John Calvin Commentary 2 Corinthians 11:20

"For ye bear with a man, if he bringeth you into bondage, if he devoureth you, if he taketh you [captive], if he exalteth himself, if he smiteth you on the face." — 2 Corinthians 11:20 (ASV)

For you bear with it, if anyone. There are three ways in which this may be understood. He may be understood as reproving the Corinthians in irony, because they could not endure anything, as is usually the case with persons lacking fortitude; or he charges them with indolence, because they had given themselves up to the false Apostles in a disgraceful bondage; or he repeats, as it were, in the person of another, what was spitefully affirmed about himself, as if he claimed for himself a tyrannical authority over them. The second meaning is approved by Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Augustine, and therefore it is commonly accepted; and, indeed, it corresponds best with the context, although the third is no less in accordance with my views. For we see how he was slandered from time to time by the malicious, as if he domineered tyrannically, while he was very far from doing so. However, as the other meaning is more generally accepted, I have no objection to it being considered the true one.

Now this statement will correspond with the preceding one in this way: “You bear with everything from others, if they oppress you, if they demand what belongs to you, if they treat you disdainfully. Why then will you not bear with me, as they are in no respect superior to me?” For as to his saying that he is not weak, he means that he had been endowed by God with such excellent graces that he should not be regarded as ordinary. For the word weak has a more extensive meaning, as we shall see again soon.

It has been the invariable custom, and will be so to the end, to stubbornly resist the servants of God, to become enraged at the slightest provocation, to grumble and murmur incessantly, to complain of even moderate strictness, and to abhor all discipline. Meanwhile, they place themselves under servile subjection to false apostles, impostors, or mere worthless pretenders, give them liberty to do anything whatever, and patiently submit to and endure whatever burden these may choose to impose on them.

Thus, at the present day, you will hardly find one in thirty who will willingly put his neck under Christ’s yoke, while all have patiently endured a tyranny as severe as that of the Pope. These very persons are immediately in an uproar against the fatherly and truly beneficial rebukes of their pastors, even though they had formerly quietly swallowed every kind of insult, even the most atrocious, from the monks. Are not those who have ears so sensitive and reluctant to listen to the truth more worthy of Antichrist’s torturing rack than of Christ’s mild sway? But thus it has been from the beginning.