Would that ye would bear with me [in] a little folly; but indeed bear with me.
Paul asks the Corinthians to put up with what he himself calls foolishness. He is about to speak about his own record, his own labours, his own sufferings. Why would a man who loved to speak only of Christ do the very thing he had just warned them against?
Paul means the word. He measures his own self-defence by a day still ahead.
In the light of the coming day, when the Lord will commend His servants, praising oneself in front of one's fellows appears to be nothing but folly. Paul admits this in the first verse of our chapter. He had been speaking about himself in the previous chapter, and he says more about himself in this one. But his whole aim was to assure the Corinthians that his apostolic mission was real and genuine. He pleads guilty to this "folly" and asks them to bear with him in it.
Something bigger than Paul's reputation was at stake. Discredit the messenger and you silence the message.
The apostle loved to spend himself in the service of Christ or the saints. He hated to say a word about himself even when the occasion called for it, at least when it might look like self-defence. His wisdom, and his joy, was to testify of Christ. To speak of himself even as His servant he counts "folly," however necessary. But it is part of the enemy's tactics to undermine, lower, and if possible destroy a true servant of the Lord... For can anything be more likely to frustrate testimony to Christ than to blacken the one who carries it, in his motives, ways, and aims?
Paul's "bear with me" is an apology in advance. He had just laid down the rule that boasting belongs in the Lord alone. Now he seems to break it, and he wants them to notice who put him in that position.
You can see the point of this opening verse by looking back at verse 12 of the last chapter. He is about to do, in his own way, what he had there called unwise. For this deliberate act of folly he asks them to be patient with him, since glorying in the Lord left no proper room for self-commendation of any kind. So if he now seemed to contradict in practice the rule of life he had just set before them, let them remember this: it is to them, and for their sakes, that he exposes his weakness. They might well bear with him, for he was no willing actor. Their own readiness to believe the claims of his critics had forced him onto the stage.
Paul found this painful. Set his pain beside the way others speak about themselves.
It is humbling yet instructive to contrast the apostle's pain at having to speak like this with the all too obvious pleasure many a servant of Christ takes in personal stories. Such stories seem to have no aim but to prove his own cleverness at the expense of poor Mr. This or Mr. That, or the great sacrifices he has made for the truth, or the outstanding excellence of his own line of things in the testimony of Christ.
Paul calls it folly. God still called for it, and that is what keeps the chapter honest.
If it seems strange that Paul asks the Corinthians to bear with a little folly in him, let us still remember that it is God who inspires him to write as he does. Paul thought it folly to speak of himself and of his own labours for Christ, and would far rather have avoided it. But God required it here, and His inspiring it keeps it fully free from exaggeration or from exalting a man too highly... It is valuable for our day, when men exalt themselves and claim to be apostles or something like it. Measure such a claim against Paul's character, labour, and sufferings, and these modern claims will collapse in utter shame.
So these personal chapters are worth as much to us as any other part of the letter.
These chapters hold much that is of deep importance for all saints, and for all time. We gain greatly by having it given to us not as theory, but as actual practice, worked out between the apostle and some of his fellow believers.
- Folly named. Paul calls his own self-defence "folly," because the Lord will commend His servants on a coming day.
- Folly forced. He speaks only because attacking the messenger is the enemy's way of silencing the message about Christ.
- Folly for them. He asks them to bear with him for their sakes. Their own readiness to believe his critics pushed him onto the stage.
- Folly with pain. Speaking of himself hurt him. Others clearly enjoy talking about themselves.
- Folly inspired. God required this chapter. That keeps it free of exaggeration, and gives us a measuring line for anyone today who claims to be an apostle.
For I am jealous as to you with a jealousy [which is] of God; for I have espoused you unto one man, to present [you] a chaste virgin to Christ.
Paul had joined the Corinthian believers to Christ, like the friend who arranges a marriage. That one bond explains his jealousy for them, and everything he says next.
The word "jealousy" usually names a fault. Here it names love that refuses to share.
Almost everyone speaks of jealousy as something evil; Scripture hardly ever does. It even speaks of a jealousy that comes from God. Paul can say to believers, "I feel a divine jealousy for you"… His love for Christ, and his love for the saints, made him jealous in case anyone or anything should come between them and Christ. He had no pity for anyone who used false teaching to lure the saints away from Christ.
In Paul's day betrothal was legally binding. Scripture uses the picture twice: for Israel's future, and for the church now.
The Jews treated betrothal as binding as marriage, and only a divorce could end it… Scripture also uses it as a picture of God's favour to Israel, His ancient people, in a future day, when He will "betroth" them to Himself for ever (Hosea 2:19-20). It pictures too where the church stands with Christ. Paul wrote to the believers at Corinth, "I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. 11:2). The conduct of the saints should be true to this betrothal.
Paul says he did the betrothing. How can a servant claim that, and what does it make the aim of all preaching?
As an ambassador of Christ he represented Christ. As God's effective messenger of grace he had betrothed the church at Corinth to the Lord, gathering from her lips a virgin confession of His saving name. He wanted to present her to the true Bridegroom on the coming day, still in the first, unchilled love of her betrothal. True gospel service presents to Christ what Christ will Himself present in glory to Himself… Notice that the apostle is not speaking here of individual believers, but of the whole company of the saved at Corinth.
Older translations render "pure" here as "chaste." The word covers more than the absence of sin.
"Chaste" means purity of body and blamelessness of life. It also carries the thought of something marked by awe, something very rare in the way this godless world runs. And it carries the thought of something costly, given up in sacrifice. If we want to bring joy to the heart of Christ, we must refuse the flesh.
The wedding day is still ahead. The believer lives in the gap between promise and wedding, and that is where the danger lies.
The Song of Solomon does not go beyond the day of betrothal, but Paul points to the wedding day, when the betrothed one is presented to Christ as a pure virgin. What does he mean by a pure virgin? He means one who is true, one against whom not a breath of reproach could be raised. So he warns them: "I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ."
This relationship is not only a future hope. It sets the level of what a believer allows today — down to thoughts and feelings.
This is the destiny of the saints. They are loved, washed, sanctified, justified, with this close relationship to Christ in view. To the apostle that relationship was completely real and sure. It was not so to those who lowered the standard — the standard of future hope, of present separateness, and of conscious nearness to Christ in love and holiness. They lowered it by allowing themselves ease in this life, and links with the world in its aims and ways, its philosophy or even its religion… We are betrothed now to one husband, Christ Himself, and we are called to judge not only our conduct but our unsuitable thoughts and feelings.
- One husband. The believer is betrothed to Christ. Betrothal was as binding as marriage, so our conduct should match the bond we are already in.
- One jealousy. Paul's jealousy is love that lets nothing come between the saints and Christ. Scripture calls that kind of jealousy good.
- One aim in ministry. Real gospel work hands to Christ the very people He will one day present to Himself in glory. Paul has a whole company in view here, not just single believers.
- One standard. The word behind "pure" means purity, awe, and cost. We must refuse the flesh if Christ is to have joy in us.
- One day coming. These are the days of betrothal; the wedding is still ahead. So guard the mind from being drawn away. Nearness to Christ, not ease with the world, is the measure now.
But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craft, [so] your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ.
Paul's fear for the Corinthians reaches back to the garden: what happened to Eve can happen to a whole church. The danger is not force but persuasion. The target is not their conduct but their thinking. (Older translations read "the simplicity that is in Christ"; the ESV has "a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.")
One writer settles what the serpent really was from three passages at once:
Surely Revelation 12:9 and Revelation 20:1, together with 2 Corinthians 11:3, are enough to decide this question. Satan made use of that subtle animal, before it was reduced to its humiliating condition.
The enemy has more than one method, and this verse shows the quieter one:
Verse 3 is very important, because it exposes the way the great adversary sets the trap for our feet. In 2 Corinthians 4 we were told how he blinds the minds of those who do not believe. Here we find that some have believed, so his blinding tactics have failed with them. Even so, he is still stubbornly active. He aims to deceive them, as he once deceived Eve. When he acts with cunning as the serpent, he is more dangerous than when he attacks as a roaring lion.
The cunning was not an open denial. It was a question aimed at her confidence in God:
The enemy's approach was indeed subtle. It was to awaken distrust of God in Eve's heart. Could it be good to refuse man the fruit of any tree in the garden? Distrust of God opens the door to every sin.
One writer traces the parallel to the dissatisfaction behind it:
Their minds at Corinth were beginning to be corrupted by someone who came with impressive claims in the flesh. Eve was not satisfied with what God had made her. She listened to the lie of the serpent when he offered her to become like God. In the same way, the Corinthians were not satisfied simply with what Christ had made them. They were seeking wisdom of the flesh.
The damage in Eden came in stages, and it ended in independence:
The devil, in the form of a serpent, deceived Eve in a very subtle and crafty way. Step by step he corrupted her mind as to God, and led her to act apart from her husband and independently of him. He works in the same way today. He aims at diverting us from simplicity and from true subjection to Christ.
The word names something positive that can be lost:
This expression means two things. First, a view of gospel truth so clear and unhindered that it convinces both heart and mind of its absolute excellence and perfection. Second, a faith strong and simple enough to set the believer knowingly in Christ, and so to separate him in heart and spirit from the world. Only those who look at Him with a single heart and eye have the assured and delighted sense of completeness in Christ. This is the believer's true excellence, and to cast him down from it is the constant effort of the enemy.
Satan's cunning in Corinth wore respectable clothes. It arrived as ministry:
There were "false brothers" who not only made a Christian profession but claimed to be apostles... they came to the saints with such an impressive outward show that they appeared as angels of light and ministers of righteousness. These men used satanic subtlety. They perverted the truth by preaching "another Jesus," "another Spirit," and "another gospel."
Kelly ties this blindness to how real Christ is to the soul:
The more Christ is a living person to the soul, the more that soul recognises the reality of Satan's work against it. The enemy is a real and active adversary who must be resisted. To feel nothing of his schemes is the awful sign of an unbelief, common and growing in the Christian world.
Studying the enemy is not the defence. Nearness to God is:
After all, it is not knowing Satan that keeps us aware of his schemes and able to spot them. It is keeping in God's presence... The moment we know a thing is of Satan, the temptation is over if we are walking with God... The devil has this character of subtlety, like the serpent, and not always open opposition. But the place of obedience to God will always upset him.
- Same serpent. The tempter of Eden is still at work. Paul treats Genesis 3 as real history and as a live warning to a church.
- Same method. Not an open denial but a hint that stirs distrust of God — and distrust opens the door to every sin.
- Same target. He goes for the thoughts, not the behaviour, and pulls them step by step away from single-hearted subjection to Christ.
- Same bait. Eve was not content with what God had made her. Corinth was not content with what Christ had made them, and reached for wisdom of the flesh brought in by false apostles.
- Same defence. Keep in God's presence, where Christ is a living person to the soul. There you spot the enemy's cunning, and obedience upsets it.
For if indeed he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or ye get a different Spirit, which ye have not got, or a different glad tidings, which ye have not received, ye might well bear with [it].
Paul has just said he fears for the Corinthians: their thoughts could be led astray, as Eve's were in Eden. This verse tests the newcomers at Corinth: if they brought a better Jesus, a better Spirit, or better news, listening to them would make sense.
The men Paul is describing did not arrive looking dangerous. They arrived looking impressive.
In those early times there were "false brothers." They claimed to be Christians, and even claimed to be apostles. Such were "false apostles" and "deceitful workers." Yet their outward show was so fine that they looked like angels of light and ministers of righteousness. With satanic subtlety these men perverted the truth by preaching "another Jesus," "another Spirit," and "another gospel" (v. 4).
The verse begins with "for": it backs up the fear of verse 3. One writer draws out the questions Paul is pressing on them.
In Eden the tempter contradicted what God said, and the same thing happens in the church... You have received a class of teachers and honoured them. They are clearly trying to turn your hearts away from us, and you are listening to their hints. But why this change of feeling towards the one who first led you to the truth? Have these men revealed to you a new and better gospel? Is the Jesus they speak of a different Lord from ours? Are you receiving from the newcomer a better Comforter than the One who first taught you to cry, Abba, Father? You know it is not so.
Two different Greek words stand behind the verse. Paul writes of another Jesus (allos), then of a different spirit and gospel (heteros). The same pair appears in his letter to the Galatians:
Both words occur in Galatians 1:6-7. Paul was astonished that the Galatians were so quickly changing to a different gospel, which was not another. Someone might think Paul was admitting there could be another gospel than the one he had preached to them. To stop that, he uses allos with an emphatic negative — "which is not another." He is saying flatly that there was no other gospel, and there could be no other. Compare 2 Corinthians 11:4.
The ESV renders that phrase in Galatians as "not that there is another one," and the point is the same. So the "if" here is not a real option. There is no better Jesus to preach, no better Spirit to receive, no better news to accept.
Notice what the false teachers did not do. They did not stand up and reject Christ.
The gospel is the essence of simplicity. It sets Christ before us as the One who expresses all that God has to say to us. He is also the One who has done the necessary work of redemption, and in whom we now stand before God. It brings us into complete subjection to Him. But Satan is a master of craft and subtlety. Using these men who opposed Paul, he did not deny outright the Christ whom Paul preached. Verse 4 is clear evidence of this. If they could have come with another gospel, announcing another Jesus and giving another spirit, there might have been something to say for them — especially if it had been an improvement on what the Corinthians had already received.
Their method was not denial but complication. So the Corinthians put up with men who offered them nothing better than what they already had.
There is a personal side to this. Who had given the Corinthians what they now had?
Every one of these blessings had come to them through the apostle and no one else. Yet they had thought little of him. At the same time they were ready to honour self-exalting men who had set themselves up to teach on his foundation. Those men praised the twelve apostles only to run Paul down.
The concern is not Paul's reputation. It is the affection of the believers for Christ Himself.
In his ministry Paul wanted the affections of believers kept in pure loyalty to Christ. In 2 Corinthians 11 he is urgent about this, and warns the saints against any who came "preaching another Jesus." Later in the chapter he traces such speaking to the work of Satan. Satan always seeks to cloud the preciousness and glories of this incomparable Christ in the minds of His own.
- Simplicity — the gospel sets Christ before us plainly. Satan does not erase Him; he complicates Him until the simple thing is lost.
- Subtlety — the danger came dressed as angels of light, not as open attack.
- Sameness — there is no other Jesus, Spirit or gospel; Paul's "if" is a test, not an admission.
- Source — every blessing the Corinthians had came through the very man they were now looking down on.
- Steadfastness — Satan aims at the affections; Paul's desire was to keep them in pure loyalty to Christ.