Jesus was faked by false preachers

JESUS WAS FAKED BY FALSE PREACHERS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
2 Corinthians11:4 New International Version
4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus
other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a
different spiritfrom the Spirityou received, or a
different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up
with it easilyenough.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
A Different Gospel
2 Corinthians 11:4
J.R. Thomson
That the apostle was pained, distressed, and mortified by the partial success
with which the false teachers, his opponents, had met at Corinth, is very
obvious from his bitter and sarcastic language. He reproachedthe
Corinthians that, indebted as they were to his labours, and grateful as they
had shownthemselves for the benefits conferred upon them through him, they
were nevertheless ready to forgetthe lessons theyhad learned and the teacher

they had revered, and to allow themselves to be led awayinto false and
delusive doctrines.
I. THAT IS A DIFFERENT GOSPELWHICH PROCLAIMS ANOTHER
JESUS. The Judaizing teachers acknowledgedthat Jesus of Nazarethwas the
Messiah, but they seemto have representedhim as merely human, as merely a
prophet, as destitute of Divine claims upon the faith and reverence ofmen.
The form of error changes, whilstthe substance remains. In our own day
there are public teachers who commend Jesus to the admiration and the
imitation of men, but who ridicule or despise the notion that he is the one
Saviour, that he is the rightful Lord, of humanity.
II. THAT IS A DIFFERENT GOSPELWHICH BREATHES ANOTHER
SPIRIT THAN THAT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. The Judaizers taught
the doctrine of the letter, the doctrine of bondage to the Law. In this their
religion was contradictoryto the religion of Jesus, ofPaul, of John, who
upheld the religion of liberty, who taught that the heart inflamed with Divine
love will itself prompt to deeds of obedience, who discountenancedthe merely
formal and mechanicalcompliance with the letter of the Law, as altogether
insufficient. In our ownday there are those who lay all stress upon the form,
upon that which is external and bodily; these proclaim a "different gospel."
III. THAT IS A DIFFERENTGOSPELWHICH NEGLECTS TO OFFER
THE FREE SALVATION OF GOD TO SINFUL MAN. Whether this be the
consequence ofa defective view of man's sinful condition, or of a failure to
enter into the glorious counsels ofDivine compassion, orof an unworthy
desire to retain a priestly powerin their ownhands, the result is that, if there
be anything that can be called a gospel, it is a different gospel. In truth, there
is but one gospel - that which is the powerof God unto salvation to every one
that believeth, a gospelwhich is worthy of all love and of all acceptation. - T.

Biblical Illustrator
If I must needs glory, I will glory of mine... infirmities.
2 Corinthians 11:30-33
Glorying in infirmities
DeanVaughan.
St. Paul, with all his gifts and all his triumphs as an apostle of Christ, led a life
of constanttrial. There was one very peculiar trial to which he was subjected,
that of constantdisparagement. Scarcelyhad he planted the Church at
Corinth than another came after him to mar his work. One or two obvious
remarks suggestthemselves.
I. AND ONE IS AS TO THE CHARACTER OF THE SCRIPTURES
GENERALLY, IN REFERENCETO THEIR DETAILS OF FACTS. All the
books of Scriptures are of what is called an incidental character. The Gospels
were not written to give a complete life of Jesus. And in like manner the
history in the Acts was not written to give a complete life of eachof the
apostles, noteven of the two apostles principally spokenof, St. Paul and St.
Peter. In eachcase specimens ofthe life are given, enough to exemplify the
characterand the history of the first disciples, by illustrating the principles on
which a Christian should act, and the sort of help and support from above
which he may look for in so acting.

II. Another remark, not wholly unconnectedwith this, is AS TO THE STYLE
AND GENERALCHARACTER OF THIS PARTICULAR PASSAGE AND
ITS CONTEXT. "Ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise." It is
what we callironical language. And there is very much of this tone in these
chapters. I would beg you to notice what a very natural person St. Paul was;
how he expressedstrongly what he strongly felt; how he did not allow a
misplaced or morbid charity to keephim from exposing, as any human writer
would seek to do, the fraudulent designs and underhand practices of those
whose influence over a congregationhe saw to be full of danger.
III. BUT I MUST DRAW MY THIRD REMARK FROM THE TEXT
ITSELF, AND THUS PREPARE THE WAY FOR ITS BRIEF
CONCLUDING ENFORCEMENT.St. Paul says, "If I must needs glory, I
will glory in the things which concernmy infirmities." I fearthese words have
been sometimes much misapplied. People have spokenof glorying in their
infirmities. They have applied the words, all but avowedly, to infirmities of
temper and of character, as though it gave them some claim to the estimation
of Christians to be aware of their own liability to sudden outbreaks or
habitual unsoundness of prevailing evil within. But now observe the three
things to which St. Paul applies the term of infirmity or weakness.
1. The first of these is suffering — suffering for Christ's sake, suffering of a
most painful kind and a most frequent repetition — bodily discomfort, bodily
privation, bodily pain. Such was one part of his "infirmity." Suffering
reminded him of his human nature, of his material frame not yet redeemed by
resurrection.
2. The secondkind of infirmity is denoted in these words, "that which crowds
upon me daily, the anxiety of all the congregations."A keensense of
responsibility is his secondweakness.He knew so much in himself, he had
seenso much in others, of the malice and skill of the tempter, that when he
was absentfrom a congregation, andmore especiallyfrom a young
congregationbusy in the formation or in the charge of distant Churches, he
was distractedwith painful care, and even faith itself was not enough
sometimes to soothe and reassure him. He called this anxiety an infirmity.

Perhaps, in the very highest view of all, it was so. Perhaps he ought to have
been able to trust his congregationin God's hands in his absence.
3. There was a third weakness,growing out of the last named, and that was
the weaknessofa most acute sympathy. "Who is weak, and I am not weak?
Who is offended, and I burn not?" That is, wheneverI notice or hear of a
weakness in the faith of any one, such a weaknessas exposeshim to the risk of
failing in his Christian course, I have a sense ofinterest and concernin that
case suchas makes me a very partakerin its anxieties. I cannotget rid of it by
putting it from me. I feel that weaknessofcharacteras my weakness;I feel
that weakness offaith as my weakness. Thatis one half of my sympathy. But
there is, along with this, anotherfeeling, "who is offended?" who is causedto
stumble? who is tempted to sin? and I am not on fire with righteous
indignation againstthe wickedness whichis doing this work upon him?
Sympathy with the tempted is also indignation againstthe tempter. Sympathy
has two offices. Towards the offended it is fellow weakness;towards the
offender it is indignant strength. I have dwelt upon these things for the sake of
putting very seriouslybefore you the contrastbetweenSt. Paul's weaknesses
and our own. Our own infirmities are of a kind which a severerjudge than we
are of ourselves would certainly designate by the plainer names of defects,
faults, and sins — indolence, carelessness, vanity, a desire for applause, a
sensitiveness to ether men's opinions of us. Compared with such things, how
withering to our self-love must be St. Paul's (so-called)weaknesses!The very
leastof them is a virtue beyond our highest attainments. Which of us ever
suffered anything in Christ's behalf? Where is our sense ofresponsibility? —
our anxiety about those committed to us?
4. Finally, I would give a wider scope to the language ofthe text, and urge
upon eachone the duty and the happiness of saying to himself in the words of
St. Paul, "If I must needs glory, I will glory in those things which concern,"
not my strength, but "my weakness."The things on which we commonly
pride ourselves are our advantages, ourtalents, our estimation with others,
our position in society, the pleasures we cancommand, or the wealth we have
accumulated. But these things, by their very nature, are the possessionof the
few. St. Paul tells us how we may glory safely, how we may glory to the very
end. Glory, he says, not in your strength, but in your weakness.Has God

denied to you His gift of health? Has He seenfit by His providence to impair
any one of your bodily organs — your sight, your hearing, your enjoyment of
taste, or your powerof motion? Or have you been treated with neglectby
some one to whom you had shown only kindness? Has the poison of
disappointment entered your heart? It is just in these very things, or in any
one of them, that St. Paul would have you glory. ForGod's gifts to us we may
be thankful, but it is in His deprivations alone that we may glory. And St. Paul
tells us why we may thus glory in our disadvantages, in our postponements, in
our losses, in our bereavements. He says in another passage ofthis same
Epistle, "Mostgladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the powerof
Christ may rest (tabernacle)upon me." And he speaks yetagain in the same
spirit "of bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,"being made
like Him, that is, in His humiliation and in His death for us, "that the life also
of Jesus," His living power as it is now put forth in His servants, "might be
made manifest in our body." It is the dark side of life which brings us most
closely, mostconsciouslyinto connectionwith the supporting and comforting
help of Christ within.
(DeanVaughan.)
Knoweth that I lie not
The happiness of entire truthfulness of heart
ArchdeaconMildmay.
What a glorious appeal is this of St. Paul; the very spirit of holy truth
breathes in it. It was an appeal which none but an entirely honest and faithful
man would make to the One knowing all things, to judge the single
truthfulness of his whole speech. We think, at first sight, what a convincing,
triumphant appeal these words must have been to all that heard them. But as
we dwell upon them a secondthought rises up in our minds, "whata comfort
and stay the consciousnessofthis must have been to him who could honestly
say so much to himself." What ease and peace and comfort, yes, and what
powerand vigour as well, must there have been there. Look only at the other

side of the case,atthe miserable condition of the untruthful, self-deceiving,
double-facedheart. Think of the many discomforts, miseries of a heart that
does not mean to seek the truth; think how such a heart would stand to other
hearts; think, for instance, of all the wretched, uneasy fearof being found out.
I do not mean only found out in telling lies, but in all the deceitfulness, the
double dealing of a hollow, insincere heart. How can there be any groundwork
of real and abiding affectionwhere one is hiding his real thoughts from the
other, or not even acknowledging to himself what he really feels? You know
well how we draw towards the open, frank man who seems to speak from the
heart. Here, then, is the first discomfort of an untruthful heart, that it is
estrangedfrom those to whom it ought to be most warmly attached, that it
fears those it ought to love. Is this all? No, nor the greaterpart. There is one
other with whom a man may be untruthful, himself. It may be our chief life
occupationto carry on a long deceitof ourselves, sometimes knowing the
better part and choosing the worse, sometimes blindfolding ourselves, so as to
hinder ourselves from seeing what is the right way. Our Lord speaks ofthe
helplessnessofa house divided againstitself. How can that be otherwise, when
a man is actually divided againsthimself, and one half sets itself to deceive the
other? Now, I ask, canthere be any real peace of truth in a heart so divided?
Can it be possible for such a heart to feel comfortable? But there lies deeper
mischief still, greaterdiscomfort from the rule of untruthfulness, insincerity,
deceitin the heart. God is the king of the conscience, andthe rule of right and
truth is the law of His kingdom. Where, then, we are not thinking and living
by rule, where we are dealing untruthfully with ourselves, we must be dealing
also untruthfully with God, either doing what we like, without seeking to
know His will, or, which is perhaps more common, seeking to find a loophole
in His Word through which we can creepand have our own way, heaping up
all sorts of weak excuses, false arguments, pretencesofmany kinds, under
which we smother the plain meaning of the knownWord of God, "handling
the Word of God deceitfully," and "changing the truth of God into a lie." Can
there be any comfort in this forced reign of untruth? Can there be any ease or
real peace? Happy the man who escapes allthis; happy the man who, by the
grace ofGod, has setup the simple law of truth in his heart, who seeks only
the truth, "for the truth shall make him free, and freedom will be happiness.
He has but one rule, to deal honestly with himself, his neighbour, and his God.

If he is open with God, God will be open with him, and the everlasting truth
shall be his stay and joy, and exceeding greatreward.
(ArchdeaconMildmay.)
In Damascus the governor... kept the city... with a garrison, desirous to
apprehend me: and through a window in a basketwas I let down
The escape
B. D. Johns.
I. THAT THE EMINENTLYGOOD ARE SPECIALLY EXPOSED TO
DANGER.
1. Becauseofthe ability which they display in destroying evil (ver. 22). The
genius, culture, sagacity, and resolution of Paul. The tallest trees are most
exposedto the tempest. Mountain summits rear themselves to the heights
where lightnings are kindled and thunderbolts are forged.
2. Becauseofthe influence which they exercise. The presence ofNapoleon
electrified his troops. The leading of the gifted goodmultiplies the power of
Christians in general.
3. Becauseofthe success whichthey realise. The conversionof Paul was a
revival. "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and
Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the
comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." Luther paralysed the papacy.
II. THAT THE EMINENTLYGOOD ARE SOMETIMESEXPOSEDTO
VERY FORMIDABLE DANGERS(ver. 32). The governor of Damascus,
instigatedby the Jews, surrounded the city with soldiers to secure the
apprehension and assassinationofPaul.
1. The danger was powerful in its instrumentality. Church and State
combined to crush Paul. Antichrist and assassinationare synonymous.

2. The danger was skilful in its contrivance. The city was entirely surrounded
with guards. The arrangementseemedadmirably suited to the purpose —
deliverance was hopeless. Sagacity, to a degree, and sin have been linked
togetherfrom the days of Paradise Lost. Talenthas been prostituted ever and
everywhere.
3. The danger was destructive in its design. "To kill him." If the teacheris
slain the truth will survive.
III. THAT THE EMINENTLYGOOD ARE SOMETIMES VERYSIMPLY
DELIVERED OUT OF DANGER (ver. 3). The enemy was baffled by a
basket.
1. The escape was novelin its method. "And through a window in a basket
was I let down by the wall." Windows have often done service to the faithful.
Basketsalso have been friends in need. Necessitywas the mother of invention.
2. It was unexpected in its adoption. The gates ofthe city were watched. They
had not reckonedupon the window superseding the door.
3. It was justifiable in its principle. An act of policy is right if principle is not
sacrificed.
4. It was complete in its success. "And I escapedhis hands." The secret
disappearance through the window was a momentary retreat which led to
endless victories. Every man is immortal until his work is done. Peter
delivered from prison.Lessons:
1. The value of a true workerfor Christ. Paul. "Ye are the salt," etc. "Ye are
the light," etc.
2. The world's ignorance of its best friends. It has invariably persecutedthe
truest philanthropists.
3. The dependence of the greatupon inferiors.
4. The ultimate defeatof sin.
5. The over-ruling power of Divine Providence.

(B. D. Johns.)
The Damascene Ethnarch;foiled designs
F. Hastings.
1. His name is unknown at present. Future researchesmay revealit. His
master, Aretas or Hareth, was Emir of Petra and father-in-law of Herod the
Great. When the latter turned awayfrom his lawful wife and took Herodias,
Aretas, to avenge the insult, seizedDamascus, andplaced a strong man over
the city and its garrison. Paul may have met this governor, and have spoken
as plainly to him as afterwards to Felix. He certainly proclaimed the gospel
with power, and put to confusionthe Jews. Theyin their deadly malignity
planned to get rid of him, and seemto have won the Ethnarch over to their
plan. By the way, however, in which the accountis given, we should infer that
the commandant was himself the subject of an unreasoning prejudice. He had
a fixed purpose, and in every way he sought to carry it into effect. He had the
gateways carefullywatched by day and night, and intended to make short
work with the apostle. A bowstring or sword-slashshould quench his fiery
earnestnessand cut short his hereticalteachings.
2. Paul was evidently in greatdanger, and he knew it. He must remain in
hiding as long as possible. This would be trying to a restless, energetic man
like him. He must attempt something. He is like many at this day who are
harassedand see no opening. Every avenue of escape fromtemptation seems
closedon the one hand, or of usefulness on the other. We doubt not that Paul
had recourse to God in prayer. He would act as well. The Christians also are
anxious. One friendly to him has a suggestionto make. The window of his
house is in the wall of defence, and he can borrow a basketand a rope from a
neighbour. Why should not the apostle escape thereby? Ah, the idea is a good
one. Thanks many are expressed, and when the night is dark the greatapostle
of the Gentiles crouches in the creaking basket, andis lowereddown. Possibly,
instead of a wickerbasket, something more silent, a strong net-like basketof
rope, one like those ofttimes slung over the camels with fuel or food, was
found.

3. Paul canbreathe now. The period of intense anxiety made a deep
impression upon him, and he refers to it as one of the pivotal points in his life.
The man who "keptthe city" could not keepall in his power. There was a
greaterthan himself whom he had not takeninto account.
I. GOD CAN ALWAYS FIND A WAY OF ESCAPE FOR HIS SERVANTS.
He is never baffled, although we are constantly. His help comes in the most
unexpected manner, and at the extremest point of our needs. Thus Peter
found it when shut in prison and the gates were openedby the angel. Thus
Daniel found it when God shut the lions' mouths. Thus Jeremiahfound it
when an Ethiopian eunuch was moved to draw him up out of the miry prison.
Thus the Israelites found it when, the foe behind and the sea before, they cried
unto God and receivedthe command, "Go forward." And thus many of God's
servants have found deliverance — Wyclif when John of Gaunt stood by him,
Luther when the ElectorFrederick shielded him. Thus God has His window
and basketfor men now who put their trust in Him — one that will just fit
them. He knows where to find it and when to bring it out. Trust Him. An old
basketand half-worn rope becomes the salvation of an apostle, and the Cross
of shame and torture the sign of the redemption of the world.
II. THE WAY OF GOD'S DELIVERANCES IS SOMETIMES
HUMILIATING TO THE CARNAL NATURE. We canimagine that when
Paul first lookedat that baskethe would shrink from creeping into it. Shall he
who had satat the feet of Gamaliel, he who was conscious ofgreatability to
rule, have to submit to such humiliation? So it may seemrepugnant to some to
be saved simply by faith in a crucified Saviour. We like not to be reduced to
depend on another. We have no objectionto admire Christ, to attach
ourselves to Him as to a greatleader, or as an inspiriting example of self-
sacrifice, but the Cross is still to some a stumbling-block.
III. WHEN A SPIRIT ESCAPES FROM ITS SLAVERY TO EVIL HABITS
WE CAN IMAGINE HOW THE ARCHENEMYOF SOULS WILL GNASH
WITH ANGER. The Ethnarch was foiled. Herod was foiled when the wise
men went not back to tell where the Christ was born. Pharisees were foiled
when the officers they sent to take Christ came back and said, "Neverman
spake like this man." The forty men who bound themselves under an oath not

to eat or drink until they had killed Paul were foiled by the sonof Paul's
sister, who carriedthe report to the Roman officers;and the governor of
Damascus woulddoubtless rage when his officers said that Paul had escaped
and was preaching in another city. "Foiled, foiledby that Paul!" Thus will the
evil one be foiled in respectto those who trust in the work of the Crucified
One, and humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. Thus, too, will all
the oppositionof the world to the truth of God be foiled. Attempts to suppress
God's truth will eventually only lead to louder praise and a more telling
triumph.
IV. WE CAN IMAGINE, HOW GREAT WOULD BE THE APOSTLE'S
GRATITUDE;and what will not be the depth of our thankfulness when we
find we have been for ever delivered from temptation and sin! The God who
foiled the Ethnarch and setPaul free can deliver us now and eternally.
(F. Hastings.)
Humiliating deliverance
A. F. Muir, M. A.
(text, and Acts 9:24, 25): — This incident is mentioned by Paul in a curious
manner. He appears to be about to give a history (ver. 30) of "the things that
concernmine infirmities." The escapeis thereupon narrated in a sharply
detailed manner. And next he says, "It is not expedient for me doubtless
(then) to glory." It was a ridiculous, humiliating circumstance;most men
would have concealedit. Of such odd things the religion of Jesus canmake
splendid use.
I. IT WAS AN INSTANCE OF PECULIAR DISCIPLINE. Thatthere was
something in Paul requiring to be thus dealt with we may be certain — an
over-sensitivenessthat might occasionallymake him a trouble to himself and
others; a deep-rootedfeeling of personaldignity and Jewishpride. In such
ways we getthe "starch" takenout of us. Of the stiff but brittle Pharisee God
was making a keenand flexible weapon. Many would have hesitatedto avail
themselves of such a means of escape.It tended to make the fugitive

ridiculous. It might even be considereddestructive of his authority and
usefulness. Anything that stands in the way of God's service will He in like
manner remove.
II. IT WAS A TEST OF THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. There are many
who cannot receive the truth apart from extraneous and meretricious
recommendation. Moral influence is with them inextricably bound up with
personalposition and external dignity, etc. It is surprising how very few are
able to receive the truth for its own worth. Yet a humble exterior is no proof
of real lowering. Splendour may cloak corruption and spiritual death. One
might fancy the DamasceneChristians exclaiming inwardly, "Where is the
miracle, the sign?" So here Paul banters the Corinthians — I am a fool, "bear
with me." With men Godever pursues this separative process,dissolving the
temporal and accidentalelements from the essentialand eternal in His Word.
III. IT WAS A SPECIMENOF THE IRONY OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. In
certain historicalevents one seems to detectsuch a mood. Especiallyin the
more critical moments in the history of nations, churches, etc., does it betray
itself. The means of checkmating the moves of the adversary of souls are
reduced to a minimum — a ridiculous, preposterous circumstance, but it is
sufficient. And when one compares, as he cannotbut do, the huge
preparations and complex machinery of Satan, with the simplicity and
external meanness of the Divine instrumentality, the power and wisdom of
God stand forth the more sheerand absolute. Becausewe feelthe battle stern
and long and difficult we find it hard to conceive ofit being otherwise with
God and higher intelligences. But there are traces ofcontempt for Satanin the
Bible.
(A. F. Muir, M. A.)
Paul in a basket
T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.
Observe —

I. ON WHAT A SMALL TENURE GREAT RESULTS HANG. The
ropemakerhad no idea how much depended on the strength of his
workmanship. How if that rope had broken and the apostolic life had been
dashed out? On that one rope how much depended! So it has been ever and
again. What ship of many thousand tons ever had so important a personage as
once was in a small boat of papyrus on the Nile? How if some crocodile had
crunched it? The parsonage atEpworth took fire, and sevenof the children
were safe, but the eighth was in the consuming building. How much depended
on that ladder of peasantshoulders ask the millions of Methodists on both
sides the sea, ask the hundreds of thousands of people who have already
joined their founder. An English vesselput in at Pitcairn Island, and found
right amid the surroundings of cannibalism and squalora Christian colony
with schools andchurches. Where did it come from? Missionaries hadnever
landed there. Sixty years before a vesselon the sea was in disaster, and a
sailor, finding that he could save nothing else, wentto a trunk and took out
the Bible which his mother gave him, and swamashore with the book between
his teeth. That book was read and re-read until the heathen were evangelised.
There are no insignificances in our lives. The minutiae make up the
magnitude. If you make a rope make it stout, for you do not know how much
may depend upon your workmanship.
II. UNRECOGNISEDSERVICE. Who are those people holding that rope?
Who tied it to the basket? Who steadiedthe apostle as he steppedin? Their
names have not come to us, and yet the work they did eclipses allthat was
done that day in Damascus andthe round world over. Are there not
unrecognisedinfluences at work in your life? Is there not a cord reaching
from some American, Scottish, or Irish, or English home, some cord of
influence that has held you right when you would have gone astray, or pulled
you back when you had made a crooked track? Itmay be a rope thirty years
long, three thousand miles long, and the hands may have gone out of mortal
sight; but they held the rope! One of the glad excitements of heaven will be to
hunt up those people who did goodwork on earth but never got any credit for
it. If others do not make us acquainted with them God will take us through.
Come, let us go around and look at the circuit of brilliant thrones. Why, those
people must have done something very wonderful on earth. "Who art thou,

mighty one of heaven?" Answer:"I was by choice the unmarried daughter
that stayedat home to take care of father and mother in their old days." "Is
that all?" "Thatis all." Pass along. "Who art thou?" "I was for thirty years
an invalid. I wrote letters of condolence to those whom I thought were worse
off than I. I sometimes was wellenough to make a garment for the poor family
on the back lane." "Is that all?" "That is all." Pass further along. "Who art
thou?" "I was a mother who brought up a large family of children for God.
Some of them are Christian mechanics, some are Christian merchants, some
are Christian wives." "Is that all? .... That is all." Pass along a little further.
"Who art thou?" "I had a Sabbath schoolclass onearth, and I had them on
my heart until they all came into the kingdom of God, and now I am waiting
for them." "Is that all?" "That is all." Pass a little further along the circuit of
thrones. "Who art thou, mighty one of heaven?" "In time of bitter
persecutionI owneda house in Damascus, andthe balcony reachedoverthe
wall, and a minister who preached Christ was pursued, and I hid him away
from the assassins, andwhen I could no more seclude him I told him to fly for
his life, and in a basketthis maltreated one was let down over the wall, and I
was one who helped hold the rope."
III. HENCEFORTHCONSIDERNOTHING UNIMPORTANTTHAT YOU
ARE CALLED TO DO, IF IT BE ONLY TO HOLD A ROPE. A Cunard
steamerhad splendid equipment, but in putting up a stove in the pilot house a
nail was driven too near the compass. The ship's officer, deceivedby that
distracted compass, put the ship two hundred miles off the right course. One
night the man on the look-outshouted, "Land, ho! "within a few rods of
demolition on Nantucketshoals. A sixpenny nail came near wrecking a
Cunarder. Small ropes hold greatdestinies. In 1871 a minister in Bostonsat
by his table writing. He could not getthe right word, and he put his hands
behind his head and tilted back the chair, trying to recall that word, when the
ceiling fell and crushed the desk over which a moment before he had been
leaning. A missionaryin Jamaica was keptby the light of an insectcalled a
candle fly from stepping off a precipice a hundred feet. F.W. Robertson
declaredthat he was brought into the ministry through a train of
circumstances startedby the barking of a dog. If the wind had blown one way
the Spanish Inquisition would have been establishedin England. Nothing

unimportant in your life or mine. Place six noughts on the right side of the
figure "1," and you have a million. Place our nothingness on the right side,
and you have augmentationillimitable; but be sure you are on the right side.
(T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.).
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(4) For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus.—The singularpoints, like
the “any man,” “suchan one,” of 2Corinthians 10:7; 2Corinthians 10:11, to
an individual teacherwho had made himself conspicuouslyprominent. The
words throw light on Galatians 1:7-8. The false teachers in Galatia and those
at Corinth were doing the same thing. In the absence offuller knowledge of
what they taught, it is difficult to define accuratelywhat precise form of error
is alluded to. One thing, at least, is clear—thattheir Jesus was nothis Jesus—
not the Friend and Brother of mankind who had died for all men, that He
might reconcile them to God. Reasoning from probabilities, we may, perhaps,
infer that they spoke ofHim as the head of a Jewishkingdom, requiring
circumcisionand all the ordinances of the Law as a condition of admissionto
it.
If ye receive another spirit.—Better, a different spirit, as showing that the
word is not the same as in the previous clause. The words point, it is clear, to a
counterfeit inspiration, perhaps like that of those who had interrupted the
praises of the Church with the startling cry, “Anathema to Jesus!” (See Note
on 1Corinthians 12:3.) Such as these were the “false prophets” of 2Peter2:1;
1John4:3, simulating the phenomena of inspiration, perhaps thought of by
the Apostles as really acting under the inspiration of an evil spirit.
Which ye have not received.—Better, did not receive, as referring definitely to
the time of their conversion.

Another gospel, which ye have not accepted.—Better, as before, a different
gospel, which ye did not accept—i.e., different from that which you did accept
from me. His gospel, he seems to say, was one of pardon through faith
working by love: theirs was basedon the old Pharisaic lines of works, ritual,
ceremonialand moral precepts, standing in their teaching on the same
footing.
Ye might well bear with him.—Better, the adverb being emphatic, and
intensely ironical, nobly would ye bear with him. He means, of course, that
they have done much more than tolerate the preachers of the false gospel, and
have paid them an extravagantdeference. Ona like use of irony in our Lord’s
teaching, see Note on Mark 7:9.
BensonCommentary
2 Corinthians 11:4-6. For if he that cometh — After me, with such
extraordinary pretences;preach another Jesus — Can point out to you
another Saviour; whom we have not preached — Who shall better or equally
deserve your attention and regard; or if ye receive another spirit — By his
preaching, which ye have not received — By ours, and which can bestow upon
you gifts superior to those which you receivedthrough our ministry; or
another gospel — Bringing you tidings equally happy, evident, and important,
with those which we brought you; ye might wellbear with him — In his
pretensions to exceedus, and there would be some excuse for your conduct;
but how far this is from being, or so much as seeming to be, the case, Ineed
not say. For I suppose — Λογιζομαι, Ireckon, or, I conclude, upon most
certain knowledge;that I was not a whit behind — I was in nothing inferior
to; the very chiefestapostles — Either in spiritual gifts, or the greatness ofmy
labours and sufferings, or in the successofmy ministry. By the chiefest
apostles, St. Paul meant Peter, James, and John, whom he called pillars,
Galatians 2:9. Let the Papists reconcile this accountwhich Paul gives of
himself as an apostle, with their pretended supremacy of Peter over all the
apostles. But, or for, though I be rude, or unskilful, in speech — Speaking in a
plain, unadorned way, like an unlearned person, as the word ιδιωτης, here

used, properly signifies. “The apostle,” says Macknight, “calledhimself
unlearned in speech, because, in preaching, he did not follow the rules of the
Grecianrhetoric. His discourses were not composedwith that art which the
Greeks showedin the choice and arrangementof their words, and in the
disposition of their periods. Neitherwere they delivered with those
modulations of voice, and with those studied gestures, wherewiththe Greeks
setoff their orations. This sortof eloquence the apostle utterly disclaimed, for
a reasonmentioned 1 Corinthians 1:17. It seems the faction in Corinth had
objectedto him his want of these accomplishments.” Or, as some think, the
irony of the faction was levelled, not againstthe apostle’s style, but againsthis
pronunciation and actionin speaking, which, through some bodily infirmity,
was ungraceful and unacceptable. See on2 Corinthians 10:10. Probably the
faction objectedboth imperfections to him. Yet not in knowledge — If I be
unskilful in speech, I am not so in the knowledge ofthe gospelofChrist, and
of the dispensations which were introductory to it. But we have been
thoroughly made manifest, &c. — You have had sufficient proof of my
acquaintance with the greatdoctrines of Christianity, and what my gifts are,
and therefore you ought not to call in question my authority as an apostle, or
my ability to teach, direct, and govern your church, nor to prefer another in
opposition to me.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
11:1-4 The apostle desired to preserve the Corinthians from being corrupted
by the false apostles. There is but one Jesus, one Spirit, and one gospel, to be
preachedto them, and receivedby them; and why should any be prejudiced,
by the devices of an adversary, againsthim who first taught them in faith?
They should not listen to men, who, without cause, woulddraw them away
from those who were the means of their conversion.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
For if he that cometh ... - There is much difficulty in this verse in ascertaining
the true sense, and expositors have been greatlyperplexed and divided in
opinion, especiallywith regard to the true sense of the last clause, "ye might
well bear with him." It is difficult to ascertainwhetherPaul meant to speak

ironically or seriously;and different views will prevail as different views are
takenof the design. If it be supposedthat he meant to speak seriously, the
sense will be, "If the false teachercould recommend a better Saviour than I
have done, or a Spirit better able to sanctify and save, then there would be a
propriety in your receiving him and tolerating his doctrines." If the former,
then the sense willbe, "You cannotwell bear with me; but if a man comes
among you preaching a false Saviour, and a false Spirit, and a false doctrine.
then you bear with him without any difficulty."
Another interpretation still has been proposed, by supposing that the word
"me" is to be supplied at the close ofthe verse instead of "him," and then the
sense would be, "If you receive so readily one who preaches anothergospel,
one who comes with far less evidence that he is sentfrom God than I have,
and if you show yourselves thus ready to fall in with any kind of teaching that
may be brought to you, you might at leastbear with me also." Amidst this
variety it is not easyto ascertainthe true sense. To me it seems probable,
however, that Paul spoke seriously, and that our translation has expressedthe
true sense. The main idea doubtless is, that Paul felt that there was danger
that they would be corrupted. If they could bring a better gospel, a more
perfect system, and proclaim a more perfect Saviour, there would be no such
change. But that could not be expected. It could not be done.
If therefore they preached any other Saviour or any other gospel;if they
departed from the truths which he had taught them, it would be for the worse.
It could not be otherwise. The Saviour whom he preachedwas perfect, and
was able to save. The Spirit which he preached was perfect, and able to
sanctify. The gospelwhich he preachedwas perfect, and there was no hope
that it could be improved. Any change must be for the worse;and as the false
teachers varied from his instructions, there was every reasonto apprehend
that their minds would be corrupted from the simplicity that was in Christ.
The principal idea, therefore, is, that the gospelwhich he preachedwas as
perfect as it could be, and that any change would be for the worse. No
doctrine which others brought could be recommendedbecause it was better.
By the phrase "he that cometh" is meant doubtless the false teacherin
Corinth.

PreachethanotherJesus - Proclaims one who is more worthy of your love and
more able to save. If he that comes among you and claims your affections can
point out another Christ who is more worthy of your confidence, then I admit
that you do well to receive him. It is implied here that this could not be done.
The Lord Jesus in his characterand work is perfect. No Saviour superior to
him has been provided; none but he is necessary.
Whom we have not preached - Let them show, if they can, that they have any
Saviour to tell of whom we have not preached. We have given all the evidence
that we are sent by God, and have laid all the claim to your confidence, which
they can do for having made known the Saviour. They with all their
pretensions have no Saviour to tell you of with whom we have not already
made you acquainted. They have no claims, therefore, from this quarter
which we have not also.
Or if ye receive anotherspirit ... - If they can preach to you anotherSanctifier
and Comforter; or if under their ministry you have receivedhigher proofs of
the powerof the Spirit in performing miracles; in the gift of tongues;in
renewing sinners and in comforting your hearts. The idea is, that Paul had
proclaimed the existence and agencyof the same Holy Spirit which they did;
that his preaching had been attended with as striking proofs of the presence
and powerof that Spirit; that he had all the evidence of a divine commission
from such an influence attending his labors which they could possibly have.
They could reveal no spirit better able to sanctify and save;none who had
more power than the Holy Spirit which they had receivedunder the preaching
of Paul, and there was therefore no reasonwhy they should be "corrupted" or
seducedfrom the simple doctrines which they had receivedand follow others.
Or another gospel... - A gospelmore worthy of your acceptance - one more
free, more full, more rich in promises; one that revealeda better plan of
salvation, or that was more full of comfort and peace.
Ye might well bear with him - Margin, "with me." The word "him" is not in
the Greek;but is probably to be supplied. The sense is, there would then be
some excuse for your conduct. There would be some reasonwhy you should
welcome suchteachers. But if this cannot be done; if they canpreach no other

and no better gospeland Saviour than I have done, then there is no excuse.
There is no reasonwhy you should follow such teachers and forsake those who
were your earliestguides in religion. - Let us never forsake the gospelwhich
we have until we are sure we can geta better. Let us adhere to the simple
doctrines of the New Testamentuntil some one canfurnish better and clearer
doctrines. Let us follow the rules of Christ in our opinions and our conduct;
our plans, our mode of worship, our dress, and our amusements,
engagements,and company, until we can certainly ascertainthat there are
better rules. A man is foolish for making any change until he has evidence that
he is likely to better himself; and it remains yet to be proved that anyone has
ever bettered himself or his family by forsaking the simple doctrines of the
Bible, and embracing a philosophical speculation;by forsaking the scriptural
views of the Saviour as the incarnate God, and embracing the views which
representhim as a mere man; by forsaking the simple and plain rules of
Christ about our manner of life, our dress, and our words and actions, and
embracing those which are recommended by mere fashion and by the customs
of a frivolous world.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
4. if, &c.—whichin fact is impossible. However, if it were possible, ye might
then bear with them (see on [2321]2Co11:1). But there can be no new Gospel;
there is but the one which I first preached; therefore it ought not to be
"borne" by you, that the false teachers should attempt to supersede me.
he that cometh—the high-sounding title assumedby the false teachers, who
arrogatedChrist's own peculiar title (Greek, Mt 11:3, and Heb 10:37), "He
that is coming." Perhaps he was leaderof the party which assumedpeculiarly
to be "Christ's" (2Co 10:7;1Co 1:12); hence his assumption of the title.
preacheth … receive—is preaching … ye are receiving.
Jesus—the "Jesus"ofGospelhistory. He therefore does not say "Christ,"
which refers to the office.

another … another—Greek, "anotherJesus … a different Spirit … a different
Gospel." Another implies a distinct individual of the same kind; different
implies one quite distinct in kind.
which ye have not received—fromus.
spirit … received… gospel… accepted—The willof man is passive in
RECEIVING the "Spirit"; but it is actively concurrent with the will of God
(which goes before to give the goodwill) in ACCEPTING the "Gospel."
ye might wellbear with him—There would be an excuse for your conduct,
though a bad one (for ye ought to give heed to no Gospelother than what ye
have already heard from me, Ga 1:6, 7); but the false teachers do not even
pretend they have "anotherJesus" anda "different Gospel" to bring before
you; they merely try to supplant me, your accreditedTeacher. Yet ye not only
"bearwith" them, but prefer them.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
How our translators have interpreted kalwv hneicesye,
ye might wellbear, I cannot tell: the words manifestly are to be interpreted,
you have well borne, and so are plainly a reflectionupon some in this church,
who had patiently endured false teachers, who had preached other doctrine
than what Paul had preached. And this the apostle giveth as a reasonof his
fear, lest they should be corrupted and drawn awayfrom the simplicity of the
gospel. This certainly is more obviously the sense ofthe words, than what
others incline to, who make the sense this: If any other could come to you, who
could preach to you a better Jesus, a more excellentSaviour, than we have
done; or a more excellentspirit than him whom you have received;or a more
excellentdoctrine than the doctrine of the gospel, whichwe have preached;
you might bear with him. For I see no pretence to interpret the verb as in the
potential mood, it is manifestly the indicative mood; and declareth, not what
they might do, but what they had done; which made the apestle jealous of
them, lestthey should be perverted. And our Saviour, John 5:43, hath taught
us, that those who with the most difficulty receive those who come to them in

God’s name, are always most easyto receive those who come in their own
name, without any due authority or commissionfrom God.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
For if he that cometh,.... Meaning either some particular man, the apostle
might have had some information of, who came from Judea to Corinth, under
the characterofa true apostle;or anyone of the false apostles whatever, who
came of their own accord, and was never sent by Christ, or by any of his
churches:
preacheth anotherJesus whom we have not preached; that is, if he proposes
and recommends in his ministry, a better Saviour and Redeemerthan had
been preachedby the apostles;one that was better qualified, and more fit for
the purposes of salvation; one that they could more safely venture their souls
upon, and believe in, as the alone able and all sufficient Saviour, a thing
impossible to be: or the sense is, if this other apostle taught the doctrine of
salvationby Christ, in another and better method and in a clearermanner,
more to the honour of the Redeemer, the glory of God, and the goodof their
souls, they would have some reasonthen to pay a greaterregardto him:
or if ye receive anotherspirit which ye have not received;a better spirit than
the Spirit of God, which the had receivedthrough the preaching of the Gospel
by the apostles;either for graces,for they had receivedhim as a spirit of
regenerationand conversion, of sanctificationand faith, of adoption and
liberty, of peace and joy, and comfort; or for gifts, both ordinary and
extraordinary, which could not possibly be; the spirit which the contrary
ministers brought with it, and tended to not generate in them, must be the
reverse of this, even a spirit of bondage againto fear:
or another Gospelwhich ye have not accepted, or"embraced";a better
Gospelthan had been preached by the apostles, andreceivedby them; which
containedmore wholesome doctrines, more comfortable truths, more
excellentpromises, better tidings of goodthings, than those of peace, pardon,
righteousness, life, and salvation, by a crucified Jesus;proposed a better
scheme of things, more for the honour of the divine perfections, and for the

comfort and safetyof believers; and which laid a better foundation for faith
and hope, and tended more to encourage true religion and powerful godliness:
ye might wellbear with him; receive his doctrine, submit to his authority, and
prefer him to the apostles:but since another and a better Saviour than Jesus
of Nazareth could not be proposed, or the doctrine of salvationby him be
preachedin anotherand better manner than it was;nor had they received,
nor could they receive, anotherand a better spirit, than the spirit of grace and
truth, which was communicated to them, through the apostle's ministry; nor
was a better and a more excellentGospelpreachedto them, than what they
had heard; therefore they ought not to connive at, indulge and tolerate, such a
false apostle among them, which it seems they did; and was the reasonof the
apostle's fears and jealousies,before expressed:and besides, supposing that
this man that was among them, and caressedby many of them, did preach the
same Jesus, and the same doctrine of salvationby him, and the same Spirit
and powerwent along with his ministry, it being the same Gospelthat was
preachedby Paul and others, there was no reasonwhy he should be setup
above them, who had been the instruments of conveying the Gospel, and the
Spirit of it, to them, long before he was knownby them.
Geneva Study Bible
{2} Forif he that comethpreacheth {e} another Jesus, whomwe have not
preached, or if ye receive anotherspirit, which ye have not received, or
another gospel, whichye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
(2) He shows that they deceive themselves, if they look to receive from any
other man, either a more excellentGospel, or more excellentgifts of the Holy
Spirit.
(e) A more perfectdoctrine of Jesus Christ.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
2 Corinthians 11:4 An ironical(and therefore not conflicting with Galatians
1:18) reasonassignedforthat anxiety. Forif, indeed, my opponents teachand

work something so entirely new among you, one would not be able to blame
you for being pleasedwith it.
Regarding εἰ μέν, if indeed, see Hartung, Partikell. II. p. 414 f.; Klotz, ad
Devar. p. 522.
ὁ ἐρχόμενος]does not refer to ὁ ὄφις, 2 Corinthians 11:3 (Kniewel). It might
doubtless mean the first comer, as Emmerling and Billroth hold (Bernhardy,
p. 318), comp. Galatians 5:10; but, since Paul manifestly has in view the
conduct of the whole fraternity of opposing teachers (see immediately, 2
Corinthians 11:5), it is rather this totum genus that is denoted by ὁ ἐρχόμενος,
and that concretely, and in such a fashion that their emergence is vividly
illustrated by reference to one definitely thought of, of whom, however, the
point is left undetermined who he is: is qui venit. Comp. Fritzsche, Diss. II. p.
65; Kühner, ad Xen. Anab. v. 8. 22. The word exhibits the persons meant in
the light of outsiders, who come to Corinth and there pursue their courses in
opposition to the apostle. They are intruders (comp. 2 Corinthians 3:1), and
by the present tenses their coming and practices are denoted as still presently
prevailing, just as this corrupting intercourse had been alreadygoing on for a
considerable time. Ewaldthinks here, too, of a specialindividual among the
counter-apostle.
ἄλλον Ἰησοῦν κηρύσσει]i.e. so preaches of Jesus, thatthe Jesus now preached
appears not to be the same as was previously preached,[317]consequentlyas
if a secondJesus. Hence, to explain it more precisely, there is added: ὋΝ
ΟὐΚ ἘΚΗΡΎΞΑΜΕΝ: who was not the subject-matter of our preaching, of
whom we have known nothing and preached nothing, therefore not the
crucified Saviour (1 Corinthians 2:2) through whom men are justified without
the law, etc. ἄλλος negatives simply the identity, ἝΤΕΡΟς atthe same time
the similarity of nature: an other Jesus … a different spirit. Comp. Acts 4:12;
Galatians 1:6-7; 1 Corinthians 12:9; 1 Corinthians 15:40.

ἢ πνεῦμα ἕτερον κ.τ.λ.]Ἤ, or, in order to describe this reformatory working
from another side, another kind of Spirit, etc. As the false apostles might have
boastedthat only through them had the right Jesus beenpreached to the
Corinthians,[318]they might also have added that only through their
preaching had the readers receivedthe true Holy Spirit, whom they had not
before received, namely, when Paul had taught them (ὃ οὐκ ἐλάβετε).
Moreover, it is decidedly clearfrom Ἢ ΠΝΕῦΜΑ ἝΤΕΡΟΝ Κ.Τ.Λ. thatit
cannot have been (this in opposition to Beyschlag)a more exacthistorical
information and communication regarding Jesus, by means of which the
persons concernedattempted to supplant Paul among the Corinthians. It was
by means of Judaistic false doctrines; comp. 2 Corinthians 11:13 ff. See also
Klöpper, p. 79 f.
ὃ οὐκ ἐδέξασθε] for the Pauline gospelwas acceptedby the readers at their
conversion:the gospelbrought by the false apostles was ofanother kind
(ἕτερον), which was not before acceptedby them. Rückertarbitrarily says
that ἐδέξασθε is equivalent to ἘΛΆΒΕΤΕ, and that the former is used only to
avoid the repetition of the latter. How fine and accurate, onthe other hand, is
Bengel’s remark:“Verba diversa, rei apta; non concurrit voluntas hominis in
accipiendo Spiritu, ut in recipiendo evangelio.” Comp. on the distinction
betweenthe two words, Theile, ad Jacob. p. 68.
καλῶς ἀνείχεσθε] καλῶς, like praeclare in the ironical sense ofwith full right.
See on Mark 7:9; Fritzsche, ad Marc. p. 271 ff.; Diss. II. p. 72 f.; and
regarding the ironical use of the adjective καλός, Stallb. ad Rep. p. 595 C, 607
E. According to Hofmann, καλῶς is an expressionof an earnestapproval,
which, however, is cancelledofitself by the impossibility of the case whichis
put. But in the protasis the case, in fact, is just simply put, not put as
impossible (comp. Galatians 1:8-9); hence in the apodosis an ἀνάθεμα on the
seducers, ora severe censure of those who did not withstand them, would have
had its place in the mind of the apostle rather than a ΚΑΛῶς ἈΝΕΊΧΕΣΘΕ

earnestlymeant. The imperfect ἀνείχεσθε does not, indeed, in strict logic suit
ΚΗΡΎΣΣΕΙ and ΛΑΜΒΆΝΕΤΕ in the protasis, and we should expect
ἈΝΈΧΕΣΘΕ, as is actually the reading of B. But it is not on that accountto
be explained as if ΕἸ ἘΚΉΡΥΣΣΕΝ Κ.Τ.Λ. stoodin the protasis (if the comer
was preaching … ye would, etc.), as Chrysostom, Luther, Castalio, Cornelius
a Lapide, and many others, including Baur, l.c. p. 102, explained it, which is
wrong in grammar; nor is—along with an otherwise correctview of the
protasis
καλῶς ἀνείχεσθε to be taken in the historicalsense, as has been attempted by
some, as interrogatively (have you with right toleratedit?), such as Heu-
mann, by others, such as Semler,[319]in the form of an indignant exclamation
(you have truly well toleratedit!), both of which meanings are logically
impossible on accountof the difference of tenses in the protasis and apodosis.
No; we have here the transition from one constructionto the other. When
Paul wrote the protasis, he meant to put ἀνέχεσθε in the apodosis;but when
he came to the apodosis, the conceptionof the utter non-reality of what was
posited in the protasis as the preaching of another Jesus, etc., induced him to
modify the expressionof the apodosis in such a way, that now there is implied
in it a negatived reality,[320]as if in the protasis there had stood εἰ ἐκήρυσσεν
κ.τ.λ. For there is not another Jesus;comp. Galatians 2:6. Severalinstances of
this variation in the mode of expressionare found in classicalwriters. See
Kühner, II. p. 549;Klotz, ad Devar. p. 489. Comp. on Luke 17:6. The reason
for the absence ofἄν in the apodosis is, that the contents of the apodosis is
representedas sure and certain. See Krüger, § 65, 5; Stallb. ad Plat. Sympos.
p. 190 C; Kühner, ad Xen. Andb. vii. 6. 21; Bremi, ad Lys. Exc. IV. p. 438 ff.
[317]If Paul had written ἄλλον Χριστόν, the reading of F G, Arm. Vulg., the
meaning of it would be: he preaches that not Jesus, but another is the Christ.
How unsuitable this is, is self-evident.

[318]Against the interpretation that it was a spiritual, visionary Christ whom
the Christine party had given out for the true one (Schenkel, de Wette, and
others), see Beyschlag,1865, p. 239 f.
[319]He is followedrecently by Hilgenfeld in his Zeitschr. 1865, p. 261.
[320]Here, too, the delicate and acute glance of Bengelsaw the correctview:
“Ponit conditionem, ex parte rei impossibilem; ideo dicit in imperfecto
toleraretis; sedpro conatu pseudapostolorumnon modo possibilem, sed plane
presentem; ideo dicit in praesentipraedicat. Conf. plane Galatians 1:6 f.”
Comp. also 1 Corinthians 3:11. Rückertrefines and imports a development of
thought, which is arbitrarily assumed, and rests on the presupposition that
there is no irony in the passage. Withthe same presupposition Hofmann
assumes the intermingling of two thoughts, one referring to the present, the
other to the past,—whichwould amount to a confusionof ideas without
motive. This also in opposition to Klöpper, p. 84, who thinks that Paul does
not wish to charge the readers with the ἀνέχεσθαι for the immediate present,
but had been distinctly aware that they had tolerated, etc. In that case we
should have here a singular forbearance and a singular form of its expression,
the former as undeserved as the latter is unlogical. There was as little need for
the allegedforbearance towardthe readers as in ver. 19 f.
Expositor's Greek Testament
2 Corinthians 11:4. εἰ μὲν γὰρ ὁ ἐρχόμενος κ.τ.λ.:for if he that cometh (ὁ
ἐρχόμενος may point to some one conspicuous opponent, but it would not be
safe to press this, or to lay stress onthe verb as indicating one who comes
without authorised mission, as at John 10:8; it is probably a quite indefinite
phrase, “if any one comes and preaches,” etc.)preachethanotherJesus whom
we did not preach(not “anotherChrist,” “a new Messiah,”for of this false
teachers atCorinth were not guilty; but “anotherJesus,” i.e., a different
representationof the historicalPerson, Jesus ofNazareth, from that which St.
Paul put forward when at Corinth; see reff.), or if ye receive a different Spirit

which ye did not receive, sc., a Spirit different from Him whom you received
at your baptism (λαμβάνειν is the regular verb with πνεῦμα; cf. John 20:22,
Acts 8:15; Acts 10:47;Acts 19:2, Romans 8:15, 1 Corinthians 2:12, Galatians
3:2; it expresses the co-operationofthe will in a degree which δέχεσθαι, the
verb used in the next clause of“accepting” the Gospel, does not; see Acts 7:38;
Acts 17:11, 1 Thessalonians 1:6, etc.), or a different Gospelwhich ye did not
accept, sc., whenthe Gospelwas first brought to you by me, ye bear with him
finely! καλῶς is ironical, as at Mark 7:9 = praeclare. This facile acceptanceof
novelty is the cause of his anxiety; cf. 1 Corinthians 3:11, Galatians 1:6-8.
Such instability is always a danger in the case ofnewly-founded Churches.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
4. he that cometh] This shews that the false teachers came from elsewhere,
whence they brought their corruptions. Chrysostom. Cf. Acts 15:1; Acts
15:24;Galatians 2:4; Galatians 2:12. Otherwise, says Olshausen, theywould
have been excommunicated.
another Jesus]The word is not the same as that translatedanother below. In
this case it means the same Jesus (“the historical Jesus,”Stanley), but
preachedin such a wayas to produce a different impression. Cf. the Greek in
Galatians 1:6-7.
or if ye receive anotherspirit, which ye have not received] Literally, whom (or
which) ye did not receive. The preaching of Jesus afterquite another fashion,
that of bondage to law (Acts 15:1; Galatians 4:21), would involve the
communication of a different spirit (see lastnote) to the spirit of liberty made
known by St Paul (Romans 8:2; Romans 8:15). For the nature of the false
teaching at Corinth, see Introduction to the First Epistle, p. 11, and 2
Corinthians 11:22.
another gospel]i.e. a different Gospel. See lastnote.

ye might wellbear with him (or it)] These words have generallybeen regarded
as ironical, nobly would ye bear with him (Alford, Plumptre), and explained
of the ready receptionwhich the false teachers had met with. But a
comparisonwith Galatians 1:7, difficult as that passageis, makes it probable
that no irony whatever is intended. “Had they preachedanother Gospel
altogether, there would have been some reasonin listening to them.” But they
do not do this. They profess to preach the same Lord and the same Gospel,
only they depreciate the authority of him from whom you first receivedit.
Such men have no raison d’être, no standing-ground among you. They have
none in my position in the Church, for it is equal to that of any of the Apostles
(2 Corinthians 11:5). They have none in my disregard of the technical rules of
oratory, for I am not lacking in knowledge. Theyhave none, in fact, in any
way, for I challenge the closestinvestigationinto my conduct (2 Corinthians
11:6). In one point, I admit (2 Corinthians 11:7), they have an apparent
advantage. But even that vanishes on investigation. See notes below.
Bengel's Gnomen
2 Corinthians 11:4. Εἰ, if) He lays down a condition, on the part of the real
fact, which is impossible; he therefore says in the imperfect, you might
tolerate it [but as the condition is impossible, you ought not tolerate it]; but as
regards the attempt of the false apostles, notonly is the condition laid down
possible, but is actually realized and present. He therefore says in the present,
preacheth [not Imperf. as, ἠνείχεσθε, Ye might tolerate it]; comp. Galatians
1:6-7.—γὰρ)The reasonofPaul’s fear was the yielding characterof the
Corinthians.—ὁ ἐρχόμενος, he that cometh) any one; out of Judea, if you
please;Genesis 42:5, ἦλθονμετὰ τῶν ἐρχομένων, they came with those that
came. [He alreadystates, whatthe Corinthians were in duty bound to allow to
be stated, 2 Corinthians 11:1.—V. g.]—ἄλλον·ἕτερον, another—a different)
These words are different from eachother. See Acts 4:12, note. ἄλλον
separates [from the true person] by a far less definite boundary here than
ἕτερον.[76]—ΟὐΚἘΛΆΒΕΤΕ,ye have not received.—οὐκἐδέξασθε, ye have
not accepted)Distinctwords, well suited to the respective subjects;the will of
man does not concurin ‘receiving’ [λαμβανετε—ἘΛΆΒΕΤΕ]the Spirit, as in

‘accepting’[ἘΔΈΞΑΣΘΕ]the Gospel.[77]—ἪΕὐΑΓΓΈΛΙΟΝἛΤΕΡΟΝ,or
another gospel)The words, if there be, or, if you receive, are appropriately
[for convenience’sake]left to be understood.—καλῶς ἠνείχεσθε, you might
well bear with) This forbearance, as being likely to lead to corruption [2
Corinthians 11:3], is not approved, but the word, with καλῶς, is used as at
Mark 7:9. The fulness [saturitas, fulness to satiety] of the Corinthians is
noticed, and their eagernessfora more novel and splendid Christianity, if any
such was to be found.
[76] Ἄλλος, according to Tittmann, denotes another, without regardto any
diversity or difference, save that of number. Ἕτερος indicates not merely
another, but also one different. Ἕτερος, according to Ammonius, is saidἐπὶ
δυοῖν in the case oftwo; ἄλλος, ἐπὶ πλειόνων in the case ofmore than two.—
ED.
[77] The Engl. V. has happily expressedthe distinction by ‘received,’ἐλάβετε,
of a thing in receiving which we are passive, and which is not dependent on
our will: ‘accepted,’ἐδέξασθε of that, the receiving of which is at our own
will; to receive to one’s self, to accept, to welcome.—ED.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 4. - He that cometh. Apparently an allusion to some recent and rival
teacher. Another Jesus. The intruder preaches, not a different Jesus (ἕτερον)
or a different gospel(comp. Galatians 1:6-8), but ostensibly the same Jesus
whom St. Paul had preached. Another spirit... another gospel;rather, a
different spirit (ἕτερον)... a different gospel. The Jesus preachedwas the
same;the gospelaccepted, the Spirit received, were supposedto remain
unaltered. Ye might well bear with him. This is not without a touch of irony.
You are all setagainstme; and yet the newcomerdoes not profess to preachto
you another Jesus, orimpart a different Spirit! Had he done so, you might
have had some excuse (καλῶς)for listening to him. Now there is none; for it

was I who first preached Jesus to you, and from me you first receivedthe
Spirit.
Vincent's Word Studies
Another Jesus - another Spirit (ἄλλον - ἕτερον)
Rev., another Jesus, a different Spirit. See on Matthew 6:24. Another denies
the identity; a different denies the similarity of nature. It is the difference of
"individuality and kind" (Alford). See on Galatians 1:6, Galatians 1:7.
Ye might well bear (καλῶς ἠνείχεσθε)
Following the reading which makes the verb in the imperfect tense, putting
the matter as a supposed case. The Rev. follows the reading ἀνεχέσθε, present
tense, and puts it as a fact: ye do wellto bear. Lit., ye endure them finely. The
expressionis ironical. You gladly endure these false teachers, whydo you not
endure me?
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
WILLIAM BARCLAY
THE PERIL OF SEDUCTION (2 Corinthians 11:1-6)
11:1-6 Would that you would bear with me in a little foolishness--butI know
that you do bear with me. I am jealous for you with the jealousyof God, for I
betrothed you to one husband, I wished to present a pure maiden to Christ.
But I am afraid, that, as the serpentdeceived Eve by his craftiness, your
thoughts may be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity which look to
Christ. For if he who comes preaches anotherJesus, a Jesus whomwe did not
preach, if you take a different spirit, a spirit which you did not take, if you

receive a different gospel, a gospelwhich you did not receive, you bear it
excellently! Well, I reckonthat I am in nothing inferior to these super-
apostles. I may be quite untrained in speaking, but I am not untrained in
knowledge, but, in fact, in everything and in all things we made the knowledge
of God clearto you.
All through this sectionPaul has to adopt methods which are completely
distasteful to him. He has to stress his own authority, to boastabout himself
and to keepcomparing himself with those who are seeking to seduce the
Corinthian Church; and he does not like it. He apologizes everytime he has to
speak in such a way, for he was not a man to stand on his dignity. It was said
of a greatman, "He never remembered his dignity until others forgot it." But
Paul knew that it was not really his dignity and honour that were at stake, but
the dignity and the honour of Jesus Christ.
He begins by using a vivid picture from Jewishmarriage customs. The idea of
Israelas the bride of God is common in the Old Testament. "Your Maker,"
said Isaiah, "is your husband." (Isaiah54:5). "As the bridegroom rejoices
over the bride, so shall your God rejoice overyou." (Isaiah 62:5). So it was
natural for Paul to use the metaphor of marriage and to think of the
Corinthian Church as the bride of Christ.
At a Jewishwedding there were two people calledthe friends of the
bridegroom, one representing the bridegroom and one the bride. They had
many duties. They actedas liaisons betweenthe bride and the bridegroom;
they carried the invitations to the guests;but they had one particular
responsibility, that of guaranteeing the chastity of the bride. That is what is in
Paul's thought here. In the marriage of Jesus Christ and the Corinthian
Church he is the friend of the bridegroom. It is his responsibility to guarantee
the chastityof the bride, and he will do all he can to keepthe Corinthian
Church pure and a fit bride for Jesus Christ.
There was a Jewishlegendcurrent in Paul's time that, in the Garden of Eden,
Satanhad actually seducedEve and that Cain was the child of their union.
Paul is thinking of that old legendwhen he fears that the Corinthian Church
is being seducedfrom Christ.

It is clearthat there were in Corinth men who were preaching their own
version of Christianity and insisting that it was superior to Paul's. It is equally
clearthat they regardedthemselves as very specialpeople--super-apostles,
Paul calls them. Ironically Paul says that the Corinthians listen splendidly to
them. If they give them such an excellenthearing will they not listen to him?
Then he draws the contrastbetweenthese false apostles andhimself He is
quite untrained in speaking. The word he uses is idiotes (Greek #2399). This
word began by meaning a private individual who took no part in public life. It
went on to mean someone with no technical training, what we would call a
layman. Paul says that these false but arrogantapostles may be far better
equipped orators than he is; they may be the professionalsand he the mere
amateur in words; they may be the men with the academic qualifications and
he the mere layman. But the fact remains, howeverunskilled he may be in
technicaloratory, he knows what he is talking about and they do not.
There is a famous story which tells how a company of people were dining
together. After dinner it was agreedthat eachshould recite something. A well-
known actorrose and, with all the resources ofelocutionand dramatic art, he
declaimed the twenty-third psalm and satdown to tremendous applause. A
quiet man followedhim. He too beganto recite the twenty-third psalm and at
first there was rather a titter. But before he had ended there was a stillness
that was more eloquent than any applause. When he had spokenthe last
words there was silence, andthen the actorleant across andsaid, "Sir, I know
the psalm, but you know the shepherd."
Paul's opponents might have all the resources oforatory and he might be
unskilled in speech;but he knew what he was talking about because he knew
the realChrist.
JOSEPHBEET

2 Corinthians 11:4. Reasonfor Paul’s fear, viz. his readers’conduct and
disposition.
He who comes:any strange arrival, lookedupon in Paul’s vivid conceptionas
a definite person. It suggests thatPaul’s opponents at Corinth were men from
without. So 2 Corinthians 10:6.
Proclaim:as a herald; see Romans 2:21. They acknowledge Jesus ofNazareth
to be the Christ; but so misrepresentHis teaching as practically to portray
another Jesus, i.e. a man quite different from Him whom Paul proclaimed.
You are receiving: not necessarilyactuallyreceived; but their minds were
going in that direction. See 2 Corinthians 10:5.
Another kind of spirit; probably does not refer to “the spirit of the world,” (1
Corinthians 2:12 : cp. Ephesians 2:2,) but suggestsin irony the powerlessness
of the opponents to impart the Holy Spirit. Any animating principle received
from them must be of another kind from Him whom they had already
receivedthrough Paul’s ministry. Cp. Galatians 3:2.
Another kind of Gospel:Galatians 1:6.
Accepted: 1 Thessalonians 2:13 : welcomedas true. Paul supposes them to be
listening to something quite different from the goodnews which they had
heard and acceptedfrom his lips.
Received, accepted;claims their own previous welcome to the Gospelin
support of what he now says.
Jesus, the Spirit, the Gospel:the three greatfactors of the Christian life.
Touching eachof these, Paulcontrasts his teaching and its results with that of
his opponents.
Nobly: bitter irony.
You would bear with it: or (R.V. Greek text) you bear with it. The latter
reading states simple matter of fact. The former represents Paul as feeling the
utter impossibility of his own supposition; and, instead of saying, “you bear

it,” as merely saying that if it were possible his readers would bear with it
nobly. The reading is quite uncertain.
J. H. BERNARD
Verse 4
2 Corinthians 11:4. εἰ μὲν γὰρ ὁ ἐρχόμενος κ. τ. λ.: for if he that cometh ( ὁ
ἐρχόμενος may point to some one conspicuous opponent, but it would not be
safe to press this, or to lay stress onthe verb as indicating one who comes
without authorised mission, as at John 10:8; it is probably a quite indefinite
phrase, “if any one comes and preaches,” etc.)preachethanotherJesus whom
we did not preach(not “anotherChrist,” “a new Messiah,”for of this false
teachers atCorinth were not guilty; but “anotherJesus,” i.e., a different
representationof the historicalPerson, Jesus ofNazareth, from that which St.
Paul put forward when at Corinth; see reff.), or if ye receive a different Spirit
which ye did not receive, sc., a Spirit different from Him whom you received
at your baptism ( λαμβάνειν is the regular verb with πνεῦμα; cf. John 20:22,
Acts 8:15; Acts 10:47;Acts 19:2, Romans 8:15, 1 Corinthians 2:12, Galatians
3:2; it expresses the co-operationofthe will in a degree which δέχεσθαι, the
verb used in the next clause of“accepting” the Gospel, does not; see Acts 7:38;
Acts 17:11, 1 Thessalonians 1:6, etc.), or a different Gospelwhich ye did not
accept, sc., whenthe Gospelwas first brought to you by me, ye bear with him
finely! καλῶς is ironical, as at Mark 7:9 = praeclare. This facile acceptanceof
novelty is the cause of his anxiety; cf. 1 Corinthians 3:11, Galatians 1:6-8.
Such instability is always a danger in the case ofnewly-founded Churches.
CALVIN

4. Forif he that cometh. He now reproves the Corinthians for the excessive
readiness, whichthey showedto receive the false apostles. Forwhile they were
towards Paul himself excessivelymorose and irritable, 808 so that on any,
even the leastoccasion, theywere offended if he gave them even the slightest
reproof, there was, onthe other hand, nothing that they did not bear with, on
the part of the false Apostles. They willingly endured their pride, haughtiness,
and unreasonableness. An absurd reverence of this nature he condemns,
because in the mean time they showed no discrimination or judgment. “How
is it that they take 809 so much liberty with you, and you submit patiently to
their control? Had they brought you another Christ, or another gospel, or
another Spirit, different from what you receivedthrough my hands, I would
assuredlyapprove of your regardfor them, for they would be deserving of
such honor. But as they have conferredupon you nothing, that I had not given
you previously, what sort of gratitude do you show in all but adoring those, to
whom you are indebted for nothing, while you despise me, through whom God
has bestowedupon you so many and so distinguished benefits?” Such is the
reverence that is shown even at this day by Papists towards their pretended
Bishops. Forwhile they are oppressedby their excessivelyharshtyranny, 810
they submit to it without difficulty; but, at the same time, do not hesitate to
treat Christ himself with contempt. 811
The expressions — another Christ, and another gospel, are made use of here
in a different sense from what they bear in Galatians 1:8. Foranother is used
there in opposition to what is true and genuine, and hence it means false and
counterfeit. Here, on the other hand, he means to say — “If the gospelhad
come to you through their ministry, and not through mine.”
BOB DEFFINBAUGH

4 If one comes and preaches anotherJesus whom we have not preached, or
you receive a different spirit which you have not receivedor a different gospel
which you have not accepted, youbear this beautifully (2 Corinthians 11:4).
Paul pleads with them to tolerate him: “Some ofyou are pathetically tolerant,
as can be seenin these three areas:first, you are tolerant when another Jesus
is preached.” Probably one of the greatestquestions of our day is, “Who is
Jesus Christ?” Many believe in Jesus, but the question is, “Which one?” The
Jesus ofthe New Testamentis virgin born. The Jesus ofthe New Testamentis
He who fulfills all of the Old Testamentprophecies pertaining to the Messiah.
The Jesus ofthe New Testamentis truly God and truly man. The Jesus ofthe
New Testamentliterally died and rose from the dead and is literally returning
againto possess His kingdom and judge His enemies. That is the biblical
Jesus. Now there are many Jesus’that are not the real Jesus. We are told, for
example, that there is a Jesus oflove and acceptanceandtolerance, who
accepts allmen as they are, without judging or condemning them. Many are
those who believe in a “Jesus the way I like to think of Him.” But this is not
the Jesus Paulpreaches. It is not the Jesus of the Gospels. Paulsays that if
someone comes withanother Jesus, the Corinthians acceptthat, and if
someone comes witha different spirit they have not received, they acceptthat
as well. It is little wonder that Paul is distressed.
One of the bestBible commentaries I have seenon any book of the Bible is D.
A. Carson's, FromTriumphalism to Maturity: An Exposition of 2 Corinthians
10-13.61Carsondoes a beautiful job on these particular verses in chapters 10-
13 of 2 Corinthians. It is an excellentwork. I only disagree with him when he
concludes that the word “spirit” here means something like disposition, a
different attitude or demeanor. I believe Paul is saying, “When you were
saved, you receivedthe Holy Spirit, yet some of these hucksters have come
along, and you have failed to realize that some other spirit has come with
them.” The context is about Satanand his messengers, the false apostles.
When we look back in the Old Testament, we are told very clearlythat the
Spirit of Godleft King Saul, and another (evil) spirit came upon him. I believe
Paul is saying that those who come as ministers of Satan are spirit-filled.
When men receive these messengersand believe their message,they receive
this “otherspirit.” Just as these false apostles do not preachthe same Jesus,

neither does the same spirit accompanytheir message. Manyin Corinth are so
tolerant they don’t even recognize the change in the message orthe change in
the spirit. Does Paulhave goodreasonto be concernedfor the purity of his
daughter-bride that he wants to present to Christ? Yes! And these concerns
are all evidences of his love and his care, not his pride or his hunger for
power.
Expositor's Bible Commentary
GODLY JEALOUSY.
2 Corinthians 11:1-6 (R.V)
ALL through the tenth chapter there is a conflict in the Apostle’s mind. He is
repeatedly, as it were, on the verge of doing something, from which he as often
draws back. He does not like to boast-he does not like to speak ofhimself at
all-but the tactics of his enemies, and the faithlessness ofthe Corinthians, are
making it inevitable. In 2 Corinthians 11:1-33. he takes the plunge. He adopts
the policy of his adversaries, andproceeds to enlarge on his services to the
Church: but with magnificent irony, he first assumes the mask of a fool. It is
not the genuine Paul who figures here; it is Paul playing a part to which he
has been compelledagainsthis will, acting in a characterwhichis as remote as
possible from his own. It is the characternative and proper to the other side;
and when Paul, with due deprecation, assumes it for the nonce, he not only
preserves his modesty and his self-respect, but lets his opponents see what he
thinks of them. He plays the fool for the occasion, andof set purpose; they do
it always, and without knowing it, like men to the manner born.
But it is the Corinthians who are directly addressed. "Wouldthat ye could
bear with me in a little foolishness:nay indeed bear with me." In the last
clause, ανεχεσθε may be either imperative (as the RevisedVersion gives it in

the text,) or indicative (as in the margin: "but indeed ye do bear with me").
The use of αλλα rather favors the last; and it would be quite in keeping with
the extremely ironical tone of the passageto render it so. Even in the First
Epistle, Paul had reflectedon the self-conceitofthe Corinthians: "We are
fools for Christ’s sake,but ye are wise in Christ." That self-conceitled them
to think lightly of him, but not just to easthim off; they still toleratedhim as a
feeble sort of person: "Ye do indeed bear with me." But whichever alternative
be preferred, the irony passes swiftlyinto the dead earnestof the second
verse:"ForI am jealous over you with a godly jealousy:for I espousedyou to
one husband, that I might presentyou as a pure virgin to Christ."
This is the ground on which Paul claims their forbearance, evenwhen he
indulges in a little "folly." If he is guilty of what seems to them extravagance,
it is the extravagance ofjealousy-i.e., oflove tormented by fear. Nor is it any
selfishjealousy, of which he ought to be ashamed. He is not anxious about his
private or personalinterests in the Church. He is not humiliated and
provokedbecause his former pupils have come to their spiritual majority, and
assertedtheir independence of their master. These are common dangers and
common sins; and every minister needs to be on his guard againstthem.
Paul’s jealousy overthe Corinthians was "a jealousyof God":God had put it
into his heart, and what it had in view was God’s interest in them. It
distressedhim to think, not that his personal influence at Corinth was on the
wane, but that the work which God had done in their souls was in dangerof
being frustrated, the inheritance He had acquired in them of being lost.
Nothing but God’s interest had been in the Apostle’s mind from the
beginning. "I betrothed you," he says, "to one husband"-the emphasis lies on
one- "that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ."
It is the Church collectivelywhich is representedby the pure virgin, and it
ought to be observedthat this is the constant use in Scripture, alike in the Old
Testamentand the New. It is Israelas a whole which is married to the Lord; it
is the Christian Church as a whole (or a Church collectively, as here) which is
the Bride, the Lamb’s wife. To individualize the figure, and speak ofChrist as
the Bridegroomof the soul, is not Scriptural, and almostalways misleads. It
introduces the language and the associationsofnatural affectioninto a region
where they are entirely out of place;we have no terms of endearment here,

and should have none, but high thoughts of the simplicity, the purity, and the
glory of the Church. Glory is especiallysuggestedby the idea of "presenting"
the Church to Christ. The presentationtakes place whenChrist comes again
to be glorified in His saints;that greatday shines unceasinglyin the Apostle’s
heart, and all he does is done in its light. The infinite issues of fidelity and
infidelity to the Lord, as that day makes them manifest, are ever presentto his
spirit; and it is this which gives such divine intensity to his feelings wherever
the conduct of Christians is concerned. He sees everything, not as dull eyes see
it now, but as Christ in His glory will show it then. And it takes nothing less
than this to keepthe soulabsolutely pure and loyal to the Lord.
The Apostle explains in the third verse the nature of his alarm. "I fear," he
says, "lestby any means, as the serpentbeguiled Eve in his craftiness, your
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity" (and the purity) "whichis
toward Christ." The whole figure is very expressive. "Simplicity" means
singleness ofmind; the heart of the "pure virgin" is undivided; she ought not
to have, and will not have, a thought for any but the "one man" to whom she
is betrothed. "Purity" againis, as it were, one species of"simplicity"; it is
"simplicity" as shown in the keeping of the whole nature unspotted for the
Lord. What Paul dreads is the spiritual seductionof the Church, the winning
awayof her heart from absolute loyalty to Christ. The serpent beguiled Eve
by his craftiness;he took advantage of her unsuspecting innocence to wile her
awayfrom her simple belief in God and obedience to Him. When she took into
her mind the suspicions he raised, her "simplicity" was gone, and her
"purity" followed. The serpent’s agents - the servants of Satan, as Paul calls
them in 2 Corinthians 11:15 -are at work in Corinth; and he fears that their
craftiness may seduce the Church from its first simple loyalty to Christ. It is
natural for us to take απλοτης and αγνοτης in a pure ethical sense, but it is by
no means certain that this is all that is meant; indeed, if καὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος be
a gloss, as seems notimprobable, απλοτης may well have a different
application. "The simplicity which is towardChrist," from which he fears lest
by any means "their minds" or "thoughts" be corrupted, will rather be their
whole-heartedacceptanceofChrist as Paul conceivedofHim and preached
Him, their unreserved, unquestioning surrender to that form of doctrine
{τύπον διδαχῆς, Romans 6:17} to which they had been delivered. This, of

course, in Paul’s mind, involved the other-there is no separationof doctrine
and practice for him; but it makes a theologicalrather than an ethical interest
the predominant one; and this interpretation, it seems to me, coheres best
with what follows, and with the whole preoccupationof the Apostle in this
passage. The people whose influence he fearedwere not unbelievers, nor were
they immoral; they professedto be Christians, and indeed better Christians
than Paul; but their whole conceptionof the Gospelwas atvariance with his;
if they made way at Corinth, his work would be undone. The Gospelwhich he
preachedwould no longer have that unsuspicious acceptance;the Christ
whom he proclaimed would no longerhave that unwavering loyalty; instead
of simplicity and purity, the heart of the "pure virgin" would be possessedby
misgivings, hesitations, perhaps by outright infidelity; his hope of presenting
her to Christ on the greatday would be gone.
This is what we are led to by 2 Corinthians 11:4, one of the most vexed
passagesin the New Testament. The text of the lastword is uncertain: some
read the imperfect ανειχεσθε; others, including our Revisers, the present
ανεχεσθε. The latter is the better attested, and suits best the connectionof
thought. The interpretations may be divided into two classes. First, there are
those which assume that the suppositions made in this verse are not true. This
is evidently the intention in our Authorized Version. It renders, "Forif he that
cometh preachethanother 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." But-we must interpolate-nothing
of this sort has really takenplace;for Paul counts himself not a whit inferior
to the very chiefestApostles. No one-not even Peteror James or John-could
have imparted anything to the Corinthians which Paul had failed to impart;
and hence their spiritual seduction, no matter how or by whom accomplished,
was perfectly unreasonable and gratuitous. This interpretation, with
variations in detail which need not be pursued, is representedby many of the
best expositors, from Chrysostomto Meyer. "If," says Chrysostomin his
paraphrase, "if we had omitted anything that should have been said, and they
had made up the omission, we do not forbid you to attend to them. But if
everything has been perfectly done on our part, and no blank left, how did
they" (the Apostle’s adversaries)"gethold of you?" This is the broad result of

many discussions;and it is usual-though not invariable - for those who read
the passage thus to take των υπερλιαν αποστολωνin a complimentary, not a
contemptuous, sense, and to refer it, as Chrysostomexpressly does, to the
three pillars of the primitive Church.
The objections to this interpretation are obvious enough. There is first the
grammaticalobjection, that a hypothetical sentence, with the present
indicative in the protasis ( εἰ ... κηρύσσει, εἰ ... λαμβάνετε), and the present
indicative in the apodosis ( ἀνέχεσθε), can by no plausibility of argument be
made to mean, "If the interloper were preaching anotherJesus you would be
right to bear with him." Even if the imperfect is the true reading, which is
improbable, this translation is unjustified. But there is a logicalas wellas a
grammaticalobjection. The use of γαρ ("for")surely implies that in the
sentence whichit introduces we are to find the reasonfor what precedes. Paul
is afraid, he has told us, lest the Church should be seducedfrom the one
husband to whom he has betrothed her. But he cannever mean to explain a
real fear by making a number of imaginary suppositions;and so we must find
in the hypothetical clauses here the real grounds of his alarm. People had
come to Corinth ο ερχομενος is no doubt collective, and characterizesthe
troublers of the Church as intruders, not native to it, but separable from it-
doing all the things here supposed. Paul has espousedthe Church to One
Husband; they preach another Jesus. Not, of course, a distinct Person, but
certainly a distinct conceptionof the same Person. Paul’s Christ was the Son
of God. the Lord of Glory. He who by His death on the cross became
Universal Redeemer, and by His ascensionUniversalLord-the end of the Law,
the giver of the Spirit; it would be another Jesus if the intruders preached
only the Son of David, or the Carpenter of Nazareth, or the King of Israel.
According to the conceptionof Christ, too, would be "the spirit" which
accompaniedthis preaching, the characteristic temperand powerof the
religion it proclaimed. The spirit ministered by Paul in his apostolic work was
one of power, and love, and, above all things, liberty; it emancipated the soul
from weakness,from scruples, from moral inability, from slavery to sin and
law; but the spirit generatedby the Judaising ministry, the characteristic
temper of the religion it proclaimed, was servile and cowardly. It was a spirit
of bondage tending always to fear. [Romans 8:15] Their whole gospel-to give

their preaching a name it did not deserve [Galatians 1:6-9] -was something
entirely unlike Paul’s both in its ideas and in its spiritual fruits. Unlike-yes,
and immeasurably inferior, and yet in spite of this the Corinthians put up
with it well enough. This is the plain fact ( ἀνέχεσθε) which the Apostle plainly
states. He had to plead for their toleration, but they had no difficulty in
tolerating men who by a spurious gospel, anunspiritual conceptionof Christ,
and an unworthy incapacityfor understanding freedom, were undermining
his work, and seducing their souls. No wonder he was jealous, and angry, and
scornful, when he saw the true Christian religion, which has all time and all
nations for its inheritance, in danger of being degradedinto a narrow Jewish
sectarianism;the kingdom of the Spirit lost in a societyin which race gave a
prerogative, and carnal ordinances were revived; and, worse still, Christ the
Son of God, the Universal reconciler, knownonly "after the flesh," and
appropriated to a race, insteadof being exaltedas Lord of all, in whom there
is no room for Greek or Jew, barbarian or Scythian, bond or free. The
Corinthians bore with this nobly ( καλῶς); but he who had begottenthem in
the true Gospelhad to beg them to bear with him.
There is only one difficulty in this interpretation, and that is not a serious one:
it is the connectionof 2 Corinthians 11:5 with what precedes. Thosewho
connectit immediately with 2 Corinthians 11:4 are obliged to supply
something: for example, "But you ought not to bear with them, for I consider
that I am in nothing behind the very chiefestapostles." Ihave no doubt at all
that οι υπερλιαν αποστολοι-the superlative apostles-arenot Peter, James, and
John, but the teachers aimedat in 2 Corinthians 11:4, the ψευδαποστολοι of2
Corinthians 11:13; it is with them, and not with the Twelve or the eminent
Three, that Paul is comparing himself. But even so, I agree with Weizsacker
that the connectionfor the γαρ in 2 Corinthians 11:5 must be soughtfurther
back-as farback, indeed, as 2 Corinthians 11:1. "You bear wellenough with
them, and so you may well bear with me, as I beg you to do; for I consider,"
etc. This is effective enough, and brings us back again to the main subject. If
there is a point in which Paul is willing to concede his inferiority to these
superlative apostles, it is the nonessentialone of utterance. He grants that he is
rude in speech- not rhetorically gifted or trained-a plain, blunt man who
speaks right on. But he is not rude in knowledge:in every respecthe has made

that manifest, among all men, toward them. The lastclause is hardly
intelligible, and the text is insecure. The reading φανερωσαντες is that of all
the criticaleditors; the objectmay either be indefinite (his competence in
point of knowledge), or, more precisely, την γνωσιν itself, supplied from the
previous clause. In no point whatever, under no circumstances, has Paulever
failed to exhibit to the Corinthians the whole truth of God in the Gospel. This
it is which makes him scornful even when he thinks of the men whom the
Corinthians are preferring to himself.
When we look from the details of this passageto its scope, some reflections are
suggested, which have their application still.
(1) Our conceptionof the Personof Christ determines our conceptionof the
whole Christian religion. What we have to proclaim to men as gospel - what
we have to offer to them as the characteristic temperand virtue of the life
which the Gospeloriginates-depends onthe answerwe give to Jesus’own
question, "Whom sayye that I am?" A Christ who is simply human cannotbe
to men what a Christ is who is truly divine. The Gospelidentified with Him
cannot be the s me; the spirit of the societywhich gathers round Him cannot
be the same. It is futile to ask whether such a gospeland such a spirit can
fairly be calledChristian; they are in point of factquite other things from the
Gospeland the Spirit which are historically associatedwith the name. It is
plain from this passagethat the Apostle attachedthe utmost importance to his
conceptions ofthe Personand Work of the Lord: ought not this to give pause
to those who evacuate his theologyof many of its distinctive ideas-especially
that of the PreexistenceofChrist-on the plea that they are merely
theologoumena ofan individual Christian, and that to discard them leaves the
Gospelunaffected? Certainly this was not what he thought. Another Jesus
meant another spirit, another gospelto use modern words, anotherreligion
and another religious consciousness;and any other, the Apostle was perfectly
sure, came short of the grandeur of the truth. The spirit of the passage is the
same with that in Galatians 1:6 ft., where he erects the Gospelhe has
preachedas the standard of absolute religious truth. "Thoughwe, or an angel
from heaven, should preach unto you any gospelother than that which we
preachedunto you, let him be anathema. As we have said before, so sayI now

again, If any man preachethunto you any gospelotherthan that which ye
received, let him be anathema."
(2) "The simplicity that is toward Christ" the simple acceptanceofthe truth
about Him, an undivided loyalty of heart to Him-may be corrupted by
influences originating within, as well as without, the Church. The infidelity
which is subtlest, and most to be dreaded, is not the gross materialismor
atheism which will not so much as hear the name of God or Christ; but that
which uses all sacrednames, speaking readilyof Jesus, the Spirit, and the
Gospel, but meaning something else, and something less, than these words
meant in apostolic lips. This it was which alarmed the jealous love of Paul;
this it is, in its insidious influence, which constitutes one of the most real perils
of Christianity at the present time. The Jew in the first century, who reduced
the Personand Work of Christ to the scale ofhis national prejudices, and the
theologianin the nineteenth, who discounts apostolic ideas when they do not
suit the presuppositions of his philosophy, are open to the same suspicion, if
they do not fall under the same condemnation. True thoughts about Christ-in
spite of all the smart sayings about theologicalsubtleties whichhave nothing
to do with piety-are essentialto the very existence ofthe Christian religion.
(3) There is no comparisonbetweenthe Gospelof God in Jesus Christ His Son
and any other religion. The science ofcomparative religion is interesting as a
science;but a Christian may be excusedfor finding the religious use of it
tiresome. There is nothing true in any of the religions which is not already in
his possession. He never finds a moral idea, a law of the spiritual life, a word
of God, in any of them, to which he cannotimmediately offer a parallel, far
more simple and penetrating, from the revelationof Christ. He has no interest
in disparaging the light by which millions of his fellow-creatures have walked,
generationafter generation, in the mysterious providence of God; but he sees
no reasonfor pretending that that light-which Scripture calls darkness and
the shadow of death-canbear comparisonwith the radiance in which he lives.
"If," he might say, misapplying the fourth verse-"ifthey brought us another
savior, another spirit, another gospel, we might be religiously interestedin
them; but, as it is, we have everything already, and they, in comparison, have
nothing." The same remark applies to "theosophy," "spiritualism," and other
"gospels."It will be time to take them seriouslywhen they utter one wise or

true word on God or the soul which is not an echo of something in the old
familiar Scriptures.
DOUG GOINS
The right kind of jealousy
Beginning with verses 1-4, let’s considerthe right kind of jealousyfor spiritual
care:
The Jealousy& Generosityof Loving Care;2 Cor. 11:1-15;#4652– page 2
I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness;but indeed you are
bearing with me. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I
betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure
virgin. But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceivedEve by his craftiness, your
minds should be led astrayfrom the simplicity and purity of devotion to
Christ. For if one comes and preaches anotherJesus whom we have not
preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a
different gospelwhich you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully [that
is, you just acceptand embrace it and are not the leastbit discerning].
Paul uses the word “jealous”twice in verse 2. It means “an intense concern
for anotherperson’s reputation or honor.” This kind of jealousyis other-
centeredrather than self-centered. In the Old Testament, Godsays that he is a
jealous God. He is jealous for the reputation of his own people and concerned
about their reputation among the other nations around them. God’s jealousy
is not controlling, possessive, ordominating. It neither imposes itself, nor

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