2 Corinthians 11:19

For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. GLADLY - willingly. Irony. It is a mark of the wise to bear with fools. A plea why they should "bear with" (the same Greek, ) him in his folly - i:e., boasting: ye are, in sooth, so "wise" yourselves (; ); his real view of their wisdom was very different (1 Corinthians 3:1); moreover ye "bear with" the folly of others complacently ()....

19._For ye bear with fools willingly. _He calls them _wise _— in my opinion, _ironically. _He was despised by them, which could not have been, had they not been puffed up with the greatest arrogance (843) He says, therefore — “Since you are so wise, act the part of wise men in bearing with me, whom you treat with contempt, as you would a _fool.” _Hence I infer, that this discourse is not addressed to all indiscriminately, but some particular persons are reproved, who conducted themselves in an unkind manner. (844)...

16-21 It is the duty and practice of Christians to humble themselves, in obedience to the command and example of the Lord; yet prudence must direct in what it is needful to do things which we may do lawfully, even the speaking of what God has wrought for us, and in us, and by us. Doubtless here is reference to facts in which the character of the false apostles had been shown. It is astonishing to see how such men bring their followers into bondage, and how they take from them and insult them....

Verse 19. _YE SUFFER FOOLS GLADLY, SEEING YE_ YOURSELVES _ARE_ _WISE._] A very fine irony. Ye are so profoundly _wise_ as to be able to discern that I am a _fool_. Well, it would be dishonourable to you as _wise men_ to fall out with a _fool_; you will therefore gladly bear with his impertinence and foolishness because of your own profound wisdom....

FOR YE SUFFER FOOLS GLADLY - You tolerate or endure those who are really fools. This is perhaps, says Dr. Bloomfield, the most sarcastic sentence ever penned by the apostle Paul. Its sense is, “You profess to be wondrous wise. And yet you who are so wise a people, freely tolerate those who are foolish in their boasting; who proclaim their own merits and attainments. You may allow me, therefore, to come in for my share, and boast also, and thus obtain your favor.” Or it may mean, “You are so profoundly wise as easily to see who are fools. You have great power of discernment in this, and have found out that I am a fool, and also that other boasters are fools. Yet knowing this, you bear patiently with such fools; have admitted them to your favor and friendship, and I may come in among the rest of the fools, and partake also of your favors.” They had borne with the false apostles who had boa...

AN APOSTLE DRIVEN AGAINST HIS WILL INTO A SEMBLANCE OF BOASTING. EXPOSITION An apology for the "foolishness" of boasting (2 Corinthians 11:1). He is not afraid of comparisons (2 Corinthians 11:5, 2 Corinthians 11:6). He will not recede from his despised practice of teaching gratuitously (2 Corinthians 11:7). A second apology, drawn from the outrageous conduct of his opponents ...

FOR YE SUFFER FOOLS GLADLY,.... They bore with the false apostles, who were fools; were continually proclaiming their folly, boasting of themselves, ascribing that to themselves which did not belong to them, and were puffed up by their fleshly minds; they indulged these men in their folly, and that with pleasure and delight; they not only winked at it, and overlooked it, but were pleased with it: seeing ye yourselves are wise; acting like men who count themselves wise, and keep fools for their pleasure, diversion, and sport. These words may be considered either as spoken seriously by the apostle, and as wondering that they should suffer such fools to go on in their vain boasts, and especially with pleasure; since they were men of wisdom, who were otherwise taught of God, and by the word; they had been made wise unto salvation, and were enriched in all utterance, and in all knowledge; the...

2. ANSWERING HIS ADVERSARIES. HIS BOASTINGS. CHAPTER 11 _ 1. The Danger Through False Teachers. (2 Corinthians 11:1)_ 2. Answering His Adversaries. (2 Corinthians 11:7) 3. His Boastings of Labors and Sufferings. (2 Corinthians 11:16 .) Inasmuch as he did not want to boast, he tells the Corinthians to bear with him a little while he acts foolishly in speaking of himself. It had become necessary to do so in order to answer his adversaries, who were making havoc among the Corinthians, but he looks upon his vindication and boasting as nothing less than folly. He is about to do what he had exposed in others in the previous chapter ...

COMPARISON BETWEEN PAUL AND HIS OPPONENTS (_cf._ 2 Corinthians 11:6). Under the pressure of intense feeling he will break through his inclination and self-imposed resolve of silence, to let his character and his sufferings in the cause of Christ speak for themselves. But in doing so, he makes it clear that he waives all authority of one who speaks in the Lord. Speaking simply as a frail man, he pleads that he may receive at least such a hearing as the Corinthians have given to the other men who have tyrannised over them, exploited them, even buffeted them. If such high-handed arrogance as they have practised be what they mean by strength, then he admits (ironically adding to my disgrace) that he had been weak. The passage which follows (2 Corinthians 11:22 to...

THE PERIL OF SEDUCTION (2 Corinthians 11:1-6)...