2 Corinthians 11:1-7

Paul and His Opponents

11:1 I wish that you would be patient with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you are being patient with me! 11:2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, ¹  to present you as a pure ²  virgin to Christ. 11:3 But I am afraid that ³  just as the serpent ⁴  deceived Eve by his treachery, ⁵  your minds may be led astray ⁶  from a sincere and pure ⁷  devotion to Christ. 11:4 For if someone comes and proclaims ⁸  another Jesus different from the one we proclaimed, ⁹  or if you receive a different spirit than the one you received, ¹⁰  or a different gospel than the one you accepted, ¹¹  you put up with it well enough! ¹²  11:5 For I consider myself not at all inferior to those “super-apostles.” ¹³  11:6 And even if I am unskilled ¹⁴  in speaking, yet I am certainly not so in knowledge. Indeed, we have made this plain to you in everything in every way. 11:7 Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself ¹⁵  so that you could be exalted, because I proclaimed ¹⁶  the gospel of God to you free of charge?

¹ tn That is, to Christ.

² tn Or “chaste.”

³ tn Grk “I fear lest somehow.”

⁴ tn Or “the snake.”

⁵ tn Or “craftiness.”

⁶ tn Or “corrupted,” “seduced.”

⁷ tc Although most mss (א² H Ψ 0121 0243 1739 1881 Ï) lack “and pure” (καὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος, kai th" Jagnothto"; Grk “and purity”) several important and early witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א* B D^[2] F G 33 81 104 pc ar r co) retain these words. Their presence in such mss across such a wide geographical distribution argues for their authenticity. The omission from the majority of mss can be explained by haplography, since the -τητος ending of ἁγνότητος is identical to the ending of ἁπλότητος (Japlothto", “sincerity”) three words back (ἁπλότητος καὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος); further, since the meanings of “sincerity” and “purity” are similar they might seem redundant. A copyist would scarcely notice the omission because Paul’s statement still makes sense without “and from purity.”

⁸ tn Or “preaches.”

⁹ tn Grk “another Jesus whom we have not proclaimed.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “a different spirit which you did not receive.”

¹¹ tn Grk “a different gospel which you did not accept.”

¹² tn Or “you endure it very well.”

¹³ tn The implicit irony in Paul’s remark is brought out well by the TEV: “I do not think that I am the least bit inferior to those very special so-called ‘apostles’ of yours!”

¹⁴ sn Unskilled in speaking means not professionally trained as a rhetorician.

¹⁵ sn Paul is referring to humbling himself to the point of doing manual labor to support himself.

¹⁶ tn Or “preached.”