Paul and the False Apostles 2 Corinthians 11:1–15 1 2 Corinthians 11:1. I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness, but you are already doing that.2 2 Corinthians 11:2. I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.3 2 Corinthians 11:3. I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.4 2 Corinthians 11:4. For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it very easily.5 2 Corinthians 11:5. I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”6 2 Corinthians 11:6. Although I am not a polished speaker, I am certainly not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every way possible.7 2 Corinthians 11:7. Was it a sin for me to humble myself in order to exalt you, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?8 2 Corinthians 11:8. I robbed other churches by accepting their support in order to serve you.9 2 Corinthians 11:9. And when I was with you and in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. I have refrained from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do so.10 2 Corinthians 11:10. As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.11 2 Corinthians 11:11. Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!12 2 Corinthians 11:12. But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which they boast.13 2 Corinthians 11:13. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.14 2 Corinthians 11:14. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.15 2 Corinthians 11:15. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.
Paul’s Sufferings for Christ 2 Corinthians 11:16 16 2 Corinthians 11:16. I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.17 2 Corinthians 11:17. In this confident boasting of mine, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but as a fool.18 2 Corinthians 11:18. Since many are boasting according to the flesh, I too will boast.19 2 Corinthians 11:19. For you gladly put up with fools, since you are so wise.20 2 Corinthians 11:20. In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face.21 2 Corinthians 11:21. To my shame I concede that we were too weak for that! Speaking as a fool, however, I can match what anyone else dares to boast about.22 2 Corinthians 11:22. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.23 2 Corinthians 11:23. Are they servants of Christ? (I am speaking as if I were out of my mind.) I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.24 2 Corinthians 11:24. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.25 2 Corinthians 11:25. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.26 2 Corinthians 11:26. In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers,27 2 Corinthians 11:27. in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.28 2 Corinthians 11:28. Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.29 2 Corinthians 11:29. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?30 2 Corinthians 11:30. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.31 2 Corinthians 11:31. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is forever worthy of praise, knows that I am not lying.32 2 Corinthians 11:32. In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas secured the city of the Damascenes in order to arrest me.33 2 Corinthians 11:33. But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.
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Pray with this chapter A short prayer for the reader. This is not Scripture and is kept distinct from the Berean text.
Father, as we read 2 Corinthians 11 (Paul and the False Apostles), give us a quiet heart, a willing mind, and the grace to live what you show us. Amen.
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