2 Corinthians 11:4
Another Jesus, a different gospel
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγέλιον euangelion · gospel
Original
Translations
For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it very easily.
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
for if, indeed, he who is coming preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or you receive another spirit which you did not receive, or other good news which you did not accept—well were you bearing [it],
만일 누가 가서 우리의 전파하지 아니한 다른 예수를 전파하거나 혹 너희의 받지 아니한 다른 영을 받게 하거나 혹 너희의 받지 아니한 다른 복음을 받게할 때에는 너희가 잘 용납하는구나
만일 누가 가서 우리가 선포하지 아니한 다른 예수를 선포하거나 혹은 너희가 받지 아니한 다른 영이나 너희가 수용하지 아니한 다른 복음을 받게 할 때에 너희가 그를 잘 용납하는도다.
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on 2Cor 11:1-4 as a whole
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…
Read the whole commentary →Wesley 2Cor 11:4
If indeed - Any could show you another Saviour, a more powerful Spirit, a better gospel. Ye might well bear with him - But this is impossible.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
What Paul fears for the church in Corinth here is not persecution. It is that someone will come preaching another Jesus, a different spirit and a different gospel, and that the church will welcome it without a second thought.
For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it very easily.
2 Corinthians 11:4In chapter 11 Paul begins what he calls his foolish boasting, and first he explains why. He promised the Corinthians "to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:2), and he fears that, as the serpent deceived Eve, "your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:3). This verse says what that fear looks like in practice. The verses that follow call such preachers false apostles, and warn that "Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14).
The sentence sets two moments against each other. Someone now comes and proclaims (kērussei, present) against what we proclaimed (ekēruxamen, aorist); you now receive (lambanete, present) against what you received (elabete, aorist); and the gospel you accepted (edexasthe, aorist). When something new arrives, the measure is what was received at the start. The gospel, like the spirit, is called , ‘different’: heteron; Jesus is called , ‘another’. Whether Paul kept the two words strictly apart is debated, but in Galatians he speaks of "a different gospel" and then at once says it is "not even a gospel" (Galatians 1:6–7). Something may be called gospel and not be one.
The KJV keeps the two verbs of receiving apart: "another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted." To receive (lambanō) is to take; to accept, , is to welcome. The last clause is read in two ways. The BSB's "you put up with it very easily" renders the present tense, anechesthe, as a rebuke: the Corinthians are too ready to tolerate such men. The KJV's "ye might well bear with him" and the LSV's "well were you bearing [it]" render the imperfect of the Textus Receptus, ēneichesthe, and the KJV's can be heard as a concession.
Wesley takes the concessive reading: if anyone "could show you another Saviour, a more powerful Spirit, a better gospel" Wesley, you might well bear with him; "But this is impossible" Wesley. Either way the point is the same, and Matthew Henry states it: "There is but one Jesus, one Spirit, and one gospel, to be preached to them, and received by them" Matthew Henry.
Another Jesus appeared again in the next generation. Around AD 110 Ignatius of Antioch wrote against those who said that Christ had suffered only in appearance, insisting that He was truly of David's line, truly nailed to the cross under Pontius Pilate, and truly raised Ignatius, Letter to the Smyrnaeans. The name may be the same; if He is not the Jesus the apostles proclaimed, He is another.
Not every new teaching is false, but not everything called gospel is the gospel. The measure to test by is the gospel first delivered: the Christ the apostles proclaimed.
Source
- Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans — c. 110. The earliest text to speak of 'the catholic church'. Chapter 8: let no one do anything of the church apart from the bishop; where the bishop is, let the people be, as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic church.