NIV
11:1 I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness [because he was going to speak about himself and defend his credentials; this was top counter the boasts of the false teachers about themselves, their experiences, and their authority]. Yes, please put up with me [a please to listen before they are led astray]!
11:2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy [a protective kind of jealousy; Paul was guarding their relationship; Paul was protective of them because they belonged to Christ]. I promised [betrothed] you [when they came to faith in Christ] to one husband, to Christ [their loyalty belonged to Christ alone], so that I might present you as a pure [refers to spiritual faithfulness and doctrinal purity] virgin to him.
11:3 But I am afraid [an expression of pastoral concern; afraid that believers may abandon truth] that just as Eve was deceived [misled; seduced; the serpent caused her to believe what is false; believers are not immune from deception; Paul feared deception more than persecution] by the serpent’s cunning [Satan is described as crafty and deceptive; he creates doubt, distorts truth, creates confusion, and markets half-truths; Satan promises fulfillment apart from obedience], your minds [this is the battlefield] may somehow be led astray [to be corrupted or ruined] from your sincere [undivided loyalty] and pure [unmixed affection and faithfulness] devotion to Christ [wholehearted devotion to Christ is the goal].
11:4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
11:5 I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.”
11:6 I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.
11:7 Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge?
11:8 I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you.
11:9 And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.
11:10 As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine.
11:11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
11:12 And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about.
11:13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
11:14 And no wonder [refers to previous verse where Paul warned about false apostles and deceptive teachers who were masquerading as apostles of Christ and influencing believers in Corinth], for Satan himself [the ultimate source behind false teaching and spiritual deception; Satan distorts truth; see John 8:44] masquerades [to disguise or transform outward appearance; Satan presents himself deceptively in a convincing form; he does not make evil appear ugly, instead he makes evil appear attractive, reasonable, harmless, and even spiritual] as an angel of light [in Scripture, light is a symbol of truth, purity, holiness, revelation, and God’s presence; Satan can imitate what appears spiritual, good, wise and godly in order to deceive people and lead them away from sincere devotion to Christ].
11:15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
11:16 I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting.
11:17 In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool.
11:18 Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast.
11:19 You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise!
11:20 In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face.
11:21 To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that! Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about.
11:22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I.
11:23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.
11:24 Five times [none of these beatings is specifically described in Acts, reminding us that Acts records only part of Paul’s missionary suffering; willing to suffer repeatedly because he believed the gospel was worth proclaiming and Christ was worth following] I received from the Jews [likely official synagogue punishments imposed by Jewish religious authorities] the forty lashes minus one [Deuteronomy 25:2–3 limited a beating to forty lashes; Jewish authorities commonly administered one less to avoid accidentally exceeding the biblical limit through a counting error; Paul endured as many as 195 lashes over five beatings].
11:25 Three times I was beaten with rods [a Roman punishment administered by government officials; see Acts 16:22–24 re incident in Philippi], once I was pelted with stones [refers to Paul’s experience in Lystra recorded in Acts 14:19], three times I was shipwrecked [three shipwrecks occurred before the famous shipwreck recorded in Acts 27, because 2 Corinthians was written earlier; Paul ultimately experienced at least four shipwrecks], I spent a night and a day [survived approximately twenty-four hours in the water after one of these shipwrecks] in the open sea [emphasizes his helplessness and vulnerability; had no control over the waves, weather, or possibility of rescue; God preserved his life because his mission was not finished],
11:26 I have been constantly on the move [ancient travel was slow, physically exhausting, and dangerous]. I have been in danger from rivers [encountered rivers without bridges or safe crossings], in danger from bandits [remote roads were vulnerable to robbers who attacked travelers], in danger from my fellow Jews [included plots, beatings, expulsions, and attempts to kill him], in danger from Gentiles [Gentile authorities, merchants, religious leaders, and crowds; resisted Paul because the gospel threatened their power, prosperity, or religious practices]; in danger in the city [faced riots, arrests, imprisonment, mob violence, and political pressure in urban centers such as Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, and Ephesus], in danger in the country [rural areas exposed Paul to isolation, harsh terrain, weather, wild animals, robbers, and the absence of assistance], in danger at sea [every voyage required him to accept the possibility of disaster due to weather and unforeseen circumstances]; and in danger from false believers [individuals who presented themselves as believers but worked against Paul and distorted the gospel].
11:27 I have labored [emphasizes effort] and toiled [emphasizes the exhaustion produced by effort] and have often gone without sleep [he sometimes chose to remain awake to serve and at other times, hardship made sleep impossible]; I have known hunger and thirst [he sometimes lacked life’s most basic necessities] and have often gone without food [circumstances often left him without food]; I have been cold and naked [inadequately clothed; Paul sometimes lacked sufficient clothing or shelter to protect himself from cold weather].
11:28 Besides everything else [the previous hardships affected his body; this burden affected his heart and mind.], I face daily the pressure [conveys the idea of something pressing upon or weighing heavily on a person; a description of the relentless emotional and spiritual weight of Paul’s responsibility] of my concern [refers to Paul’s deep, attentive care for the spiritual welfare of believers] for all the churches [Paul carried responsibility for a growing network of churches spread throughout the Roman world; unlike the physical challenges he faced, the weight of the welfare of the churches stayed with him always].
11:29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
11:30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
11:31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying.
11:32 In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me.
11:33 But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.
