2 Corinthians 11:1-6 – Devoted to Christ Alone

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 31 May 2026
Underlined words in Scripture quotes indicate words that are in common with the Greek text of the sermon passage. Otherwise, underlining indicates words to emphasize when reading this transcript out loud. Omitting greyed-out text should reduce read-aloud time to about 40 minutes.

Introduction

As we celebrate the 20 anniversary of Christ The Redeemer Church, I look back and see what a tenuous venture church planting is.
- I’ve been told that most church plants don’t survive. I’ve watched several fine church planters over the last 20 years pack up and leave after giving it a try in our area.
- I never realized how fragile church relationships can be until I became a pastor and lived through years when it was touch-and-go as to whether our church would survive or not.
- I came to see that it wasn’t my theology or my integrity or my effort as a pastor that kept the church alive but rather God’s grace and provision.
- At the same time, having a wise and gracious core group really makes a difference between success and failure as a church.
As we move into chapter 11 of 2 Corinthians, I want to expound on 6 principles for church survival that Paul highlights in the first six verses. The practice of these six principles will ensure that we continue to have a wise and gracious core group that will help Christ The Redeemer Church thrive in the decades to come!
Read my translation of the passage:
I wish that y’all were putting up with me a little in my foolishness, yet y’all are indeed putting up with me, for I am jealous about y’all. It’s a jealousy from God, because I joined y’all to one husband to present a pure virgin to the Anointed One. But I fear lest, as the serpent cheated Eve by his craftiness, so y’all’s minds might be corrupted away from your single-mindedness that is in the Anointed One, for when the [new]comer preaches about another Jesus (about whom we did not preach), or [when] y’all accept a different spirit which y’all had not accepted [before] – or a different gospel which y’all had not received [before], y’all have been putting up [with it] nicely, however, I reckon I’ve lacked nothing compared to the most-eminent apostles.6 But even if I am un-credentialed in word, I am not, however, in knowledge, but rather in every way we have been revealing ourselves in all things to y’all.
The first principle Paul highlights for the vitality of the church is in...

V.1 – Bear With Your Pastor.

Paul defines what he means by “foolish” later on as “not speaking the Lord’s words” but rather his own, and the words that were his own had to do with “bragging/boasting.”
- 2 Corinthians 11:16-21 “I say again, let no one think me a fool. If otherwise, at least receive me as a fool, that I also may boast a little. What I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were, foolishly, in this confidence of boasting... For you put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are wise! ... To our shame, I say that we were too weak for that! But in whatever anyone is bold I speak foolishly I am bold also.” (NKJV)
- 2 Corinthians 12:11 “I have become a fool in boasting; you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing.” (NKJV)
Remember that in the previous chapter, Paul was defending his reputation as an apostle of God by maintaining that he had integrity (vs. 1-11,) that he was not fleshly (v.3), that he belonged to Christ (v.7), that he carried God’s authority to build up the church (v.8), that he was not like the false apostles (v.12), that he was not stepping outside of the bounds God had given him (v.14), that he was not taking credit for other men’s work (v.15), but that he was commended by the Lord (v.18) and was doing exactly what the Lord had told him to do in reaching Gentiles at the ends of the earth, and thus was the first apostle to arrive in Corinth to plant the first church (v.14), and that he would be going even further to the regions beyond (v.16).
Saying such things explicitly about himself was not Paul’s normal way of doing ministry – it felt foolish to him, but he felt forced to remind them of these things since there had been false apostles spreading slander about him among the Corinthian church in order to draw them away from Christianity into Judaism, and Paul was fighting against that.
As a pastor, Paul agonized over whether the church that he planted would be faithful to Jesus or would compromise the faith and come to nothing.
- At times he felt like it was a hopeless cause – that they were so messed up and he was so limited and imperfect that there was no hope that they would put up with him long enough to prove faithful. Such anxiety seems to be reflected at the beginning of v.1 “Oh/I hope/I wish/Would [to God] that you would bear/put up with me a little more in my foolishness.”
- At other times, he felt more confident in Christ’s sovereign work of building His church, and he would remember some of the wonderful, faithful members of the church in Corinth like Stephanus and Fortunatus and Achaicus, and he would gush with enthusiasm over his church plant there. That enthusiasm seems to be reflected in the second half of v.1 “...but indeed you are bearing/putting up with me.”
- The second time this verb “bear with/put up with” occurs in v.1, the Greek spelling could either be describing what is currently happening, or it could be a command to keep doing that action.
  - The Geneva Bible, the New King James, the 1982 edition of the NIV, and the ASV/NAS Bibles translated it indicatively, as I have,
  - but other translations like the Vulgate, King James, Revised and English Standard Versions, and the 2011 edition of the NIV interpreted it imperatively, commanding the Corinthians to bear with him hopefully in his anxieties about their future and his own personal weaknesses as he seeks to establish the church.
As a church planter and pastor myself, I have the same flip-flops of emotion. But you don’t have to be a church planter to know what this feels like; all parents have the same up’s and down’s of alternately feeling like a failure and feeling hopeful while rearing children. We just need to keep trusting God and keep doing what God has called us to do.
We can also apply this principle to our own church and consider how to “put up with” your pastor graciously:
- When he seems to overdo it on an application point that you don’t really see the importance of,
- When he’s slow on the uptake in recognizing problems and slow to implement solutions,
- When he doesn’t take the initiative to reach out to you as often as you think he should, or he’s not there for you sometimes when you need him,
- When he uses old-fashioned words and songs or obsolete technology that isn’t cool anymore,
- and I’m sure you can think of other examples, based on your own frustrations, as to how to bear with your pastor!
- In a couple of verses, however, we will see that there is a limit to how far you should “bear with” a church pastor. If he (or she) is preaching “another Jesus” or a “different spirit” or a “different gospel” you should not “put up” with that!
The second principle for maintaining the vitality of the church is in...

V.2 – Exercise Godly Jealousy.

Paul feels jealousy, but it is not a selfish jealousy as though he had ownership rights over the church. His is a jealousy “from God” – a “Godly/divine jealousy” which wants to stand up for God’s interest in the church.¹
He likens it to the feeling that parents or a church pastor have after a wedding. They want this marriage to be successful; they don’t want to see it end in divorce. They are zealous about the integrity of that marriage, and they will do everything they can to encourage the bride and groom to stay faithful to each other because they love both the bride and the groom. In this case, the groom is Jesus Christ and the church is the bride.
Paul is the one who introduced the Corinthians to Jesus by preaching the good news of salvation through faith in Him. He wanted them to focus on only “one” person: Jesus Christ and no other.²
To be a “pure/chaste virgin” means the bride doesn’t have any other lovers. She reserves her love exclusively for her husband. A “pure/chaste” church doesn’t divide its attention between Jesus and other interests; it is exclusively focused on loving Jesus, forsaking all others.
In Corinth, there were false teachers who were saying that Jesus wasn’t really God’s ultimate “anointed” prophet, priest and king. “Sure Jesus made a splash a couple decades ago, but then He disappeared and nobody has seen Him since. Continuing to risk everything to follow this Jesus is a hopeless cause. Paul, bless his heart, just isn’t willing to face the facts. Your commitments to Jesus that Paul persuaded you to make were just a misguided fling; they don’t need to mean anything or be considered binding any more. Stick with us and we’ll go places. Stick with Paul and you’ll be a loser.” These were the kind of messages the Corinthians were hearing from the new “super-apostles,” and Paul understood the horrible spiritual danger of accepting that malarkey.
In Galatians 4:17 Paul warned the church, “They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.” (NKJV)
In order for our church to maintain spiritual vitality in the coming decades, we must uphold this principle of devotion to one thing – Christ alone. We need to guard the priority and exclusivity of our relationship with Christ jealously. There’s a million things churches can do with their money and time – building programs, helping the poor, playing music, cooking good food, building community and fellowship, helping families, standing up for righteousness in the civil sphere – all of which are good things that are worth doing, but none of them are worth doing if we lose the core of who we are as sinners saved by Jesus, in love with Him. That’s why the first value of our church is “Exalting the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Prophets prophecied this:
- Hosea 2:19-20 “I will betroth³ you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD.” (NKJV, cf. Isa. 62:5)
Jesus made us His bride:
- Romans 7:4 “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married [γινομαι] to another – to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.” (NKJV)
- Ephesians 5:25-30 “...Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church… For we are members of His body...” (NKJV)
So the apostles remind us throughout the New Testament that the vitality of the church is based on this relationship with Christ:
- Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 4:15 “...in Christ Jesus through the Gospel I myself begot y'all.” (NAW, cf. 6:15, 12:27) The gospel of Jesus Christ is absolutely foundational.
- Colossians 1:28 “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” (NKJV, cf. 2 Cor. 4:14)
- Colossians 3:3 “...your life has been hidden together within the Christ in God.” (NAW) Our life is in no other!
- Let us keep ourselves zealously and purely focused on Jesus so that we will be ready when Jesus returns, as John wrote in Revelation 19:7 “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage⁴ of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” (NKJV)
This is important because, as v.3 reminds us, there are...

V.3 – Beware of Spiritual Enemies Distracting You From Christ.

I think it is important to recognize that the fear Paul expresses in verse 3 was not that the Christians in Corinth might lose their salvation but that they might damage the church through committing sin, like Eve did back in Genesis 3. God saved Eve despite her disobedience, but her disobedience (and that of Adam) brought many awful consequences.
Paul knows that when Christians are “deceived/beguiled/cheated” “away from single-minded/sincere/simple devotion to Christ” alone, bad things happen to the church.⁵
He also knows that there are deceivers out there who hate God and the church and who are actively trying to split churches, actively trying to split the attention of believers between Jesus and other teachers, and actively trying to bring Christians under bondage to sin that will impede their pure devotion to Christ.
Jesus prophesied this in Matt. 24:4&24 “...See to it that nobody shall cause y'all to wander astray … for false messiahs and false prophets will be raised up, and they will give great signs and wonders so as to cause, if it were in their power, even the chosen ones to wander astray.” (NAW)
In the Garden of Eden, Satan took the form of a serpent and used “deception” and “cunning/ subtlety” to “cheat” Eve (1 Tim. 2:14)⁶. And Satan’s demonic (and human) agents in the world are still today using “crafty” methods to deceive good Christians into sin and compromise in their relationship with Jesus.⁷
- My wife and I have encountered multiple women whom Jesus has saved out of Satan-worship, some of whom who have informed us that Satan-worshipers purposefully infiltrate faithful churches to cause division and distraction.
- This is nothing new. Paul said they were doing that back in Bible times in Jude 1:4 “[C]ertain men have settled in alongside you... ungodly men who are displacing the grace of our God with licentiousness and who deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.” (NAW)
- We’re in a spiritual war, and we must stay on the alert, because, as Peter wrote in his first epistle, “...Your opponent, the Devil, goes around like a lion, roaring, seeking for someone he might swallow down.” (1 Pet. 5:8, NAW)
One of the biggest ways Satan does this, said Paul, is through false teachers:
- Titus 1:10 “For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision...” (NKJV)
- 2 Corinthians 11:13 “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.” (NKJV)
- Galatians 2:4 “...false brethren secretly brought in… that they might bring us into bondage...” (NKJV, cf. Col. 2:18, 1 Tim. 4:1)
So what should we do in the face of such opposition?
- Colossians 2:8 “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” (NKJV, cf. Eph. 4:14) Notice if the teaching is centered on a certain man’s teaching with man-made rules and fleshly appeal, or whether it is centered on Jesus and His word – especially the Gospel, and Spirit. “[T]ak[e] captive every thought into the obedience of Christ!” Paul wrote back in 2 Corinthians 10:5.
- Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (NKJV) And with the truth, righteousness, the Gospel, faith, salvation, the word of God, and prayer, you will indeed remain standing in Christ. God promises us in...
- Romans 16:18-20 “[S]erve our Lord Jesus Christ... be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [will] be with you.” (NKJV)

V.4 – Don’t Put Up With Another Jesus, or a Different Spirit or Gospel.

Verse 4 gives us another window into what was going on historically in Corinth at the time Paul wrote this letter. “Newcomers” had arrived in Corinth, preaching/proclaiming “another Jesus… a different spirit… and a different gospel” than the Jesus, Spirit, and Gospel which Paul had announced to them when he had first been in Corinth, and the Corinthians were “putting up with it/bearing it beautifully/easily/readily.”
- They weren’t guarding themselves and being wary – they weren’t standing against the the devil’s work; they were tolerating it, perhaps like they had tolerated the guy who was bragging about committing adultery back in 1 Corinthians 5!
- The Greek grammar indicates that the “if” in verse 4 was truly happening in fact,
- and the present tense verbs, “he preaches… y’all receive/accept,” indicate that the Corinthians are falling for this false teaching in real time, even as Paul writes this letter.
Followers of the religion of Judaism were sending missionaries to try to convert Christians back to Judaism by giving arguments as to why Jesus couldn’t have been the Messiah.
- And if Jesus wasn’t the Messiah – the Christ – then He couldn’t have sent the Holy Spirit – the whole tongues-of-fire thing in the upper room at Pentecost must have been a hoax,
- and the gospel could no longer be “believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved,” because Judaism is all about looking for somebody else other than Jesus to be the Messiah to save them.
- Paul reminds them with past tense verbs – “we preached… you accepted/received” – that before these newcomers showed up, they had heard the true “gospel” from Paul and had “accepted” and believed it, and that to accept this new teaching from the “newcomers” would be to shift away from the Christian faith to follow Satan’s cunning deception.
- This is not something to “put-up-with nicely” and accept. This needs to be resisted, these thoughts need to be taken “captive to the obedience of Christ!”
Throughout history, there are many other groups of people who have invented “another Jesus” with a “different Spirit” and a “different Gospel.” It would take too long to list them all, but such a list would include:
- All the secular materialists who deny the reality of God, making Jesus out to be a mere man, and therefore denying that there can be any Gospel besides just living a good life.
- All the Eastern religions that change the Spirit into an impersonal force, leaving no way for God to love and redeem mankind.
- And all the cults that change the Gospel from Jesus’ salvation by grace through faith by the power of the Holy Spirit, to somebody else’s salvation, using God plus good works by human effort.
We must hold to the Biblical doctrine of Jesus:
- 1 Corinthians 3:11 “for no one is able to lay another foundation besides the one which is being laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (NAW, cf. 2 John 1:7)
- 1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus...” (NKJV)
We must hold to the Biblical doctrine of the Spirit
- 1 John 4:3 “and every spirit which does not agree with Jesus Christ having come in a physical-body is not out of God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is in the world already.” (NAW)
- Romans 8:15 “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear [the legalistic ‘spirit’ of fear imparted by the Judaizers, Roman Catholics, and other cults], but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.” (NKJV, cf. Gal. 4:24-25, 5:1-4)
And we must hold to the Biblical Gospel:
- 1 Corinthians 2:2 “for I did not decide to know anything among y'all except Jesus Christ and Him having been crucified.” (NAW)
- Galatians 1:6-8 “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ… But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” (NKJV, cf. 1 Tim. 6:3)
If you’ll notice, almost all the verses quoted above are from Paul’s letters. Biblical theology is inescapably Pauline, so our next principle in...

V.5 – Prioritize Pauline Theology.

Newer is not necessarily better, especially when it comes to theology. The apostles of Judaism who were newcomers to Corinth had nothing on Paul. Paul was as solid a theologian as they come, and his doctrine, preserved in the New Testament, should be prioritized over all other teachers who didn’t make it into the Bible. There was no reason for the Corinthian Christians to change course in their faith and church-life, based on what new teachers in town were saying.
Paul repeats this again in 2 Corinthians 12:11 “...I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing.” (NKJV)
And the same is true today. Our culture conditions us to believe that “newer is better” – that the latest, greatest author/speaker/podcaster/blogger/influencer should be listened-to simply because they are new/interesting/attractive/popular.
- God does raise up good teachers for His church in every generation, but their quality should be judged, not by their attractiveness and popularity, by how well they stick to the teachings of the Biblical prophets and apostles – Paul, of course, among them.
- Paul wrote in Gal. 2:6 “...those who seemed to be something added nothing to me.” (NKJV)
Modern scholars, who don’t believe that the Holy Spirit inspired the Biblical apostles to write the truth, have tried to separate out John’s theology from Jesus’s theology and Paul’s theology under the assumption that each man was making-up his own religion as he went. They assume there is no underlying integrity of absolute truth to the New Testament. Such thinking is atheistic – not believing God as He has revealed Himself to us.
The Bible is our spiritual foundation. It should be studied cover-to-cover. Whoever disregards the Bible loses the only objective foundation for Christianity. Without the Bible, all we have is a world of contradictory human opinions.
And anyone can teach the Bible, so that leads us to our final principle for church health in...

V.6 – Don’t Ignore Knowledgeable Teachers Who Aren’t Great Speakers.

Paul admits that, compared to the new “super-apostles,” he may be relatively-“rude/untrained/ unskilled in speech” and rhetoric, but that is not the right criterion by which to judge a pastor. The proper criterion is stated in the second half of verse 6: whether or not he transparently and “thoroughly makes manifest/clear/plain everything” he “knows” about God.
The Greek word for “rude/untrained/unskilled” is idiws. It shows up in only two other passages in the Greek Bible:
- 1) When the educated and credentialed Jewish leaders were describing Jesus’ disciples as “uneducated and uncredentialed” (Acts 4:13),
- and 2) When Paul, as a church member, described “un-initiated” church visitors who were not well-oriented to Christianity and were not church members (1 Cor. 14:16-24).
This seems to fit well with the credentialing issue raised in 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
- The new Jewish missionaries who called themselves ‘super-apostles,’ apparently had letters of reference from very impressive authorities – credentials which Paul did not have.
- Paul, however, was not concerned with prestige; he was concerned with telling people that, “...Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...” (1 Tim. 1:15, NKJV).
Paul was no dummy, however. He had been discipled by Gamaliel, one of the greatest Jewish rabbi’s of his day (Acts 5:34, 22:3). He knew God, and he knew God’s word, and he preached about what he knew, making it “manifest/clear/plain.”
I am reminded of the scene in the first Karate Kid movie, after the wimpy boy is trained in some karate moves by a Japanese neighbor and they go together to their first karate match. At the registration desk, the officials want to know the credentials of the boy’s trainer. In the martial arts, the different levels of mastery are often marked with different colors of belts, so they asked the trainer what belt he had achieved. Seemingly puzzled by this question, the old Japanese man looked down at the belt he was wearing around his pants and answered, “J. C. Penny” department store! He did not appear to have the credentials to train a champion in the martial arts, but, of course, like all ‘underdog’ sports movies, this seemingly-underqualified coach actually had the knowledge to help this wimpy boy become a champion. (I hesitate to use the Karate Kid movie as a sermon illustration because it is a shameless promotion of New Age Buddhism, but that scene about the trainer’s belt was funny.)
The Apostle Paul didn’t have a spiritual “black belt” – he didn’t have the backing of the Jewish temple leaders in Jerusalem, but he had been commissioned by Jesus Himself to “preach” the gospel to the ends of the earth, so that’s what he did, and he did it faithfully and with integrity.
- 1 Corinthians 1:17 “For Christ did not commission me to baptize, but rather to evangelize – and that not by sophistication of words, so that the cross of Christ would not be nullified.” (NAW, cf. 2 Cor. 10:10c)
- Ephesians 3:3-4 “...by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)...” (NKJV)
- 2 Corinthians 5:11 “Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. Now to God we have been made apparent, and I hope also in your consciences to have been made apparent.” (NAW, cf. 4:2)
Similarly today, it is important for God’s people to recognize that faithfulness in living out God’s call and preaching the good news of Jesus is what to look for in a church pastor, not how large their church building is, how large a number of followers they have, how many bestsellers they have written, or how often they speak at national conferences. A lot of folks who use those things as their criteria for a teacher get sucked into cults.
Of course, as with most issues of wisdom, there is a ditch on the other side of glorifying a lack of education and poor quality of speech as though that were more spiritual. We should put in the effort to take dominion over all subjects (Gen. 1:28) and to praise the Lord with excellence (Prov. 8:6, Psa. 33:3), but, as John Calvin commented, such scholarship and eloquence must “not be made use of for disguising doctrine, or adulterating it, but for unfolding it in its genuine simplicity.”
Don’t overlook the faithful men and women around you in your own church who study God’s word every day and have walked with integrity. They may not be impressive speakers, but there’s a wealth of knowledge about God and about living a godly life which you can learn from them, all the same, if you will align your standards with God’s word rather than with the world.

Conclusion

So, Paul points the way for us through these six standards for how to keep thriving as a healthy church:

V.1 – Bear With Your Pastor,

V.2 – Exercise Godly Jealousy,

V.3 – Beware of Spiritual Enemies Distracting You From Christ,

V.4 – Don’t Put Up With Another Jesus, or a Different Spirit or Gospel,

V.5 – Prioritize Pauline Theology, and

V.6 – Don’t Ignore Other Knowledgeable Teachers.

If we practice these things, the next 20 years of Christ The Redeemer Church will be blessed! May God give us grace to live this out!

2 Corinthians 11:1-6 – Comparison of Textual Traditions & Versions^A

Byzantine^B	NAW	KJV^C	Rheims^D	Murdock^E	Coptic^F
1 ῎Οφελον^G ἀνείχεσθέ μου μικρόν [τι] τῆ[ς] ἀφροσύνη[ς]^H· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀνέχεσθέ^I μου.	1 I wish that y’all were putting up with me a little in my foolishness, yet y’all are indeed putting up with me.	1 Would [to God] ye ~~could~~ bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.	1 Would [to God^J] you ~~could~~ bear with some little of my folly! But X do bear with me.	1 I would that ye ~~could~~ bear with me a little, ~~that~~ [I might talk] foolishly: and indeed, bear ye with me.	1. {Would that ye were to^B/It is ~~good~~ if ye will^S} bear with me a little in [my^B] senselessness: but X be ~~longsuffer~~~~ing~~ with me.
2 ζηλῶ γὰρ ὑμᾶς Θεοῦ^K ζήλῳ· ἡρμοσάμην^L γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἑνὶ ἀνδρὶ, παρθένον^M ἁγνὴν παραστῆσαι τῷ Χριστῷ·	2 For I am jealous about y’all. It’s a jealousy from God, because I joined y’all to one husband to present a pure virgin to the Anointed One.	2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I [have] espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.	2 For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God. For I [have] espoused you to one husband, that I may present [you as^N] a chaste virgin to Christ.	2 For I am jealous over you, with a godly jealousy: for I [have] espoused you to a husband [as^O] a chaste virgin, [whom] I would present to the Messiah.	2 For I am jealous over^B/ unto^S you in a jealousy of God: for I {united^B X/was prepared to present^S} you to one husband a pure virgin to Christ.
3 φοβοῦμαι δὲ μήπως^P, ὡς ὁ ὄφις Εὕαν ἐξηπάτησεν^Q ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ^R αὐτοῦ, οὕτω^S φθαρῇ^T τὰ νοήματα ὑμῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἁπλότητος^U τῆς εἰς τὸν Χριστόν.	3 But I fear lest, as the serpent cheated Eve by his craftiness, so y’all’s minds might be corrupted away from your single-mindedness that is in the Anointed One,	3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.	3 But I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted [and fall] from the simplicity that is in Christ.	3 But I fear, lest, as the serpent beguiled Eve by his craftiness, so your minds should be corrupted from simplicity X towards the Messiah.	3 But I fear lest {by any means^B/haply^S} as the serpent deceived Eva in his craftiness, X your thoughts may be corrupted from the singleness and the pureness which is in Christ.
4 εἰ μὲν γὰρ ὁ ἐρχόμενος^V ἄλλον ᾿Ιησοῦν κηρύσσει^W ὃν οὐκ ἐκηρύξαμεν, ἢ πνεῦμα ἕτερον^X λαμβάνετε ὃ οὐκ ἐλάβετε, ἢ εὐαγγέλιον ἕτερον ὃ οὐκ ἐδέξασθε, καλῶς ἀνήχεσθε^Y	4 for when the [new]comer preaches about another Jesus (about whom we did not preach), or [when] y’all accept a different spirit which y’all had not accepted [before] – or a different gospel which y’all had not received [before], y’all have been putting up [with it] nicely,	4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive ~~another~~ spirit, which ye have not received, or ~~another~~ gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.	4 For if he that cometh preacheth another ~~Christ~~, whom we have not preached; or if you receive an~~other~~ Spirit, whom you have not received; or ~~another~~ gospel, which you have not received^Z: you might well bear with [him].	4 For if he that cometh to you, had proclaimed [to you] another Jesus, whom we have not proclaimed; or if ye ~~had~~ receive[d] ~~another~~ Spirit, which ye have not received; or ~~another~~ gospel, which ye have not accepted; ye might well have given assent.	4 For if [indeed^B] he who cometh ~~will~~ proclaim [to you] another Jesus (whom) we proclaimed [him^B] not, or ye ~~will~~ receive ~~another~~ Spirit (whom) ye received [him^B] not, or ~~another~~ Gospel (which) ye accepted [it^B] not, well [forsooth^B/ then^S] will ye bear with (him).
Byzantine	NAW	KJV	Rheims	Murdock	Coptic
5 λογίζομαι γὰρ μηδὲν ὑστερηκέναι τῶν ὑπερλίαν^AA ἀποστόλων.	5 however, I reckon I’ve lacked nothing compared to the most-eminent apostles.	5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.	5 For I suppose that I have done nothing less than the great apostles.	5 For, I suppose, I came not short of those legates who most excel.	5 For I think that I am in want of nothing in comparison with the apostles who surpass^B/great^S.
6 εἰ δὲ καὶ ἰδιώτης^AB τῷ λόγῳ, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τῇ γνώσει, ἀλλ᾿^AC ἐν παντὶ φανερωθέντες^AD ἐν πᾶσιν εἰς ὑμᾶς.	6 But even if I am uncredentialed in word, I am not, however, in knowledge, but rather in every way we have been revealing ourselves in all things to y’all.	6 But X though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.	6 For although I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge: but in all thing[s] we have been made manifest X X to you.	6 For, X though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but in all thing[s] we have been manifest^AE X X among you.	6 X^B/But^S X If I am an unlearned one in (the) word, but not in (the) knowledge; but in everything^B/all [times]^S we manifested ourselves to you among all^B/in everything^S.

1Hughes commented, “Christ, who is the Husband of God's people under the new dispensation, is none other than Jehovah, who is the Husband of His people under the former dispensation, and therefore that He is Himself very God of very God... The inference is clear, also, that the Church of the New Testament, which is the bride of Christ, is continuous with the Church of the Old Testament, which is the bride of Jehovah... (Gal. 6:16; cf. Gal. 3:7ff., 29; Rom. 2:29, 4:9ff., 9:6ff.; Phil. 3:3).”

2Calvin’s commentary makes a good application to pastors: “All ministers are the friends of the Bridegroom, as the Baptist declares respecting himself. (John 3:29.) Hence all ought to be concerned, that the fidelity of this sacred marriage remain unimpaired and inviolable... Away then with coldness and indolence in this matter, for one that is cold will never be qualified for this office. Let them, however, in the mean time, take care, not to pursue their own interest rather than that of Christ, that they may not intrude themselves into his place, lest while they give themselves out as his paranymphs, they turn out to be in reality adulterers, by alluring the bride to love themselves.”

3Μνηστεύσομαί, a synonym to ἡρμοσάμην in 2 Cor. 11:2, the former focusing more on mental joining and the latter more on physical joining.

4γάμος, a synonym to ἡρμοσάμην in 2 Cor. 11:2, the former focusing on adding a “woman” to the man and the latter focusing on the actual “joining” of them. G. Wilson commented on 2 Cor. 11:2, “[T]his passage is commonly understood to refer to … his second coming.”

5“[B]y ‘the simplicity that is in Christ’ is meant, that which keeps us in the unadulterated and pure doctrine of the gospel, and admits of no foreign admixtures” (Corruptions et déguisements venants d’ailleurs) ~Calvin

6“[H]e did not openly declare himself to be an enemy, but crept in privily under a specious pretext...” ~Calvin

7Cf. Rev. 12:9, John 8:44, Rom. 16:18-20, 2 Thess. 2:9, 2 Cor. 2:11, 4:4, & 1 Thess. 3:5.

AWhen a translation adds words not in the Greek text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use of italics or greyed-out text, I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Greek word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text, I use ~~strikeout~~. And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I insert an X. I also place an X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is singular. I occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different translations of a given word. NAW is my translation. My original chart includes annotated copies of the NKJV, NASB, NIV, and ESV, but I erase them from the online edition so as not to infringe on their copyrights.

BThis Greek New Testament is the 1904 “Patriarchal” edition of the Greek Orthodox Church. As published by E-Sword in 2016. The Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine majority text of the GNT and the Textus Receptus are very similar. The Westcott-Hort, Nestle-Aland, UBS, and Tregelles editions, however, are a slightly-different family of GNTs developed in the modern era, focusing on the few manuscripts which are older than the Byzantine manuscripts. Even so, the practical differences in the text between these two editing philosophies are minimal.

C1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain. As published by E-Sword in 2019.

DRheims New Testament first published by the English College at Rheims, A.D. 1582, Revised and Diligently Compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner, Published in 1582, 1609, 1752. As published on E-Sword in 2016.

EJames Murdock, A Literal Translation from the Syriac Peshito Version, 1851, Robert Carter & Brothers, New York. Scanned and transcribed by Gary Cernava and published electronically by Janet Magierra at http://www.lightofword.org, and published on E-Sword in 2023.

FThis is my conflation of the English translations of the Northern Bohairic and Southern Sahidic traditions published by Oxford Clarendon Press in 1905 and 1920 respectively, neither of which named the translator or editor. The beginnings and ends of multiple-word variants are marked out with brackets, with a superscript “S” for Sahidic or “B” for Bohairic. The editor of the Sahidic compilation did not have manuscripts for some verses, and I have not discovered a published English translation of the subsequently-discovered manuscripts, so variants in that section for that tradition are not listed.

GElsewhere in Paul’s writings in 1 Cor. 4:8 & Gal. 5:12.

HThe reading of the Majority of Greek manuscripts is dative τῇ ἀφροσύνῃ·(with the definite article - “in the/my foolishness” – KJV, Bohairic Coptic) followed by the Textus Receptus and St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox editions (but the oldest manuscript only dates to the 9^th century), while a dozen or more Greek manuscripts read genitive τι ἀφροσύνης (with the indefinite pronoun - “something of foolishness” – not followed by any known English version) followed by all the contemporary critical GNT editions, since all 5 of the pre-9th-century manuscripts read this way. (Oddly, the 1903 Patriarchal edition of the GNT tried to straddle this variant with: τι τῆς ἀφροσύνης, “some of my foolishness,” and the Vulgate, NIV, and Geneva Bible followed that, even though there is no known original Greek manuscript which reads that way.) The NKJV, NASB, ESV NET, NLT and Sahidic straddled this variant in a different way with “in a little folly,” as though following the dative of the majority and the indefiniteness of the critical editions. The Peshitta inserted a verb which isn’t in any other manuscript.
As for the meaning, the Greek component words literally mean “mindlessness/thoughtlesness,” but it is the Greek word for “fool” in the Proverbs, and it is listed as a sin in Mark 7:22, alongside murder and theft, so the more-culpable idea of foolishness is probably best as an English translation.

IThis spelling could either be indicative or imperative. The Vulgate, Wycliffe, Tyndale, Calvin, KJV, RV/ESV, Blass & Debrunner, NIV2011, and NLT interpreted it imperatively, while Chrysostom, Geneva Bible, NKJV, NIV1982, ASV/NASB, Massie, Alford, Hodge, Plummer, G. Wilson, Hughes, Hannah, and NET translated it indicatively. The strong disjunctive “but” before it either contrasts Paul’s despair in his mind that they won’t honor him with the reality that some do honor him, or it highlights the impossibility of the fulfillment of his dream without their cooperation. The former makes more sense to me. Cf. Matthew 17:17 “...Jesus said, ‘O faithless and wayward generation, how long will I be with y'all? How long will I hold y'all up/put up with y’all? ...’” (NAW)

JThe Vulgate actually renders accurately utinam. The “to God” was added by the English translator.

KHanna wrote that, while it is possible that this is a Hebraic superlative, it is more probably “an eagerness which is God's own eagerness” (or “which springs from God Himself”). Chrysostom explained, “Then that they may not think, that it is for the sake of power, or honor, or wealth, or any other such like thing, that he desires their affection, he added, ‘with a jealousy of God.’” Hughes added, “that jealousy which God has for those who are His.”

LThis is the only occurrence of this verb in the GNT, and the only place in the Greek Bible which uses this word for “join/fit together” in the context of marriage. In the LXX it occurs in 2 Sam. 6:5, 14; 2 Ma. 14:22; 3 Ma. 1:19; Ps. 151:2; Prov. 8:30; 17:7; 19:14; Ps. Sol. 15:3; and Nah. 3:8.

M“In the world they are virgins before the marriage, but after the marriage no longer. But here it is not so: but even though they be not virgins before this marriage, after the marriage they become virgins. So the whole Church is a virgin. For addressing himself even to all, both husbands and wives, he speaks thus.” ~John Chrysostom

NThese words were added by the English translator and are not in the original Latin.

O“As” was added by the English translator; it is not in the original Syriac.

PThere is some debate among scholars as to whether or not there should be a space between me and pws. The early manuscripts had no spaces between words, so it is not a matter of manuscript variance but rather of scholarly interpretation. Tischendorf agreed with the traditional editors of the Greek Orthodox and Textus Receptus in making it one word “lest,” while the newer critical editions of Nestle, Aland, and Tregelles separated it into two words. The English versions translated since 1960 follow the latter interpretation up to a point, translating it “that” (some also adding “somehow”). However, all the ancient versions interpreted it as “lest” rather than “that.”

QAlso found in Exod. 8:25; Sut. 1:56; Rom. 7:11; 16:18; 1 Cor. 3:18; 2 Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 2:14. Has more to do with cheating than with lying.

RNote other uses in Corinthians: 1 Cor. 3:19; 2 Cor. 4:2

SAlthough this word “so/thus” is in the majority of Greek manuscripts and in the ancient Vulgate and Peshitta, it is not in any of the manuscripts previous to the 9^th century.

TCf. other uses in Corinthians: 1 Cor. 3:17; 15:33; 2 Cor. 7:2.

UThe ancient Coptic versions add και της αγνοτητος (“and purity”), following about 10 Greek manuscripts (including the three oldest-known, dating back to the 3^rd and 4^th centuries). Although the vast majority of Greek manuscripts do not include this phrase, the oldest one that omits it is 6^th century, although the 4^th century Vulgate and Peshitta versions also omit it. Haplotetos means “generosity” in Rom. 12:8 & 2 Cor. 8:2; 9:11, & 13, but here it seem to refer to “singleness/simplicity,” as it does in 2 Cor. 1:12, Eph. 6:5, and Col. 3:22.

V“‘[H]e that cometh’ is the direct antithesis of the title of apostle, which means ‘he that is sent’. They posed, indeed, as apostles of Christ (v. 13), but, unlike Paul, Christ had neither commissioned nor sent them: they had simply come…” ~Hughes

WNIV & NLT follow the Peshitta and Coptic versions’ insertion of “to you,” although this insertion is not to be found in any Greek manuscript.

XNote that the Greek shifts from “another Jesus” to “a different Spirit… gospel,” but the KJV followed the Vulgate, Peshitta, and Coptic in using “another” in all three places. It doesn’t really change the meaning, however. Turner and Blass/Debrunner saw this as merely stylistic variety, whereas Alford, Fausset, Robertson, G. Wilson, and Hanna suggested it implied some distinction. I like the way Fausset explained the distinction: “The will of man is passive in RECEIVING the ‘Spirit’; but it is actively concurrent with the will of God (which goes before to give the good will) in ACCEPTING the ‘Gospel...’”

YThere are three main spelling variants of this word among the manuscripts:
ανεχεσθε (Present Middle – “you are bearing for yourself” = NASB, NIV, ESV, in 5 Greek manuscripts, the oldest of which date back to the 3^rd and 4^th centuries),
ηνειχεσθε (Imperfect Deponent – “you were bearing/may/might have borne” = Textus Receptus/KJV, supported by the ancient versions – slim majority of Greek manuscripts, the oldest of which date back to the 9^th century),
1904 Patriarchal ἀνήχεσθε (Aorist Middle – “you bore for yourselves” = no known manuscript, although very close to the spelling of the slim minority with over 20 MSS ανειχεσθε (Imperfect Deponent, the oldest of which date back to the 4^th and 7^th centuries.)
The interpretation is not much different among the variants. The difficulty is whether to take it at face value (as Chrysostom, Calvin, Bengel, and Hodge did) or to take it ironically like Henry, Vincent, Robertson, Arndt & Gingrich, Denney, Hughes, and G. Wilson. Chrysostom explained it as encouraging the Corinthians to listen to other teachers to see if they have more valid information to supply about Jesus, the Spirit, and the Gospel than Paul supplied. Calvin, similarly, said, “as they have conferred upon you nothing that I had not given you previously, what sort of gratitude do you show in all but adoring those, to whom you are indebted for nothing, while you despise me… [in other words,] ‘If the gospel had come to you through their ministry, and not through mine...’ [it would be appropriate for you to follow them, but it didn’t.]” Hughes gave a number of solid reasons against Calvin and Chrysostom’s interpretation.

ZThe Vulgate actually follows the Greek in using a different verb (receptis) here than in the previous two instances in this verse (acceptis).

AAChrysostom and Calvin understood the “eminent apostles” to be “Peter, James, and John,” but Vincent: “Lit., those who are preeminently apostles. Not referring to the genuine apostles, but ironically to the false teachers, the false apostles of 2Cor. 11:13. Compare 2Cor. 12:11. Farrar renders the extra-super apostles.” Robertson agreed with Vincent, as did Waite, G. Wilson, and Hughes.

ABRobertson noted, “The Greeks regarded a man as idiōtēs who just attended to his own affairs (ta idia) and took no part in public life.” This word shows up only in the New Testament, and only in two other passages: 1) When educated and credentialed Jews were describing Jesus’ uneducated and credentialed disciples (Acts 4:13), and 2) When Paul as a church member described “un-initiated” church visitors who were not well-oriented to Christianity (1 Cor. 14:16-24). This seems to fit well with the credentialing/letters of reference issue raised in Chapter 3.

ACBlass & Debrunner noted that alla in an apodosis after ei means “yet,” “certainly,” “at least.”

ADThis aorist passive participle spelling is found in the majority of Greek manuscripts dating all the way back to the 7^th century and before that to the ancient Vulgate and Peshitta versions, thus the Textus Receptus and Greek Orthodox editions and the Geneva and King James versions read passively (“we have been manifested”). This could also be interpreted reflexively, like the Coptic (“having manifested ourselves”). However, in the 19^th century, three Greek manuscripts were found dating before the 7^th century to the 4^th and 6^th centuries which instead read aorist active (φανερωσαντες), thus every English Bible (except the NKJV) translated since the mid-1800’s reads actively “we manifested.”

AEThis is perfect tense and ethpeal stem. This stem is reflexive (“having manifested ourselves”), not present passive as Etheridge rendered it (“we are manifest”) or perfect passive as Lamsa (“we have been... made manifest”).