1. Paul's reasons for making these claims 11:1-6

In the first subsection he explained his need to present this evidence.

11:1 Paul found it necessary to remind and reveal to the Corinthians some of the evidences of the Lord's commendation of his ministry (cf. 10:18). He called this "foolishness"because he should not have had to speak of these things. He and his ministry were well-known to his readers.²⁵⁴

11:2 God had jealously guarded His people Israel from the deceitfulness of deceivers who sought to draw their affections away from Himself (cf. Hos. 2:19-20; 4:12; 6:4; 11:8). Paul felt the same concern for the Corinthians. His jealousy was in that sense "godly"(God-like). Paul pictured himself as the father of a virgin bride (cf. 1 Cor. 4:15; 2 Cor. 12:14). His desire was to keep his daughter, the Corinthian church, pure until she would consummate her marriage to Christ (cf. 4:14; Eph. 5:27; 1 John 3:2-3). This will take place at the Rapture.

"Human jealousy is a vice, but to share divine jealousy is a virtue. It is the motive and object of the jealousy that is all-important. There is a place for a spiritual father's passionate concern for the exclusive and pure devotion to Christ of his spiritual children, and also a place for anger at potential violators of that purity (11:29)."²⁵⁵

The motive of Paul's critics in citing what they had done was self-glorification, but Paul's was the welfare of his readers. This is the first of three reasons that Paul gave for the Corinthians to bear with him (v. 1). He wanted them to be completely loyal to Christ.

11:3 Paul's critics were not just calling his apostolic authority into question. They were leading the Corinthians astray. The apostle communicated the seriousness of this seduction by comparing it with the serpent's cunning deception (Gr. exepatesen) of Eve (Gen. 3:13).

"The very future of the Corinthians as an apostolic church is in jeopardy."²⁵⁶

Genuine Christians can be and are being deceived by false teachers and are abandoning their faith today. This sometimes happens when young people go off to college, and it happens when cultists come knocking on Christians' doors.

11:4 The Jesus they were preaching was different enough from Him whom Paul preached that Paul could say their Jesus was a different person. The "if"in this verse does not represent a hypothetical possibility but a past reality. In listening to the false teachers' message the church was under the influence of some sort of spirit, but it was not the Holy Spirit. They were in danger of accepting a different gospel (cf. 10:5; Gal. 1:8-9). In all this they were bearing up "beautifully."Paul described ironically their accepting it all very graciously and submissively from the false apostles (cf. 10:7). Since they showed such remarkable toleration of false teachers surely they owed their father in the faith the same toleration.

This is the second reason the Corinthians should bear with Paul (v. 1): their willingness to accept visitors who presented an adulterated message.

11:5 The "eminent apostles"were probably the false apostles who claimed to be eminent rather than the other genuine apostles. The context supports this interpretation as does the rare term translated "eminent"(NASB, Gr. huperlian apostolon, lit. "exceedingly beyond apostles"). It is perhaps a term more appropriate to phonies claiming apostleship than to genuine apostles. However this term may have been one that Paul's critics used to describe the Twelve in contrast to Paul (cf. 12:11-12).²⁵⁷By elevating the Twelve exceedingly they effective denigrated the apostle to the Gentiles. Whichever view is correct the meaning is clear. Paul's foes were claiming that he was an inferior apostle.

This is the third reason the readers should bear with Paul (v. 1). He claimed that he was not inferior to these "super-apostles."

11:6 Paul had just said that he was not inferior. He was not now claiming that he was inferior in speech. He evidently meant that even if his critics' charge that he was inferior in speech was true, which it was not, no one could charge him with being inferior in knowledge. The Corinthians knew very well Paul's superior knowledge of the revelations of God (cf. Eph. 3:4-5; 1 Cor. 2:6-11). He had expounded divine truth to his readers exhaustively in person and in his letters. Obviously knowledge is more important than speech.

Paul had previously revealed that some of his Corinthian hearers criticized him for not being a skilled rhetorician (10:10). Nevertheless Paul was as competent as any of the Twelve or any of his critics in his ability to communicate as well as in his ability to understand God's revelations. He was responding to criticism of him here, not conceding inferiority.

The fact that the early Christians used the word "apostle"in a general sense (e.g., 8:23; Acts 14:4, 14; et al.) and in a technical sense (e.g., 2 Cor. 1:1; et al.) probably created some confusion. In what sense was Paul an apostle? He claimed to be an apostle on a level equal with the Twelve. Yet the word in the general sense means anyone sent out on the Christian mission, and in this sense the teachers in Corinth who were criticizing Paul were apostles. Perhaps it would be more accurate to define the Corinthians' question about Paul as what type of apostle was he rather than was he an apostle or not.