16 Let me come back to where I started - and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. 17 I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. 18 Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. 19 Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. 20 You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down - even slap your face! 21 I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Corinthians 11:16-21
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 11:16-21
(Read 2 Corinthians 11:16-21)
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.