11:1 Would {1} to God ye could bear with me a little in [my] folly: and indeed bear with me.
(1) He grants that in a way he is playing the fool in this exalting of things, but he adds that he does it against his will for their profit, because he sees them deceived by certain vain and crafty men, through the craft and subtilty of Satan.
11:1 Paul and His Antagonists
SUMMARY OF II CORINTHIANS 11:
Compelled by His Opposers to Indulge in Folly. His Jealousy for the Corinthians. Compelled to Recount His Claims. His Unspeakable Sufferings. A Boast in Infirmities.
Bear with me a little in [my] folly. The disparagement of his claims by the false teachers rendered it necessary that he should speak of himself in self-defense. One so forgetful of self and consecrated to Christ as Paul could only do this with a sort of sense of shame. Hence he apologizes for doing so, though compelled.
11:1 I wish ye would bear - So does he pave the way for what might otherwise have given offence. With my folly - Of commending myself; which to many may appear folly; and really would be so, were it not on this occasion absolutely necessary.
11:1-4 The apostle desired to preserve the Corinthians from being corrupted by the false apostles. There is but one Jesus, one Spirit, and one gospel, to be preached to them, and received by them; and why should any be prejudiced, by the devices of an adversary, against him who first taught them in faith? They should not listen to men, who, without cause, would draw them away from those who were the means of their conversion.
