2 Corinthians 11

== 2 Corinthians 11:1 ==
 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.
Paul is going to transition now and write as if he were reasoning the way men reason. His 'reasoning' here will be silliness or absurdity, a little bit of hyperbole.
== 2 Corinthians 11:2 ==
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.
It must be first noted that this verse is in the context of the letter to a single congregation, not to the church universal. The audience must always be kept in mind. This is also a younger congregation being a gentile congregation.
Paul is NOT the father of the church, any more than he is Timothy's spiritual father. That is Jehovah God. So this context is part of the foolishness and is meant to highlight a point, not necessarily connect to other places in scripture that use somewhat similar terms. I'll have more to say on this before we leave this verse.
Paul speaks of the church at Corinth as a father would a daughter. He does not want his daughter committing fornication with anyone because he has found the perfect husband for his daughter. He wants her pure. The metaphor here only extends to the explanation of Paul's feelings towards this congregation. It does not extend beyond that into the texts we see in Matthew 25; Eph. 5; Revelation 21; and other apocalyptic texts. Those texts are in regard to the church universal and they have Christ and the church already married by the events relating to the destruction of Jerusalem, already married and bearing children.
This verse has been misused to try and show that the marriage ceremony did not take place between Christ and the church until 40 years after the church was founded and producing Christians (offspring), which makes Jesus and the church fornicators.
So Paul is explaining to the congregation at Corinth that he views them, particularly, as a father would a virgin daughter, a father who wants his daughter to remain pure. Plain and simple, that's all this verse is about.
== 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 ==
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. 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.
In that vein of protective father, Paul worries about false teachers coming in the way that Satan came in and tempted her away from the simplicity of God's rule. All God said was "don't eat of this tree of knowledge of good and evil or you will die that day". That's it, one rule. Yet Satan came and perverted God's word by inserting the single word "not" in there. There were false teachers in that day that were preaching something that sounded very similar to what Paul preached, however, it was in truth different: a different Jesus, a different mindset, a different gospel from what they had been converted to Christ with. Paul brings this up out of fear that such a false teacher would come and they would tolerate him.
It is interesting to note that this mindset of toleration was something Paul warned them about not once, but twice. Once in 1 Cor. 5 with the man sleeping with his father's wife and now here. Tolerance of evil is not a spiritual fruit, its a poison.
== 2 Corinthians 11:5-9==
5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. 6 But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things. 7 Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? 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 me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.
Part of the silliness Paul is going to use to make his point is about his apostleship. Those who were perverting the church at Corinth boasted of certain things as if that made them worthy to listen to and Paul not. One of these was a constant attack on Paul's office of apostle. He defends it here with a mix of assertion of the office but personal debasement. His authority is not behind any of the other apostles, even though he personally is not a great speaker (which is silly since he is a great speaker). He took things on himself in order that the congregation at Corinth could flourish, including taking money from other congregations in order to serve Corinth without making himself a financial burden to Corinth. The point of this being, he preached an unadulterated gospel not based in his pay from them because they weren't paying him at all.
== 2 Corinthians 11:10-11 ==
10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. 11 Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.
Paul then speaks of the boasting of the preaching of Christ throughout the regions of Achaia. Of this particular boasting, which was not about Paul, but the gospel, no man would cause him to stop, not because he did not love the church at Corinth, but precisely because it was to their benefit.
== 2 Corinthians 11:12-13 ==
12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. 13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
The reason this was beneficial to the church at Corinth was because it cut off the ability of these false teachers who pretended to be apostles. Paul would show them what a real apostle looked like, spoke like, acted like. Again, this was not to lift himself up, but to protect the church at Corinth (and by implication other congregations who were dealing with this same issue.
Please note here the pretenders and the time context for this. Paul and most of the apostles are still alive at this time and it is easy for men to pretend to be an apostle. We see this pretending going on in the time that John writes the book of Revelation (Revelation 2:2). How difficult would it have been to make this claim in a mature church at the end of the 1st century when John is the only apostle left alive (John 21:22)?
== 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 ==
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 be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
As to those false teachers who pretended to be apostles, it must first be noted that they never held the office, were never apostles. They just pretended to be.
They are servants of Satan, who is also able to 'transform" himself into a messenger of light. This verse in no way affirms that Satan was actually ever a real angel from Heaven, only that he can pretend to be, can make himself look like one in order to deceive. The doctrine that Satan was an archangel called Lucifer in Heaven and rebelled and got cast out is in a number of ways a really stupid doctrine because of what it implies. I've covered the concept of Lucifer elsewhere as well as the concept of archangel (of which there is only one), and that Satan was never really in Heaven and rebelled.
The point of Paul's statements is "if Satan can pretend to be a messenger of light, its no big stretch to imagine that his followers will and can pretend to be the same". These false teachers, though, will be rewarded according to their evil works.
== 2 Corinthians 11:16-21 ==
16 I say again, let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little. 17 That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. 18 Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. 19 For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. 20 For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. 21 I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.
Here, Paul is going to climax the silly talk by mimicking the speech of the false teachers. He is going to steal their thunder by bragging about himself the way they would, even though he knows and has asserted to Corinth, that the things he boasts of here don't matter. It's a tactic to diffuse an enemy, not aggrandize himself.
== 2 Corinthians 11:22-29 ==
22 Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. 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. 24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?
These are all the traits of the various false teachers (particularly the Judaizers) who are coming in to wreak havoc on the church at Corinth. They boast in themselves because they have this long pedigree. At the same time, they try to tear down Paul, but they fail because if that's the standard by which they judge, Paul meets their silly standard better than they do. Again, not that it matters in reality, but if it helps diffuse the influence of these false teachers, then Paul uses that. 
"They argue that they are Hebrews? So am I. They argue that you should listen because they descended from Abraham? Me too! They want to pretend they are ministers of Christ? I'm even more a minister of Christ and here is why I'm better. Not only do I have all this pedigree, but look at all the things I've endured as a minister of Christ. Where is their list of suffering and trials if the physical is what matters?
== 2 Corinthians 11:30-33 ==
30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. 31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. 32 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: 33 And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.
Paul ends this thought by stating "those things which the Judaizers lift themselves up by are stupid. If I am going to glory, I'm going to glory in the things I've had to suffer for the cause of Christ. I am weak in and of myself, but in Christ I am strong and He has brought me through more than those fools have ever had to endure.
Don't listen to them.
In Truth and Love.
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