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2 Corinthians Chapter 11

2 Corinthians Chapter 11

(Underlining marks a quotation/allusion. [Brackets] mark a textual variant.fnWhen two (or more) different copies of an original manuscript disagree on any given word or phrase — addition, omission, word order, etc. — the disagreement is called a "textual variant". ~99% of existing textual variants are either minor (like spelling), obviously not original (often appearing only in a few late manuscripts), or don't affect meaning (like "Jesus Christ" vs. "Christ Jesus"). The ~1% that remain do not affect any central doctrine of Christianity. The BOS Bible only marks significant textual variants that affect the meaning; smaller variants that do not affect meaning won't be marked for readability.  "Love" with a caret ("^love") is agapé.fn"agapé" The Greek words ἀγάπη (agapé, noun), and ἀγαπάω (agapaó; verb) are typically translated "love".  However, unlike our English word "love" – which primarily speaks of affection and feelings — agapé centers on choice and behavior.  It’s the "love" based on will, choice, behavior, and action; not feelings.  (Feelings-based love is the Greek word φιλέω (phileó), which properly means "brotherly love/affection".)  Thus, you could hate someone passionately and still treat him with "agapé".  Agapé "love" is best understood as the pursuit of what is most beneficial to someone or something, regardless of the cost to yourself or the type of response received from the person or thing.  It can also indicate a preference for someone or something over other things. An asterisk (*) indicates a verb in the Greek perfect tense.fnThe Greek perfect tense signifies a completed action in the past with a result and/or an ongoing state that extends into the present. For example, Hebrews 12:2 says in part: "He *sat down at the right hand of the throne of God"; the verb for "sat" is in the perfect tense, indicating that He sat down once (completed action in the past), and also that He remains seated until the present moment (ongoing state).)

Glossary

Note: this glossary is currently a work in progress; entries that do not expand will be added as time permits

Ages/of ages
“ages” and “of ages” are the Greek words “αἰών” (aión, noun form) and “αἰώνιος” (aiónios, adjective form) respectively.  The adjective form is typically translated “eternal”, as in “eternal life”. The noun form refers to a whole time period, (Keizer, “Life Time Entirety”) such as a person’s lifetime (an older Greek sense), an age/epoch (e.g., 2 Cor 4:4), or even time in its entirety, making its meaning similar to “forever” (e.g., John 14:16). The adjective form is similarly context-dependent, and the New Testament context often dictates a meaning similar to “forever” (but not always: e.g. 2 Tim 1:9).  Alternately or additionally, it can indicate the quality of a time period — indicating greatness/severity — like the English idiom “of ages” (e.g. “battle of the ages”). Thus, “of ages” was chosen for the adjective form so that both the time and quality senses remain visible.

Clean/unclean

Covenant

Faith

Flesh

Forgive/forgiveness

Grace
The Greek word is “χάρις” (charis), most often translated “grace”, “gift”, or “thanks”. It was a technical term in the 1st century, referring to the Patronage system in place. The Patron (from “pater” = “father”) would give gifts or do favors (both called a charis). A charis was always given/done freely to anyone who would be grateful for it, and this person then became a “client” of the patron. The clients were expected to reciprocate by telling everyone what the patron had done, and offering their services to the patron whenever the patron needed them. This reciprocal act was also called “charis”, and the ones who reciprocated were “being faithful” by giving thanks in this way. Both were done out of gratitude, not legal obligation. A client who wasn’t faithful and grateful probably wouldn’t receive any more charis from his patron, or any other patrons. The patron was responsible for taking care of all his clients, and making sure their needs were met. New Testament usage typically casts God the Father as a Heavenly Patron, to whom Christians should be grateful and faithful because of the gifts He has given us. (e.g. salvation, provision, protection, etc.)

Holy

Justification

Law (Torah)

Make purification

Pure/Impure

Purification offering
In the Old Testament, this is typically the Hebrew “חַטָּ֖את” (khat-tat); in the New Testament, it’s typically “περὶ ἁμαρτίας” (peri hamartias), which is what the Septuagint (an ancient translation of the Old Testament into Greek) used to translate the Hebrew. It’s traditionally translated “sin offering”, but that translation has less support in high-level scholarship. The Hebrew word can mean “sin”, but it can also mean “purification” (e.g. Numbers 8:7). This offering was used to purify uncleanness, whether or not a sin was committed. Thus, it was required even when no sin was committed, such as after childbirth (Leviticus 12:1-8), for certain diseases (Leviticus 14), etc. High-level, peer-reviewed scholarship dedicated to the field (e.g. Milgrom, Levine, Gane, Sklar, Wright, Gorman, etc.) is largely united on the “purification offering” understanding. The BOS Bible has aligned itself with that high-level, peer-reviewed scholarship in its translation.

Ransom

Redemption

Repent/repentance

Righteous/righteousness

Salvation/save

Soul
“soul” is the Greek word “ψυχή/psuché” and Hebrew word “נֶפֶשׁ/nephesh”. The BOS Bible translates these words as “soul” for consistency, and so the full meaning of “soul” isn’t obscured by different translations in different places. They closely overlap in meaning and are typically translated “soul” or “life”. They refer to the animating force of a living thing, and thus can also refer to its life, or to the whole of any person or creature, including animals (e.g. fish in Revelation 8:9 and Genesis 1). They are frequently used as an emphatic reference to a person’s whole self, including longings, deep emotions, and inner life. (e.g. Ps 42:11) Note: while “soul” has significant overlap in meaning with “spirit”, the words have distinct meanings and usages throughout scripture. For example, lions tear apart a soul in Psalm 7:2, and a “dead soul” is mentioned in Leviticus 21:11; “spirit” has no analogous usages, and it returns to God at death (Ecc 12:7; Acts 7:59). The adjective forms of soul and spirit are contrasted in 1 Corinthians 2:14-15; see also: Hebrews 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Sin

Click to Collapse the Glossary
Paul’s Further Defense

(Parallel teachings: Galatians 1:6-9; Matthew 7:15-20; 2 Peter 2:1-3)

  • 1 O, I wish you were tolerating me in a little foolishness, and yet you do tolerate me.
  • 2 For I’m jealous over you with a godly jealousy.  For I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to the Anointed.fnquotation/allusion to Hosea 2:19-20; Isaiah 54:5; 62:4-5
  • 3 But I fear, lest somehow – as the serpent in his cunning thoroughly deceived Evefnquotation/allusion to Genesis 3:1-6 – your minds might be ruinously corrupted away from the simplicity [and the purity]fn“and the purity” this variant is absent from many later manuscripts in the Anointed.
  • 4 For indeed, if a man coming to you preaches another Jesus whom we didn’t preach, or you receive a different spirit which you didn’t receive, or a different good news which you didn’t accept, you tolerate it well.
  • 5 For I think myself to have fallen short in nothing compared to these ‘super apostles’.
  • 6 But even if I’m unskilled in speech, yet I’m not in knowledge, but we made this clear to you in every way in all things.
  • 7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted?  (Because I proclaimed the good news of God to you freely.)
  • 8 I robbed other church assemblies, having accepted a wage from them for my service to you.
  • 9 And while being present with you and being in need I didn’t burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need.  And in everything I kept – and will keep – myself not burdensome to you.
  • 10 The truth of the Anointed is in me, so this boast of mine won’t be stopped in the regions of Achaia.
  • 11 Why?  Because I don’t ^love you?  God *knows I do!
  • 12 But what I do – and will do – is so that I might cut off the opportunity of the men desiring an opportunity, so that in what they boast about, they might be found just as we also are.
  • 13 For such men are false apostles, treacherous workers disguising themselves as apostles of the Anointed.
  • 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light.
  • 15 Therefore, it’s no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be in accordance with their deeds.
Paul’s Sarcastic and “Foolish” Boasting

(Parallel teachings: 1 Corinthians 4:9-13)

  • 16 Again I say: no one should think me to be foolish.  But even if I’m otherwise, receive me like a foolish man so that I also might boast a little.
  • 17 What I say in this confident boasting I don’t say in accordance with the Lord, but like in foolishness.
  • 18 Since many boast in accordance with the flesh, I also will boast.
  • 19 For being wise, you gladly tolerate foolish men.
  • 20 For you tolerate it if someone enslaves you, if someone devours you, if someone takes from you, if someone exalts himself, if someone hits you in the face.
  • 21 I speak in shame because it’s like we have been weak.  But in whatever someone might dare (I speak in foolishness) I also dare.
  • 22 Are they Hebrews?  I am too.  Are they Israelites? I am too.  Are they Abraham’s seed?  I am too.
  • 23 Are they servants of the Anointed?  I am more so.  (I speak like I’m insane)  In abundant labors, in abundant imprisonments, in wounds beyond measure, and often in danger of various deaths.
  • 24 I received forty lashes minus onefnquotation/allusion to Deuteronomy 25:2-3 from the Jews five times.
  • 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I shipwrecked, I have spent a night and a day in the deep sea.
  • 26 I’m on frequent journeys, in danger of rivers, in danger of robbers, in danger from my nation, in danger from the gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the wilderness, in danger at sea, in danger among false brothers,
  • 27 in hard labor and exhausting work, in frequent sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, in frequent fasts, and in the cold and nakedness.
  • 28 Apart from external things, there’s the pressure of my daily concern for all the church assemblies.
  • 29 Who’s weak and I’m not weak?  Who’s ensnared by sin and I’m not burned?
  • 30 If I must boast, I will boast of things showing my weakness.
  • 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus (the One who is blessed through the ages) *knows that I’m not lying.
  • 32 In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the Damascenes’ city to arrest me.
  • 33 And I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands. CFParallel accounts: Acts 9:23–25

 

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