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2 CORINTHIANS 11:5 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
2 Cor 11:42 Cor 11:6
For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
I do not think I am in the least inferior to those 'super-apostles' — the *hyperlaian apostoloi*, super-apostles (Paul's *ironic* designation), claim *preeminence*. Paul denies *hysteréō*, being behind/inferior, to them. Yet his *comparison* is itself *ironic*: he will prove his superiority not through *pneuma*, spirit-talk, or *gnōsis*, esoteric knowledge, but through *pathē*, sufferings.

Church Fathers on 2 Corinthians 11:5

“For I reckon that I am not a whit behind the very chiefest Apostles,” no longer making comparison of himself with them, but with Peter and the rest. 'So that if they know more than I do, [they know more] than they also.' And observe how here also he shows modesty. For he did not say, 'the Apostles said nothing more than I,' but what? “I reckon,” so I deem, “that I am not a whit behind the very chiefest Apostles.” For since this also appeared to bespeak an inferiority in him,…

Chrysostom · 4th century · Homily 23 on Second Corinthians
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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