◄ 2 Corinthians 11:20 ►
In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face.
Study Bible
In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you

Paul is addressing the Corinthians' tolerance of false apostles who were leading them astray. The term "enslaves" suggests a spiritual bondage, reminiscent of the Israelites' physical bondage in Egypt. This reflects a recurring biblical theme where God's people are warned against returning to any form of slavery, whether physical or spiritual (Galatians 5:1). The Corinthians' acceptance of such leaders indicates a failure to recognize the freedom they have in Christ.

Gal 2:4 This issue arose because some false brothers had come in…
1Co 7:23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
Gal 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.…

or exploits you

The exploitation here can be understood as both spiritual and material. False teachers often sought personal gain, manipulating the church for their own benefit. This echoes the warnings in the Old Testament against leaders who exploit their positions (Ezekiel 34:2-4). The Corinthians' willingness to endure such exploitation highlights their lack of discernment and the need for vigilance against those who would distort the gospel for selfish purposes.

2Pe 2:3 In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you…
Tit 1:11 who must be silenced. For the sake of dishonorable gain,…
Mrk 12:40 They defraud widows of their houses, and for a show…

or takes advantage of you

This phrase suggests a deeper level of manipulation, where the false apostles were using the Corinthians' resources and trust for their own ends. It reflects a broader biblical warning against deceit and manipulation, as seen in the actions of figures like Jacob before his transformation (Genesis 27). The church is called to be wise and discerning, ensuring that leaders are held accountable and that the community is protected from those who would take advantage of their generosity and trust.

2Co 7:2 Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one…
1Co 6:8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong…
Jas 5:4 Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen…

or exalts himself

Self-exaltation is a direct contradiction to the humility exemplified by Christ (Philippians 2:5-8). The false apostles were likely boasting of their own credentials and authority, seeking to elevate themselves above others. This behavior is condemned throughout scripture, as God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). The Corinthians' acceptance of such behavior indicates a misunderstanding of true Christian leadership, which is characterized by service and humility.

Mat 23:12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled,…
Luk 14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,…
Pro 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit…

or strikes you in the face.

This phrase may be metaphorical, indicating the level of abuse and disrespect the Corinthians were willing to endure. It could also be literal, reflecting a cultural context where physical punishment was a sign of authority and dominance. In either case, it highlights the extent of the Corinthians' misguided tolerance. The imagery of being struck in the face is powerful, as it contrasts sharply with the dignity and respect that should characterize relationships within the body of Christ (Matthew 5:39). The church is called to stand firm against such abuse, recognizing their worth and identity in Christ.

Mat 26:67 Then they spit in His face and struck Him.…
1Ki 22:24 Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah went up, struck Micaiah…
Act 23:2 At this, the high priest Ananias ordered…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Paul the Apostle
The author of 2 Corinthians, addressing the church in Corinth with a tone of irony and concern for their spiritual well-being.

2. The Corinthian Church
The recipients of the letter, known for their struggles with false teachings and internal divisions.

3. False Apostles
Individuals who were misleading the Corinthian believers, claiming authority and superiority over Paul.

4. Corinth
A major city in ancient Greece, known for its wealth, diversity, and moral challenges, which influenced the church's issues.

5. Paul's Sufferings
The broader context of this chapter includes Paul recounting his sufferings for the sake of the Gospel, contrasting his genuine apostleship with the false apostles.
Teaching Points
Discernment in Leadership
Believers must exercise discernment in whom they follow, ensuring leaders align with biblical truth rather than self-exaltation.

Spiritual Vigilance
The church must remain vigilant against false teachings that can enslave and exploit believers, leading them away from the true Gospel.

Humility vs. Pride
True Christian leadership is marked by humility and service, contrasting with the pride and self-exaltation of false leaders.

Endurance in Faith
Like Paul, believers are called to endure hardships for the sake of the Gospel, trusting in God's strength and provision.

Accountability in the Church
The church community should hold leaders accountable, ensuring they reflect Christ-like character and teaching.
Bible Study Questions
1. How can we identify and guard against false teachings in our church today, similar to the situation in Corinth?

2. In what ways can we ensure that our church leaders are held accountable to biblical standards of humility and service?

3. How does Paul's example of suffering for the Gospel challenge our own willingness to endure hardships for our faith?

4. What practical steps can we take to cultivate discernment and spiritual vigilance in our personal and communal faith journeys?

5. How do the warnings against self-exaltation in 2 Corinthians 11:20 and other scriptures apply to our personal lives and leadership roles?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Galatians 2:4
Discusses false brothers who infiltrated the church to spy on the freedom believers have in Christ, similar to the false apostles in Corinth.

1 Corinthians 4:8-13
Paul contrasts the Corinthians' self-perceived strength with his own sufferings, highlighting the irony of their situation.

Matthew 23:4-7
Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and self-exaltation, paralleling the behavior of the false apostles in Corinth.

Philippians 3:18-19
Paul warns against those who live as enemies of the cross, focusing on earthly things, akin to the false apostles' behavior.
Sermons
Apostolic BoastingsR. Tuck 2 Corinthians 11:10, 21-30
A Picture of Religious ImpostersD. Thomas, D. D.2 Corinthians 11:16-20
Comparison of Himself with His OpponentsC. Lipscomb 2 Corinthians 11:16-20
St. Paul's CharacterD. J. Vaughan, M. A.2 Corinthians 11:16-20
People
Aretas, Corinthians, Ephesians, Eve, Israelites, Paul
Places
Achaia, Corinth, Damascus, Macedonia
Topics
Advantage, Airs, Anyone, Bear, Beat, Blows, Bondage, Bring, Bringeth, Bringing, Brings, Captive, Devour, Devoureth, Devours, Enslaves, Exalt, Exalteth, Exalts, Expense, Exploits, Face, Forward, Gives, Hits, Makes, Money, Preys, Prisoners, Profit, Property, Pushes, Puts, Servants, Slaps, Slaves, Smite, Smiteth, Strikes, Suffer, Takes, Taketh, Tolerate
Dictionary of Bible Themes
2 Corinthians 11:20

     8750   false teachings

2 Corinthians 11:16-21

     8756   folly, examples

2 Corinthians 11:16-22

     6121   boasting

Library
Simplicity Towards Christ
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.'--2 COR. xi. 3. The Revised Version, amongst other alterations, reads, 'the simplicity that is towards Christ.' The inaccurate rendering of the Authorised Version is responsible for a mistake in the meaning of these words, which has done much harm. They have been supposed to describe a quality or characteristic belonging to Christ or the Gospel; …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

This we have Undertaken in Our Present Discourse...
2. This we have undertaken in our present discourse: may Christ help us, the Son of a virgin, and the Spouse of virgins, born after the flesh of a virgin womb, and wedded after the Spirit in virgin marriage. Whereas, therefore, the whole Church itself is a virgin espoused unto one Husband Christ, [2028] as the Apostle saith, of how great honor are its members worthy, who guard this even in the flesh itself, which the whole Church guards in the faith? which imitates the mother of her husband, and …
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

Letter ii (A. D. 1126) to the Monk Adam
To the Monk Adam [3] 1. If you remain yet in that spirit of charity which I either knew or believed to be with you formerly, you would certainly feel the condemnation with which charity must regard the scandal which you have given to the weak. For charity would not offend charity, nor scorn when it feels itself offended. For it cannot deny itself, nor be divided against itself. Its function is rather to draw together things divided; and it is far from dividing those that are joined. Now, if that …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

What 'the Gospel' Is
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.--Mark i. 1 My purpose now is to point out some of the various connections in which the New Testament uses that familiar phrase, 'the gospel,' and briefly to gather some of the important thoughts which these suggest. Possibly the process may help to restore freshness to a word so well worn that it slips over our tongues almost unnoticed and excites little thought. The history of the word in the New Testament books is worth notice. It seldom occurs in those …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Protevangelium.
As the mission of Christ was rendered necessary by the fall of man, so the first dark intimation of Him was given immediately after the fall. It is found in the sentence of punishment which was passed upon the tempter. Gen. iii. 14, 15. A correct understanding of it, however, can be obtained only after we have ascertained who the tempter was. It is, in the first place, unquestionable that a real serpent was engaged in the temptation; so that the opinion of those who maintain that the serpent is only …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Of this Weakness of His, He Saith in Another Place...
13. Of this weakness of his, he saith in another place, "We made ourselves small among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children." [2510] For in that passage the context indicates this: "For neither at any time," saith he, "used we flattering words, as ye know, nor an occasion of covetousness; God is witness: nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others when we might have been burdensome to you as the Apostles of Christ: but we made ourselves small among you, even as a nurse cherisheth …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

Wherefore they who Say that the Marriages of Such are not Marriages...
13. Wherefore they who say that the marriages of such are not marriages, but rather adulteries, seem not to me to consider with sufficient acuteness and care what they say; forsooth they, are misled by a semblance of truth. For, whereas they, who of Christian sanctity marry not, are said to choose the marriage of Christ, hence certain argue saying, If she, who during the life of her husband is married to another, be an adulteress, even as the Lord Himself hath laid down in the Gospel; therefore, …
St. Augustine—On the Good of Widowhood.

The Godly are in Some Sense Already Blessed
I proceed now to the second aphorism or conclusion, that the godly are in some sense already blessed. The saints are blessed not only when they are apprehended by God, but while they are travellers to glory. They are blessed before they are crowned. This seems a paradox to flesh and blood. What, reproached and maligned, yet blessed! A man that looks upon the children of God with a carnal eye and sees how they are afflicted, and like the ship in the gospel which was covered with waves' (Matthew 8:24), …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Paul at Corinth
'After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; 2. And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them. 3. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tent-makers. 4. And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. 5. And when Silas and Timotheus …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

For not Even Herein Ought Such as are Married to Compare Themselves with The...
10. For not even herein ought such as are married to compare themselves with the deserts of the continent, in that of them virgins are born: for this is not a good of marriage, but of nature: which was so ordered of God, as that of every sexual intercourse whatever of the two sexes of human kind, whether in due order and honest, or base and unlawful, there is born no female save a virgin, yet is none born a sacred virgin: so it is brought to pass that a virgin is born even of fornication, but a sacred …
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

But when He Might Use to Work, that Is...
15. But when he might use to work, that is, in what spaces of time, that he might not be hindered from preaching the Gospel, who can make out? Though, truly, that he wrought at hours of both day and night himself hath not left untold. [2518] Yet these men truly, who as though very full of business and occupation inquire about the time of working, what do they? Have they from Jerusalem round about even to Illyricum filled the lands with the Gospel? [2519] or whatever of barbarian nations hath remained …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

Moreover, if Discourse must be Bestowed Upon Any...
21. Moreover, if discourse must be bestowed upon any, and this so take up the speaker that he have not time to work with his hands, are all in the monastery able to hold discourse unto brethren which come unto them from another kind of life, whether it be to expound the divine lessons, or concerning any questions which may be put, to reason in an wholesome manner? Then since not all have the ability, why upon this pretext do all want to have nothing else to do? Although even if all were able, they …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

Which Thing Whoso Thinks Cannot have Been done by the Apostles...
6. Which thing whoso thinks cannot have been done by the Apostles, that with them women of holy conversation should go about wheresoever they preached the Gospel, that of their substance they might minister to their necessities, let him hear the Gospel, and learn how in this they did after the example of the Lord Himself. Our Lord, namely, according to the wont of His pity, sympathizing with the weak, albeit Angels might minister unto Him, had both a bag in which should be put the money which was …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

And that which Follows Concerning Birds of the Air and Lilies of the Field...
35. And that which follows concerning birds of the air and lilies of the field, He saith to this end, that no man may think that God careth not for the needs of His servants; when His most wise Providence reacheth unto these in creating and governing those. For it must not be deemed that it is not He that feeds and clothes them also which work with their hands. But lest they turn aside the Christian service of warfare unto their purpose of getting these things, the Lord in this premonisheth His servants …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

That the Ruler Should be a Near Neighbour to Every one in Compassion, and Exalted Above all in Contemplation.
The ruler should be a near neighbour to every one in sympathy, and exalted above all in contemplation, so that through the bowels of loving-kindness he may transfer the infirmities of others to himself, and by loftiness of speculation transcend even himself in his aspiration after the invisible; lest either in seeking high things he despise the weak things of his neighbours, or in suiting himself to the weak things of his neighbours he relinquish his aspiration after high things. For hence it is …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

"The Carnal Mind is Enmity against God for it is not Subject to the Law of God, Neither Indeed Can Be. So Then they that Are
Rom. viii. s 7, 8.--"The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." It is not the least of man's evils, that he knows not how evil he is, therefore the Searcher of the heart of man gives the most perfect account of it, Jer. xvii. 12. "The heart is deceitful above all things," as well as "desperately wicked," two things superlative and excessive in it, bordering upon an infiniteness, such …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Blessed Hope and Its Power
PHILIPPIANS iii. 17-21 The problem of the body--Cautions and tears--"That blessed hope"--The duty of warning--The moral power of the hope--The hope full of immortality--My mother's life--"He is able"--The promise of his coming The Apostle draws to the close of his appeal for a true and watchful fidelity to the Gospel. He has done with his warning against Judaistic legalism. He has expounded, in the form of a personal confession and testimony, the true Christian position, the acceptance of the …
Handley C. G. Moule—Philippian Studies

What the Ruler's Discrimination Should be Between Correction and Connivance, Between Fervour and Gentleness.
It should be known too that the vices of subjects ought sometimes to be prudently connived at, but indicated in that they are connived at; that things, even though openly known, ought sometimes to be seasonably tolerated, but sometimes, though hidden, be closely investigated; that they ought sometimes to be gently reproved, but sometimes vehemently censured. For, indeed, some things, as we have said, ought to be prudently connived at, but indicated in that they are connived at, so that, when the …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

An Essay on the Mosaic Account of the Creation and Fall of Man
THERE are not a few difficulties in the account, which Moses has given of the creation of the world, and of the formation, and temptation, and fall of our first parents. Some by the six days of the creation have understood as many years. Whilst others have thought the creation of the world instantaneous: and that the number of days mentioned by Moses is only intended to assist our conception, who are best able to think of things in order of succession. No one part of this account is fuller of difficulties, …
Nathaniel Lardner—An Essay on the Mosaic Account of the Creation and Fall of Man

St. Malachy Becomes Bishop of Connor; He Builds the Monastery of iveragh.
16. (10). At that time an episcopal see was vacant,[321] and had long been vacant, because Malachy would not assent: for they had elected him to it.[322] But they persisted, and at length he yielded when their entreaties were enforced by the command of his teacher,[323] together with that of the metropolitan.[324] It was when he was just entering the thirtieth year of his age,[325] that he was consecrated bishop and brought to Connor; for that was the name of the city through ignorance of Irish ecclesiastical …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

How to Make Use of Christ as the Truth, when Error Prevaileth, and the Spirit of Error Carrieth Many Away.
There is a time when the spirit of error is going abroad, and truth is questioned, and many are led away with delusions. For Satan can change himself into an angel of light, and make many great and fairlike pretensions to holiness, and under that pretext usher in untruths, and gain the consent of many unto them; so that in such a time of temptation many are stolen off their feet, and made to depart from the right ways of God, and to embrace error and delusions instead of truth. Now the question is, …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Links
2 Corinthians 11:20 NIV
2 Corinthians 11:20 NLT
2 Corinthians 11:20 ESV
2 Corinthians 11:20 NASB
2 Corinthians 11:20 KJV

2 Corinthians 11:20 Commentaries

Bible Hub
2 Corinthians 11:19
Top of Page
Top of Page