2 Corinthians 11

2 Corinthians 11:1

If any have caused grief. The reference in this indirect way is to the incestuous person named in 1 Corinthians 5:1. He hath grieved me, but in part. It was not Paul, only in part, that this man had injured and grieved, but the whole church. That I may not overcharge you all. Lay too heavy charges on you.

2 Corinthians 11:2

Sufficient to such a man [is] this punishment. The excommunication of the offender (1 Corinthians 5:4,5). Which was [inflicted] of the many. Literally, by the majority. This shows that the whole church took action, and implies that there were dissenters. The command of Paul was endorsed by the action of the church. So ought the decision of the officers of a congregation always be submitted for approval.

2 Corinthians 11:3

Ye [ought] rather to forgive [him]. The Apostle sternly commands excommunication of the offender, but tenderly enjoins forgiveness of the penitent sinner.

2 Corinthians 11:4

I beseech you that ye would confirm [your] love toward him. The object of the discipline was to save (1 Corinthians 5:5). Since it had had the desired effect, the offender should be restored.

2 Corinthians 11:5

For to this end also did I write. One object of his writing was to test their obedience. Whether ye be obedient in all things. He commanded positively in 1 Corinthians 5:11,13.

2 Corinthians 11:6

To whom ye forgive anything, I [forgive] also. As your excommunication of the man was my act, so also your restoration of him will be my act. [Forgave I it] in the person of Christ. As Paul acted as the servant of Christ, under his direct orders, his official acts represented in the Master.

2 Corinthians 11:7

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us. Satan would gladly have kept the sinful man in the church; since he has repented, Satan would gladly have the church keep him out.

2 Corinthians 11:8

When I came to Troas. See Acts 16:8 20:5-12 In Acts two visits to Troas are named, but the one alluded to here is omitted. Troas was then a large city, situated not far from the site of old Troy, and almost within sight of Europe. There is now a small village there and extensive ruins. See PNT Acts 16:8. To [preach] Christ’s gospel. Though he did not tarry now, a little later we find a church there (Acts 20:5). A door was opened unto me of the Lord. An opportunity for the gospel.

2 Corinthians 11:9

I had no rest in my spirit. Because he had expected to meet Titus there and to get news concerning the state of affairs at Corinth. Hence he went on soon, hoping to meet him on the way to Macedonia.

2 Corinthians 11:10

Now thanks [be] to God. He did meet him there, and heard news that filled him with thankfulness. To triumph in Christ. A Roman triumph was given because of victory; God always gave the victory, through Christ, in the end. He had feared that Corinth would be an exception. Maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge. The figure is that of a sacrifice. A sweet-smelling savor was diffused by the offerings. So, through them everywhere, the knowledge of God was made known, and was grateful to the saved.

2 Corinthians 11:11

A sweet savor of Christ. This fragrant odor of the gospel was diffused both among the saved and the unsaved.

2 Corinthians 11:12

To the one [we are] the savour of death unto death. In the triumphal procession, alluded to in 2 Corinthians 2:14 the captives were led, and when it closed were put to death. The fragrant odors of the incense, flowers and sacrifices, were a savor to them of their approaching death. So the savor of the gospel is a savor, a sign, an intimation of death to those who reject it. And to the other the savour of life. This savor to the saved is a sign of life, and leads to eternal life. Who [is] sufficient for these things? He seems to exclaim in astonishment that such results should follow human preaching.

2 Corinthians 11:13

We are not as many, who corrupt the word of God. The Greek city figure is taken from the tavern-keepers who adulterate the wine they offer for sale. There were those at Corinth, Judaizing teachers, who adulterated the gospel with ingredients of Judaism. These are the “false brethren” (2 Corinthians 11:26) with whom his whole ministry was a struggle. See also Galatians 2:4. But as of sincerity, but as of God. On the contrary, he and his fellow-preachers spoke the words of genuine sincerity and with a sense of responsibility to God.

2 Corinthians 11:15

The Two Covenants Compared SUMMARY OF II CORINTHIANS 3: Paul’s Letters of Commendation. The New Covenant and the Covenant of the Letter; or the Law and. the Gospel. The First Written on Tables of Stone; Is a Ministration of. Death; Was Glorious but Is Done Away. That Which Remaineth, the New Covenant, Far More Glorious. The Veil Over the Face of Moses a Type of Blindness of Israel. The Transforming Power of the Gospel. Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Paul had just spoken of his triumphs. Opposers, such as were in Corinth, might insist that he was boasting. Or need we, as some [others], epistles of commendation? No doubt there is a reference made to letters which the Judaizing teachers, who had come to Corinth, carried. They might need them, but he did not.

2 Corinthians 11:16

Ye are our epistle. The church itself owed its existence to him. He could point to his work, to the disciples, as his letter of commendation. He was known by his fruits. Written in our hearts. When he looked into his heart, he saw them enshrined there, and felt that he needed no commendation to them.

2 Corinthians 11:17

[Ye are] openly declared to be the epistle of Christ. A beautiful conception. Christ is the author of the letter. Ministered by us. Paul was the penman. Written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. The message was written on the fleshly tablets of the hearts of the brethren at Corinth. The means employed by Christ to convey the message was the Spirit which filled Paul. All men who could see the transformation effected in the lives of the Corinthians could read the epistle. Not on tables of stone. Instead of naming parchment, he mentions tables of stone, because he is about to compare the Old Covenant, of which its chief part, the Decalogue, was written on stone, with the New Covenant (Exodus 24:12).

2 Corinthians 11:18

Such trust have we through Christ to God-ward. That the church of Corinth is such an epistle as has just been described (2 Corinthians 3:3).

2 Corinthians 11:19

Not that we are sufficient by ourselves. He would claim no credit for the work at Corinth, as though it was his own, for all his strength was of God.

2 Corinthians 11:20

Who also hath made us able ministers. God gave Paul and his fellow-ministers their “sufficiency” (2 Corinthians 3:5), who had made them able ministers of the gospel. Of the new testament. The New Covenant, the Covenant of Christ. This is here contrasted with the Old Covenant, the Jewish. One is the Law; the other the Gospel. Compare Hebrews 8:7-13. Not of the letter, but of the spirit. The first, the law, was written (by letters written and engraved on stones, hence “of the letter”); the gospel is the dispensation of the Spirit. The letter killeth. The law. It condemns all who do not obey its commands, but could make no man perfect. The law places under the sentence of death. See notes on Romans 7:9,10. The spirit giveth life. The gospel bestows eternal life.

2 Corinthians 11:21

But if the ministration of death. The Old Covenant, the law is so called, because it places under the sentence of death. Written [and] engraven on stones. Only the Decalogue was written on stones. It was the central and most important part of the Old Covenant. Let it be noted that when Paul speaks of the law, or Old Testament, he includes the Decalogue, and does not mean simply the ceremonial law, as some have urged (Exodus 34:1). Was glorious. So glorious that even the face of Moses was made to shine as he carried down the tables of the law so that he had to veil his face (Exodus 34:29). Which [glory] was to be done away. It was only temporary.

2 Corinthians 11:22

How shall not rather the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? The gospel, the ministration of life, must have still greater glory. It has a glory now, and will have a fuller glory in the day of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 11:23

The ministration of condemnation. The law, including the Decalogue. See 2 Corinthians 3:7. The ministration of righteousness. The gospel. The first condemned; the second justifies men with the righteousness of Christ. With such transcendent blessings, it far exceeds in glory the Old Covenant.

2 Corinthians 11:24

For even that which was made glorious. The Old Covenant. As the glory of the moon and stars fades out before the glory of the sun, so its glory disappears in a comparison with the exceeding glory of the gospel.

2 Corinthians 11:25

For if that which is done away [was] glorious. That which was glorious in the Old Covenant, or law. It includes the Decalogue. The whole is done away. This clear and emphatic statement is made on account of the Judaizing teachers of whom we find many traces in the two Letters to the Corinthian church. It is clearly asserted that the Old Covenant, “the ministration of death written and engraven on stones” (2 Corinthians 3:7)is done away. We are “not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14,15). Compare Hebrews 8:13. Much more that which remaineth [is] glorious. But if that which was done away is glorious, much more is that glorious which abides forever.

2 Corinthians 11:26

Seeing then that we have such hope. The blessed gospel hope. We use great plainness of speech. With such a hope he has boldness to declare the gospel truths boldly and without reserve.

2 Corinthians 11:27

And not as Moses, [which] put a vail over his face. The veil Moses put over his face (Exodus 34:33) is used by Paul as a symbol to show that all was not made plain in the law of Moses, and that there is still blindness on the part of Israel. That the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. The brightness with which the face of Moses shone (Exodus 34:30,35) was to be done away. The veil prevented the children of Israel from observing its fading glory. This typifies the fact that they should not see the end of the law itself which was to be abolished.

2 Corinthians 11:28

But their minds were blinded. So blinded that they cannot see to this day that it has been set aside by the New Covenant, and that its types, figures and shadows find their fulfillment in Christ. Which [vail] is done away in Christ. Meyer, with many other able critics, contends that the proper translation of the latter part of the verse is: “It not being disclosed that the Old Covenant is taken away in Christ”. So also Conybeare and Howson. This is no doubt the meaning.

2 Corinthians 11:29

When Moses is read the vail is upon their heart. The law, or Old Testament. They read it in their synagogues, but do not understand it. The trouble, too, is in “their heart”. They are blinded by their prejudices.

2 Corinthians 11:30

When it shall turn to the Lord. The heart. The vail shall be taken away. Then the veil of blindness will fall away so that they will see clearly.

2 Corinthians 11:31

Now the Lord is that Spirit. The New Covenant is of “the Spirit”. See 2 Corinthians 3:3,6,8. But turning to the Lord is entering into this covenant, for the “Lord is that Spirit”. Where the Spirit of the Lord [is]. The Spirit is Christ’s presence with us. There [is] liberty. He who comes into this covenant of the Spirit is freed from the bondage of the law.

2 Corinthians 11:32

But we all. All Christians. With open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. Looking to Jesus and beholding in his covenant, in our hearts and minds as in a mirror, and contemplating his glory. Are changed into the same image. To look to Jesus has a transforming power. If we gaze upon him, we will become like him. As Moses unveiled before the Lord shone with the glory of the Lord, so we shall reflect the glory of Christ, and show forth his likeness. From glory to glory. Developing from one stage of glory to a higher one. [Even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Rather, “The Lord the Spirit”, as in the Revised Version. 2 Corinthians 3:17 declares “the Lord is that Spirit”. Our glory is from the Lord the Spirit. The figure here is a very beautiful one. By gazing upon the Lord we become like him and show forth his glory.