Bible Strands
2 Corinthians 11:20
In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the Corinthian believers, contrasting their tolerance of false teachers with his own admitted weakness. He speaks this during a moment of sharp rebuke regarding their passive acceptance of spiritual abuse.
The words — The Greek ἀνέχεσθε (anechesthe) literally means "you bear with" or "you put up with," describing patient endurance. καταδουλοῖ (katadouloi) translates to "enslaves," explicitly naming the severe subjugation the believers tolerate.
The thread — The text describes tolerating those who enslave, exploit, or strike them, which parallels Paul's warning in Galatians 2:4 about false brothers spying on Christian freedom. This theme continues in Galatians 4:3 and 4:9, where he contrasts former enslavement to worldly principles with the current call to reject returning to weak elemental forces.
Why it lands — The passage states that believers endure manipulation and physical abuse without resistance, then asks readers to identify what spiritual or relational abuses they tolerate under the guise of patience. It requires a plain assessment of whether passive endurance serves Christ or enables the very exploitation the gospel condemns.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Galatians 2:4 This issue arose because some false brothers had come in under false pretenses to spy on our freedom in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.
- Galatians 4:3 So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world.
- Galatians 4:9 But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
- Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
- Isaiah 50:6 I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle.
- Lamentations 3:30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.
- Luke 6:29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic as well.
- 2 Corinthians 1:24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are fellow workers with you for your joy, because it is by faith that you stand firm.
- 1 Corinthians 4:11 To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.
- Galatians 4:25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.