An Exposition of Pauls Epistles, Letter 3 · Chapter 11
CHAP. XI.
HEE proceeds in his holy boasting against the false Apostles. There are two parts of the Chapter. In the first, hee gives an account of his boasting, reprehending the Corinthians, way being made for his future boasting. By the way drawing off the Vizzard from the false Apostles, to verse 21. In the other, hee openeth the large matter of his boasting against those his Emulators, to the end.
Vers. 1. Would to God you could bear with mee a little in my folly, and indeed bear with mee.
That which belongeth to the first, although hee had not determined to boast, unless hol…ly and purely in the Lord, yet because at the first sight the praising of himself had the appearance of folly; therefore hee wisheth and asketh, that they would a little bear with him, as foolish, speaking by way of concession (otherwise in very deed the Holy Ghost did speak in the Apostle) that hee might better discover to them in this the reasons of his prudence: for because hee saw them deceived by some vain and subtil men, not without the subtilty of Satan, hee was compelled for their good to this boasting.
Vers. 2. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousie: for I have espoused you to one Husband, that I may present you a chast Virgin to Christ.
Hee produceth ten reasons, whereby hee demonstrates the necessity of his boasting.
Reason 1. Because I am driven with an holy zeal in the Cause of Christ to this boasting: Therefore boasting is necessary. Hee clears this reason, because as a Paranymph hee did endeavour to marry the Corinthians, not to himself, but to Christ, as a chast Virgin, and to retain them in his society.
Vers. 3. But I fear, lest by any means, as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should bee corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Reason 2. I fear, lest as Eve was seduced by the subtilty of the Devil, so you being corrupted by the false Apostles, should bee moved from that Virgin-like simplicity of the Gospel of Christ… for the Wisdome of God, imbracing humane wisdome, and admitting the leaven of legal ceremonies to the corrupting the Doctrine of the Gospel of grace amongst you: Therefore this my boasting is necessary.
Vers. 4. For if hee that cometh preacheth another Iesus, whom wee have not preached; or if yee receive another spirit, which yee have not received; or another Gospel, which yee have not accepted, yee might well bear with him.
Reason 3. You might deservedly bear with another Thrasonical Preacher, if hee could impart unto you another Christ, which is impossible, or more excellent gifts of the Spirit▪ or a better Gospel than you have accepted and received by our Ministery. Truly, seeing that is impossible, yee ought deservedly to bear with mee an Apostle boasting, by whose preaching yee are made partakers both of the gifts of Christ, and his Spirit.
Vers. 5. For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest Apostles.
Reason 4. Confirming the former; I suppose they will not deny mee to be inferiour to Peter, Iames, and Iohn (those Apostles who were chiefly esteemed) because the Gospel being communicated with them, Gal. 2. they have contributed nothing to mee. Therefore my boasting against the false Apostles is necessary and just.
Vers. 6. But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge, but wee have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.
Reason 5. Because I will not contend with those that commend themselves for their excellency of speech or eloquence; but I will give place to none in the knowledge of the mysteries of salvation, which thing hee calls the Corinthians themselves to witness, who have very well understood his knowledge.
Vers. 7. Have I committed an offence in abasing my self, that you might be exalted, because I have preached to you the Gospel of God freely?
Reason 6. Wherein hee meets with an Objection: Some would say, Whilst thou wer… present at Corinth, thou didst live by thy Handicraft labour. Ans. My humility is so far from being blame-worthy, that it is rather worthy of praise, because it conduceth to your profit, whose salvation I did so much esteem, that not regarding my profit, I preached the Gospel to you of good will: Therefore even for this cause it is lawful for mee to boast.
Vers. 8. I robbed other Churches, taking wages of them▪ to do you service.
9. And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to mee, the brethren which c…me to Macedonia supplied, and in all things I have kept my self from being burdensome to you, and so will I keep my self.
Hee more clearly explains his practice by a pleasant metaphor, shewing that hee did take wages, even as spoils, from the other poorer Churches, conquered by the Gospel, to support himself, that hee might better do service to the Corinthians freely, ver. 8. by name from the Macedonian Philippians, lest hee should bee chargeable to the Corinthians.
Vers. 10. As the truth of Christ is in mee, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the Regions of Achaia.
11. Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.
12. But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion, that wherein they glorie, they may bee found even as wee.
Lest hee should seem to repent of what hee had done, he determined that he will not afterwards be chargeable to them, or will not receive wages, which hee confirms with an oath, v. 10. And lest they should take it ill, as if it was for want of love, that he would not receive wages of them, hee professes that he had thus determined, out of special love to them, calling God to Witness concerning the truth of his words, ver. 11. and that for this end, lest the false Apostles should seem to exceed him in his boasting, from whom hee would have the occasion of reproaching him, so taken away, who otherwise would say that Paul preached to the Corinthians for the encreasing his substance.
Vers. 13. For such are false Apostles, deceitful workers; transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ.
14. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of Light.
15. Therefore it is no great thing, if his Ministers also bee transformed as the Ministers of Righteousness, whose end shall bee according to their works.
Reason 7. Shewing the necessity of his boasting, because the wickedness of his Emulators did compel him to this boasting; for they did feign themselves the Apostles of Christ, and Workers in the Vineyard of God, when in the mean while they only cared for their own business, not Gods; they preached the Gospel for profits sake, and their own honour, they feigned themselves Ministers of Christ, when they did only personate Stage-players, ver. 13. neither is it to bee wondered at, seeing these deceivers were the Apostles of Satan, imitating the Devil (who sometimes puts on the form of some celestial Angel, that under the pretence of zeal and piety hee might beguile men) whose manners his Emulators did follow, pretending the glory of Christ, when in the mean while they sacrificed all their labour to the belly, to their purse, to their honour, nothing solicitous what became of the Apostles, what of the Churches, so that they might obtain their desires: To whom therefore the Apostle threatens eternal death, according to their deserts.
Vers. 16. I say again, let no man think mee a fool: if otherwise, yet as a fool receive mee, that I may boast my self a little.
17. That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishlie in this confidence of boasting.
Reason 8. Because they should find that it was wisely done, that hee was necessitated to this boasting, which hee desires them to take notice of; but if as yet for the present they could not perceive the just necessity and prudence of his boasting, at leastwise hee desires, that they would bear with him patiently a little, as foolishly boasting, until hee could finish his Speech and Apology, ver. 16. Yeelding only, but not affirming that hee foolishly boasted, or that it was un-beseeming him to God-ward: for otherwise the Apostle, with the greatest Wisdome of the Spirit, did most justly boast to the glory of God, and the benefit of the Church in this whole business.
Vers. 18. Seeing that many glorie after the flesh, I will glorie also.
Reason 9. Because the false Apostles did falsly glory against him; therefore hee contends that it is an equal thing, that hee himself should truly boast in his own defence.
Vers. 19. For yee suffer fools gladlie, seeing yee your selves are wise.
Reason 10. Wise men were wont to bear with those that seemed more foolish, as you know by experience: Why should yee not therefore suffer mee of necessity to boast, although herein I may seem foolish to some amongst you?
Vers. 20. For yee suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devoure you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.
Reason 11. Because yee suffer more harsh things (as it appears) than this foolishness of my glorying. For (1) Yee suffer those importunate men, who bring you into bondage. Such were the false Apostles, who exercised their power over them, dividing the Church of Corinth into factions, and set up themselves Captains and Lords of their Followers amongst the Corinthians, as of Souldiers and Servants. (2) Yee suffer those which devoure you; such were the false Apostles, affecting stately banquets, and eating up the substance of the Corinthians. (3) Yee suffer spoilers; such also were the false Apostles, who would not indeed take wages, but in the mean while, they coveted gifts, and did collogue and receive them from the Corinthians. (4) Yee suffer those that contemn you; such were the false Apostles, who because of the Stock and Hebrew Nation, which they were of, and some gifts of the Spirit given to them above the Church of Corinth, gathered out of the illiterate and ignoble Gentiles, did above measure exalt themselves. (5) Yee suffer those that smite you on the face, or those that use you reproachfully: Why therefore should not yee suffer this may just boasting.
Vers. 21. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak: howbeit, wherein soever any is bold, I speak foolishlie, I am bold also.
Hee expounds what it is to smite on the face, that it is not to bee understood of external violence, but in respect of reproach, which in some measure hee found amongst the Corinthians from those false teachers, when the false Apostles hit the Corinthians in the teeth with the lowness of their minds, in that they subjected themselves to Paul an handicrafts man: for what else was this, but to smite the Corinthians in the face, and insult over the holy Apostle.
The Second Part.
Howbeit whereinsoever] The second part of the Chapter follows, in which the way already being prepared for him to a just glorying, and the necessity of it being demonstrated, hee compares himself with those glorious Doctors, proving himself not inferiour to them in four Characters of his dignity, but to bee preferred before upon many accounts.
Sign 1. Of his dignity, propounded in general: that hee was inferiour to them in nothing, whatsoever they looked upon in their glorying: In the mean while hee modestly grants a shew of folly in this his glorying, which yet hee wisely prosecutes.
Vers. 22. Are they Hebrews? so am I: Are they Israelites? so am I:
The second sign of his dignity more specially laid down, that hee is worthy to bee compared to them in the Nobility of his Linage: For if hee had sought glory from a Holy Nation, hee sprung from that family which had not mixt themselves with the Gentiles; hee was an Hebrew, from Hebrew parents: if hee would glory in the Nobility of his Race, hee sprung from the more Noble Israelites, because from the Tribe of Benjamin; Benjamin was the Son of Rachel, a woman free-born: but some Tribes had their original from bond-maids: If they strived for the Antiquity of Religion, that they remained in the Covenant as true Abrahamites, here also hee▪ was equal to any one of them.
Vers. 23. Are they Ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool, I am more: in labours more abundant; in stripes above measure; in prisons more frequent; in deaths oft:
Sign 3. If they had striven for the dignity of office, herein modestly, as one compelled, hee prefers himself before them in respect of his Apostleship, and office granted to him extraordinarily, I am greater, saies hee, because I am an Apostle.
In labours] The fourth Sign of his dignity, is sincerity in the administration of his office. Of this his sincerity hee produces nine Testimonies. First, His labours or his diligence. Secondly, His sufferings in general, which belonged to his health and bodily liberty, and the dangers of his life.
Vers. 24. Of the Iews five times received I forty stripes save one.
Thirdly, Hee produces his special sufferings from the Jews, that hee was whipped by them five times according to the number of stripes inflicted upon malefactors by the Law: for the Jews, although they are cruel, yet they would seem to contain themselves within the Law, Deut. 25.3.
Vers. 25. Thrice was I beaten with Rods: once was I stoned: thrice I suffered shipwrack: a night and a day I have been in the deep.
Fourthly, His sufferings from the Gentiles bear testimony, that by their Lictours or Sergeants hee was beaten thrice with clubs, and whips, and once stoned. Fifthly, That hee thrice suffered shipwrack, in one whereof, after hee was twenty four hours tossed by the waters in the deep Sea, hee was freed by the powerful hand of God.
Vers. 26. In journying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own Country-men, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the City, in perils in the Wilderness, in perils in the Sea, in perils amongst false Brethren.
The Sixth Testimony of his sincerity comprehends the labours of his journying, and eight kinds of dangers, which hee found in sundry places, and from divers kinds of men.
Vers. 27. In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger und thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
The seventh hath five sorts of troubles, with which, while hee fulfilled the work of the Ministery, hee was very often exercised, wherein being wearied, hee was instead of rest forced to take in hand new labours.
Vers. 28. Besides those things which are without, that which commeth upon mee daily, the care of all the Churches.
Eighthly, His unconquerable patience in daily publick businesses, a solicitous mind for all the Churches of Christ.
Vers. 29. Who is weak, and am I not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?
The ninth Testimony of his Sincerity, is, his sympathy with all that are afflicted, and offended by any scandal.
Vers. 30. If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern my infirmities.
Hee retorts the Objection of his adversaries: But all these things have made thee a contemptible and miserable man. Hee answers, that hee purposely determined to glory in these, as the things which did more commend his sincerity, than the prosperous affairs of the false Apostle, adorned them.
Vers. 31. The God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, which is blessed for ever more, knoweth, that I lye not.
32. In Damascus the Governour under Are…as the King, kept the City with a Garison, desirous to appreh…nd mee.
33. And thorough a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.
Lastly, Because these things which hee had mentioned may seem incredible, viz. that one should bee able to bear so many afflictions, premising an oath, touching the truth as well of those things that were said already, as of those that were to bee spoken, hee mentions the special danger of his life, out of which there was no apparent escape, unless God had kept him safe for the good of the Church, and opened a way by his special providence for his escape, concerning which, Act. 9.23.