Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
2 Corinthians 11:1-15, The betrothed virgin, the free gospel and the angel of light
Jealous as a father who has promised his daughter to one husband, Paul fears the Corinthians will be led astray as Eve was; he defends preaching to them free of charge and calls his rivals false apostles disguised as Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
2 Corinthians 11:1-15, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul asks the Corinthians to put up with some foolishness: he has pledged them to Christ like a bride and fears they are being seduced away, as the serpent deceived Eve. He defends his choice to preach to them without pay, accepting help from Macedonia instead, and says he will keep doing so to deny his rivals any claim to equality. He calls those rivals false apostles in disguise, which is no surprise, since Satan himself poses as an angel of light.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/the-satan\/","n":"The satan, the tempter","s":"The accuser, tempter and deceiver of Jewish belief, seen as the power behind human and political evil. In the Gospels he tests Jesus and is the strong man Jesus binds, and John calls him the ruler of this world.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/orators-and-sophists\/","n":"Orators, rhetoric and boasting","s":"Public speaking was the great skill of the Greek city. Traveling orators performed for crowds and gathered paying students, audiences judged them on voice and gesture as well as argument, and the fans of rival speakers boasted of their own man against the rest.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/patrons-and-benefactors\/","n":"Patrons, clients and benefactors","s":"Favors in the Roman world came with strings. A patron gave help and protection, the client paid it back in loyalty and public honor, and rulers who gave gifts to the public were hailed as benefactors.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/working-with-your-hands\/","n":"Manual work and the leisured class","s":"The well-to-do despised people who worked with their hands. A respectable teacher was expected to live on a patron, on fees or even on begging, so an apostle who made tents for his keep looked low class.","r":""}
Fathers normally arranged their daughters' marriages and were responsible for their virginity until the wedding (Deuteronomy 22:15-21), and the Bible pictures God as Israel's husband (Keener and his notes; the ESV Study Bible). Keener notes that other commentators see Paul as the best man rather than the father; the CSB Study Bible makes Paul the father, the church the daughter and Christ the groom. Paul casts his rivals as men who corrupt a betrothed virgin, a crime punished by banishment under Roman law and by death under Old Testament law (Keener and his notes). Jewish tradition often identified the Eden serpent with Satan (Wisdom of Solomon 2:24), and one tradition, hard to date, has Satan deceive Eve by appearing as a good angel (Keener and his notes). Arnold calls the rivals polished orators who styled themselves apostles, apparently claimed authority from Jerusalem, and publicly scorned Paul, and he writes that "Paul regarded Satan as the master of masquerade and deceit." In this culture "a rejection of someone's gift was also a rejection of friendship" (the cultural backgrounds notes), and the Philippians probably supported Paul in Corinth (Keener).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to 2 Corinthians 11:1-15, and on 11:2, 11:3, 11:5-6 and 11:9
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 2 Corinthians 11:2, 11:3, 11:6, 11:7 and 11:9
- ESV Study Bible, study note on 2 Corinthians 11:2
- CSB Study Bible, note on 2 Corinthians 11:2-3
- Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness, ch. 9, Deceived by Servants of Satan (2 Cor 10-13)
