2 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 11
Paul’s Boast of His Apostolic Calling. 2 Cor 11, 16–33.
The apostle’s commendation of himself: V.24. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. V.25. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; v.26. in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; v.27. in weariness and painfullness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness; v.28. beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
The apostle now gives a few details to support his contention. Five times, by order of some synagog council, he had been sentenced to the beating spoken of Deut. 25, 3, which incidentally prohibited more than forty stripes, for which reason the Jews, with hypocritical carefulness, applied only thirty-nine blows lest they transgress the letter of the Law.
This punishment was often so severe, as Josephus relates, that death followed. Not only the Jews maltreated him, but the heathen also had sentenced him three times to be beaten with rods. Compare Acts 16, 23. 37. Once was he stoned, namely, at Lystra, on his first missionary journey, Acts 14, 19. Three times he suffered shipwreck, all these occasions being different from that spoken of Acts 27. In one of these cases his life had been suspended by only a thread, since he had been a night and a day in the deep; clinging to some bit of wreckage, he had been tossed about by the waves for almost twenty-four hours before being rescued.
Paul now resumes his proof of the fact that he was a servant of Christ in a higher sense or degree than his opponents. He had made many journeys, the extent of which is merely indicated in Luke’s account; he had been indefatigable in going from one country to another, in order to bring the Gospel to the heathen. On his journeys he had endured perils of rivers, when crossing dangerous torrents; perils of robbers, who infested remote mountain fastnesses, as in the Taurus Mountains in Asia Minor; perils on the part of his own people, the Jews, who often attempted to take his life, as well as on the part of the Gentiles, as at Iconium, Acts 14, 5, at Philippi, Acts 16, 20, and at Ephesus, Acts 21, 31; perils in the city, in populated districts with police protection; perils in the desert, in wild and remote regions; perils in the sea, such as he has just mentioned; perils among false brethren, very likely the Judaizing teachers, who now proved his bitter opponents.
Paul had done the work of his ministry in hard labor and travail, often without an opportunity for sufficient sleep, since he used the nights to labor with his own hands. He had endured hunger and thirst, because he did not possess, or could not obtain, food. He had fasted frequently to inure his body against the hardships of his journeys and labors. He had suffered cold and nakedness, not having the necessary clothing to be provided for all the changes of weather in the various countries. Compare 2 Timothy 4, 13. In this way Paul showed himself an example of a self-denying servant of Christ, for whom no trouble, no labor was too great, whom no hardships could deter, if the object was to serve the Lord.
But Paul endured also burdens and cares which came to him daily in the performance of his duty. He does not enumerate all the difficulties and hardships of either body and mind, but reminds the Corinthians only of the fact that there was the business which he had to attend to day by day, the many details which must be decided by him personally and which naturally pressed upon him, causing him many hours of anxiety and worry, with regard to all the congregations which he had founded.