2 Corinthians 11:22 - Meaning and Application

Here the apostle gives a full account of his own qualifications, work, and sufferings. He does this, not out of pride or empty boasting, but to honor God, who had enabled him to do and endure so much for Christ’s cause. He is also showing how much he excelled the false apostles who were trying to weaken his reputation and influence among the Corinthians.

He begins with the privileges of his birth (2 Corinthians 11:22), which were as good as anything they could claim. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, from a family that had not mixed with the Gentiles. He was also an Israelite, descended from Jacob, the beloved patriarch, and he was of the seed of Abraham, not a later convert. This suggests that the false apostles were Jewish by race and were troubling the Gentile believers.

He also mentions his apostleship, showing that he was more than an ordinary minister of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:23). God had counted him faithful and had put him into the ministry. He had already proved himself useful to the Corinthians, and they had enough evidence of his calling. So if they claimed to be ministers of Christ, he was more so.

But he puts the greatest weight on this, that he had suffered far more than others for Christ. This is what he glories in, or rather, he glories in the grace of God that enabled him to labor more abundantly and endure great suffering, such as beatings, imprisonment, and repeated danger of death (2 Corinthians 11:23). When Paul wanted to show that he was an extraordinary minister, he pointed to his extraordinary suffering.

Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, so the Jews hated him for it. They did all they could against him, and the Gentiles also treated him harshly. Chains and prison were familiar to him, and he was often handled like a criminal, though he suffered for righteousness’ sake. The jail and the whipping-post were not strange places to him. Whenever the Jews got hold of him, they showed him no mercy.

Five times he received from the Jews forty lashes minus one (2 Corinthians 11:24). Their law allowed no more than forty stripes (Deuteronomy 25:3), but they usually gave one fewer to avoid breaking the limit. Even that small mercy was all Paul ever received from them. Among the Gentiles, there was no such restraint, and he was beaten with rods three times. One of those beatings was likely at Philippi (Acts 16:22). Once he was stoned in a riot and left for dead (Acts 14:19). He says he was shipwrecked three times, and we should believe him, even though Scripture records only one of those shipwrecks. For a night and a day he was in the deep (2 Corinthians 11:25), likely in some deep prison or holding place as a prisoner.

So all his life he was a steady witness for Christ. It may be that hardly a year passed after his conversion without some hardship for his religion. Yet this was not all. Wherever he went, he was in danger. If he traveled by land or sea, he was in danger from robbers or enemies of some kind. The Jews, his own countrymen, wanted to kill him or harm him. The Gentiles, to whom he had been sent, were not kinder. Whether he was in the city or in the wilderness, he was still in danger. He was in danger not only among open enemies, but also among those who called themselves brothers yet were false brothers (2 Corinthians 11:26).

Along with all this came much hard labor and exhaustion in his ministry. These things will one day be taken into account, and people will have to answer for the care and effort their ministers gave them. Paul knew little of wealth, comfort, power, pleasure, favor, or ease. He was often without sleep, often hungry and thirsty, often fasting, sometimes by necessity, and he endured cold and nakedness (2 Corinthians 11:27). He, who was one of the greatest blessings of his age, was treated as if he were a burden to the world and a plague in his time.

Yet even this was not all. As an apostle, he carried the care of all the churches (2 Corinthians 11:28). He mentions this last, as if it weighed on him the most. He could bear persecution from enemies better than he could bear the troubles and scandals in the churches under his care. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with concern? (2 Corinthians 11:29). He truly sympathized with every weak believer, and he was deeply moved whenever anyone was troubled or caused to stumble.

This should make us see how little reason we have to love the show and comfort of this world. Even this blessed apostle, one of the best men who ever lived except for Jesus Christ, suffered so much in it. Yet he was not ashamed of all this. On the contrary, he counted it his honor. So, though it was hard for him to boast, he says that if he must boast, if his opponents force him to defend himself, he will boast in these weaknesses of his (2 Corinthians 11:30). Suffering for righteousness’ sake is what most of all brings honor.

In the last two verses, he brings up one particular suffering out of order, as if he had forgotten it earlier, or because God’s rescue there was especially remarkable. He means the danger he faced at Damascus soon after his conversion, when he was not yet settled in Christian work, or at least in his ministry and apostleship. This is recorded in Acts 9:24-25. It was his first great danger and hardship, and the rest of his life matched it.

It is also worth noticing that, so no one would think he was exaggerating, the apostle confirms this account with a solemn oath, or by appealing to God’s perfect knowledge (2 Corinthians 11:31). It is a great comfort to a good person that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who knows everything, knows the truth of all he says, and knows all he does and suffers for Christ’s sake.