Paul Defends His Apostleship

11 I wish that you would (A)bear with me in a little (B)foolishness; but [a]indeed you are bearing with me. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I (C)betrothed you to one husband, to (D)present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that, as the (E)serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds will be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if [b]one comes and preaches (F)another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a (G)different spirit which you have not received, or a (H)different gospel which you have not accepted, this you (I)tolerate (J)very well! For I consider myself (K)not in the least inferior to the [c]most eminent apostles. But even if I am (L)unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in (M)knowledge; in fact, in every way we have (N)made this evident to you in all things.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 11:1 Or do indeed bear with me
  2. 2 Corinthians 11:4 Lit the one who comes preaches
  3. 2 Corinthians 11:5 Or super-apostles

Paul Contrasts Himself with False Apostles

11 I wish you would tolerate a little of my foolishness. Yes, please tolerate me! I am jealous of you with God’s own jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to the Messiah.[a] However, I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by its tricks, so your minds may somehow be lured away from sincere and pure[b] devotion to the Messiah.[c]

For if someone comes along and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or should you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you are all too willing to listen. I do not think I’m inferior in any way to those “super-apostles.” Even though I may be untrained as an orator, I am not so in the field of knowledge. We have made this clear to all of you in every possible way.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 11:2 Or Christ
  2. 2 Corinthians 11:3 Other mss. lack and pure
  3. 2 Corinthians 11:3 Or Christ

Paul and the False Apostles

11 I hope you will put up with(A) me in a little foolishness.(B) Yes, please put up with me! I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband,(C) to Christ, so that I might present you(D) as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning,(E) your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached,(F) or if you receive a different spirit(G) from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel(H) from the one you accepted, you put up with it(I) easily enough.

I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.”[a](J) I may indeed be untrained as a speaker,(K) but I do have knowledge.(L) We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 11:5 Or to the most eminent apostles