ducha nebo jiné evangelium, než jste přijali, klidně to snášíte. 5Mám za to, že nejsem v ničem pozadu za těmi veleapoštoly. 6A jsem -li prostý v řeči, určitě ne v poznání; vždyť při každé příležitosti jsme vám to ve všem dali najevo. 7Nebo jsem se dopustil hříchu, když jsem sám sebe pokořoval, abyste vy byli vyvýšeni, když jsem vám zvěstoval Boží evangelium zadarmo? 8Jiné sbory jsem oloupil, když jsem přijal mzdu, abych vám sloužil. 9A když jsem byl u vás a měl jsem nedostatek, nikomu jsem nebyl na obtíž, neboť můj nedostatek doplnili bratři, kteří přišli z Makedonie. Ve všem jsem se zachoval a budu se chovat tak, abych vám nebyl zátěží. 10Jakože je ve mně Kristova pravda, tato má chlouba nebude v achajských krajích umlčena. 11Proč? Protože vás nemiluji? Bůh to ví. 12Ale co činím, budu činit i nadále, abych nedal možnost těm, kdo chtějí příležitost, aby v tom, čím se chlubí, byli shledáni stejnými jako my. 13Neboť takoví lidé jsou falešní apoštolové, lstiví pracovníci, kteří se přestrojují za apoštoly Kristovy. 14A není divu; vždyť sám Satan se přestrojuje za anděla světla. 15Není to tedy nic zvláštního, když se i jeho služebníci přestrojují za služebníky spravedlnosti; jejich konec bude podle jejich skutků. 16Znova říkám, aby si někdo o mně nemyslel, že jsem nerozumný; a když ano, přijměte mne i jako nerozumného, abych se i já trochu pochlubil. 17To, co teď říkám, neříkám podle Pána, ale jako v nerozumu, v této jistotě chlouby. 18Protože se mnozí chlubí podle těla, i já se pochlubím. 19Rádi totiž snášíte nerozumné, protože sami jste rozumní. 20Snášíte, když vás někdo zotročuje, když vás někdo vyjídá, když vás někdo obírá, když se někdo vyvyšuje, když vás někdo bije do tváře. 21K vlastní hanbě vyznávám: jako bychom byli v této věci slabí. Ale v čemkoliv si někdo troufá — mluvím ovšem z nerozumu —, troufám si i já. 22Jsou Hebrejci? Já také. Jsou Izraelci? Já také. Jsou potomci Abrahamovi? Já také. 23Jsou služebníci Kristovi? Mluvím bez rozumu: Já nad to. Hojněji v těžkých pracích, hojněji ve vězeních, nad míru v ranách, častokrát v ohrožení života. 24Od Židů jsem pětkrát dostal čtyřicet ran bez jedné, 25třikrát jsem byl bit holí, jednou kamenován, třikrát jsem ztroskotal, noc a den jsem strávil na širém moři; 26častokrát na cestách, v nebezpečích na řekách, v nebezpečích od lupičů, v nebezpečích od vlastního kmene, v nebezpečích od pohanů, v nebezpečích ve městě, v nebezpečích v pustině, v nebezpečích na moři, v nebezpečích mezi falešnými bratřími; 27v těžké práci a v úsilí, často v nočních bděních, o hladu a žízni, často v postech, v zimě a nahotě. 28Kromě jiného, co na mne denně doléhá, mám starost o všechny sbory. 29Kdo je slabý, abych i já nebyl slabý? Kdo je něčím pohoršován, aby to i mě nepálilo? 30Mám-li se chlubit, budu se chlubit tím, v čem jsem sláb. 31Bůh a Otec Pána Ježíše, který je požehnaný na věky, ví, že nelžu. 32V Damašku místodržitel krále Arety hlídal město, aby se mne zmocnil, 33ale byl jsem v koši spuštěn oknem ve zdi a unikl jsem jeho rukám.
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary 1 Here we may observe, 1. The apology the apostle makes for going about to commend himself. He is loth to enter upon this subject of self-commendation:
Would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly, 2Cor 11:1. He calls this folly, because too often it is really no better. In his case it was necessary; yet, seeing others might apprehend it to be folly in him, he desires them to bear with it. Note, As much against the grain as it is with a proud man to acknowledge his infirmities, so much is it against the grain with a humble man to speak in his own praise. It is no pleasure to a good man to speak well of himself, yet in some cases it is lawful, namely, when it is for the advantage of others, or for our own necessary vindication; as thus it was here. For, 2. We have the reasons for what the apostle did. (1.) To preserve the Corinthians from being corrupted by the insinuations of the false apostles,
2Cor 11:2,
2Cor 11:3. He tells them
he was jealous over them with godly jealousy; he was afraid lest their faith should be weakened by hearkening to such suggestions as tended to lessen their regard to his ministry, by which they were brought to the Christian faith. He had
espoused them to one husband, that is, converted them to Christianity (and the conversion of a soul is its marriage to the Lord Jesus); and he was desirous to
present them as a chaste virgin - pure, and spotless, and faithful, not having
their minds corrupted with false doctrines by false teachers, as
Eve was beguiled by the subtlety of the serpent. This godly jealousy in the apostle was a mixture of love and fear; and faithful ministers cannot but be afraid and concerned for their people, lest they should lose that which they have received, and turn from what they have embraced, especially when
deceivers have gone abroad, or have
crept in among them. (2.) To vindicate himself against the false apostles, forasmuch as they could not pretend they had another Jesus, or another Spirit, or another gospel, to preach to them,
2Cor 11:4. If this had been the case, there would have been some colour of reason to bear with them, or to hearken to them. But seeing there is but one Jesus, one Spirit, and one gospel, that is, or at least that ought to be, preached to them and received by them, what reason could there be why the Corinthians should be prejudiced against him, who first converted them to the faith, by the artifices of any adversary? It was a just occasion of jealousy that such persons designed to preach another Jesus, another Spirit, and another gospel.
5 After the foregoing preface to what he was about to say, the apostle in these verses mentions,
I. His equality with the other apostles - that
he was not a whit behind the very chief of the apostles, 2Cor 11:5. This he expresses very modestly:
I suppose so. He might have spoken very positively. The apostleship, as an office, was equal in all the apostles; but the apostles, like other Christians, differed one from another. These
stars differed one from another in glory, and Paul was indeed of the first magnitude; yet he speaks modestly of himself, and humbly owns his personal infirmity, that he was
rude in speech, had not such a graceful delivery as some others might have. Some think that he was a man of very low stature, and that his voice was proportionably small; others think that he may have had some impediment in his speech, perhaps a stammering tongue. However, he was not rude
in knowledge; he was not unacquainted with the best rules of oratory and the art of persuasion, much less was he ignorant of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, as had been
thoroughly manifested among them. II. His equality with the false apostles in this particular - the preaching of the gospel unto them freely, without wages. This the apostle largely insists on, and shows that, as they could not but own him to be a minister of Christ, so they ought to acknowledge he had been a good friend to them. For, 1. He had preached the gospel to them freely, (2Cor:11:7-10). He had proved at large, in his former epistle to them, the lawfulness of ministers' receiving maintenance from the people, and the duty of the people to give them an honourable maintenance; and here he says he himself had
taken wages of other churches (
2Cor 11:8), so that he had a right to have asked and received from them: yet he waived his right, and chose rather to abase himself, by working with his hands in the trade of tent-making to maintain himself, than be burdensome to them, that they might
be exalted, or encouraged to receive the gospel, which they had so cheaply; yea, he chose rather to be supplied from Macedonia than to be chargeable unto them. 2. He informs them of the reason of this his conduct among them. It was not because
he did not love them (
2Cor 11:11), or was unwilling to receive tokens of their love (for love and friendship are manifested by mutual giving and receiving), but it was to avoid offence, that
he might cut off occasion from those that desired occasion. He would not give occasion for any to accuse him of worldly designs in preaching the gospel, or that he intended to make a trade of it, to enrich himself; and that others who opposed him at Corinth might not in this respect gain an advantage against him: that wherein
they gloried, as to this matter,
they might be found even as he, 2Cor 11:12. It is not improbable to suppose that the chief of the false teachers at Corinth, or some among them, were rich, and taught (or deceived) the people freely, and might accuse the apostle or his fellow-labourers as mercenary men, who received hire or wages, and therefore the apostle kept to his resolution not to be chargeable to any of the Corinthians.
III. The false apostles are charged
as deceitful workers (
2Cor 11:13), and that upon this account, because they would
transform themselves into the likeness of the apostles of Christ, and, though they were the ministers of Satan, would seem to be the
ministers of righteousness. They would be as industrious and as generous in promoting error as the apostles were in preaching truth; they would endeavour as much to undermine the kingdom of Christ as the apostles did to establish it. There were counterfeit prophets under the Old Testament, who wore the garb and learned the language of the prophets of the Lord. So there were counterfeit apostles under the New Testament, who seemed in many respects like the true apostles of Christ. And no marvel (says the apostle); hypocrisy is a thing not to be much wondered at in this world, especially when we consider the great influence Satan has upon the minds of many, who
rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience. As he can turn himself into any shape, and put on almost any form, and look sometimes
like an angel of light, in order to promote his kingdom of darkness, so he will teach his ministers and instruments to do the same. But it follows,
Their end is according to their works (
2Cor 11:15); the end will discover them to be deceitful workers, and their work will end in ruin and destruction.
16 Here we have a further excuse that the apostle makes for what he was about to say in his own vindication. 1. He would not have them think he was guilty of folly, in saying what he said to vindicate himself:
Let no man think me a fool, 2Cor 11:16. Ordinarily, indeed, it is unbecoming a wise man to be much and often speaking in his own praise. Boasting of ourselves is usually not only a sign of a proud mind, but a mark of folly also. However, says the apostle, yet
as a fool receive me; that is, if you count it folly in me to
boast a little, yet give due regard to what I shall say. 2. He mentions a caution, to prevent the abuse of what he should say, telling them that what he spoke,
he did not speak after the Lord, 2Cor 11:17. He would not have them think that boasting of ourselves, or glorying in what we have, is a thing commanded by the Lord in general unto Christians, nor yet that this is always necessary in our own vindication; though it may be lawfully used, because not contrary to the Lord, when, strictly speaking, it is not after the Lord. It is the duty and practice of Christians, in obedience to the command and example of the Lord, rather to humble and abase themselves; yet prudence must direct in what circumstances it is needful to do that which we may do lawfully, even speak of what God has wrought for us, and in us, and by us too. 3. He gives a good reason why they should suffer him to boast a little; namely, because they suffered others to do so who had less reason.
Seeing many glory after the flesh (of carnal privileges, or outward advantages and attainments),
I will glory also, 2Cor 11:18. But he would not glory in those things, though he had as much or more reason than others to do so. But he gloried in his infirmities, as he tells them afterwards. The Corinthians thought themselves wise, and might think it an instance of wisdom to bear with the weakness of others, and therefore suffered others to do what might seem folly; therefore the apostle would have them bear with him. Or these words,
You suffer fools gladly, seeing you yourselves are wise (
2Cor 11:19), may be ironical, and then the meaning is this: Notwithstanding all your wisdom, you willingly suffer yourselves to be
brought into bondage under the Jewish yoke, or suffer others to tyrannize over you; nay, to
devour you, or make a prey of you, and
take of you hire for their own advantage, and to
exalt themselves above you, and lord it over you; nay, even to
smite you on the face, or impose upon you to your very faces (
2Cor 11:20), upbraiding you while they reproach me, as if you had been very weak in showing regard to me,
2Cor 11:21. Seeing this was the case, that the Corinthians, or some among them, could so easily bear all this from the false apostles, it was reasonable for the apostle to desire, and expect, they should bear with what might seem to them an indiscretion in him, seeing the circumstances of the case were such as made it needful that
whereinsoever any were bold he should be
bold also, 2Cor 11:21.
22 Here the apostle gives a large account of his own qualifications, labours, and sufferings (not out of pride or vain-glory, but to the honour of God, who had enabled him to do and suffer so much for the cause of Christ), and wherein he excelled the false apostles, who would lessen his character and usefulness among the Corinthians. Observe,
I. He mentions the privileges of his birth (
2Cor 11:22), which were equal to any they could pretend to. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews; of a family among the Jews that never intermarried with the Gentiles. He was also an Israelite, and could boast of his being descended from the beloved Jacob as well as they, and was also of the seed of Abraham, and not of the proselytes. It should seem from this that the false apostles were of the Jewish race, who gave disturbance to the Gentile converts.
II. He makes mention also of his apostleship, that he was more than an ordinary minister of Christ,
2Cor 11:23. God had counted him faithful, and had put him into the ministry. He had been a useful minister of Christ unto them; they had found full proofs of his ministry:
Are they ministers of Christ? I am more so. III. He chiefly insists upon this, that he had been an extraordinary sufferer for Christ; and this was what he gloried in, or rather he gloried in the grace of God that had enabled him to be more
abundant in labours, and to endure very great sufferings, such as
stripes above measure, frequent imprisonments, and
often the dangers of
death, 2Cor 11:23. Note, When the apostle would prove himself an extraordinary minister, he proves that he had been an extraordinary sufferer. Paul was the apostle of the Gentiles, and for that reason was hated of the Jews. They did all they could against him; and among the Gentiles also he met with hard usage. Bonds and imprisonments were familiar to him; never was the most notorious malefactor more frequently in the hands of public justice than Paul was for righteousness' sake. The jail and the whipping-post, and all other hard usages of those who are accounted the worst of men, were what he was accustomed to. As to the Jews, whenever he fell into their hands, they never spared him.
Five times he fell under their lash, and received
forty stripes save one, 2Cor 11:24. Forty stripes was the utmost their law allowed (
Deut 25:3), but it was usual with them, that they might not exceed, to abate one at least of that number. And to have the abatement of one only was all the favour that ever Paul received from them. The Gentiles were not tied up to that moderation, and among them
he was thrice beaten with rods, of which we may suppose once was at Philippi,
Acts 16:22.
Once he was stoned in a popular tumult, and was taken up for dead,
Acts 14:19. He says that
thrice he suffered shipwreck; and we may believe him, though the sacred history gives a relation but of one.
A night and a day he had been in the deep (
2Cor 11:25), in some deep dungeon or other, shut up as a prisoner. Thus he was all his days a constant confessor; perhaps scarcely a year of his life, after his conversion, passed without suffering some hardship or other for his religion; yet this was not all, for, wherever he went, he went in perils; he was exposed to perils of all sorts. If he journeyed by land, or voyaged by sea, he was in perils of robbers, or enemies of some sort; the Jews, his own countrymen, sought to kill him, or do him a mischief; the heathen, to whom he was sent, were not more kind to him, for among them he was in peril. If he was in the city, or in the wilderness, still he was in peril. He was in peril not only among avowed enemies, but among those also who called themselves brethren, but were false brethren,
2Cor 11:26. Besides all this, he had great weariness and painfulness in his ministerial labours, and these are things that will come into account shortly, and people will be reckoned with for all the care and pains of their ministers concerning them. Paul was a stranger to wealth and plenty, power and pleasure, preferment and ease; he was in
watchings often, and exposed to
hunger and thirst; in
fastings often, it may be out of necessity; and endured
cold and nakedness, 2Cor 11:27. Thus was he, who was one of the greatest blessings of the age, used as if he had been the burden of the earth, and the plague of his generation. And yet this is not all; for, as an apostle, the
care of all the churches lay on him,
2Cor 11:28. He mentions this last, as if this lay the heaviest upon him, and as if he could better bear all the persecutions of his enemies than the scandals that were to be found in the churches he had the oversight of.
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not? 2Cor 11:29. There was not a weak Christian with whom he did not sympathize, nor any one scandalized, but he was affected therewith. See what little reason we have to be in love with the pomp and plenty of this world, when this blessed apostle, one of the best of men that ever lived, excepting Jesus Christ, felt so much hardship in it. Nor was he ashamed of all this, but, on the contrary, it was what he accounted his honour; and therefore, much against the grain as it was with him to glory, yet, says he,
if I must needs glory, if my adversaries will oblige me to it in my own necessary vindication,
I will glory in these my infirmities, 2Cor 11:30. Note, Sufferings for righteousness' sake will, the most of any thing, redound to our honour.
In the last two verses, he mentions one particular part of his sufferings out of its place, as if he had forgotten it before, or because the deliverance God wrought for him was most remarkable; namely, the danger he was in at Damascus, soon after he was converted, and not settled in Christianity, at least in the ministry and apostleship. This is recorded,
Acts 9:24,
Acts 9:25. This was his first great danger and difficulty, and the rest of his life was a piece with this. And it is observable that, lest it should be thought he spoke more than was true, the apostle confirms this narrative with a solemn oath, or appeal to the omniscience of God,
2Cor 11:31. It is a great comfort to a good man that
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is an omniscient God, knows the truth of all he says, and knows all he does and all he suffers for his sake.