2 Corinthians 11:4

For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if ye receive a different spirit, which ye did not receive, or a different gospel, which ye did not accept, ye do well to bear with him.

The translation of the last clause cannot be correct; for the very thing Paul wanted to correct was their "bearing with" any false apostle. The true meaning must be similar to the following renditions:

You manage to put up with that well enough (NEB). Ye bear with him (the false apostle) nobly.[16] You put up with that finely.[17]

He that cometh ... "This either designates the outstanding leader among the false apostles, or is a generic reference to all of this group."[18] Since it is not known that there was any "outstanding leader," it is better understood as "any man that cometh" to proclaim so false a doctrine. All of the true apostles were "sent" of God; but the false apostles were mere "comers" who commissioned themselves and were in no sense messengers from God.

Preacheth another Jesus ... It is not revealed in the New Testament exactly what the false teaching was. "Every opinion concerning the character and identity of these false apostles is ventured only in the realm of conjecture."[19] It is enough for us to know that their teachings were unsound, tended to immorality, denied essential truth and were utterly destroyed by Paul's inspired epistles.

As McGarvey said, "These first four verses are an introduction"[20] to the main theme of the chapter; and this verse fits in, according to Dummelow's paraphrase, thus:

My fear is not without reason, for you are certainly very favorably inclined to those who bring a different gospel; but if you can tolerate them, you can surely tolerate me.[21]

[16] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 940.

[17] R. V. G. Tasker, op. cit., p. 148.

[18] Floyd V. Filson, op. cit., p. 393.

[19] Philip E. Hughes, op. cit., p. 358.

[20] J. W. McGarvey, op. cit., p. 226.

[21] J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 940.