2 Corinthians 11:1-15

¹ tn That is, to Christ.

² tn Or “chaste.”

³ tn Grk “I fear lest somehow.”

⁴ tn Or “the snake.”

⁵ tn Or “craftiness.”

⁶ tn Or “corrupted,” “seduced.”

⁷ tc Although most mss (א² H Ψ 0121 0243 1739 1881 Ï) lack “and pure” (καὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος, kai th" Jagnothto"; Grk “and purity”) several important and early witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א* B D^[2] F G 33 81 104 pc ar r co) retain these words. Their presence in such mss across such a wide geographical distribution argues for their authenticity. The omission from the majority of mss can be explained by haplography, since the -τητος ending of ἁγνότητος is identical to the ending of ἁπλότητος (Japlothto", “sincerity”) three words back (ἁπλότητος καὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος); further, since the meanings of “sincerity” and “purity” are similar they might seem redundant. A copyist would scarcely notice the omission because Paul’s statement still makes sense without “and from purity.”

⁸ tn Or “preaches.”

⁹ tn Grk “another Jesus whom we have not proclaimed.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “a different spirit which you did not receive.”

¹¹ tn Grk “a different gospel which you did not accept.”

¹² tn Or “you endure it very well.”

¹³ tn The implicit irony in Paul’s remark is brought out well by the TEV: “I do not think that I am the least bit inferior to those very special so-called ‘apostles’ of yours!”

sn The ‘super-apostles’ refers either (1) to the original apostles (the older interpretation) or (2) more probably, to Paul’s opponents in Corinth, in which case the designation is ironic.

¹⁴ sn Unskilled in speaking means not professionally trained as a rhetorician.

¹⁵ sn Paul is referring to humbling himself to the point of doing manual labor to support himself.

¹⁶ tn Or “preached.”

¹⁷ sn That is, serve them free of charge (cf. the end of v. 7).

¹⁸ tn Grk “you, and when.” A new sentence was started here in the translation.

¹⁹ tn If the participle ἐλθόντες (elqonte") is taken as temporal rather than adjectival, the translation would be, “for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, fully supplied my needs” (similar to NASB).

²⁰ tn Grk “needs, and I kept.” A new sentence was started here in the translation.

²¹ tn That is, that Paul offers the gospel free of charge to the Corinthians (see 2 Cor 11:7).

²² tn Or “silenced.”

²³ tn Grk “God knows!” The words “I do” are supplied for clarity. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

²⁴ tn Grk “an opportunity, so that they may be found just like us.”

²⁵ tn Or “dishonest.”

²⁶ tn Or “workers, masquerading.”

²⁷ tn Or “Satan himself masquerades.”

²⁸ tn Or “also masquerade.”

²⁹ tn Or “their works.”