CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>2 Corinthians 11 Pulpit Commentary</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/2_corinthians/11.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/2_corinthians/11-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">Pulpit Commentary</a> > 2 Corinthians 11</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../2_corinthians/10.htm" title="2 Corinthians 10">◄</a> 2 Corinthians 11 <a href="../2_corinthians/12.htm" title="2 Corinthians 12">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Pulpit Commentary</div><div class="chap"><div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-1.htm">2 Corinthians 11:1</a></div><div class="verse">Would to God ye could bear with me a little in <i>my</i> folly: and indeed bear with me.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 1.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Would to God;</span> rather, <span class="accented">would that</span>! (comp. <a href="/1_corinthians/4-8.htm">1 Corinthians 4:8</a>). <span class="cmt_word">You could bear;</span> rather, <span class="accented">ye would bear</span>. <span class="cmt_word">In my folly;</span> rather, <span class="accented">in a little foolishness</span>. Namely, in this foolishness of boasting. "Fool" and "folly" are here haunting words (<a href="/2_corinthians/1-16.htm">2 Corinthians 1:16, 17, 19, 21</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/12-6.htm">2 Corinthians 12:6, 11</a>). The article (<span class="accented">the i.e.</span> <span class="accented">my</span> folly) is omitted in <span class="hebrew">א</span>, B, D, E. <span class="cmt_word">Bear with me.</span> It is better to take this as an indicative. It would be meaningless to pass from an entreaty to a command. On the other hand, "Nay, ye do really bear with me" was a loving and delicate admission of inch kindness as he had received from them. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-2.htm">2 Corinthians 11:2</a></div><div class="verse">For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present <i>you as</i> a chaste virgin to Christ.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 2.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For</span>. This gives the reason why they bore with him. It was due to a reciprocity of affection. <span class="cmt_word">I am jealous over you.</span> The word implies both jealousy and zeal (<a href="/2_corinthians/7-7.htm">2 Corinthians 7:7</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/9-2.htm">2 Corinthians 9:2</a>). <span class="cmt_word">With a godly jealousy;</span> literally, <span class="accented">with a jealousy of God</span>. My jealousy is not the poor earthly vice (<a href="/numbers/5-14.htm">Numbers 5:14</a>; Ecclus. 9:1), but a heavenly zeal of love. <span class="cmt_word">For I have espoused you;</span> rather, <span class="accented">for</span> <span class="accented">I</span> <span class="accented">betrothed you</span>; at your conversion. I acted as the paranymph, or "bridegroom's friend" (<a href="/john/3-29.htm">John 3:29</a>), in bringing you to Christ, the Bridegroom. The metaphor is found alike in the Old and New Testaments (<a href="/isaiah/54-5.htm">Isaiah 54:5</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/23.htm">Ezekiel 23</a>; <a href="/hosea/2-19.htm">Hosea 2:19</a>; <a href="/ephesians/5-25.htm">Ephesians 5:25-27</a>). <span class="cmt_word">To one husband</span> (<a href="/jeremiah/3-1.htm">Jeremiah 3:1</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/16-15.htm">Ezekiel 16:15</a>). Our Lord used an analogous metaphor in the parable of the king's wedding feast, the virgins, etc. T<span class="cmt_word">hat I may present you.</span> The same word as in <a href="/2_corinthians/4-14.htm">2 Corinthians 4:14</a>. The conversion of the Church was its betrothal to Christ, brought about by St. Paul as the paranymph; and, in the same capacity, at the final marriage feast, he would present their Church as a pure bride to Christ at his coming (<a href="/revelation/19-7.htm">Revelation 19:7-9</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-3.htm">2 Corinthians 11:3</a></div><div class="verse">But 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.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 3.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">I fear.</span> Even now he would only contemplate their defection as a future dread, not as a present catastrophe. <span class="cmt_word">Lest by any means;</span> <span class="accented">lest haply</span> (<a href="/2_corinthians/2-7.htm">2 Corinthians 2:7</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/9-4.htm">2 Corinthians 9:4</a>). <span class="cmt_word">As the serpent beguiled Eve.</span> St. Paul merely touches on the central moral fact of the temptation and the Fall (<a href="/genesis/3-1.htm">Genesis 3:1-6</a>). He enters into no speculation about the symbols, though, doubtless, like St. John (<a href="/revelation/12-9.htm">Revelation 12:9</a>; <a href="/revelation/20-2.htm">Revelation 20:2</a>), he would have identified the serpent with Satan (comp. <a href="/2_corinthians/2-11.htm">2 Corinthians 2:11</a> and Wisd. 2:23). <span class="cmt_word">Through his subtlety.</span> The word means "crafty wickedness." It is used in <a href="/2_corinthians/12-16.htm">2 Corinthians 12:16</a>, and is found in <a href="/2_corinthians/4-2.htm">2 Corinthians 4:2</a>; <a href="/luke/20-23.htm">Luke 20:23</a>. <span class="cmt_word">Your minds;</span> literally, your thoughts (<a href="/2_corinthians/2-11.htm">2 Corinthians 2:11</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Should be corrupted</span> (comp. <a href="/colossians/2-4.htm">Colossians 2:4-8</a>; <a href="/1_timothy/4-1.htm">1 Timothy 4:1</a>). <span class="cmt_word">The simplicity.</span> The apostles always insisted on this virtue, but especially St. Paul, in whose Epistles the word (<span class="greek">ἁπλότης</span> occurs seven times. <span class="cmt_word">That is in Christ;</span> rather, <span class="accented">that is towards</span> (literally, <span class="accented">into</span>) <span class="accented">Christ</span>; as Cranmer rendered it, "The perfect fidelity Which looks to him above." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-4.htm">2 Corinthians 11:4</a></div><div class="verse">For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or <i>if</i> ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with <i>him</i>.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 4.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">He that cometh.</span> Apparently an allusion to some recent and rival teacher. <span class="cmt_word">Another Jesus</span>. The intruder preaches, not a <span class="accented">different</span> Jesus (<span class="greek">ἕτερον</span>) or a different gospel (comp. <a href="/galatians/1-6.htm">Galatians 1:6-8</a>), but ostensibly the same Jesus whom St. Paul had preached. <span class="cmt_word">Another spirit... another gospel;</span> rather, <span class="accented">a different spirit</span> (<span class="greek">ἕτερον</span>)... <span class="accented">a different</span> gospel. The Jesus preached was the same; the gospel accepted, the Spirit received, were supposed to remain unaltered. Ye might well bear with him. This is not without a touch of irony. You are all set against me; and yet the newcomer does not profess to preach to you another Jesus, or impart a different Spirit! Had he done so, you might have had some excuse (<span class="greek">καλῶς</span>) for listening to him. Now there is none; for it was I who first preached Jesus to you, and from me you first received the Spirit. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-5.htm">2 Corinthians 11:5</a></div><div class="verse">For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For</span>. It cannot be that you received this rival teacher as being so much superior to me; <span class="accented">for</span>, etc. <span class="cmt_word">I suppose.</span> Again, like the Latin <span class="accented">censeo</span> or <span class="accented">opinor</span>, with a touch of irony. <span class="cmt_word">I was not a whit behind;</span> <span class="accented">in no respect have I come short of</span>. <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>The very chiefest apostles.</span> The word used by St. Paul for "very chiefest" is one which, in its strangeness, marks the vehemence of his emotion. It involves an indignant sense that he had been most disparagingly compared with other apostles, as though he were hardly a genuine apostle at all. Yet he reckons himself to have done as much as the "above exceedingly" - or, as it might be expressed, the "out and out," "extra-super," or "super-apostolic," apostles. There is here no reflection whatever on the twelve; he merely means that, even if any with whom he was uufavourably contrasted were "apostles ten times over," he can claim to be in the front rank with them. This is no more than he has said with the utmost earnestness in <a href="/1_corinthians/15-10.htm">1 Corinthians 15:10</a>; <a href="/galatians/2-6.htm">Galatians 2:6</a>. There is no self-assertion here; but, in consequence of the evil done by his detractors, St. Paul, with an utter sense of distaste, is forced to say the simple truth. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-6.htm">2 Corinthians 11:6</a></div><div class="verse">But though <i>I be</i> rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 6.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Rude in speech;</span> literally, <span class="accented">a laic in discourse</span>; see <a href="/2_corinthians/10-10.htm">2 Corinthians 10:10</a> and <a href="/1_corinthians/2-13.htm">1 Corinthians 2:13</a>; and, for the word <span class="accented">idiotes</span>, a private person, and so "one who is untrained," as contrasted with a professor, see the only other places where it occurs in the New Testament (<a href="/acts/4-13.htm">Acts 4:13</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/14-16.htm">1 Corinthians 14:16, 23, 24</a>). St. Paul did not profess to have the trained oratorical skill of Apollos. His eloquence, dependent on conviction and emotion, followed none of the rules of art. <span class="cmt_word">Yet not in knowledge.</span> Spiritual knowledge was a primary requisite of an apostle, and St. Paul <span class="accented">did</span> claim to possess this (<a href="/ephesians/3-3.htm">Ephesians 3:3, 4</a>). <span class="cmt_word">We have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things.</span> This would be an appeal to the transparent openness and sincerity of all his dealings, as in <a href="/2_corinthians/4.htm">2 Corinthians 4</a>:20 and 2 Cor 12:12; but the best reading seems to be the active participle, <span class="accented">phanerosantes</span> (<span class="hebrew">א</span>, B, F, G), not the passive, <span class="accented">phanerothentes</span>. The rendering will then be, <span class="accented">In everything making it</span> (my knowledge) <span class="accented">manifest among all men towards you</span>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-7.htm">2 Corinthians 11:7</a></div><div class="verse">Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 7.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Have I?</span> literally, <span class="accented">or have I?</span> An ironical exception to his manifestation of knowledge; "unless you think that I committed a sin in refusing to accept maintenance at your hands." It is clear that even this noble generosity had been made the ground for a charge against the apostle. "If he had not been conscious," they said, "that he has no real claims, he would not have preached for nothing, when he had a perfect right to be supported by his converts" (<a href="/1_corinthians/9-1.htm">1 Corinthians 9:1-15</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Abasing myself.</span> The trade of tentmaker was despised, tedious, and mechanical, and it did not suffice to provide even for Paul's small needs (<a href="/acts/18-3.htm">Acts 18:3</a>; <a href="/acts/20-34.htm">Acts 20:34</a>). <span class="cmt_word">That ye might be exalted;</span> namely, by spiritual gifts (<a href="/ephesians/2-4.htm">Ephesians 2:4-6</a>). <span class="cmt_word">The gospel... freely.</span> Some of them would feel the vast contrast between the words. The gospel was the most precious gift of God, and they had got it for nothing. Compare the fine lines of Lowell - <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="accented">"For a cap and bells our lives we pay,<br />Bubbles we earn with our whole soul's tasking;<br />Tis only God who is given away,<br />Tis only heaven may be had for the asking."</span> To be a free and unpaid missionary was St. Paul's pride (<a href="/2_corinthians/12-14.htm">2 Corinthians 12:14</a>; <a href="/1_thessalonians/2-9.htm">1 Thessalonians 2:9</a>; <a href="/2_thessalonians/3-8.htm">2 Thessalonians 3:8, 9</a>; <a href="/acts/20-33.htm">Acts 20:33</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-8.htm">2 Corinthians 11:8</a></div><div class="verse">I robbed other churches, taking wages <i>of them</i>, to do you service.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 8.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">I robbed;</span> literally, <span class="accented">I</span> <span class="accented">ravaged</span>, or <span class="accented">plundered</span>. The intensity of St. Paul's feelings, smarting under base calumny and ingratitude, reveals itself by the passionate expression which he here uses. <span class="cmt_word">Other Churches.</span> The only Church of which we know as contributing to St. Paul's needs is that at Philippi (<a href="/philippians/4-15.htm">Philippians 4:15, 16</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Taking wages.</span> The expression is again impassioned. It is meant rather ironically than literally. Literally it means <span class="accented">rations</span> (<a href="/1_corinthians/9-7.htm">1 Corinthians 9:7</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-9.htm">2 Corinthians 11:9</a></div><div class="verse">And 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 <i>things</i> I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and <i>so</i> will I keep <i>myself</i>.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 9.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And wanted.</span> The aorist shows that this sad condition of extreme poverty was a crisis rather than chronic. Yet even at that supreme moment of trial, when from illness or accident the scanty income of his trade failed him, he would not tell <span class="accented">them</span> that he was starving, but rather accepted help from the Philippians, who, as he knew, felt for him an unfeigned affection. It is needless to point out once more how strong is the argument in favour of the genuineness of the Acts and the Epistles from the numberless undesigned coincidences between them in such passages as those to which I have referred in the foregoing notes. <span class="cmt_word">I was chargeable to no man;</span> literally, <span class="accented">I</span> <span class="accented">did not benumb you</span>. The word <span class="accented">katenarkesa</span>, which occurs only here and in <a href="/2_corinthians/12-13.htm">2 Corinthians 12:13, 14</a>, is ranked by St. Jerome among St. Paul's <span class="accented">cilicisms, i.e.</span> the provincial expressions which he picked up during his long residence at Tarsus. <span class="accented">Narke</span> (whence our <span class="accented">narcissus</span> and <span class="accented">narcotie</span>) means "paralysis," and is also the name given to the <span class="accented">gymnotus</span>, or electric eel - in Latin, <span class="accented">torpedo</span>, the cramp-fish - which benumbs with the shock of its touch. "I did not," he indignantly says, "cramp you with my torpedo touch." Perhaps in a less vehement mood he would have chosen a less picturesque or technical and medical term. <span class="cmt_word">That which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied;</span> rather, <span class="accented">for the brethren, on their arrival from Macedonia</span>; <span class="accented">filled up my deficiency</span>. This must have been the <span class="accented">third</span> present which St. Paul received from Philippi (<a href="/philippians/4-15.htm">Philippians 4:15, 16</a>). These brethren from Macedonia accompanied Silas and Timotheus (<a href="/acts/18-5.htm">Acts 18:5</a>). <span class="cmt_word">And so will I keep myself</span> (<a href="/2_corinthians/12-14.htm">2 Corinthians 12:14</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-10.htm">2 Corinthians 11:10</a></div><div class="verse">As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 10.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">As the truth of Christ is in me.</span> The strength of St. Paul's feelings on the subject has already been expressed in <a href="/1_corinthians/9-15.htm">1 Corinthians 9:15</a>. We have a similar appeal in <a href="/romans/9-1.htm">Romans 9:1</a>. The "as" is not in the original, but evidently the words are meant for a solemn asseveration - "The truth of Christ is in me, that," etc. <span class="cmt_word">No man shall stop me of this boasting;</span> literally, <span class="accented">this shall not be stopped as concerns me</span>. The verb means literally, "shall be fenced," and with that tendency to over elaboration which is frequent in commentators, some suppose that St. Paul referred to the projected wall across the isthmus of Corinth, etc. But the same word is used for simply stopping the mouth in <a href="/romans/3-19.htm">Romans 3:19</a>; <a href="/hebrews/11-33.htm">Hebrews 11:33</a>. <span class="cmt_word">In the regions of Achaia</span>. He would not apply the rule to Corinth only, but seems to have felt the need for the utmost circumspection, and for cutting off every handle for suspicion or slander among these subtle, loquacious, intellectual Greeks. He could act more freely among the more frank and generous Macedonians. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-11.htm">2 Corinthians 11:11</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 11.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Wherefore</span>? Be cannot tell them the real <span class="accented">ultimate</span> reason, which is their whole character and nature. <span class="cmt_word">Because I love you not?</span> He has already assured them of his deep affection (<a href="/2_corinthians/7-2.htm">2 Corinthians 7:2</a>; comp. 12:15). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-12.htm">2 Corinthians 11:12</a></div><div class="verse">But 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.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 12.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Occasion</span>; rather, <span class="accented">the occasion</span>. <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>Wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.</span> "These new teachers boast to you how disinterested they are. Well, then, I have proved myself to be equally disinterested." But the words apparently involve a most stinging sarcasm. For these teachers were <span class="accented">not</span> in reality disinterested, though they boasted of being so; on the contrary, they were exacting, insolent, and tyrannical (ver. 20), and did not preach gratuitously (<a href="/1_corinthians/9-12.htm">1 Corinthians 9:12</a>), though they sneered at the apostle for doing so. Being radically false (vers. 12, 13), "while they were," as Theodoret says, "openly boasting, they were secretly taking money," and therefore were <span class="accented">not</span> "even as we." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-13.htm">2 Corinthians 11:13</a></div><div class="verse">For such <i>are</i> false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 13.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For such are false apostles.</span> This, with <a href="/1_thessalonians/2-14.htm">1 Thessalonians 2:14-16</a> and <a href="/philippians/3-2.htm">Philippians 3:2</a>, is one of St. Paul's most passionate outbursts of plain speaking. "Now at length" says Bengel, "he calls a spade a spade." They were "false apostles" (<a href="/revelation/2-2.htm">Revelation 2:2</a>), because a true apostle delivers the message of another, while these cared only for self (<a href="/romans/16-18.htm">Romans 16:18</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Deceitful workers.</span> Workmen who cheat their employers (<a href="/2_corinthians/2-17.htm">2 Corinthians 2:17</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/4-2.htm">2 Corinthians 4:2</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Transforming themselves.</span> The verb is the same as in <a href="/1_corinthians/4-6.htm">1 Corinthians 4:6</a> and <a href="/philippians/3-21.htm">Philippians 3:21</a>, and does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-14.htm">2 Corinthians 11:14</a></div><div class="verse">And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 14.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Even Satan ... angel of light.</span> This is one of Satan's devices (<a href="/2_corinthians/2-11.htm">2 Corinthians 2:11</a>). The allusion may be to the temptation (<a href="/matthew/4-8.htm">Matthew 4:8, 9</a>); or to the appearances of Satan with the angels before God in the Book of Job (<a href="/job/2-1.htm">Job 2:1</a>); or perhaps to the Jewish <span class="accented">hagadah</span>, that the "angel" who wrestled with Jacob was in reality Satan. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-15.htm">2 Corinthians 11:15</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore <i>it is</i> no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 15.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Whose end shall be according to their works.</span> Whatever their fashion (<span class="accented">schema</span>), they shall be judged, not by what they <span class="accented">seem</span>, but by what they <span class="accented">are</span>, as shown by their <span class="accented">works</span>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-16.htm">2 Corinthians 11:16</a></div><div class="verse">I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 16-33.</span> <span class="accented">- Apology by contrast</span>. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 16.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">I say again.</span> St. Paul evidently feels an almost invincible repugnance to begin to speak of his own works. He has twice swerved away from the task (<a href="/2_corinthians/10-8.htm">2 Corinthians 10:8</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/11-1.htm">2 Corinthians 11:1, 6</a>) to speak of collateral topics. Now at last he begins, but only (to our grievous loss) to break off abruptly in ver. 33, before the story of his past sufferings has been much more than begun. <span class="cmt_word">A fool... boast.</span> Here, again, we have the two haunting words of this section (see note on ver. 1; <a href="/1_corinthians/15-36.htm">1 Corinthians 15:36</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/13-3.htm">1 Corinthians 13:3</a>). "Boast" occurs sixteen times in these three chapters alone. <span class="cmt_word">That I;</span> rather, <span class="accented">that I also</span>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-17.htm">2 Corinthians 11:17</a></div><div class="verse">That which I speak, I speak <i>it</i> not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 17.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Not after the Lord.</span> "Boasting," or what might be stigmatized as such, may become a sort of painful necessity, necessitated by human baseness; but in itself it cannot be "after the Lord." There is nothing Christ-like in it. It is human, not Divine; an earthly necessity, not a heavenly example; a sword of the giant Philistine, which yet David may be forced to use. <span class="cmt_word">Confidence</span>; <span class="accented">hypostasis</span>, as in <a href="/2_corinthians/9-4.htm">2 Corinthians 9:4</a>, where exactly the same phrase occurs. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-18.htm">2 Corinthians 11:18</a></div><div class="verse">Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 18.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">After the flesh</span> (see note <a href="/2_corinthians/10-3.htm">2 Corinthians 10:3</a>; comp. <a href="/philippians/3-4.htm">Philippians 3:4</a>). <span class="cmt_word">I will glory also.</span> But, as Robertson admirably observes, he "does not glory in what he has <span class="accented">done</span>, but in what he has <span class="accented">borne</span>." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-19.htm">2 Corinthians 11:19</a></div><div class="verse">For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye <i>yourselves</i> are wise.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 19.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Seeing you yourselves are wise;</span> <span class="accented">ye gladly tolerate the senseless, being intellectual</span> (comp. <a href="/1_corinthians/4-10.htm">1 Corinthians 4:10</a>). The irony would be very scathing to those whose minds and consciences were sufficiently humble and delicate to feel it. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-20.htm">2 Corinthians 11:20</a></div><div class="verse">For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour <i>you</i>, if a man take <i>of you</i>, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 20.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage.</span> The verse gives us an unexpected and painful glimpse of the enslaving (<a href="/galatians/2-4.htm">Galatians 2:4</a>), greed-loving (<a href="/matthew/23-14.htm">Matthew 23:14</a>; <a href="/romans/16.htm">Romans 16</a>;18), gain-hunting (<a href="/1_peter/5-2.htm">1 Peter 5:2, 3</a>), domineering (<a href="/3_john/1-9.htm">3 John 1:9</a>). and even personally violent and insulting character of these teachers; whom yet, strange to say, the Corinthians seem to take at their own estimate, and to tolerate any extreme of insolence from them, while they were jealously suspicious of the disinterested, gentle, and humble apostle. <span class="cmt_word">If a man devour you.</span> As the Pharisees "devoured" widows' houses (<a href="/matthew/23-14.htm">Matthew 23:14</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Take of you;</span> rather, <span class="accented">seize you</span>; makes you his captives. The verb is the same as "caught you," in <a href="/2_corinthians/12-16.htm">2 Corinthians 12:16</a>. <span class="cmt_word">Smite you on the face.</span> They must have brought their insolence with them from Jerusalem, where, as we see, not only from the details of our Lord's various mockeries, but from the accounts of the priests in Josephus and the Talmud, the priests made free use of their fists and staves! The fact that so many of the converts were downtrodden slaves and artisans would make them less likely to resent conduct to which they were daily accustomed among the heathen. Neither Greeks nor Orientals felt to anything like the same extent as ourselves the disgrace of a blow. That sense of disgrace rises flora the freedom which Christianity has gradually wrought for us, and the deep sense of the dignity of human nature, which it has inspired Christ had been so smitten, and so was Paul himself long afterwards (<a href="/acts/23-2.htm">Acts 23:2</a>), and he had to teach even Christian bishops that they must be "no strikers" (<a href="/1_timothy/3-3.htm">1 Timothy 3:3</a>; <a href="/titus/1-7.htm">Titus 1:7</a>). The "syllogism of violence" has, alas! been in familiar use among religious teachers in all ages (<a href="/1_kings/22-24.htm">1 Kings 22:24</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/13-25.htm">Nehemiah 13:25</a>; <a href="/isaiah/58-4.htm">Isaiah 58:4</a>; <a href="/matthew/5-39.htm">Matthew 5:39</a>; <a href="/luke/22-64.htm">Luke 22:64</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/4-11.htm">1 Corinthians 4:11</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-21.htm">2 Corinthians 11:21</a></div><div class="verse">I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 21.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">I steak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak.</span> The sense is uncertain, but if with the Revised Version we render it, "I speak by way of disparagement," the verse may be understood as an ironical admission that, if absence from these violent and self-assertive proceedings be a sign of weakness, he has been weak. He proceeds to correct the ironical admission in the next clause. The meaning can hardly be, "I admit the disgraces I have suffered" (comp. <a href="/2_corinthians/6-8.htm">2 Corinthians 6:8</a>), because he is speaking of the Corinthians, not of himself. I am bold also. If they derive their right to this audacious and overweening line of conduct from any privileges of theirs, there is not one of these privileges which I too may not claim. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-22.htm">2 Corinthians 11:22</a></div><div class="verse">Are they Hebrews? so <i>am</i> I. Are they Israelites? so <i>am</i> I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so <i>am</i> I.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 22.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Hebrews</span>. In the strictest sense those who still understood and spoke Aramaic, not Hellenists of the dispersion, who no longer knew the sacred language. (For the use of the word, see <a href="/acts/6-1.htm">Acts 6:1</a>; <a href="/philippians/3-4.htm">Philippians 3:4</a>.) <span class="cmt_word">Israelites</span>. Jews, not only by nation, but in heart and feeling (see <a href="/john/1-48.htm">John 1:48</a>; <a href="/acts/2-22.htm">Acts 2:22</a>, etc.; <a href="/romans/9-4.htm">Romans 9:4</a>; <a href="/romans/11-1.htm">Romans 11:1</a>). <span class="cmt_word">The seed of Abraham.</span> Alike literally and spiritually (see <a href="/john/8-33.htm">John 8:33-53</a>; <a href="/romans/9-7.htm">Romans 9:7</a>; <a href="/romans/11-1.htm">Romans 11:1</a>). It may seem strange that St. Paul should have found it necessary to make this statement; but his Tarsian birth and Roman franchise may have led to whispered innuendoes which took form long afterwards in the wild calumny that he was a Gentile who had only got himself circumcised in order that he might marry the high priest's daughter (Epiphan., 'Haer.,' 30:16). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-23.htm">2 Corinthians 11:23</a></div><div class="verse">Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I <i>am</i> more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 23.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">I speak as a fool.</span> Not merely as before <span class="accented">aphron</span>, but <span class="accented">paraphronon</span>," I speak as a madman." It is downright insanity on my part to enter into this contest of rival egotism. The verb does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament; the substantive is used of "downright infatuation" in <a href="/2_peter/2-16.htm">2 Peter 2:16</a>. <span class="cmt_word">I am more.</span> I may claim to be something beyond an ordinary servant of Christ (comp. <a href="/2_corinthians/11-5.htm">2 Corinthians 11:5</a>). This is the "frantic" boast which he proceeds to justify in a fragment of biography which must ever be accounted as the most remarkable and unique in the world's history. And when St. Paul lived the life was, as Dean Stanley says, "hitherto without precedent in the history of the world." No <span class="accented">subsequent</span> life of saint or martyr has ever surpassed St. Paul's, as here sketched, in self-devotion; and no previous life even remotely resembled it. The figure of the Christian missionary was, until then, unknown. <span class="cmt_word">In labours more abundant;</span> literally, <span class="accented">more abundantly</span>. The best comment is <a href="/1_corinthians/15-10.htm">1 Corinthians 15:10</a>. <span class="cmt_word">In stripes above measure.</span> The expression is partly explained in the next verse. <span class="cmt_word">In prisons.</span> St. Clement of Rome says that St. Paul was imprisoned seven times. The only imprisonment <span class="accented">up to this date</span> recorded in the Acts is that at Philippi (<a href="/acts/16-23.htm">Acts 16:23</a>). The imprisonments in Jerusalem, Caesarea, and Rome all took place later. He says later," The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city that bonds and imprisonment await me" (<a href="/acts/20-23.htm">Acts 20:23</a>). <span class="cmt_word">In deaths oft.</span> He alludes to the incessant opposition, peril, and anguish which make him say in <a href="/1_corinthians/15-31.htm">1 Corinthians 15:31</a>, "I die daily" (comp. <a href="/2_corinthians/4-11.htm">2 Corinthians 4:11</a>; <a href="/romans/8-36.htm">Romans 8:36</a>). With the whole passage we may compare <a href="/2_corinthians/6-4.htm">2 Corinthians 6:4, 5</a>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-24.htm">2 Corinthians 11:24</a></div><div class="verse">Of the Jews five times received I forty <i>stripes</i> save one.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 24.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Five times.</span> Not one of these Jewish scourgings - which yet were so severe that the sufferer often died under them - is mentioned in the Acts. This paragraph is the most striking proof of the complete fragmentariness of that narrative, marvellous as it is. On the circumstances which probably led to these Jewish scourgings, see 'Life of St. Paul,' exc. 11; and comp. <a href="/acts/22-19.htm">Acts 22:19</a>; <a href="/acts/26-11.htm">Acts 26:11</a>; <a href="/matthew/23-34.htm">Matthew 23:34</a>. The question arises - Was St. Luke entirely unaware of all these scenes of anguish and daily martyrdom? Had St. Paul, in his humble reticence, never cared to speak of them? or were the Acts only intended for a sketch which made no pretension to completeness, and only related certain scenes and events by way of specimen and example? <span class="cmt_word">Forty stripes save one</span> (<a href="/deuteronomy/25-3.htm">Deuteronomy 25:3</a>). On this instance of Jewish scrupulosity, and for all that is known of the <span class="accented">rationale</span> of Jewish scourgings, see 'Life of St. Paul,' <span class="accented">ubi supra</span>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-25.htm">2 Corinthians 11:25</a></div><div class="verse">Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 25.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Thrice was I beaten with rods.</span> This alludes to scourgings inflicted by Gentile magistrates with the <span class="accented">vitis</span>, or vine stick, of soldiers, or with the fasces of lictors. Only one of these horrible scourgings, which likewise often ended in death, is narrated in the Acts (<a href="/acts/16-22.htm">Acts 16:22</a>). We do not know when the others were inflicted. In any case they were egregious violations of St. Paul's right of Roman citizenship; but this claim (as we see in Cicero's various orations) was often set at nought in the provinces. <span class="cmt_word">Once was I stoned</span>. At Lystra (<a href="/acts/14-19.htm">Acts 14:19</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Thrice I suffered shipwreck.</span> Not one of these shipwrecks is narrated in the Acts. The shipwreck of <a href="/acts/27.htm">Acts 27</a>, took place some years later. <span class="cmt_word">A night and a day I have been in the deep.</span> An allusion, doubtless, to his escape from one of the shipwrecks by floating for twenty-four hours on a plank in the stormy sea. We have no right to assume that the deliverance was <span class="accented">miraculous</span>. The perfect tense shows St. Paul's vivid reminiscence of this special horror. "In the deep" means "floating on the deep waves." Theophylact explains the words <span class="greek">ἐν βυθῷ</span> to mean "in Bythos," and says that it was a place near Lystra, apparently like the Athenian <span class="accented">Barathrum</span> and the Spartan Caeadas - a place where the bodies of criminals were thrown. The word does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-26.htm">2 Corinthians 11:26</a></div><div class="verse"><i>In</i> journeyings often, <i>in</i> perils of waters, <i>in</i> perils of robbers, <i>in</i> perils by <i>mine own</i> countrymen, <i>in</i> perils by the heathen, <i>in</i> perils in the city, <i>in</i> perils in the wilderness, <i>in</i> perils in the sea, <i>in</i> perils among false brethren;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 26.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">In journeyings often.</span> In those days and in those countries journeys were not only perilous and fatiguing, but also accompanied with many severe hardships and discomforts. <span class="cmt_word">In perils of waters;</span> rather, <span class="accented">of rivers</span>. In all countries which, like parts of Greece and Asia Minor, abound in unbridged mountain torrents, journeys are constantly accompanied by deaths from drowning in the sudden rush of swollen streams. <span class="cmt_word">In perils of robbers.</span> Then, as now, brigandage was exceedingly common in the mountains of Greece and Asia. <span class="cmt_word">In perils from mine own countrymen;</span> literally, <span class="accented">from my race</span>. These are abundantly recorded in the New Testament (<a href="/acts/9-23.htm">Acts 9:23, 29</a>; <a href="/acts/13-50.htm">Acts 13:50</a>; <a href="/acts/14-5.htm">Acts 14:5, 19</a>; <a href="/acts/20-3.htm">Acts 20:3</a>, etc.; <a href="/1_thessalonians/2-15.htm">1 Thessalonians 2:15, 16</a>; <a href="/philippians/3-2.htm">Philippians 3:2</a>) <span class="cmt_word">From the heathen.</span> They were generally <span class="accented">instigated</span> by the Jews (<a href="/acts/16-19.htm">Acts 16:19-39, 17</a>:5; 19:23-34, etc.). <span class="cmt_word">In the city.</span> As at Damascus, Jerusalem, Philippi, Thessalonica, Beroea, Ephesus, etc. - "in every city" (<a href="/acts/20-23.htm">Acts 20:23</a>). In the wilderness. As, for instance, in travelling through the wild waste tracts of land between Perga and Antioch in Pisidia, or thence to Lystra and Derbe; or over the mountain chains of Taurus to the cities of Galatia. <span class="cmt_word">In the sea.</span> Storms, leaks, pirates, mutinies, etc. <span class="cmt_word">Among false brethren.</span> The word only occurs elsewhere in <a href="/galatians/2-4.htm">Galatians 2:4</a>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-27.htm">2 Corinthians 11:27</a></div><div class="verse">In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 27.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">In weariness and painfulness;</span> literally, <span class="accented">in toil and travail</span> (<a href="/1_thessalonians/2-9.htm">1 Thessalonians 2:9</a> <a href="/2_thessalonians/3-8.htm">2 Thessalonians 3:8</a>). In watchings; literally, <span class="accented">in spells of sleeplessness</span> (<a href="/acts/20-34.htm">Acts 20:34</a>). <span class="cmt_word">In hunger and thirst</span> (ver. 8; <a href="/1_corinthians/4-11.htm">1 Corinthians 4:11</a>; <a href="/philippians/4-12.htm">Philippians 4:12</a>). <span class="cmt_word">In fastings often.</span> It is not clear whether this refers to voluntary fastings (<a href="/2_corinthians/6-5.htm">2 Corinthians 6:5</a>; <a href="/acts/27-9.htm">Acts 27:9</a>) or to general destitution short of the actual pangs of hunger. <span class="cmt_word">In cold and nakedness.</span> St. Paul's ideal, like that of his Master Christ, was the very antithesis of that adopted by the wealthy, honoured, and full-fed Shammais and Hillels of Jewish rabbinism, who delighted in banquets, fine garments, pompous titles, domestic comforts, and stationary ease. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-28.htm">2 Corinthians 11:28</a></div><div class="verse">Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 28.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Those things that are without</span>. The adverb thus rendered <span class="accented">parektos</span> only occurs in <a href="/matthew/5-32.htm">Matthew 5:32</a>; <a href="/acts/26-29.htm">Acts 26:29</a>. It may either mean "trials that come to me from external and extraneous sources (<span class="accented">quae extrinsecus accedunt</span>) or things in addition to these (<span class="accented">praeterea</span>), which I here leave unmentioned." The latter meaning is (as St. Chrysostom saw) almost certainly the correct one. <span class="cmt_word">That which cometh upon me.</span> The word thus rendered is either <span class="accented">episustasis</span> (J, K), which means "hostile attack" or "tumult," as we talk of "a rush of trouble or business;" or <span class="accented">epistasis</span> (<span class="hebrew">א</span>, B, D, E, F, G), which may imply "halting, lingering thoughts; "attention," and so "anxiety" (comp. <a href="/acts/24-12.htm">Acts 24:12</a>, where there is the same various reading). <span class="cmt_word">Of all the Churches.</span> No doubt he is thinking of his own Churches, the Churches of the Gentiles (<a href="/colossians/2-1.htm">Colossians 2:1</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-29.htm">2 Corinthians 11:29</a></div><div class="verse">Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 29.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Who is weak, and I am not weak?</span> See, by way of example, <a href="/1_corinthians/8-13.htm">1 Corinthians 8:13</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/9-22.htm">1 Corinthians 9:22</a>; <a href="/romans/14-21.htm">Romans 14:21</a>. Instead of stiffly maintaining my own prejudices, I am always ready to make concessions to weak brethren. <span class="cmt_word">Who is offended, and I burn not!</span> That is, "who is ever caused to stumble without my burning with indignation?" In other words, "Is not the intensity of my sympathy whenever any scandal occurs an addition to the trials of my life?" </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-30.htm">2 Corinthians 11:30</a></div><div class="verse">If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 30.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">If I must needs</span>. If boasting is forced on me as a moral necessity (<span class="greek">δεῖ</span>). <span class="cmt_word">The things which concern mine infirmities.</span> After all, St. Paul cannot keep up even for a few verses anything which can be regarded as "boasting after the flesh" (ver. 18). Practically his boasting has been only of those afflictions which to others might sound like a record of disgraces, but which left on him the marks of the Lord Jesus. His hairbreadth escapes were to him, as Bossuet said of the wounds of the Prince of Conde, "marks of the protection of Heaven." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-31.htm">2 Corinthians 11:31</a></div><div class="verse">The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 31.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.</span> This solemn asseveration does not seem to be retrospective. It is used to preface what was perhaps intended to be a definite sketch of the most perilous incidents and trials of his life, which would have been to us of inestimable value. This awful attestation of his truthfulness was necessary, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> because even the very little which we do know shows us that the tale would have been "passing strange;" and <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> because his base and shameless calumniators had evidently insinuated that he was not straightforward (<a href="/2_corinthians/12-16.htm">2 Corinthians 12:16</a>). (On the phrases used, see <a href="/2_corinthians/1-23.htm">2 Corinthians 1:23</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/15-24.htm">1 Corinthians 15:24</a>; <a href="/ephesians/1-3.htm">Ephesians 1:3</a>.) </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-32.htm">2 Corinthians 11:32</a></div><div class="verse">In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 32.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">In Damascus.</span> (For the incident referred to, see <a href="/acts/9-22.htm">Acts 9:22-25</a>.) <span class="cmt_word">The governor;</span> literally, <span class="accented">the ethnarch</span>. This is obviously the title given to the commandant of the city (whether an Arabian or a Jew), left in charge by Aretas. The word does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament, but is found in 1 Macc. 14:47; Josephus, 'Ant.,' 14:07, § 2. <span class="cmt_word">Under Aretas the king.</span> Hareth, the Emir of Petra, father-in-law of Herod the Great. He had either seized the city during his war with Herod, to avenge the insult offered to his daughter by Herod's adultery with Herodias; or it may have been assigned to him by Caligula. His relations with Damascus are confirmed by coins (see 'Life of St. Paul,' exc. 8.). <span class="cmt_word">Kept... with a garrison;</span> literally, <span class="accented">was guarding</span>. It is said in <a href="/acts/9-24.htm">Acts 9:24</a> that the <span class="accented">Jews</span> did this; but they could not in any case have done it without leave from the ethnarch, and <span class="accented">qui facit per alium, facit per se</span>. <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>Desirous to apprehend me.</span> Both words are a little stronger in the Greek - "determining to seize me." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/11-33.htm">2 Corinthians 11:33</a></div><div class="verse">And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 33.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Through a window.</span> A "little door," or lattice in some house which abutted on the wall. <span class="cmt_word">In a basket</span> (comp. <a href="/joshua/2-15.htm">Joshua 2:15</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/19-12.htm">1 Samuel 19:12</a>). The word used by St. Luke in <a href="/acts/9-25.htm">Acts 9:25</a> is <span class="accented">spuris</span>, which is a general name for a large basket. The word here used is <span class="accented">sargane</span>, which is defined by Hesychius to be a basket of wickerwork, but which may also mean a rope basket. This particular incident, no doubt, seems to be less perilous and trying than many which St. Paul has already mentioned. We must, however, remember that escape from a window in the lofty wall of a city guarded by patrols was very perilous, and also that such a method of concealment was very trying to the dignity of an Oriental rabbi, such as St. Paul had been. Further, it is clear that St. Paul only mentions this as the earliest incident in along line of perils which it had been his original intention to recount. But at this point he was interrupted, and laid aside his task of dictation - an incident which has not unfrequently had its effect in literature. When next he resumed, the Epistle, he was no longer in the mood to break through his rule of reticence on these subjects. He had played "the fool" and "the madman," as he says of himself with indignant irony, enough; and he proceeds to speak of other personal claims which he regards as more Important and more Divine. Of all "chapters of unwritten history," not one is more deeply to be regretted than the one which we have them lost. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> </div></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2010 by <a href="//biblesoft.com">BibleSoft, inc.</a>, Used by permission<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../2_corinthians/10.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="2 Corinthians 10"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="2 Corinthians 10" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../2_corinthians/12.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="2 Corinthians 12"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="2 Corinthians 12" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/2_corinthians/11-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><br /><br /></td></tr></table></div></div></div> <div id="bot"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <br /><br /> </div><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhpar.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></body></html>