Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary

Select a resource above

Paul and the False Apostles

I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! ²I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. ³But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough. ⁵I think that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. ⁶I may be untrained in speech, but not in knowledge; certainly in every way and in all things we have made this evident to you.

⁷ Did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I proclaimed God’s good news to you free of charge? ⁸I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. ⁹And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for my needs were supplied by the friends who came from Macedonia. So I refrained and will continue to refrain from burdening you in any way. ¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

¹² And what I do I will also continue to do, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in what they boast about. ¹³For such boasters are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ¹⁵So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. Their end will match their deeds.

Paul’s Sufferings as an Apostle

¹⁶ I repeat, let no one think that I am a fool; but if you do, then accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. ¹⁷What I am saying in regard to this boastful confidence, I am saying not with the Lord’s authority, but as a fool; ¹⁸since many boast according to human standards, I will also boast. ¹⁹For you gladly put up with fools, being wise yourselves! ²⁰For you put up with it when someone makes slaves of you, or preys upon you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or gives you a slap in the face. ²¹To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. ²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. ²³Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman—I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. ²⁴Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; ²⁷in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. ²⁸And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches. ²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?

³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. ³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus (blessed be he forever!) knows that I do not lie. ³²In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to seize me, ³³but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

28. Besides those things that are without “Besides those things,” says he, “which come upon me from all sides, and are as it were extraordinary, what estimate must be formed of that ordinary burden that constantly presses upon me — the care that I have of all the Churches.” The care of all the Churches he appropriately calls his ordinary burden. For I have taken the liberty of rendering ἐπισύστασιν in this way, as it sometimes means — whatever presses upon us. ⁸⁶⁵⁸⁶⁵ The word (ἐπισύστασις) is translated or rather paraphrased by Beza as follows: “Agmen illud in me consurgens;” — “That troop which rises up together against me.” He adds by way of explanation: “Certum est enim ἐπισύστασιν dici multitudinem quae adversus aliquem coierit, idque non semel, sed repetitis vicibus. Quia igitur multiplices erant curae, quarum tanquam agmine magis ac magis veluti obruebatur, Apostolus usus est translatitie hoc vocabulo, admodum significanter;” — “For it is certain that ἐπισύστασιν denotes a multitude that has come together against any one, and that not once merely, but in repeated instances. As, therefore, there were manifold cares, by which rushing upon him like a troop, more and more, he was in a manner overwhelmed, the Apostle, by way of metaphor, made use of this term very significantly.” Raphelius considers the term to be synonymous with an expression made use of by Cicero: “concursus occupationum;” — “a crowding together of engagements.” — (Cic. Fam. 7:33.) — Ed.

Whoever is concerned in good earnest as to the Church of God, stirs up himself and bears a heavy burden, which presses upon his shoulders. What a picture we have here of a complete minister, embracing in his anxieties and aims not one Church merely, or ten, or thirty, but all of them together, so that he instructs some, confirms others, exhorts others, gives counsel to some, and applies a remedy to the diseases of others! Now from Paul’s words we may infer, that no one can have a heartfelt concern for the Churches, without being harassed with many difficulties; for the government of the Church is no pleasant occupation, in which we may exercise ourselves agreeably and with delight of heart, ⁸⁶⁶⁸⁶⁶ “Car le gouernement de l’Eglise n’est pas vne occupation ioyeuse pour nous exercer tout doucement, et par manicrc de passe-temps et exercice gracieux pour recreer nos esprits;” — “For the government of the Church is not a pleasant occupation for exercising ourselves quite agreeably, and by way of pass-time, and an agreeable exercise for refreshing our minds.” but a hard and severe warfare, as has been previously mentioned, (2 Corinthians 10:4,) — Satan from time to time giving us as much trouble as he can, and leaving no stone unturned to annoy us.

⁸⁶⁵ The word (ἐπισύστασις) is translated or rather paraphrased by Beza as follows: “Agmen illud in me consurgens;” — “That troop which rises up together against me.” He adds by way of explanation: “Certum est enim ἐπισύστασιν dici multitudinem quae adversus aliquem coierit, idque non semel, sed repetitis vicibus. Quia igitur multiplices erant curae, quarum tanquam agmine magis ac magis veluti obruebatur, Apostolus usus est translatitie hoc vocabulo, admodum significanter;” — “For it is certain that ἐπισύστασιν denotes a multitude that has come together against any one, and that not once merely, but in repeated instances. As, therefore, there were manifold cares, by which rushing upon him like a troop, more and more, he was in a manner overwhelmed, the Apostle, by way of metaphor, made use of this term very significantly.” Raphelius considers the term to be synonymous with an expression made use of by Cicero: “concursus occupationum;” — “a crowding together of engagements.” — (Cic. Fam. 7:33.) — Ed.

⁸⁶⁶ “Car le gouernement de l’Eglise n’est pas vne occupation ioyeuse pour nous exercer tout doucement, et par manicrc de passe-temps et exercice gracieux pour recreer nos esprits;” — “For the government of the Church is not a pleasant occupation for exercising ourselves quite agreeably, and by way of pass-time, and an agreeable exercise for refreshing our minds.”