2 Corinthians 11:20

And, these intervening points having accordingly been got rid of, I return to the second of Corinthians; in order to prove that this saying also of the apostle, “Sufficient to such a man be this rebuke which (is administered) by many,” is not suitable to the person of the fornicator. For if he had sentenced him “to be surrendered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,” of course he had condemned rather than rebuked him. Some other, then, it was to whom he willed the “rebuke” to be sufficient; if, that is, the fornicator had incurred not “rebuke” from his sentence, but “condemnation.” For I offer you withal, for your investigation, this very question: Whether there were in the first Epistle others, too, who “wholly saddened” the apostle by “acting disorderly,” and “were wholly saddened” by him, through incurring (his) “rebuke,” according to the sense of the second Epistle; of whom som …

12. In the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, again, he refutes certain false apostles who had gone out from the Jews, and had been trying to injure his character; and being compelled to speak of himself, though he ascribes this as folly to himself, how wisely and how eloquently he speaks! But wisdom is his guide, eloquence his attendant; he follows the first, the second follows him, and yet he does not spurn it when it comes after him. “I say again,” he says, “Let no man think me a fool: if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little. That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. …

Chapter 92. 200. Petilianus said: "Where is the saying of the Lord Christ, ‘Whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also’? Where is the patience which He displayed when they spat upon His face, who Himself with His most holy spittle opened the eyes of the blind? Where is the saying of the Apostle Paul, ‘If a man smite you in the face?’ Where is that other saying of the same apostle, ‘In stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft’? He makes mention of the sufferings which he underwent, not of the deeds which he performed. It had been enough for the Christian faith that these things should be done by the Jews: why do you, wretched men, do these others in addition?"

58. But it may be asked what the right cheek means. For this is the reading we find in the Greek copies, which are most worthy of confidence; though many Latin ones have only the word “cheek,” without the addition of “right.” Now the face is that by which any one is recognised; and we read in the apostle’s writings, “For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face:” then immediately he adds, “I speak as concerning reproach;” so that he explains what striking on the face is, viz. to be contemned and despised. Nor is this indeed said by the apostle for this reason, that they should not bear with those parties; but that they should bear with himself rather, who so loved them, that he was willing that he himself should be spent for them. …

See also again another argument, and this too from examples though not of the same kind. For it is not Peter whom he mentions here nor the Apostles, but certain other spurious ones, with whom he afterwards enters into combat, and concerning whom he says, ( 2 Cor. xi. 20 .) “If a man devour you, if he take you captive, if he exalt himself, if he smite you on the face,” and already he is sounding the prelude to the fight with them. Wherefore neither did he say, “If others take of you,” but pointing out their insolence and tyranny and trafficking, he says, “if others partake of this right over you,” i.e., “rule you, exercise authority, use you as servants, not taking you captive only, but with much authority.” Wherefore he added “do not we yet more?” which he would not have said if the discourse were concerning the Apostles. …

What sayest thou? they that preach Christ, they that take not money, they that bring not in a different gospel, “false apostles?” ‘Yes,’ he saith, and for this very reason most of all, because they make pretense of all these things for the purpose of deceiving. “Deceitful workers,” for they do work indeed, but pull up what has been planted. For being well aware that otherwise they would not be well received, they take the mask of truth and so enact the drama of error. ‘And yet,’ saith one, ‘they take no money.’ That they may take greater things; that they may destroy the soul. Yea rather, even that was a falsehood; and they took money but did it secretly: and he shows this in what follows. And indeed he already hinted this where he said, “that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we:” ( ver. …

Ver. 20 . “For ye bear with a man,” he says, “if he devour you.”

But with an excess of forbearance we do none of these things, that we may stop the mouths of the adversaries. And it cannot be said, that to you we act thus, but not so others. For thus also he said in his Epistle to the Corinthians: “For ye bear with a man if he bringeth you into bondage, if he devoureth you, if he taketh you captive, if he exalteth himself, if he smiteth you on the face.” ( 2 Cor. xi. 20 .) And again, “His bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” ( 2 Cor. x. 10 .) And again, “Forgive me this wrong.” ( 2 Cor. xii. 13 .) He shows there also that he was exceeding humble from his suffering so many things. But here he also says concerning money, “when we might have been burdensome, as Apostles of Christ.”