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APOSTLE
52
is manifested for all the brave exterior. Quoting from the slanders in circulation about him, he repeats, `But be it so,
I did not burden you; nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile' (verse 16). Hardly are the words penned
than the apostle's whole being revolts against the charge. Away with the thought. `Did I make gain of you by any of
them whom I sent unto you? I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother; did Titus make gain of you?' (verses 17
and 18).
2 Corinthians 11 and 12 are occupied much in the same way as Galatians 1 and 2. The apostle, with much
diffidence, calling his defence `folly' and `foolish boasting', is again plunged into the defence of his ministry, and
the unchivalrous contention with Peter and others. The literary structure will again simplify the subject and keep us
to the chief point:
2 Corinthians 11 and 12
A 11:1-4. The real deceiver. The Serpent; `subtility' (panourgia).
B 11:5,6. KNOWLEDGE. `Not one whit behind the extra super apostles'.
C 11:7-21. SELF-ABASEMENT.
Ministers of Satan.
D 11:22.
EQUALITY.
As to advantages of birth and religion.
D 11:23-33. SUPERIORITY. As to labour and sufferings.
C 12:1-10. VISIONS and REVELATIONS. A messenger of Satan.
B 12:11,12. SIGNS.
`Not one whit behind the extra super apostles'.
A 12:13-18. The false charge. `Being crafty' (panourgos).
While, therefore, the false teachers were saying of Paul that being crafty he caught them with guile, Paul exposes
the real deceiver in the Serpent. And his servants - ministers of Satan, false apostles on the one hand and a stake in
the flesh, a messenger of Satan, on the other hand, intensified the sufferings both mental and physical of the apostle
to the Gentiles. The necessity of saving the Corinthians from the bondage of the Judaizers was urgent. Once more
the apostle lays bare that which modesty would for ever have covered.
(1) His equality with the apostles of the circumcision.
`Are they Hebrews?
So am I
Are they Israelites?
So am I
Are they the seed of Abraham?
So am I'
(2) His superiority as to labours and sufferings.
`Are they ministers of Christ
I am MORE
In labours MORE abundant
In stripes ABOVE measure
In prisons MORE frequent
In deaths OFT
Of the Jews FIVE times received I forty stripes save one,
THRICE was I beaten with rods,
ONCE was I stoned,
THRICE I suffered shipwreck,
A DAY AND A NIGHT have I been in the deep;
In journeyings OFTEN,
In perils of waters, robbers, mine own countrymen,
heathen, city, wilderness, sea, and false brethren;
in weariness and painfulness, in watchings OFTEN;
in hunger and thirst, in faintings OFTEN,
in cold and nakedness;
besides those things which are without,
that which cometh upon me daily,