Chapter 11

The greatest chapter of sarcasm in the Word of God! There is no passage in the New Testament more difficult for translation from the Greek than this.

Outline of chapter:

Verses 1-11, Paul’s care for the Corinthians, stated sarcastically.

Verses 12-15, Paul’s warning of the Judaisers, stated sarcastically.

Verses 16-29, Paul’s comparison with his critics, stated sarcastically.

In verses one and two we have the first expression of Paul’s care, we have the principle of right pastor, right congregation. This is the principle that runs through the first past of this chapter.

Verse 1 — “Would to God.” We have a verb in the aorist active indicative but it is used as an interjection. The adverb form is o)felon, an aorist of o)felw and it means ‘O that.’ However, when you take a verb in the aorist tense, like this one, and change it to an adverb or an interjection in its meaning and try to translate it ‘O that,’ you still don’t know exactly what is being said here. What does this phrase, this interjection, really mean from the aorist? It actually expresses a wish in present time. At the time that Paul is writing these people he is expressing a wish. We could translate it, ‘I could wish.’ In other words, this is the beginning of sarcasm for Paul is saying to the Corinthians, his right congregation, ‘I desire or wish from you tolerance based on the fact that I am your right pastor.’ It must be understand that Paul has been faithful to them. He has been faithfully honest. 1 Corinthians is a very stern letter, at worst it is just chewing them out. But whatever you want to call it Paul is honest with them for their sake. Love doesn’t always say sweet things. Paul is saying they are the ones who are out of line, they are being impatient and intolerant of Paul. Paul is in line, he is patient with them, he is tolerant of them. Paul is interested in them; they are angry with him.

“to God” is not found in the original.

“ye could bear with me” — ‘you could bear’ is an imperfect middle indicative of a)nexomai [e)xw = to have and to hold; a)n = to have and hold again and again and again]. Paul says “I wish that I could wish that you could have and hold me again and again and again.” They had phased out Paul, they had rejected his ministry. They are antagonistic toward Paul, their right pastor. He is saying in effect, and this is enough to really arouse their antagonism, “I could wish that you could hold me again and again and again.” This is the utmost in sarcasm. All he is saying in effect is, if you are ever going to recover from reversion you are going to have to get with doctrine and I am you right pastor, you have to get it from me. Paul said that very simply with a couple of Greek words. He put this in the imperfect tense and the imperfect tense is a reminder so it has a double edge, because the imperfect tense is linear aktionsart in past time and he is reminding them that every time he taught them doctrine in the past by listening to him they were embracing him. He is reminding them that he is the one who led them to the Lord. They didn’t know Jesus Christ as saviour, they didn’t know anything until he presented it. Every spiritual blessing they have ever had they have had from him as their right pastor. So he very sweetly says, “I could wish that that you would embrace me again and again.” In other words, come back and listen. Now this word has been translated to bear or to endure patiently, but it means to have and to hold again and again. It means, therefore, to be patient with someone you love. In other words, a)nexomai is designed to express the fact that Paul is their right pastor, they are his right congregation, and by rejecting his authority, by rejecting the teaching of 1 Corinthians, they in effect have expressed reverse process reversionism.

“in a little folly” — the word for ‘little’ is mikroj and it means little in several senses: little or small, in size or age or time. Here it means little in quality. Paul is saying that whatever his foolishness is it is little in quality. The word ‘folly’ is a)frosunh which means to be without thinking in a matter. It is best translated ‘foolishness.’

Summary

Really it is Paul who is patiently enduring the foolishness of the Corinthians. But by making it visa versa Paul is using sarcasm. The little in quality foolishness of Paul is really his deep concern for the Corinthians who are now in scar tissue, emotional revolt, reversionism, and apostasy. And they have rejected Paul in the function of reverse process reversionism. They have become his critics, they have joined a mutual admiration society which is an anti-Paul society.

“and indeed” — a)lla kai should be ‘but also.’ The word ‘but’ or a)lla here is a conjunction, a strong conjunction of contrast. Again he uses a)nexomai but this time present active imperative: “but also keep on being patient with me [because you love me].”

Translation: “I could wish that you would be patient with me [because you love me] regarding a little of my foolishness: but also keep on being patient with me now [because you love me].” In other words, he is saying he is their right pastor.

Summary

1. In the last verb, translated in the KJV ‘bear with me’ but is really ‘keep on being patient with me,’ the present active imperative of e)xomai indicates the patience believers need toward their pastor when they are recovering from scar tissue, emotional revolt, or reversionism. So a very strong truth comes out of this sarcasm. If you are a believer sand you have phased out Bible doctrine you are in scar tissue, you are in emotional revolt, you are in a state of reversionism. In that state you are obviously antagonistic toward the pastor who taught you. Sarcasm is used to show that you will never recover from reversionism, scar tissue, emotional revolt, and attendant and resultant apostasy unless you in turn become patient with the one who teaches you. How do you become patient? Rebound and start coming to face to face teaching. The road back is one of great patience, but it is a patience you can bear because of love for the truth and a recognition of the authority of your right pastor. You don’t have to love or even like the one who teaches you but you do have to love the doctrine which he teaches.

2. At the same time the right pastor must be patient with them. He keeps right on teaching. He patiently plugs away.

3. However, Paul is not impatient but the Corinthians are the ones who are impatient.

4. The Corinthians in practising reverse process reversionism have a very difficult road of recovery. They have been very patient with inconsequential persons, they have been patient with apostates, they have been patient with Judaisers, they have been patient with those who have taught that which is false. Now, if they are to recover they must reverse the process again. They have been patient with inconsequential persons and they must direct that patience toward the apostle Paul who is their right pastor. To do this requires rebound, the filling of the Spirit, and understanding the principle of the solution which is Bible doctrine, face to face teaching.

5. However, the sanctified sarcasm teaches the principle of mutual patience while believers are recovering from reversionism. This is because there is love between them.

6. The reason for mutual patience is based upon the principle of right pastor, right congregation.

Verse 2 — “For” is gar, an epexegetic particle which means it introduces an expansion of the idea. In the last verse the sarcastic phrase was ‘be patient with me.’ In this verse Paul’s second emphasis of sarcasm if “I am jealous of you,” but he uses a word which can mean jealous and something else. It is the present active indicative of zhlow which means two different things. It means to be jealous or it means to be zealous. This is sarcasm through etymology, for here we have antithetical means for the same verb and both are true. Zhlow means top be devoted but it also means to be jealous. Paul is saying, ‘I keep on being devoted and jealous with an ardour and jealousy from God.’ The genitive is a genitive of source, so we know that the jealousy is not a mental attitude sin. Paul’s deep love for the Corinthians, who are his right congregation, has turned to jealousy which is really ardour or deep love because they have gone into infidelity toward his ministry. He is very deeply concerned and he expresses his concern by the word zhlow which means to have ardour or deep love. On the surface it comes out ‘jealous’ but behind the verb is love.

We go now to another analogy: Christ and the Church. The word “for” indicates a second epexigetical particle in this verse. It is the amplification of a principle.

“I have espoused you” — aorist middle indicative of a)rmozw which means to fit together, to unite in marriage. It means right man and right woman discovering this and getting married. So ‘espouse’ here means to give in marriage: ‘for I have given you in marriage to one husband.’ The ‘one husband’ is the dative singular of e(ij and it means there is only one right man, as it were, Jesus Christ. This is Church universal. There is only one saviour, there is only one head of the Church. When Paul led the Corinthians to the Lord God the Holy Spirit took every one of them at the point of salvation and entered them into union with Christ. ‘I have given you in marriage to Christ, you are one with Him therefore what are you doing in reverse process reversionism with these Judaisers who are not only unsaved but are false teachers?’ They are apostles of Satan, they are Satanic ministers. The principle is that there is one right man for one right woman, and this is used as a sarcastic illustration. The Corinthians critics in reversionism were designed for Jesus Christ, one right man, not for the Judaisers. The Corinthian critics also have one right pastor, but we must notice the distinction in the change. When we are talking about local church the analogy is the Corinthians and their right pastor, Paul. But when they are talking about universal church it is Corinthians in union with Christ; He is the one husband. All of the false teachers are pseudo lovers.

Next we have a purpose clause and a final analogy: “that” introduces a purpose clause; “I may present” is the aorist active infinitive of paristhmi which means to place beside, to put at someone’s disposal, to present, to represent, to demonstrate. Here it means ‘that I may place at his disposal,’ at the disposal of Christ.

“chaste” — a)gnoj which means pure. Pure here represents all that is involved in positional truth; the word ‘virgin’ is parqenoj which means you never lose your positional truth. You will always be in union with Christ. Why do we have the word ‘pure’ with it? Because it is possible for a woman to come to marriage as a virgin but not be pure. In her mind she is not pur, and that is the whole point. Through reverse process reversionism the Corinthians are chasing after false teachers.

“to Christ” — e)ij, directional.

Translation: “I keep on being devoted and jealous toward you with an ardour and jealousy from God: for I gave you in marriage to one nobleman, that I may place you at his disposal a pure virgin to Christ.”

Summary

1. Paul treasures the Corinthians as his right woman — his right congregation.

2. He led them to Christ which is the presentation in marriage to one nobleman, Jesus Christ. He placed them at the disposal of Christ as a pure virgin. The purity is actually the doctrine he taught them after they were saved.

3. The purity of the Corinthians has been besmirched by negative volition toward doctrine, scar tissue, emotional revolt, and reversionism.

4. Therefore reversionism distorts both human affection and capacity for love.

5. In this distortion of their love of Jesus Christ and their love of the apostle Paul they have accepted reverse process reversionism. They have made the object of their attention, their affection, false teachers. At the same time expressing maligning and judging of Paul which in turn in an expression and judgement of Paul, which in turn is an expression of their hatred, their bitterness, their cruelty, their implacability. At the same time they have even taken steps to hurt him, i.e. revenge tactics.

Verse 3 — “But I fear.” ‘But’ is the particle de used as a conjunction of contrast. This particle is used as a contrast between the pure virgin given in marriage to Christ and the believer seduced by apostasy. This particular conjunctive particle, then, shows the contrast between the Corinthians when Paul found them and the Corinthians at the time that Paul writes. ‘I fear’ — present middle indicative of the verb fobew. This is the expression of Paul’s concern for the Corinthians who went negative toward doctrine, therefore turned against him. These have entered into the state of reversionism. This is the source of Paul’s fear. The present tense indicates that Paul continues to carry this fear. The middle voice indicates that Paul carries it himself as a rejected lover in reverse process reversionism.

“lest by any means” — mh pwj. Mh is a negative; pwj with a circumflex accent is called an enclitic particle. But without that this becomes at this point an adverb — ‘lest in any way.’ It is used to introduce an illustration by analogy which begins with the word ‘as,’ w(j.

“the serpent” — the noun ‘serpent’ is the subject for the first part of the analogy, for the illustration which will be completed by the analogy. The word for ‘serpent’ is o)fij which was used for both a real serpent and for an artificial. Artificial serpents were often sculptured because serpents were worshipped as a part of demon activity among the Greeks. It was used for the snake that functioned in the healings of the temple of Ascepolis at Epidarus. This was a famous demon centre. This word also was used in the Septuagint for Numbers 21:6-9 where we have the brass serpent. The noun is used in Revelation 12:9 and 20:2 for Satan himself. It is used by Paul for Satan, it is used for the serpent who seduced the woman. Here, of course, it is obviously a Satanic agent, the serpent who seduced the woman. O)fij refers to the serpent in his pristine form before judgement. He did not crawl on the ground. Whatever type of creature he was he was the most beautiful of all creatures. The category we know today did not exist until after the fall of man. The crawling of the serpent also makes the head of the serpent vulnerable to almost everything that stands up. He is vulnerable because he has to move on the ground. This is a part of the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 where the serpent would strike the heel of Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman, at the cross. But Jesus Christ would crush the head of the serpent by going to the cross. So the fulfillment of that also is in part the manner in which the serpent lives, moves about, and the way he looks at present.

“beguiled” — the verb e)capataw gives to the serpent certain types of ability that no longer exists in animal creation. The word means to fake out, thoroughly deceive, to cheat. The aorist tense refers to that part of time when the serpent was indwelt by Satan, and when Satan actually spoke to the woman through the vocal cords of the serpent indicating that the serpent was a superior type of creature within the realm of the animal kingdom. The serpent was in the animal kingdom but had special abilities that no other animal possessed. Man’s best friend in the Garden was not the dog, it was the serpent with its super ability. When the devil himself possessed the serpent it was the first time in recorded history that animals were demon possessed, but not the last. Demon possession of animals starts in Genesis 3 and goes all the way to Revelation.

“through his subtlety” — the preposition e)n plus the instrumental of panourgia which means ‘evil coming.’ It means craftiness in an evil sense. It also connotes pseudo wisdom, pride or an appeal to intellectualism. Panourgia is not only used for the serpent in the Garden but it is used for those intellectual snobs who have rejected Bible doctrine, believer or unbeliever. It is therefore used in an evil sense, evil craftiness. It also connotes here interest in false doctrine which comes as a part of reverse process reversionism. Believers not interested in true doctrine eventually get hooked up with false doctrine. Negative volition toward doctrine always leads to opening up of mataiothj, the attack upon the right lobe, the buildup of scar tissue on the left and right bank, the emotional revolt of the soul, the destruction of all or any part of the ECS which is known as reversionism. When the believer in emotional revolt reaches reversionism he takes an active interest in that which is false. That is exactly what happened in Corinth.

“so” — now the analogy is completed; “your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

The completion of the analogy: The Corinthians have reached reversionism, they are in the same status that Eve or the woman was after she had bought Satan’s package. Eve was Adam’s right woman just as the Church is Christ’s right woman. When this analogy pertains the Church is often called the body of Christ. Satan attacks not in the Garden, Adam, Adam was the man/creature in charge. As the creature in charge Satan did not seek to attack him because if Adam had fallen, having charge of everything, having the authority, all he would have to do is to order the woman to eat of the fruit and she will obey because Adam was in authority. Therefore the woman would not be guilty. Satan could not possibly attack the man. The woman could only be guilty is the sin from her own free will and to do so she must reject the authority of the man put over her and accept what Satan said. She must operate independently of God-given authority. God-given authority is the basic principle in establishment. Satan always attacks the establishment — from below! This is important in the analogy if you understand that man was over the woman and that he had the authority. But if the woman sinned first and tried to persuade Adam both would sin from their own free will. It is true that the woman in sinning was deceived and the man was not. It is true while the area of sin was different the woman is said to have been deceived and man was not, he knew what he was doing, yet both of them operated from their own free will and both of them partook of the forbidden fruit. Both of them became spiritually dead the moment they did.

Going back to the analogy, the man was placed over the woman, the man had the authority in right man, right woman. Satan attacks the one under the authority to get the woman out from under the authority of the man, and Satan uses the serpent because the woman had a pet, therefore always around and the best way to go about this. As Satan attacks not the one in authority but the ones under authority that is exactly what happened in Satan’s attack on Corinth. The authority was Paul as the right pastor. Satan does not try to destroy the Corinthians by attacking Paul. He did attack Paul but not to destroy the Corinthians. Paul is the authority, the apostle, he is analogous to the right man. But he attacks the Corinthians who are under the authority of Paul, and he attacked them through emotional revolt, through negative volition toward doctrine, and through reversionism. When Satan attacks one under authority he always undermines the divine appointment. It was God who made Paul an apostle. The authority which Paul possessed was from God and therefore Satan must attack those under his authority. For that reason it is probably true that there are great demon attacks on congregations where the Word of God is taught; of the individuals involved because they are under the authority of the pastor. And in making this attack there must be an attack upon the pastor’s authority. That is exactly what happened in this case. Therefore we have a perfect analogy. As Satan attacked the woman rather than the man in the Garden so Satan attacks the Corinthians rather than the apostle Paul.

And where does Satan launch his attack? Here we have the phrase “your minds.” That is not quite correct. The word ‘your minds’ here is nohma, a very important vocabulary word because it is a synonym for heart. It refers to the right lobe. The left lobe is called nouj, translated ‘mind.’ The right lobe is called nohma as well as heart. There are two words for the right lobe, here is the second one. So this is in the plural, referring to many Corinthians who have been subverted. Nohma refers to the right lobe or the heart, not the left lobe. False teaching attacks the right lobe.

“should be corrupted” — aorist active subjunctive of the verb fqerw. The word means to be seduced. It was used in several other ways, to be ruined financially, to be destroyed by misleading tactics. It is translated ‘corrupted.’ Actually, reversionism is spiritual seduction. Paul is rejected as the right pastor, the Corinthians have gone to the Judaisers who are inconsequential persons. They have been seduced by the Judaisers. This is a part of reverse process reversionism. The aorist tense is a constative aorist which means it didn’t happen all at once, they went to the Judaisers many times. As a result they picked up a system of false doctrine, not simply a point or two. The passive voice: the believers indicate that the believers received reversionism, they received seduction. The subjunctive mood indicates that they are believers who are still alive and therefore the situation can be corrected.

“from” — a)po, the preposition of ultimate source; “the simplicity” — genitive singular from a)plothj which means purity or probity of mind. Probity is a better concept if it is understood what probity means, integrity of mind; “that is” is not found in the original.

“in Christ” — e)ij is a directional preposition in Koine Greek and here it means ‘toward Christ.’

Translation: “”But I fear for you, lest in any way, as the serpent thoroughly cheated Eve by means of pseudo wisdom, so your right lobes should be seduced and corrupted from the integrity of doctrine and purity of life toward Christ.”

Verse 4 — “For” is a particle which expands the approaches of the false apostle. They are approaching, they are coming, they have come; “if” introduces the apodasis of a first class condition which is reality. “For if [and it is true].”

“he that cometh” — present active participle of e)rxomai which means ‘the ones coming here.’ This is the advance of the false teachers, the Judaisers, the apostates, into Corinth to seduce believers from doctrine.

“preacheth” — present active indicative of khrussw which means to make a very important announcement, to make a public proclamation, and here it is used for public communication. Here it is the public communication of “another Jesus” — another of the same kind here means the same historical Jesus, but they surround Him with the works of legalism and principles not compatible with grace. A)lloj is used here to show something interesting, that Jesus whom they present is the same historical Jesus that Paul presents. However they surround Him with false concepts. They said that not only do you have to believe in Him but you have to keep the law to be saved. They persuaded the people that they had to do more than is required by grace, for grace requires nothing and that always bothered the Judaisers.

“which we have not preached” — the present active indicative indicates that the Judaisers were constantly teaching these things right now in Corinth. But ‘we have not preached’ goes to the aorist tense of khrussw to indicate that Paul taught something different. Paul communicated Jesus Christ in the context of grace, never in legalism as the Judaisers. False teachers are the objects of pseudo love and reverse process reversionism, Paul was the object of true love as their right pastor. As long as they listened to Paul they had grace, as long as they followed the Judaisers and were seduced by them they hear legalism.

“or ye receive another spirit” — again we have the present active indicative of lambanw which indicates that right now the Corinthians are being seduced by Judaisers, they are flirting with the Judaisers, they are fornicating spiritually with the Judaisers. They are listening to the Judaisers, they are listening to their message, they are receiving false doctrine, while at the same time they are giving Paul the shaft of criticising , maligning, and so on. The word for ‘another spirit’ is e(teroj which means another of a different kind, and then the word pneuma. Pneuma would indicate life, sometimes breath, or human personality. When it is used technically we call it spirit but it can be translated ‘personality, state of mind, way of life, breath.’ Here it refers to the believer in reversionism, he has an entirely different personality. Now they have received a different personality. This is the function of the psycopathic personality. The Corinthians, like the Galatians, have welcomed a false gospel but they didn’t do so until they went for the Judaisers. Now in reverse process reversionism they have a different personality.

“ye might bear with” — we have two words here, the word a)nexomai which will be used throughout the rest of the passage. It demands some explanation since it is not correctly translated, only approximately. A)nexomai means to tolerate or the bear with someone you love or think you love. It will be used in this passage for loving the Judaisers, which is pseudo love. So it is going to be used for pseudo love in this passage. Along with the adverb is the word kalwj in the adverbial form and it means ‘honourably’ — ‘honourably you love them’ or ‘you tolerate them honourably.’

Correct translation: “For if the one coming [false teacher] publicly communicate another historical Christ, whom we have not publicly taught, or if you receive a different personality, which you have not received, or a different kind of gospel which you have not welcomed, you patiently endure them with honour.”

This is sarcasm. Here these Corinthians are very patient because they have a fanatical pseudo love for the false teachers. They are listening to the false teachers teach false doctrine and it isn’t even consistent, but because they are enamored with the false teachers, because they are in reverse process reversionism, they listen, accept, and buy things that are totally incompatible with Bible doctrine. Suffering from reversionism they are now in very serious trouble.

Genesis 1:26 — “God” is Elohim which is plural and refers to all members of the Godhead; they are having a conversation among themselves, therefore a part of the divine decrees.

“Let us make man” — the qal imperfect, first person plural from asah. Asah means to make something out of material. In this case the material is invisible, it is soul material. The soul is real but invisible. The Bible describes the characteristics of the soul but it is still invisible.

“man” here does not refer to man male, it refers to mankind, male and female; “in our image” — the preposition b plus the noun tselem which refers to not an exact image but an approximation. God has self-consciousness; man has self-consciousness. God has sovereignty; man has self-determination, volition. God has norms and standards; man has norms and standards. That is what is meant by ‘in our image.’ And then another phrase is added, “after our likeness.” This is the preposition k which means ‘according as.’ It has with it a first person plural suffix plus demuth, and demuth means pattern. Man’s soul is patterned on the basis of God’s essence. God’s essence is based on the first characteristic, sovereignty. Man is after the likeness of God in that man was created with free will. The basis of man’s existence is his freedom.

“and let them have dominion” — here man has authority over lower creation. When man is in degeneracy he worships lower creation because his soul is on the same level with it.

Verse 27 — “So God.” Now we have a different word, bara which means to create out of nothing; “created man in his own image,” tselem meaning the pattern — gave him free will, in other words.

“in the image of God [tselem] created he him” — qal perfect of bara again. This is on the sixth day, by the way. Notice what it says about the sixth day: “male and female” — now we have something different. Man is called here Adam. That’s mankind, like a)nqrewpoj in the Greek. But now we have a male sexwise, zakar. That means a male, sexually, and he is distinguished from someone else created on the sixth day, neqebah, a woman with emphasis on her sex. Notice that on day six “male and female,” zakar neqebah bara’d he them.”

Notice something. I man’s head is a soul activated, his own. His soul is zakar. In his head is the woman’s soul incubated — neqebah. He is only functioning on his own. The woman did not come into existence until some time after the sixth day. How do we know? There are a lot of things that have to be classified first.

Chapter 5:1 — “This is the book of the generations of Adam.” Adam is a race. The race was originally called Adam, we call it human race.’

“In the day that God created” — the qal infinitive construct now of bara; “man” — Adam; “in the likeness of God he made [asah] him.” This is a change of word again. Asah means that there is an impulse, invisible. The soul cannot be seen but it is real. The soul will never die either. It can be distorted in time, it can be neutralised by scar tissue, emotional revolt, reversionism, but the soul cannot be destroyed.

Verse 2 — “Male and female created [bara, qal perfect] he them.” This has the third masculine plural suffix. Bara this time is in the qal perfect but it has a suffix — masculine. When man was created on day six man was standing there is a human body [jatsar] and a human soul [asah], and asar + jatsar = bara. And he stood there with his own soul functioning in his own body, a genius and an incubator — the woman’s soul. But the woman was not created on day six. Her soul was in incubation but she was not in existence until sometime later. Here they are both there but only one is there.

“he blessed them” — even though the woman is still in the incubator; “and called” — the qal imperfect qara which means that’s still his designation; “their name” — third masculine plural suffix. He ‘called their name Adam.’

“in the day” — the sixth day; “when they were created,” the niphal infinitive construct of bara. They received creation. The niphal is the passive of the qal. This is the third masculine plural.

Back to chapter 2:7 — “And the Lord God” is Jesus Christ; “formed man” — jatsar. That is the creation of the body of Adam plus an extra rib; “of the dust” — aphar, the chemicals of the soil.

“and breathed into his nostrils the breath of chayim [lives]” — two people were created, one was in incubation and one was the first full-blown first male of the human race. He classified all of the lower creation and he got all of the rules straight before the woman came into the picture. First he had to have authority under the concept of right man, right woman. No man should ever marry his right woman until he has grown up. Marriage is not for babies or children, it is for adults.

“and man became a living soul” — he has two lives but he became a living soul. Here Adam [ha Adam] is not the human race, it is the male. Then we have the lenephesh — ‘unto a soul became.’ One soul was activated out of the breath of lives, one was not. Between verse 7 and verse 17 we have man in charge. Then in verse 18 “the Lord God said [Jesus Christ in contrast to Elohim] lo tobh — not good that man should be lebadh [alone].” The woman’s soul was resident in his head but not active.

“I will manufacture [asah] him” — that means that the soul is going to be taken out of Adam’s head and put in a special body designed by God for the man. It is literally, “I will make for him,” not a help meet, but ezer which means ‘help.’ Then we have a prepositional phrase, kenegedo, which with ezer means a ‘help over against him.’ This is a Hebrew idiom for responding to him — ‘a help responding to him.’

In verse 22, the rib. Adam had an extra rib. God put him to sleep, hauled out the extra rib and from that, it says, ‘made he a woman.’ No, banah, he ‘built’ the woman.

This is all an illustration of something. Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. As Paul said in 2 Cor. 11:2 his job as a pastor is to present his right congregation to Jesus Christ as a chaste virgin. The congregation is called the body of Christ — analogy. Christ is analogous to right man, the body of Christ is analogous to right woman. As long as the Church is on earth it is the body of Christ and the job of the pastor is to give the body response to Christ, for Christ can only be understood today in His absence through the Word, through doctrine. Christ has appointed the pastor-teacher. Pastor means authority, it means shepherd. Teacher is his function, pastor is his authority.

2 Corinthians 11:5 — “I suppose.” Paul didn’t suppose anything. This in the Greek is dogmatic. It is the present middle indicative of logizomai which means to put the thoughts together and come to a dogmatic conclusion. ‘I conclude dogmatically,’ present tense. Middle voice: ‘I’ve thought it all over and I know I am the chiefest.’ He is not talking about the apostles, he is talking about the Judaisers; “myself” — middle voice: an honest estimate of the situation under grace.

“I was not a whit behind” — the perfect active infinitive of u(sterew. The word means to be inferior to, not ‘a whit behind.’ It has a negative, mhdeij, which means ‘not one.’ “For I dogmatically conclude myself not to be inferior to one of...”

“the very chiefest” is u(perlian which refers to the preeminently superior, the super dooper apostles. This is sarcasm. The Judaisers have passed themselves off as super apostles. These are the Judaisers who went from place to place and claimed to be superior to Paul. Their entire ministry was to undermine and neutralise the ministry of grace. They were very effective both in Galatia and in Corinth, they were celebrity Jews, but as we shall see, Paul was a super Jew. The Judaisers were not actually apostles at all but false teachers, the emissaries of Satan to confuse believers and to neutralise the teaching of doctrine and to cut off Paul’s authority. They had to cut him off at the authority level.

Verse 6 — language is used to communicate doctrine, it was never designed to be pedantic and scholarly, and to talk way up in the clouds so no one understands and every one has a good time. “But” is a conjunction of contrast; “though” — e)i for a 1st class condition, so it is ‘if.’ It introduces a first class condition to present more of the criticism of Paul and to turn it into irony. Irony is a combination of humour and sarcasm to imply that which is the opposite of the literal sense of the words. Here the words of criticism are parroted by the Corinthians from the Judaisers and are used to ridicule the stupidity of Corinthians criticism. In other words, Paul takes the words of criticism, ‘rude of speech,’ and turns it right around. Paul wasn’t rude of speech, he great of speech. But the Corinthians came out of Greek culture where you use nice Classical Greek words, words that were abstruse in their meaning, words that were so long and so technical that only the Judaisers could understand them.

“though I be rude” — the 1st class condition is the 1st class condition of supposition to parrot another criticism of Paul. The word ‘rude’ is i)diothj which means a person who lives in privacy. That is, a person who does not participate in public life. The word is taken from the Classical Greek of Attica where every Athenian citizen was a member of the legislature. Some Athenian citizens refused to come to the legislature and vote. Therefore they were regarded as i)diothj. They wanted to live in seclusion. Hence, a layman as over against a specialist is the meaning of the word. In other words, a person who is unskilled or devoid of special learning and technical knowledge, or who refuses to function within the framework of the Athenian democracy. One of the criticisms of Paul after the Judaisers arrived was that Paul was crude, he was i)diothj, he had his own private language of the street. Instead of communicating to them in the Classical Greek of a great orator he would speak to them in compound verbs, prepositional phrases, enclitic particles, and he was ‘crude.’ Language must communicate. So Paul used the language of the street. He avoided the ‘holy,’ nebulous, abstruse language of the Judaisers. His language was not considered to be befitting the ‘dignity of the clergy,’ it offended the legalist.

“yet not in knowledge” — the locative case of gnwsij which means here objective understanding. The pastor’s speech technique is not the issue, it is always his message. The content of speech is emphasised, not the eloquence of speech. Remember that the pastor makes love to his congregation by the content of doctrine, not by pretty speeches. His gift does not guarantee the content. He must study, study, study.

Summary

1. This translation emphasises the locative of logoj [speech/thought] and gnwsij. Gnwsij here is not technical as in GAP, it means here to be able to put your thoughts into words that communicate to the congregation.

2. The Corinthians under the leadership of the Judaisers have criticised Paul, especially his speaking ability from which they previously learned all their doctrine and from which they previously received an ECS.

3. They did not complain at the time that Paul taught them face to face, even though their background culture of Hellenism appreciated a more eloquent approach.

4. Not until the mutual admiration societies were formed by the Judaisers, not until the Corinthians were negative toward doctrine with resultant scar tissue, emotional revolt and reversionism, did they begin to criticise Paul’s speaking ability. It was when legalism came in that they got on their self-righteous high horse and became critical.

5. Paul, the object of their love, is now severely critcised while the Judaisers who had led them astray are the object of their affection.

6. The Corinthians are unfaithful to Paul while being led astray while being led astray by the apostates. This began with the emotional revolt of 2 Corinthians 6:11,12.

7. When the Judaisers came to Corinth Corinth entered into reverse process reversionism. They went for Jewish celebrities, the were suddenly intrigued with Judaism. Therefore they became celebrity fornicators.

“but” — the strong conjunction a)lla used for a conjunction of contrast. While crude of speech Paul has communicated accurately the whole realm of doctrine. From this point on the translation in the KJV does not follow the correct Greek order. So the Greek order is: “but in the sphere of all [doctrine], having made known by all means for your benefit.”

“but in the sphere of all” — e)n plus the locative of paj [all]. This means all doctrine; “having made known” is the aorist active participle of fanerow. Fanerow is used rather than didaskw because these things that Paul taught in doctrine were entirely new, they had never heard anything like this before and they were infinitely interested in what he had to say at the time.

“by all means” — e)n plus the instrumental of paj. This time it doesn’t refer to doctrine, it refers to different types of language; “for your benefit” is the preposition e)ij plus the accusative of su — ‘of you.’ Paul was there for their benefit. The Bible emphasises the content of doctrine rather than the mean of communication. Crudeness of speech communicates where pedantics do not.

Translation: “For if I also am crude in the sphere of speech, but not in the sphere of objective doctrine; but in the sphere of all doctrine, having made known by all means for your benefit.”

Up to this point Paul has made it very clear that he has fulfilled his objective, and they now have a choice to consider: true doctrine, crudely presented, or false doctrine beautifully presented. This is an issue that every believer must face at some time in his life.

Verse 7 — “Have I committed” is the aorist active indicative of poiew which means to do; “offense” obviously doesn’t means 'offense' because the Greek word is a(martia. In other words, ‘Have I done a sin.’ The aorist tense refers to the time when Paul was in Corinth, right pastor to the right congregation at Corinth. The active voice indicates Paul doing a sin is sarcasm. He did not sin in teaching them the Word. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that Paul did not sin in teaching them and in not taking an offering. He says literally, “or did I do a sin in abasing myself?”

“abasing myself”

1. Abasing myself is the present active participle of tapeinow plus a reflexive pronoun.

2. It means really to humble one’s self and in this sense it should be translated: ‘Did I commit a sin in humbling myself?’ Paul humbled himself in two ways: a) While he was in Corinth and while Corinth was his right congregation and was the right pastor he humbled himself by working for a living. It is humiliating for a pastor to have to work on the outside. He is supposed to spend his time in studying and he is not supposed spend any time working on the outside. The congregation is responsible for the physical needs of the pastor; b) He humbled himself by not bragging about what a great person he was. Paul was a genius before he was saved, and obviously after. He never brought his scarp book to Corinth! They never realised that he was one of the greatest men in history.

3. Paul, in contrast to the Judaisers, refused to take a salary while ministering to the Corinthians. He had a right to before God. He operated under the law of supreme sacrifice for a reason.

4. Furthermore, the Judaisers in justifying their demands for money claimed that Paul in reality refused to take money from the Corinthians while he was there because he realised that his message was worthless. Leave it to the Judaisers to pick on this one! If ever a man in content of message was great beyond anyone else it was the apostle Paul. So they attack him right at his strong point, his message.

5. In this manner the Judaisers tried to circumnavigate the grace function of Paul in Corinth.

6. Paul uses sarcasm because refusing a salary was not self-abasement or self-effacement. The Judaisers had distorted Paul’s grace message, his grace activity, to their own advantage.

“that “ — i(na introduces a purpose clause. Paul taught them, he did not go into his background of Judaism. He did not take money from them; “ye might be exalted” — when he says this Paul is trying to do two things. He is showing them first of all that his own message as the right pastor led to their ECS. But in reality the Judaisers with their message of legalism are debasing the Corinthians. We have here the aorist passive subjunctive of u(yow. The word means to be exalted or to be elevated. The aorist tense is a constative aorist and it recognises that these Corinthians, while Paul was their right pastor, functioned under GAP daily, and the result was that by the time Paul left he left behind a large number of Corinthians with an ECS. The implication is that the ECS elevates the soul — “that you might be elevated [not ‘exalted’].” The word u(yow means to be elevated in the field of spiritual privilege. And Paul did not receive a salary, not once did he ever take any money from the Corinthians. The passive voice indicates that the Corinthians received the ECS, they didn’t earn it or deserve it. They received it through Paul’s faithfulness in teaching, the daily function of GAP. The subjunctive mood indicates that not all of the Corinthians received it, but most of them did. The subjunctive mood also does with i(na for a purpose clause. Paul’s purpose in refusing to take money from them was so that they might be elevated into the place of spiritual privilege. To take money from the wealthy Corinthians would have made an issue out of money instead of doctrine. Yet, at the same time he was being supported by a very poor church, the Philippians up in Macedonia. Poor people were supporting Paul so that he could have a ministry to the wealthy people.

Now the Corinthians have lost the ECS. Reverse process reversionism rejected Paul, their right pastor, and they now enter into that fanatical pseudo love with the Judaisers who are inconsequential persons but have passed themselves off as celebrities in the field of Hebrew culture. A celebrity in the field of Hebrew culture was very meaningful to Greeks living in a very wealthy city called Corinth.

“because I have preached” — aorist active indicative of e)uaggelizw which means to communicate good news. It refers to Paul’s initial ministry in Corinth. When he first went there there were no believers and therefore the first thing he had to communicate was the gospel. This is an ingressive aorist, this was the beginning of his ministry. The constative aorist shows the function of GAP after they were saved, resulting in an ECS. The ingressive aorist shows that first of all he led them to Christ, he communicated the gospel, the good news.

“to you the gospel” — ‘gospel’ is a cognate noun, e)uaggelion. So first of all Paul went to the most elementary thing, the communication of the gospel. He addressed himself to unbelievers and once they accepted Christ as saviour they began basic doctrine, he took them right along; “of God” — genitive of possession. This emphasises the fact that the gospel belongs to God, not to Paul. Paul is the communicator of it but the gospel belongs to God. This is in contrast to the Judaisers who contend that the truth belongs to them, therefore they must charge for it.

“freely” — dwrean, an adverb; gratis, free of charge. Paul gives them the gospel free of charge. So here is the epitome of sanctified sarcasm. Paul asks the Corinthians of he has sinned in communicating the gospel to them free of charge.

Verse 8 — “I robbed other churches.” This is also sarcasm. He didn’t literally go up to some other church and steal their offering so that he could keep going. This is the aorist active indicative of sulaw. The word means to rob the dead, it means to go on to the battlefield after the battle is over and steal whatever you can find from the corpses. It means to strip the dead of whatever things they have. So this word is a beautiful word for sarcasm. Why did Paul use this word? Because the people in Macedonia were so poor they might as well be dead. He is actually saying in effect that he is robbing the poor to preach to the rich. The word ‘other’ is a)lloj, meaning other of the same kind. These are believers too, poor believers. The word ‘churches’ here is in the plural, it refers to the local churches, specifically in Macedonia.

“taking wages” — aorist active participle of lambanw. The aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. The main verb is sulaw. Lambanw means not to take but to seize. He grabbed wages from those who were helpless, the grace crowd, so that he might preach to the wealthy of Corinth. The aorist active participle: ‘seizing wages.’ The word for ‘wages’ here is interesting. The poor couldn’t give him a lot and so he can’t use a word for a big profit, therefore he uses a word for practically no profit at all — o)ywnion. This was the ration for a private for one day in the Roman army. That is about as low as you can go and still be paying. In other words, he is taking pennies from the helpless, the poor, so he can preach to the rich. By refusing money from the Corinthians Paul was able to make the issue of the gospel clear, the issue of the grace of God clear, the issue of doctrine clear. This was obvious from the fact that the Judaisers introduced doctrine with false issues of wages, at the same time criticising Paul for refusing a salary. “I robbed other churches, having taken wages for a face to face service with you.” The words ‘of them to do’ are not found in the original. There is no verb ‘to do’ at all, there is the preposition proj plus the accusative of diakonia. Literally it means, ‘face to face with a service to you all.’

Translation: “I robbed other churches [those who were helpless], having seized wages [little pennies] for the purpose of face to face service to you all.” That is being sarcastic.

Verse 9 — “And when I was present with you.” The word ‘present’ is a present active participle of pareimi, it is a little stronger than just being present. It means he taught them daily, even though he had to take money from the poor and also had to work. He still made it every day to Bible class; “with you” is proj plus the accusative and means ‘face to face with you.’

“and wanted” — aorist active participle of u(sterew. The word means to run short of money. Paul was broke in his ministry to the wealthiest church he ever taught.

“I was chargeable to no man” — katanarkaw means ‘I was not a burden.’ A person who is broke becomes a dead weight; ‘no man’ is literally, to no one.

“for that which was lacking to me” — to gar u(sterhma mou, means literally, ‘for my deficiency.’ This is an idiom.

“the brethren which came from Macedonia” — just when Paul was broke the poor believers from Philippi arrived; literally, ‘having come,’ aorist active participle of e)rxomai; “supplied” — aorist active indicative from projanaplhrow [proj = face to face; ana = again and again; plhrow = to fill in a deficiency, to give of the highest quality]. They came all the way down personally to give it to him and they arrived when he was broke.

“and in all things” I literally, ‘in the sphere of all doctrine.’

“I have kept” -- aorist active indicative of terew, it means ‘I have guarded that which belongs to me.’ You are the congregation that belonged to me.

“from being burdensome” -- a)barhj, not a burden; “to you” -- dative of advantage. It was to your advantage that I was never a burden to you: “and will I keep” -- literally, ‘and I will guard,’ the future active indicative of terew.

Translation: “And being present, face to face with all of you [Corinthians], and having run short of money, I was not a burden to anyone [in Corinth]: for my deficiency, the brethren having come from Macedonia supplied those deficiencies face to face again and again: and in the sphere of all doctrinal communication I guarded what belonged to me [you] without a burden to you, and will guard it in the future.”

Verse 10 — “As” is not found in the original. He simply says, “The truth of Christ is in me.” The word for ‘truth’ is the noun a)lhqeia and it refers to Bible doctrine categorically embodied in his soul. It actually means the embodiment of knowledge, truth, or doctrine. Arndt and Gingrich, p.35: “The content of Christianity as the absolute truth.”

“the doctrine of Christ” — the genitive of Xristoj refers to the fact that doctrine belongs to Christ. The genitive has the connotation here of possession. This is amplified by 1 Corinthians 2:16 where it is the thinking of Christ. Doctrine and the person of Christ cannot be divorced. Doctrine is the thinking of Christ and a person cannot be divorced from his thinking. You cannot love Jesus Christ without loving Bible doctrine; you cannot love Bible doctrine without loving Jesus Christ. There is not true love of Christ apart from Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine is the vehicle that brings the believer to love of Christ. Doctrine is the key to occupation with Christ and therefore doctrine is the key to category #1 love.

“is” — present active indicative of e)imi, the absolute status quo verb, ‘keeps on being.’ “The doctrine of Christ keeps on being in me” — ‘in me’ is e)n plus the locative singular of the pronoun su. How did he get that way? First of all there is the daily function of GAP in the life of Paul resulting in the ECS and maximum category #1 love and/or occupation with Christ. When Paul went to Corinth he went with an ECS, he went with maximum doctrine in his right lobe. Doctrine and the ECS are still in Paul. When Paul came to Corinth he taught the Corinthians doctrine and they ended up with an ECS. Paul had one when he came; when he left he had an ECS. He left with everything with which he came. But after he left the Judaisers came in, the Corinthians went negative and they lost the ECS. The sarcasm of these verses is built on this principle: ‘I left you with an ECS. Where is it?’ They have been seduced by apostates and doctrine is no longer in them. The irony is that doctrine is only left in Paul.

“no man” is not found in the original. He simply says, “The doctrine belonging to Christ keeps on being in me.” That means he still has his ECS, they do not. They are now in reversionism. He is addressing himself to reversionistic Corinthians believers. The rest of the words in this verse are badly scrambled in the KJV. They should read, “this glorying [or boasting]” — kauxhsij, the suffix ij means the act of, In front of it is o(ti, which is translated ‘because’ — “because this glorying.” This glorying has to do with the doctrine that is in him. He says ‘I have doctrine,’ and he calls it boasting. But this is not boasting as a sin of pride, this is a dogmatic recognition of his own spiritual condition because he is not stupid. Paul is a mature believer and therefore he knows he has an ECS. And he says, “The categorical doctrine belonging to Christ keeps on being in me.” That is irony because they also could have said the same thing when Paul left town, but it is no longer true.

The next phrase indicates that Paul is not going to stop giving out doctrine because they have no capacity: “therefore this glorying [or boasting] shall stop me,” but there is a negative with it, ‘shall not stop me.’ This is the future passive indicative of frassw and it doesn’t mean ‘stop,’ it means three different things. It means with the negative not to be fenced in. Doctrine is not fenced in because the Corinthians have gone reversionistic. It also, with the negative, means ‘shall not be silenced,’ and also ‘shall not be obstructed.’ Doctrine is not obstructed by reverse process reversionism.

Then this part of the verse ends with a prepositional phrase, e)ij plus the accusative of su, and it should be translated ‘with reference to me.’

“in the regions” — locative plural of klima; “Achaia” is south Greece.

Translation: “The [categorical] doctrine belonging to Christ keeps on being in me, therefore this glorying [boasting that doctrine is in me] shall not be obstructed with reference to me in the regions of Achaia.”

Even though the Corinthians are negative this will not silence Paul, even from giving them doctrine again. Notice how he gives them the doctrine again this time: in writing! And they may have refused it but countless generations since then have not refused it. Their negative volition means that we today are receiving wonderful doctrinal information.

Verse 11 — “Wherefore?” is not what is says at all. It is dia plus ti in the accusative, and it should be translated “Because why?” Why can’t the Word of God be fenced in, obstructed? Why can’t the Corinthians’ negative volition obstruct, silence me?

Then he adds o(ti, and this time it means ‘because’ and not therefore; “I love you not?” This is the present active indicative of a)gapaw plus the negative o)uk. This is sarcasm. We have double irony followed by sarcasm. In effect, ‘When I cam to Corinth you had nothing. I gave you everything, you gave me nothing. When I left Corinth you had something but shortly thereafter you had nothing. Yet, I am still firing at you. Why?’ Then he hits them with sarcasm: ‘Because I love you not?’ A pastor expresses his love by teaching Bible doctrine to his congregation.

“God knoweth” — o( qeoj is ‘the God.’ He calls God the Father in as his witness; ‘knoweth’ — perfect of o)ida used as a present tense for the omniscience of God the Father. Paul’s motive in communicating all forms of doctrine is love because he is their right pastor. He makes love to them by teaching them doctrine when he was there, and now by writing doctrine to them. This is not on the basis of who and what they are because they are negative, but on the basis of who and what Paul is.
Verses 12-15, Paul specifically warns against false apostles, false teachers, in other words the objects of reverse process reversionism. He warns against inconsequential persons.

Verse 12 — he expresses his reason for sanctified sarcasm. “But” is the particle de and it is really used not so much as a conjunction but as to declare the continuation of the thought; “what” — o(j is used to describe the sarcasm and irony by the apostle on the Corinthians critics and their reverse process reversionism: “I do” — present active indicative of poiew. What he has been doing is hitting them with sarcasm. Paul is warning the Corinthians that in reverse process reversionism they have become unfaithful to the teaching of the Word of God and their true love and focus of attention and affection is now on false apostles. They are exactly like a woman who is highly flirtatious and has to be the belle of the ball, who has to crown herself princess by receiving more attention from men than anyone else at the party. She is interested in the adoration of the general public. That is a perfect description of the Judaisers. The Judaisers over project when it comes to the Mosaic law. Therefore while Paul is the right pastor for the Corinthians, in their reverse process reversionism they have gone for the Judaisers. These are inconsequential persons but they know how to get the attention of the Corinthians in reversion. By over projecting to them they have made themselves indispensable to the Corinthians. Paul represents doctrine; the Judaisers represent the principle of the social teasers. So Paul has been hitting them with sarcasm because of these activities.

“that I will do” — future active indicative of poiew. What is he doing? He is using sarcasm to show them how stupid it is to go for the Judaisers. These are empty-headed flirts, people who want attention. Paul is going to keep on doing this because sarcasm is the only way to break into their stupidity. As right pastor Paul will continue to use some irony (which is softened) as a method of exposing the ignorance of false teachers and the folly of Corinthians infidelity to Paul.

“that” introduces a purpose clause — i(na; “I may cut off” — aorist active subjunctive of e)kkoptw [koptw = to cut; e)k = off]. It means also to remove or to prevent. The aorist tense, in the point of time in the Corinthians reversionism. The active voice: the ministry of the Spirit is using sarcasm to reach them.

“occasion” — a)formh. This has with it a definite article and it means occasion and also opportunity. The false apostles are constantly seeking occasion or opportunity to criticise and malign those who teach doctrine. Their special target is Paul. The principle here is that the Judaisers cannot build bona fide ministry on antagonism or the apostle Paul. They are trying to build their ministry on running down Paul. A ministry has to be built on Bible doctrine, but since they are minus Bible doctrine they must use any occasion they can to build ministries.

“which desire occasion” — literally, ‘those wishing an occasion.’ The words ‘which desire’ is the present active participle of qelw and it should be translated ‘those wishing.’ Many times it simply means to desire from the emotional pattern. So the false apostles in their own emotional revolt desire from their emotion to build a ministry on antagonism and criticism of the apostle Paul. So therefore they are wishing for an occasion. An occasion is an opportunity.

“that” — is i(na plus the subjunctive introducing a second purpose clause; “wherein” — the preposition e)n plus the locative of o(j should be translated ‘in what.’

“they glory” — present middle indicative of kauxaomai, ‘they themselves keep on boasting.’ They boast of their own abilities to keep the Mosaic law, their ability to function under Hebrew culture. At the same time they discredit the apostle Paul. But Paul counterattacks with sarcasm under the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Sarcasm here is designed to discredit these false apostles, these pseudo lovers, and to make them as Paul, persona non grata. This is necessary for reversion recovery.

“they may be found” — aorist passive subjunctive. Literally, “that they might be discovered for what they really are.” The word for ‘found’ is e(uriskw. The aorist tense: the point of facing reality on the part of the apostate Corinthians. The passive voice: the first awakening to reality, the moment of truth, will come when they receive through sanctified sarcasm the fallacy of their position. The subjunctive mood introduces the purpose clause and also presents the potential discovery of their ridiculous situation.

“even as we” — kaqwj kai h(meij means that it is no longer accepted. Paul is no longer accepted in Corinth and so Paul is going to keep hammering away with sarcasm until they are no longer accepted.

Translation: “But what I keep doing, also I will continue to do, that I might prevent the opportunity of those wishing an opportunity; that in what they themselves keep boasting, they might be discovered even as we.” They might wake up one day and discover that no one cares for them in Corinth and they will move on to greener pastures.

Verse 13 — the phony character of Paul’s rivals. “For such” — there is no verb here, we have o(i gar toioutoi. It should be translated “For such as these.” It refers to inconsequential persons, to the Judaisers as flirts, as over projectors. The over projection in content is their salvation by the Mosaic law and spirituality by keeping the law.

There are three areas in which Paul exposes these people for what they really are. The first is pseudo authority, the second is pseudo production, the third is the phony masquerade. First there is pseudo authority, yeudapostoloi. This is what he calls them: ‘phony apostles.’ Apostleship is the authority of Paul as a teacher of the Word, but these are phony apostles, they are not true pastors, they are not true apostles. They also have pseudo production. They are called “deceitful workers” — dolioj means ‘fraudulent’ or ‘deceitful.’ The word ‘workers’ means artisans, not the word for producing works but an artist producing something beautiful on a canvas that attracts them. E)rgathj is the word. They are trying to remould the Corinthians.

“transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ” — these people are Satan’s evangelists and they have put on the apostle costume. Transforming themselves means to disguise themselves as in a masquerade. The word is metasxhmatizw and it means a costume design [meta = change]. They have changed into a costume.

“into the apostles of Christ” — they have put on the costume of the apostles of Christ. This is not surprising because Satan himself is the super masquerader.

Translation: “For such as these false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading themselves as apostles of Christ.”

Verse 14 — “And no marvel,” kai o)un qauma. [qauma = wonder], ‘and no wonder.’ This means it is not surprising that Satan’s emissaries masquerade as apostles ‘since Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.’ He wears an angel of light costume.

“Satan himself” — satanoj, taken from the Hebrew shatan. In both the Greek and the Hebrew this means enemy, emissary, opponent. Satan is the enemy of God.

The doctrine of Satan

1. Satan is an angel — Job 1:6-12; 2:1ff. Satan is the head of all fallen angels — Matthew 8:28; 9:34; 12:26; Luke 11:8,19. Satan is a murderer — John 8:44; and the enemy of God — Matthew 13:19,39. Satan is also the enemy of the Church — Revelation 2:9,13,24.

2. Satan has three falls, described in Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28; Revelation 12 & 20. Two are history, one is in the future.

3. There are also two advents of Satan — Genesis 3 and Revelation 20. Both advents are related to perfect environment on the earth.

4. The strategy of the devil: 2 Corinthians 2:11.

5. Satanic organisation — demonism.

6. Satan played a major role in the incarnation in opposition to Jesus Christ and this is best expressed by the temptation of Christ in Matthew 4:1-11.

7. Satan and the angelic conflict, taught in passages such as Hebrews 1 & 2; Genesis 6; 1 Peter 3:18-22.

8. The resistance of Satan is described in Ephesians 6:10ff.

“is transformed” should be ‘masqueraded,’ present passive indicative of metasxhmatizw. The present tense: he continually wears the costume. The passive voice: he has received this costume, obviously from the fallen angels. The indicative mood is the reality of wearing this constantly.

“into” — e)ij is directional and probably should be translated ‘resulting in.’

“an angel of light” — a)ggelon fwtoj. Angel of fwtoj refers to an elect angel. Satan disguises himself by putting on a costume of light to deceive believers. He cannot deceive angels. ‘Light’ refers to principles or doctrine. ‘Light’ [of Satan’s masquerade] is what enters the soul of the believer when he has scar tissue. ‘Light’ is the whole realm of Satanic doctrine, of cosmic wisdom. Obviously the emphasis of the angel of light is on improving environment. Why? Who is the ruler of this world? Satan is the ruler of this world and therefore he wants to improve this world. His whole thrust is improve environment. Whereas Christianity says, Change the souls of individuals in the devil’s world. Free their souls from the cosmos through salvation. It is the soul that is saved. Then give them doctrine, spiritual food, so that they can enjoy their freedom from cosmos diabolicus. These souls then demonstrate to billions of angels that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world [the devil]. Cosmic diabolicus includes the entire concept of human good which rejects grace and substitutes human ability, human energy, human norms, human standards, for divine provision. The concept of brotherly love in the energy of the flesh, the attempt to solve man’s problems by legislation, the whole realm of salvation by legalism, are parts of this masquerade.

Translation: “And no wonder; for Satan himself is masqueraded as an angel of light.”

Verse 15 — therefore the masquerade of Satan’s representatives. “Therefore” expresses the consequence on the basis of the Satanic masquerade of the previous verse; “no great thing” — o)u mega; “if” introduces a first class condition [if, and it is true]; “his ministers” — diakonoi a)utou. This refers to apostates, to the inconsequential persons, to the celebrityship of legalism among the Judaisers. It refers to man thinking that by man’s efforts that he can solve man’s problems. It is everything opposed to grace. In grace there is one celebrity, Jesus Christ. In humanism anything can be a celebrity.

“be transformed [masqueraded]” — metasxhmatizw again, in the present passive indicative. It means to put on a costume as ministers of dikaiosunh. This word refers to two kinds of righteousness: a) the righteousness of the establishment. That means patriotism, freedom, right man/right woman, authority; b) the righteousness which is produced by the Holy Spirit plus doctrine or GAP in the life — the righteousness of grace.

“whose end” — to teloj, ‘the end.’ This refers to the great white throne; “shall be” — future active indicative of e)imi; “according” — kata, “according to the norm or standard of their works [production].” Their production is phony; their end is real.

Translation: “No great thing, therefore, if also his ministers are masqueraded as ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their production.”

This passage is filled with sarcasm. This sarcasm does not follow the manner in which the Lord Jesus Christ taught upon the earth and the apostle is quick to point that out. However, God the Holy Spirit so authorised him to speak in this manner under these conditions, and while he is not following the Lord in the matter of communicating in this way he is definitely authorised by the Holy Spirit to use this system of communication. Why? First of all, sometimes you must communicate and to be heard and understood you must communicate on the level of those to whom you are speaking. The people to whom Paul was speaking are Corinthians in reversion. In reversion they are practising reverse process reversionism. They have given their right pastor, the apostle Paul, the shaft and they have become intrigued with the Judaisers. In this way they have also lost their capacity for love, and in category #1 love at this point they have turned their backs on the Lord Jesus Christ. This means that throughout history in the spiritual conflict and in the spiritual realm there are many ways of defining unstable believers. One thing that seems to characterise all of the failures and put them all together is the principle of instability. Believers find it very difficult to become consistent. There must be some way of anchoring into their consistency. The only way is the way which is ordained of God and that is the most important of all, the daily function of GAP. Out of this comes some consistency in life.

Unless one is facing death, or perhaps isolated in some form of morbidity where death is contemplated, it is very difficult for people to think in terms of having regrets. Yet, that is exactly what Paul is trying to avoid with these people. Inconsistency, instability in life leaves the individual with many, many regrets. In Paul’s day he described such believers in terms of reversionism. In the Old Testament they were simply called backsliders. Today there is a perfect word brought from psychology and psychiatry, the psychopathic personality which describes perfectly the condition of the Corinthians — the Corinthians in scar-tissue, emotional revolt, and in reversionism.

How are you going to communicate to those who are in reversionism? Obviously at this point they are not filled with the Spirit, therefore they will not listen to the regular teaching of Bible doctrine. Obviously they are in no mood for any sign of softness in a communicator, they will tear him to bits. They are impressed for the moment by a new system of celebrityship for them, the Judaisers who brought to them all of the tenets and principles of legalism. Legalism impresses them. In addition to legalism and various aspects of Judaism they are impressed by anyone who is sarcastic. Therefore at this point the apostle Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, hits them with the one thing which will cause them to sit up and take notice, and this is recorded in this particular section. We are entering now a section of great sarcasm.

There is a place in the Christian life for dealing with those who are recalcitrant, those who will be described hereinafter as psychopathic personalities. Recalcitrant people, carnal believers, believers in reversionism, think that any system of sweetness and light is weakness. The world is filled with people who, if you are nice to them, take as weakness and they immediately take advantage of it. For those people there is only one attitude, you just have to be tougher, you have to be hard-nosed, you have to get rough before they understand anything.

There are a lot of ways of getting rough. One is to use physical violence, another is to use words in a very cutting and sarcastic way. It is impossible to record in the Word of God the effectiveness of a good punch on the nose, therefore the apostle Paul does not resort to that. Instead he is going to pull out one of his best clubs and swing it high and free. This is the principle of sarcasm, sanctified sarcasm. It is the only thing that a believer out of fellowship, a believer who is quenching the Spirit, a believer who is grieving the Spirit, will understand.

Verse 16 — “I say,” present active indicative of legw, linear aktionsart; “again” — palin, and adverb which means ‘again.’ We have more irony at this point. ‘I keep on saying again and again.’

“let no man” — literally, ‘no one,’ tij; “think” — aorist active subjunctive of dokew which is subjective thinking, used here to presume, to imagine subjectively. It is in the aorist tense and is actually used as a constative aorist, this continues from time to time as long as the Corinthians are in reversionism. The active voice: the Corinthians in reversionism express their own subjectivity, they conclude through subjective thinking. Dokew at this point indicates that believers in reversionism have identical characteristics with what psychology calls the psychopathic personality. The subjunctive mood indicates that this condition does not have to continue, that it does have a cure in doctrine.

“me” — the apostle Paul; “a fool” — the accusative singular of a)frwn which means ‘ignorant.’ Subjective thinking often concludes that other people are stupid.

So we have so far, “Again I say, let no one presume me,” and then there is the verb ‘to be,’ the present active infinitive of e)imi. And this is exactly what they are doing. They presume him to be a)frwn [a = negative; frwn = mind: ‘no mind, stupid’].

“if” is a first class condition, it confirms the fact that the Corinthians assume Paul to be stupid; “otherwise” — mh ge is a formula; “yet as a fool receive me,” or ‘at least accept me as stupid.’ This is kan w(j a)frona — “even as stupid,” plus the aorist active imperative of dexomai. Here is out first piece of sarcasm. Dexomai means to welcome with open arms. “Again I say, let no one presume me to be stupid, but if you do, even as stupid welcome me with open arms.” Give me a hearing, receive me.

“that” introduces a purpose clause, i(na plus the subjunctive; “I also may boast,” aorist active subjunctive of kauxaomai. However, this is boasting in the ministry of the Spirit.

It must be remembered that the Corinthians first went negative toward doctrine because the Judaisers came to town boasting about how they kept the law, boasting about how they observed the Sabbath, boasting about the various activities in which they were engaged, boasting about what they were doing and how they were doing it. They passed themselves off as celebrities under Judaism, and through their boasting they impressed the Corinthians. Once the Corinthians were impressed they went negative toward doctrine, and as scar tissue formed on the left bank of the soul they gave a hearing to the Judaisers.

“a little” — mikroj which means a little in quantity.

Translation” “Again I say, let no one presume me to be a fool [stupid], but if otherwise [and it is], even as a fool [stupid one] welcome me that I also may boast a little.”

Summary

1. This is sarcasm. “Let me boast a little as other fools do [the Judaisers]” is the implication of this passage.

2. Paul is making reference to the Judaisers as inconsequential persons of reverse process reversionism who occupy their time in boasting.

3. This boasting of the Judaisers has attracted the Corinthians. They have been seduced by it. They have been impressed by Hebrew celebrityship.

4. Since the Judaisers are fools and since boasting is the characteristic of fools, and since Paul is regarded as a fool, he will boast a little in order to make the point. This is boasting under the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

5. However, as he says, he will boast a little — mikroj, just a little, enough to make the point but not enough to be a real fool. Boasting is the function of fools, a characteristic of the psychopathic personality.

6. The Corinthians in reversionism have a predilection for fools. Only fools will get their attention, therefore to get their attention Paul must become a fool.

7. Accompanying the rejection of the authority and teaching of the right pastor is the psychopathic opinion that the pastor never knows what he is doing.

Verse 17 — “That which I speak, I speak not after the Lord.” When Paul enters into the principle of boasting he is lowering himself to the level of his audience. This is not the way the Lord communicated. The Lord never lowered Himself to the level of His audience, ever.

“That which I speak [communicate]” — present active indicative of lalew; I communicate” — present active indicative of lalew; “not after” — kata, ‘not according to the norms and standards; “[of] the Lord.”

he word order in the Greek is different, it goes like this: “What I communicate — not according to the example of the Lord am I communicating.”

Summary

1. It is the Lord’s message to the Corinthians but not the way the Lord presented a message during His incarnation.

2. The Lord’s norm or standard was presented in 2 Corinthians 10:1 — ‘meekness and gentleness of Christ’ means mental attitude grace and graciousness.

3. This, however, does not change the validity of the message nor the accuracy of its content.

4. Under the doctrine of inspiration this passage of concentrated sarcasm is just as much the Word of God as the sermon on the mount.

5. Paul is not following the Lord’s example or pattern in boasting because under the ministry of the Holy Spirit he is using sarcasm and irony to deal with reverse process reversionism and the resultant mutual admiration society in the Corinthians church.

6. Paul has been forced into this position through the maligning of the Corinthian critics plus the challenge to his authority from the Judaisers.

“but as it were foolishly” — this Greek phrase, a)lla w(j [but as], e)n a)frosunh, ‘but as by means of foolishness.’ There is no such thing as ‘as it were,’ there is no verb to be. The prepositional phrase is e)n plus the instrumental of a)frwn.

The activity of the Judaisers forces Paul into the foolishness of boasting plus the shock treatment of sarcasm. Paul turns the weapons of the Judaisers on themselves. Therefore to help the Corinthians recover there must be that moment of truth.

“in” — e)n plus the instrumental is generally translated ‘by means of.” The object of the preposition is u(postasij which means ‘essence, substance, confidence, assurance.’ [u(po = under; stasij = standing]. Standing under means the taking of a characteristic upon one’s self. Paul is changing his character for a moment. He is changing to a very sarcastic person, however doing so in the power of the Spirit. This should be translated “by means of this assumption.”

“of boasting” — kauxhsij, the act of boasting. Paul seeks to shock the Corinthians into facing the reality of their scar tissue, the reality of their emotional revolt, their reversionism, so that they can begin the recovery.

Translation: “What I communicate, not according to the example of the Lord am I communicating, but as by means of foolishness, by means of this assumption of the function of boasting.”

Verse 18 — Literally, “Since many boast according to the human norms, I also will boast.” The word “seeing” is e)pei which means ‘since.’

“many” refers to the Judaisers and the legalists who seek to destroy Paul’s ministry. They followed him to Galatia and now they have followed him to Corinth. The word ‘glory” is kauxaomai again and it means, as usual, to boast and not to glory. The word for ‘glory’ is docazw and it is not used here.

Summary

1. To shock the Corinthians into the realisation of the dangers of scar tissue, emotional revolt and reversionism, Paul will act like a psychopathic personality without being one.

2. He will use the methods of the psychopath, however he will use these methods to discredit them, he will use their weapons against them.

3. The method of the Judaisers is boasting by which they impress those with emotional revolt or reversionism.

4. Those in emotional revolt or reversionism are easily impressed with the wrong person.

5. This is the practice of reverse process reversionism.

6. Those in reversionism are impressed with inconsequential persons while at the same time despising the object of bona fide love.

Verse 19 — “For ye suffer fools gladly.” The word ‘suffer’ is the present active indicative of a)nexomai, it means to endure patiently or to permit. Here it means to permit in the sense of giving pseudo love. They have pseudo love toward ‘fools’ — a)frwn. Not only does it mean stupid or a fool but it also means inconsiderate, ignorant. Really it is used for a psychopathic personality. In this case the psychopathic personality is the believer in emotional revolt and reversionism, or the unbeliever equivalent who is famous or prominent.

“gladly” — the adverb is h(dewj and it means ‘with pleasure.’

“seeing” — there is no such word in the original. This should be “being wise yourselves.’ That is sarcasm. They think they are wise. The word ‘being’ is the present active participle of e)imi, ‘being,’ and it is their attitude. The participle indicates that they constantly assume that they are wise: fronimoj, it means sagacious, prudent, thoughtful, and sensible. Reversionists consider themselves to be wise as they function in reverse process reversionism.

Translation: “You keep on having pseudo-love toward fools with pleasure, being wise yourselves.”

Verse 20 — here are the wages of reverse process reversionism. Once the honeymoon of celebrityship is over, and it was a very short honeymoon, this is what actually happened.

“ye suffer” is the present active indicative of the verb a)nexomai. This is a compound verb that comes from a)na, which means again and again, and e)xe, to have and to hold. So it means to hold again and again. In other words, the very use of the word here is sarcasm. In effect, ‘All right you Corinthians, so you didn’t like me. So you went against your right pastor, so you went into reversionism and put your arms tenderly around these Hebrew celebrities. Now that you have put your arms around them and have embraced them, you can’t get loose.” This is what he is saying by a)nexomai. They have been kicked around like a football and they can’t get loose. These Corinthians have been sold on celebrityship, they are sold on the fact that the Judaisers are celebrities. And being sold on this they think they love them because when you reject your right pastor, your right man, or your right woman, your right friend, and your right Lord, inevitably you are going to sell yourself on the fact that you love something else. When you turn your back on your true love there is a mental attitude sin called implacability, and implacability makes you look around for an object to love, you are determined to love something rather than the object of true love. Implacability turns the Judaisers into a hero and Paul into a villain. That is reverse process reversionism.

But Paul is now going to hit them with four things that will establish the moment of truth: the wages of reverse process reversionism. A)nexomai introduces the concept. You come back again and again to the wrong one. In other words, instead of ‘ye suffer’ a better translation would be ‘you put up with and exercise pseudo love.’

“if” — every ‘if’ in this verse is now a first class condition, if and it is true. The first one: “if a man” — the word for ‘man’ is tij which means ‘anyone.’

Notice the first thing that the pseudo-lovers do: “bring you into bondage” — katadoulow [doulow = enslave; kata = down], present active indicative. The Judaisers put them down every time. They had been reduced to absolute slavery.

Secondly, they “devour,” the present active indicative katesqiw [e)sqiw = to eat; kata = down], to eat down means to devour or to plunder. The Judaisers have plundered the souls of the Corinthians. They have not only taken their money (Paul did not) but they have plundered their souls as well. This is the first thing that has happened to them. Tyranny reduces you to bondage, to absolute slavery.

Thirdly, “if anyone take you” — present active indicative, lambanw. This means here to be constantly taking. A person who is a constant taker is not a lover. Pseudo-lovers are always takers, never givers. The Judaisers do not love them. The Judaisers all have a complex, a narcissist complex; “if anyone exalt himself” — present middle indicative of e)pairw [airw = up; e)p = upon], upon upmanship is always considering yourself, constantly exalting yourself.

Fourth, “if anyone smite you” — present active indicative. The pseudo-lover is violent and insulting. He will put you down without regard for your feelings.

This is the peak of sanctified sarcasm, this is God the Holy Spirit speaking through the apostle Paul to bring them through sarcasm to the moment of truth. The Judaisers are no good.

Translation: “For you love it if anyone reduces you to abject slavery [and they do], if anyone eats you up [plunders your soul; and they do], if anyone constantly takes from you [and they do], if anyone constantly exalts himself [and they do], if anyone slaps you on the face [and they do].”

Summary

1. Every first class condition in this verse introduces one of the wages of reverse process reversionism.

2. The Corinthians have given the object of their true love [their right pastor, Paul] the shaft of criticism, the shaft of implacability.

3. In implacability they have rejected Paul and turned to the Judaisers because here, they think, is someone who can put Paul down.

4. From these inconsequential persons the reversionistic Corinthians receive wages: the bullying of abject slavery, extortion in the soul, craftiness of operation strap-on, the arrogance of narcissism, violence and insults.

5. The climax of sarcasm comes from the slapping reference. Obviously this has occurred frequently — present linear aktionsart of derw. Paul has mentioned, then, those things which they are receiving in their reversionism.

Verse 21 — “I speak” is the present active indicative of legw which means to teach verbally, to speak verbally. But Paul isn’t speaking, he is writing. Paul is writing but he calls it speaking because this epistle is a part of the canon of scripture. He is their right pastor at that moment. They have no pastors, they have thrown them all out. They have a bunch of Judaisers there who are not recognised as pastors. At this moment the Corinthians are the victims of reverse process reversionism and therefore he must speak to them in this manner. He is giving this with the pen as if he were there personally. So the pen is the equivalent of a message. The linear aktionsart means he still speaks today. This verse is just as apropos today as it was to the Corinthians.

“as concerning rebuke” — kata plus the accusative singular of a)timia [kata = norm or standard; a)timia = dishonour], ‘according the standard of dishonour.’ Paul is not teaching them straight down the middle, he can’t. When believers are in reversionism they will not respond to sweetness and light, they will not respond to nice little things put together in a devotional. They will not respond to sweet theological language. Reversionists can only be awakened by sarcasm. It takes hard-nosed, rough and tough language to reach the reversionist and the mature believer will not be offended. Mature believers are never offended by straight, tough speaking, it is always the immature. In other words, in the power and ministry of the Spirit Paul is speaking according to the norm or standard called a)timia. That norm or standard is dishonour because the Corinthians are under dishonour. Practicing reverse process reversionism is dishonour. Paul has to speak according to their norms and standards, and their norms and standards are plain, hard, down-to-earth, language of the street speech.

“as though” is not ‘as though’ but “because we ourselves have been weak,” the perfect active indicative of a)sqenew which means to be weak. What does it mean to be weak here? All of the meanings that apply are: powerless, faint-hearted, deficient in recognition of authority, deficient in dignity, deficient in power, contemptible. This verb describes the attitude of the Corinthians toward Paul, Apollos, and Timothy who had taught them as the right pastor. Paul is regarded as inefficient and contemptible while the false teachers are the object of pseudo-love.

“I speak according to the norm or standard of dishonour as though we ourselves have been powerless, faint-hearted, deficient in authority, dignity, power, contemptible.”

Because of the blindness of reverse process reversionism Paul is going to go from sarcasm to the next step of a)timia. He is now going to sarcastic boasting.

“Howbeit” — de a)n, two particles: de = and; a)n = yet. We have the conjunctive particle de which means a super addition in contrast to the irony of the previous statement. Super addition means that in addition to sarcasm we are going to add boasting; a)n is an emphatic particle which gives force to what Paul now states as the reality of the situation. So the best translation would be “Now indeed.”

“whereinsoever” — the preposition e)n plus the instrumental of o(j, and it means ‘by whatever means.’

“any” — tij, ‘anyone’; “is bold” — present active subjunctive of tolmaw. This word means everything from being daring to having courage to being brave, to be presumptive or brassy. The Corinthians admire the courage of the Judaisers. The pseudo-lovers are brassy, they have pseudo courage and the Corinthians can’t tell the difference.

Parenthesis now: “I speak foolishly,” end parenthesis. It is literally, ‘I speak in the sphere of foolishness’ — legw plus e)n plus the locative of a)frosunh. So the words “I speak in the sphere of foolishness” is in parenthesis here. This is not part of the sentence, it is an explanation of the sentence.

“I am courageous.” So the sentence says, “And yet by whatever means anyone would be courageous, I am courageous.” Paul recognises the brassiness of the Judaisers but they do not have real courage. Now he is departing from his own standards by the ministry of the Spirit to point out the mistake of the Corinthians in reverse process reversionism.

Translation: “I speak according to the norm or standard of dishonour, as though because we ourselves have been weak, faint-hearted, deficient in authority, dignity, power, contemptible. And yet by whatever means anyone would be courageous [your pseudo-lovers] (I speak in the sphere of foolishness) I am courageous.”

They are courageous, I am courageous. So far he just equalises them.

At this point we have the apostle Paul doing something which is very rare and very difficult to do. To actually bring out his own scrapbook without blushing, without being out of fellowship, without even one twinge of pride, without in any way being fat-headed, and to use it under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit to neutralise the claims of the Judaisers. The Judaisers were a very proud, self-righteous group of apostates. They were steeped in Hebrew culture and in systems of self-righteousness. Now Paul presents his side of the picture.

Spirituality, spiritual advance is not a personality change, it has to do with soul changes.

Verse 22 — Paul is saying in effect that they have heard all of the braggings of the Judaisers, now they are going to hear from him. “Are they Hebrews?” The question demands yes. E(braoi e)isin; “So I” — kagw, [kai + e)gw] ‘I also,’ literally. The word ‘Hebrews’ here demands some careful attention because Paul is not talking about race here, he is talking about culture. This is a reference to the Jewish culture. The people who adopted Jewish culture were not always Jews. Paul was Jewish by race but he was not Hellenistic in culture. While he was a racial Jew he did not accept the Jewish culture, he could not as a man with great doctrine. He abided by the Old Testament law which is true Old Testament Hebrew culture but he did not accept the superficialities of the Judaisers. In the Old Testament the word “Hebrew” is ethnic but in the New Testament it connotes a combination of the cultural, religious heritage of the Jews. Paul had walked away from the cultural, religious heritage of the Jews when he became a believer. The Judaisers had come to the Corinthians and impressed them with the fact that they have a cultural background which is different. The Corinthians, being Greeks, were very impressed with the Jewish cultural background and they adopted a culture as a part of the dogma of Christianity. That is always a mistake. Culture is not a part of the dogma of Christianity, there is no such thing.

“Are they Israelites?” — present active indicative of e)imi. This is a title for the nation, nationalism. In the Old Testament Israelite designated the twelve, and later the thirteen, tribes from the time of Exodus to the time of Solomon. In the New Testament the term is used for the concept of Jewish nationalism. The Judaisers are nationalistic.

But Paul says, “I also.”

Next we have tradition and descent. “Are they the seed of Abraham? I also.” The Judaisers boast of culture, nation, and race. Yet Paul has all of these.

Summary

1. The Judaisers had pushed themselves into the Corinthian church on the basis of culture, nation, and race. Their boast has been along these three lines.

2. While Paul, when he came to Corinth, pushed his way in on the basis of the gospel, established the church and based it on doctrine. He did not introduce either culture or nationalism or race. He did not make an issue out of these things. He made an issue out of the gospel and after salvation he made an issue out of doctrine.

3. Legalism emphasises the assets gained by physical birth as over against the assets of the spiritual birth. Legalism emphasises human ability whereas grace emphasises God’s ability.

4. In reverse process reversionism the Corinthians have gone from grace emphasis to legalism.

5. Culturally, the Corinthians are Hellenistic. Racially, they are Greeks.

6. Now in reversionism they have exchanged one set of human assets for another without spiritual benefit.

7. None of these things (nationalism, culture, race) provide any advantages with God. Grace rejects these things as inconsequential.

8. Only faith in Jesus Christ can provide any advantage for the Jew or for the Greek — Romans 1:16. Only faith in Jesus Christ can provide any advantage for the Jew — Romans 9:6-14.

Principle: Paul has all three advantages emphasised by the Judaisers (culture, nationalism, race) but he counts them as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. There is the key, Philippians 3:3-11. Knowledge of Christ is what breaks the trend.

In this verse we have had a set of three: culture, nation, and race. All of these are related to physical birth and environment. In verse 23 we have another change.

Verse 23 — “Are they ministers,” present active indicative of e)imi plus diakonoj. They have presented themselves as the pastor-teacher type, having the gift and having the authority. They speak with authority.

“(I speak as a fool)” — what does Paul mean? “I speak” is the present active indicative of lalew which means here to chatter. ‘I chatter as a fool.’ However, the word ‘fool’ here looks like a noun but it is not a noun, it is a present active participle from the verb parafronew [para = immediate source, alongside, outside; fronew = to think] which means to think outside of yourself. It means to be psycho! What he is saying in effect is, ‘I keep chattering like a psycho.’ Paul admits that he sounds like a chattering psychopath. He admits it. But in reality, under God the Holy Spirit, he is not a chattering psychopath. As a matter of fact he is hitting them with everything. He is shocking them. If there is any hope of bringing them out of reversionism this will do it. To reach some people you have to talk the way they talk.

“I more” — u(per means over and above. The personal pronoun e)gw refers to Paul as a minister. There are four ways in which Paul is more of a minister of Christ than they are. At this point Paul is going to show them how he is more of a minister than they. This is strictly sanctified bragging.

a) “in labours more abundant” — e)n kopoij perissoteroj. This is e)n plus the locative plural of kopoj which means to labour to the point of exhaustion — “in the sphere of wearisome labours.” Perissoteroj means ‘more abundantly.’

b) “in stripes above measure” — generally a reference to being punished in prison, but here it just simply means in prison. Literally, ‘in prisons more frequently.’ The Judaisers weren’t in prison even once. Paul was jailed for the truth, they were kept out of jail by their falsehood.

c) “in prisons more frequent” is really, in the Greek, ‘in wounds from whipping to a much greater degree.’ Wounds from whipping is being flogged.

d) “in deaths oft” — e)n plus the locative of qanatoj plus pollakij, is ‘in the danger of death many times.’

Translation: “Ministers of Christ are they? (I keep chattering like a psychopath) I more than they; in hard work more abundantly, in prisons more frequently, in floggings to a greater degree, in danger of death many times.”

Summary

1. Paul exceeds the Judaisers in work, hard study, imprisonments, in being flogged, in facing death.

2. The Judaisers have used their sufferings to gain the sympathy of the Corinthians.

3. When love is based on feeling sorry for someone it is phoney, it is pseudo love.

4. No normal person seeks to gain attention through pity.

5. A real man would rather be hated than pitied — but not the Judaisers.

6. The Judaisers prey upon emotional revolt and reversionism where pity passes for love.

7. But pity is pseudo love, not the real thing. However, pity is a form of attention and Paul under the ministry of the Holy Spirit is now playing the Judaisers’ game of inciting pity to get attention.

8. Only Paul’s purpose is to awaken the Corinthians to their true condition of reversionism. Therefore Paul is going to amplify his pressures.

Verses 24-27, the attention getter. Ordinarily it is despicable to get attention by one’s problems. If it isn’t despicable it is ridiculous. Why does Paul at this time try to arouse the sympathy of the Corinthians? Obviously, God the Holy Spirit is in this all the way or this would not be a part of the Word of God. This is an extension of kauxaomai, to brag. In his boastfulness he has now turned to another area for one reason. The Judaisers wormed their way into the Corinthian church by arousing the pity of the Corinthian believers. The original intention of this passage was to chock the Corinthians into the realisation that all these people who came before them and complained about their suffering were phonies. In this section which includes the first ten verses of the next chapter Paul is going to explain that it is not necessary for a Christian to complain because God’s grace is sufficient for every problem.

Verse 24 — “Of the Jews” is literally, ‘Under the [authority of] Jews’ — u(po; “five times” — outside of this reference Paul is silent about the floggings from the Jews; “received” — aorist active indicative of lambanw which means to receive something as a gift; “save one” — minus one, 39 lashes was the customary punishment for the Jews, Deuteronomy 25:1-3.

Verse 25 — “Thrice was a beaten with rods,” rabdizw means to be flogged with rods. That makes eight times that Paul has been flogged. With any one of these the shock could have killed him.

“once” — a(pac, aorist passive indicative; “I was stoned” — liqazw means to be killed with stones, ‘once I was stoned to death.’ On this occasion Paul was actually killed — Acts 14:5-19.

“thrice I was shipwrecked” — nauagew. Actually, four times altogether but the Acts one hadn’t occurred yet; “a night and a day in the deep” — literally, ‘twenty-four hours have I done in the deep,’ perfect active indicative of poiew. This seems to indicate that he soaked in water the whole time.

Translation: “Three times I was flogged with rods, once I was stoned to death, three times I was shipwrecked, I have done twenty-four hours in the deep.”

Verse 26 — “In journeyings often.” ‘Many times in travels (I have suffered),’ is what he is saying. He is going to give us suffering in travel, we have a list. They are set up in contrasting pairs. The word ‘perils’ occurs time after time, and it is in the locative plural of kindunoj. In modern English this word means ‘dangers.’

“of waters” — potamoj refers to rivers; “of robbers” should be ‘of pirates.’

“from the source of my own race” — this refers to the antagonism of the Jews; “from the source of the gentiles” — he was under antagonism from Gentiles as well. In each case in this pair is the preposition e)k; “in the city … in the desert” — e)n plus the locative; “in the sea … among false brethren.”

Paul suffers more than they suffer. He adds to it sufferings and persecutions such as no one else has ever known. The Judaisers have bragged about their sufferings, they have aroused the pity of the Corinthians, but they have suffered nothing compared to the apostle Paul.

Translation: “Many times in travels I have suffered, in dangers of rivers, in dangers of pirates, in dangers from the source of my own race, and dangers from the source of Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the desert, in dangers in the sea, in dangers among false brethren.”

Verse 27 — the soul and how it relates to the body.

“In weariness” — locative singular of kopoj refers to fatigue; “and painfulness” — moxqoj, fatigue of soul. You cannot suffer for long periods of time from fatigue without having it affect the soul. This refers to labouring under conditions of utter weariness.

“in watchings often” — the locative plural of ag)rupnia which means to go without sleep, plus the adverb pollakij, ‘many times.’

The basic sufferings of the body are now listed: “in hunger and thirst” — e)n plus the locative of limoj which means to be hungry and want food desperately; also in the locative, diyoj, ‘thirst.’

“in fastings often” — ‘fasting’ is the plural of nhsteia. This means all of the necessities that go with lack of food. Lack of food put him in bad health.

“in cold and nakedness” — ‘in cold and in lack of clothing.’

Translation: “In fatigue and wearisome work, in lack of sleep many times, in hunger and thirst, in want of food many times, in cold and lack of clothing.”

Verse 28 — in addition to that Paul has great responsibility and he now declares the pressures that go with being responsible.

“Beside” is the adverb xwrij and it means apart from; “those things that are without” — two adverbs together, xwrij parektoj. Parektoj means outside matters.

“that which cometh upon me daily” — this is literally, ‘ the pressure to me according to the day,’ an idiom for ‘the daily pressures on me.’

“the care of all the churches” — ‘care’ is merimna, it means deep soul anxiety, the deep concern of someone in responsibility.

Verse 29 — “Who is weak” is the present active indicative of a)sqenew which means here to be insufficient. He says, ‘Who is insufficient.’ He recognises that with all of the abilities, all of the things that he has, is total insufficiency. He is perfectly grace oriented.

“and I am not insufficient?” We have a)sqenew twice. Present active indicative the first time and the second time the present active subjunctive. In other words, ‘You think you have problems, you know you have problems. Did it ever occur to you that I have problems too?’

“who is offended” — present passive indicative of skandalizw. This means offended, shocked, or pained; “and I burn not?” The word purow means to become inflamed with sympathy, indignation, or readiness to help.

Translation: “Who is insufficient, and I am not insufficient? who is shocked, offended or pained, and I do not become inflamed with sympathy [or indignation, or readiness to help]?”

Verse 30 — a comparison of witnesses. “If” is a first class condition of supposition; “I must needs glory” — in other words, ‘If it is necessary for me to boast’ — dei, ‘it is necessary; kauxaomai — ‘to boast,’ in the present active infinitive: “If it is necessary for me to keep on boasting.”

“I will boast” — future active indicative of kauxaomai; “in the things that concern my weaknesses [frailties, sufferings].”

Summary

1. Paul’s boasting brings him to his weaknesses, sufferings, pressures.

2. Because his weaknesses, sufferings and pressures bring him to God’s grace.

3. When Paul is weak there is only one way to become strong: grace provision.

4. Therefore, Paul focuses their attention on grace while the inconsequential persons, the Judaisers, focus their attention on their sufferings. Suffering is to elicit grace provision, not to elicit sympathy and pity from others.

5. Out of sarcasm comes this principle. The boasting of Paul comes to grace; the boasting of the Judiasers comes to legalism and self-pity.

6. Paul’s suffering witnesses to the grace of God; the Judaisers’ suffering witnesses to emotionalism and legalism.

Verse 31 — Paul calls upon his witness. “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” ‘The God and Father’ is the first person of he Trinity who is the author of the divine plan. The Judaisers claim to be in the Father’s plan but they are not. Paul boldly calls on God the Father as his witness. The Judaisers have no defense, except their human good, their sufferings and arousal of self-pity plus the pity of others, and the legalistic works which condemn them under human good. ‘The God and Father,’ then, refers to Paul’s first witness. He calls on a second witness, “of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is the one who says ‘My grace is sufficient for thee.’

“which is” refers to God the Father and should be ‘who is.’

“blessed” is e)uloghtoj which means ‘worthy of praise.’

“forever and ever, knoweth” — the perfect active indicative of o)ida used as a present tense for inherent knowledge. Paul places the essence of God on the line as his witness.

“that I lie not” — Paul uses the present middle indicative of yeudw which means he is not speaking falsely, he is not a phony. That means two things. It means what he says it true but also his motive in saying it is also true.

Translation: “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who being worthy of praise forever, knows that I am not speaking falsely.”

Verse 32 — “In Damascus.” Damascus, according to Acts 9:19-25; “the governor under Aretas the king” — the governor is actually an ethnarch [e)qnarx], a racial ruler. It also means he is next to the king in that area. Aretas is the king of the Nabateans. Paul is saying that Aretas tried to get him.

“was guarding the city of Damascus to arrest me,” the word ‘desirous’ is not found in the original. The word ‘kept’ is an imperfect active indicative of froueuw which means to maintain an extra garrison. And this is to catch one person.

“In Damascus the governor [ethnarch] under Aretas the king was garrisoning the city of Damascus to arrest me.”

Verse 33 — after all of this famous boasting. Twice in all of the writings of Paul we have operation kauxaomai. And what did it all get down to? Paul says in Philippians, “I count it as excrement.”

“And through a window.” It is not a window at all. “And through an aperture in the wall, I was lowered down in a basket, and escaped from his hands.” The escape was permanent, the aorist active indicative of e)feugw. It is no accident that God the Holy Spirit had the apostle mention this last.

The testimony of the basket

1. In the testimony of the basket Paul brings all of his bragging to the inevitable conclusion — grace. The basket represents grace provision.

2. Paul’s boasting inevitably leads him back to grace.

3. Because anything about which Paul has to boast can only bring him to grace.

4. Paul began his Christian life by grace. He continues his Christian life by grace, and he concludes his Christian life by grace.

5. True boasting brings the believer inevitably to grace. Therefore true boasting glorifies God; pseudo boasting glorifies self.

6. Delivery from every disaster of life is based upon the same principle: grace, grace, and more grace.

7. Paul lived by grace, he died twice by grace.

8. While not possessing anything associated with happiness in the ordinary sense he had perfect happiness.

The chapter does not end here, it goes on to the first verse of the next chapter. He goes back to the stoning to give is one more look at it. Really, chapter 12 should start with the phrase in 12:1, “I will come to visions and revelations from the Lord.” There are two sentences in the verse and it is really the first sentence that is the conclusion of what he has just said.

12:1 — “It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory.” That is not quite correct. We have dei which means ‘it is necessary.’ Next is the present active infinitive of kauxaomai which means ‘boasting.’ This should be translated, “It is not necessary to keep on boasting.” The last phrase is, “there is nothing to be gained by it.” ‘There is nothing to be gained’ is a present active participle of sumferw plus the negative o)u.

“There is nothing to be gained by boasting.” And when he says that he is saying, ‘Once you see me in a basket, as you do at the end of this chapter, you see me as I am; a believer in Jesus Christ, helpless, hopeless, useless, under every kind of human pressure. But what am I after all? I am a helpless, hopeless, useless thing. Every time we suffer it is a challenge to God, not to us. All we have to do is sit in the basket; He holds the rope.’