Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Corinthians 11:1

"Would that ye could bear with me in a little foolishness: but indeed ye do bear with me." — 2 Corinthians 11:1 (ASV)

Would to God.—As the words “to God” are not in the Greek, it would be better to treat them as the general expression of a wish: Would that you could bear.

You could bear with me a little in my folly.—There are two catch-words, so to speak, which characterize the section of the Epistle on which we are now entering. One is “bearing with,” or “tolerating,” which occurs five times (2 Corinthians 11:1; 2 Corinthians 11:4; 2 Corinthians 11:19–20). The other is “folly,” which, with its kindred “fool,” is repeated not less than eight times (2 Corinthians 11:1; 2 Corinthians 11:16–17; 2 Corinthians 11:19; 2 Corinthians 11:21; 2 Corinthians 12:6; 2 Corinthians 12:11). It is impossible to resist the inference that here also we have the echo of something which Titus had reported to him as said by his opponents at Corinth. Their words, we must believe, had taken some such form as this: “We really can bear with him no longer; his folly is becoming altogether intolerable.”

And indeed bear with me.—The words, as the marginal reading indicates, can be taken as either imperative or indicative. Either gives an adequate meaning, but the latter, it is believed, is preferable. It is one of the many passages in which we trace the working of conflicting feelings. Indignation prompts him to the wish, “Would that you could bear.” Then he thinks of the loyalty and kindness he had experienced from them, and he adds a qualifying clause to soften the seeming harshness of the words that had just passed from his lips: “And yet (why should I say this? for) you do indeed habitually bear with me.”