Commentary on 2 Corinthians 11:16-33

ST. PAUL GLORIES IN HIS APOSTOLIC LABORS AND IN HIS TRIBULATIONA Summary of 2 Corinthians 11:16-33

 

 The Apostle passes now from the severe condemnation just uttered against his adversaries to a further commendation of his own life and labors. Again (2 Cor 11:1), therefore, he craves the indulgence of his readers to hear him patiently, although he may seem to speak foolishly. He is simply forced to boast of himself because of the boasting of others and the toleration that has been given them. If those others can boast, then he also can boast. They glory in their Jewish origin, but he too is of the seed of Abraham; they vaunt their dignity as ministers of Christ, but he more than they is a minister of Christ. His greater sufferings and labors in behalf of the Gospel and the Churches are witnesses to his life and character.

2 Cor 11:16. I say again, (let no man think me to be foolish, otherwise take me as one foolish, that I also may glory a little).

There should be no parentheses here, as all the Greek and Latin Fathers admit. The Apostle is repeating the thought of verse 1, and hence he says, I say again. The meaning is: "I repeat it, let no one think me foolish ; but even if you do (εἰ δὲ μή γε), then bear with me as foolish, that I too (as well as my adversaries) may boast a little. The verse should be followed by a period.

2 Cor 11:17. That which I speak, I speak not according to God, but as it were in foolishness, in this matter of glorying.

The Apostle admits that what he is about to say in his own favor is not according to "the Lord" (icvpiov), i.e., is not in agreement with the general rule of our Lord, who enjoined humility and condemned self-praise in His disciples (Matt. 6:1-6; Luke 17:10; 18:11-14). But that this general rule does not apply in the present instance, when self-praise is needed to counteract the bad influence of his enemies (2 Cor 12:11), is clearly implied in the qualification, as it were, which the Apostle immediately adds. If the self-praise that follows were really unjustified then indeed it would be foolishness and "not according to the Lord"; but St. Paul has just said in the preceding verse that he is not foolish, even though his readers may think him so. Therefore, there can be no doubt about the rightfulness of speaking his own praises here, nor, consequently, of the inspiration of his words.

God (Vulg., Deum) should be "the Lord," Dominion; and gloriae of the Vulgate should be gloriationis.

2 Cor 11:18. Seeing that many glory according to the flesh, I will glory also.

A first reason for his self-praise is given.

Many (πολλοὶ = polloi) seems to include more than the false teachers alone.

According to the flesh, i.e., in exterior, worldly things, such as, birth, wealth, learning, circumcision, Hebrew parentage and the like (St. Chrys.). In these things the false teachers gloried.

I will glory also. The Apostle will show his readers that these things were not wanting to him either.

2 Cor 11:19. For you gladly suffer the foolish; whereas yourselves are wise.

Another reason why he has a right to glory is furnished by the conduct of the Corinthians toward the false teachers, whose foolishness in praising themselves they gladly suffer. Of course they were enabled to do this, the Apostle sarcastically observes, because they were so wise. It is a characteristic of wisdom to be tolerant of foolishness.

2 Cor 11:20. For you suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take from you, if a man be lifted up, if a man strike you on the face.

So extraordinary was the wisdom of the Corinthians that they tolerated far worse things than folly. They put up with tyranny, with extortion, with craftiness, with arrogance, with violence and insult from their seducers. Surely they can bear with the Apostle’s foolishness.

Bondage likely refers to the yoke of the Law which the false teachers were trying to impose.

Devour you, i.e., exact large remunerations for their services (cf. Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47).

Take from you, i.e., ensnare you, by preaching the Gospel for fraud and personal gain (2 Cor 2:17; 2 Cor 4:2; 2 Cor 12:16).

If a man be lifted up, i.e., uplifteth himself, by extolling his descent from Abraham.

If a man strike you, etc., i.e., treat you outrageously (Mark 14:65; Acts 23:2).

2 Cor 11:21. I speak according to dishonour, as if we had been weak in this part. Wherein if any man dare (I speak foolishly), I dare also.

The Apostle sarcastically admits that he and his companions were inferior to the Judaizers in certain respects, such as, in bringing the Corinthians into bondage, in robbing them, and the like. With biting sarcasm he confesses his dishonour, i.e., his disgrace, in being so weak in matters like these.

Wherein if any man, etc. Rather, “Wherein any man dare,” etc. Casting aside all sarcasm now St. Paul says that if there is question of real boldness, at any time, or on the part of any person, he also is bold. He thus asserts his equality with any of his enemies, although his humility makes him call this assertion foolish.

The words in this part (Vulg., in hac parte) are not represented in the best MSS.

2 Cor 11:22. They are Hebrews: so am I. They are Israelites: so am I. They are the seed of Abraham: so am I.

To show that he is in nowise inferior to his adversaries St. Paul now takes up the various points which they, no doubt, had been urging in their own favor. They were Hebrews, i.e., descendants of the Hebrew race (Gen 11:14-15 the word Hebrew means “descendant of Eber”); they were Israelites, i.e., from among the chosen people of God (Exodus 19:5-6; Rom 9:4) ; they were of the seed of Abraham, to whom the Messianic promises had been made (Rom 9:5-8; Gal 3:16). To all these distinctions the Apostle asserts his equal claim.

2 Cor 11:23. They are the ministers of Christ (I speak as one less wise): I am more; in many more labours, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often.

The false teachers had boasted that they were in a special sense ministers of Christ, but St. Paul affirms that he is much more so. They pretended to be διακονοι χριστου (diakonoi christou), but he was so in reality.

I speak as one less wise. Literally, “I speak as one beside himself.” He apologizes for language which his readers may think extravagant.

The Apostle’s greater labors and sufferings are a proof of his superior claims. He labored more abundantly, he was imprisoned more frequently, he was scourged more often, he was exposed to death on more occasions.

St. Paul does not mean his words to be taken in a relative sense, as if implying that his opponents had labored, were imprisoned, had been scourged, etc., but that he had done and suffered more: his words here express an absolute, and not merely a relative excess.

One instance of imprisonment before this Epistle is given in Acts 16:20-40; but Clement of Rome speaks of seven in all (1 Clement 5:6). From the Acts and the Epistles we know definitely of only four: the one at Philippi, one at Caesarea, and two in Rome.

2 Cor 11:24. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one.

The Apostle here and in the following verse gives some examples of his sufferings and exposure to death. He was scourged five times by the Jews. Each scourging consisted, according to law, of forty stripes (Deut 25:3); but in order not to exceed the number the Jews usually administered only thirty-nine, thirteen on the bare breast, and thirteen on each shoulder. The scourge was made of leather thongs. Sometimes these severe floggings resulted in death.

Of these scourgings of the Apostle by the Jews we have no other record.

2 Cor 11:25. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea.

Beating with rods was a Roman form of punishment, and there was no legal limit to the number of blows. Only one of these beatings of St. Paul has been recorded by St. Luke in the Acts (Acts 16:22-23). Our Lord was scourged according to the Roman method (John 19:1).

Stoned, at Lystra (Acts 14:18).

Thrice I suffered shipwreck. We have no other record of this. The shipwreck on the way to Rome was several years later (Acts 27:39-44).

A day (νυχθημερον = nychthēmeron) means a full day of twenty-four hours.

I was. Literally, “I have passed” (πεποιηκα = pepoieka) , as in Acts 20:3.

The depth of the sea (εν τω βυθω = en to bytho). Better, “In the sea.” The term βυθω (bytho) means the deep, the sea. We know nothing further of this incident, but perhaps Theodoret gives the right explanation: “The hull of the vessel went to pieces, and all night and day I spent, being carried hither and thither by the waves.” He was likely clinging to pieces of the wreckage.

2 Cor 11:26. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren.

The general meaning is that St. Paul was often in divers perils throughout his journeyings. Much of the countries through which he passed, especially in Asia Minor (Strabo) was beset with robbers. Waters. Literally, “rivers.” Bridges and ferries were rare in those times, and floods were frequent.

False brethren doubtless refers chiefly to the Judaizers (Gal. 2:4).

2 Cor 11:27. In labour and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

He now enumerates a number of sufferings which resulted from his poverty.

Labour and painfulness very probably refer to earning his own living by manual work (1 Thess 2:9; 2 Thess 3:8).

Fastings coming immediately after hunger and thirst which must have been involuntary afflictions, doubtless means “fastings” freely suffered.

In cold and nakedness, as when robbed, cast into prison, and drenched by floods, storms and the like.

2 Cor 11:28. Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches. .

Those things which are without (των παρεκτος = ton parektos). This is a strange expression. παρεκτος (parektos) occurs elsewhere only in Matt 5:32; Acts 26:29, where it has the sense of exception. The meaning here, then, is perhaps: “things left unmentioned” (St. Chrys., and other Greeks). St. Paul, therefore, is speaking of three classes of sufferings: those which he has mentioned, those which he omits, and those which he is about to mention (Plum.).

My daily instance, i.e., that which daily presses upon me. This seems to be the meaning of επιστασις (= epistasis), the best Greek reading here, followed by μου (= moi). In classical Greek επιστασις (epistasis) means a halt, a stopping for rest (Xen., Anab. II. iv. 26). The Apostle is referring to the ceaseless daily appeals for help, advice, decision in difficulties and the like, made to him by the faithful (Cornely, Bisping, etc.).

The solicitude, etc., his watchful care of all the Churches which he has founded.

All (πασων = pason) might even embrace other Churches than those founded by St. Paul, but certainly can not mean that he had supreme jurisdiction over all Christendom.

2 Cor 11:29. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?

Two illustrations are now given of the Apostle’s solicitude for the Churches. New converts were sometimes naturally weak in faith, conduct or the like (1 Cor 8:10-13), and St. Paul made their trials his own in order to strengthen them. Some, too, were easily scandalized, i.e., led into sin by others’ example, and this gave the ardent Apostle intense pain (1 Cor 12:26). We have to determine the exact meaning of πυρουμαι (= pyroumai), I am on fire, from the context, which here is in favor of keen pain rather than of indignation, although the latter is not excluded.

2 Cor 11:30. If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity.

The present verse is closely connected with what has preceded (2 Cor 11:23-29) and with what follows, and it refers to both. Since his adversaries, by their own conduct, force the Apostle to boast, he will not glory, as they do, in his birth, prosperity, ancestry, or the like, but rather in his infirmities.

2 Cor 11:31. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever, knoweth that I lie not.

Lest his readers may be growing doubtful of all he has said and is going to say, the Apostle now solemnly swears by the Father Almighty that what he is saying is true.

The God and Father, etc. See on 1 Cor. 15:24.

Who is blessed for ever refers to the Father.

Our (Vulg., nostri) and “Christ” (Vulg., Christi) are not represented in the best Greek MSS.

2 Cor 11:32. At Damascus, the governor of the nation under Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes, to apprehend me.

In this and in the following verse we have an example of those abrupt transitions so characteristic of this letter. To say that they are therefore a gloss and are to be omitted, as some Rationalists do, is absurd. Perhaps the Apostle’s enemies had pointed to his flight from Damascus and to his visions (2 Cor 12:1) as proofs that he was both a coward and a mad man, and this would explain why he takes up those two incidents.

Damascus . . . the city of the Damascenes (Acts 9:23-25), the capital of Syria, goes back to the days of Abraham (Gen 14:15) and was founded by Uz, grandson of Sem (Josephus, Antiq. L. vi. 4). It is situated at the eastern foot of the Anti-Libanus on the high road of commerce between Egypt and Upper Syria and between Tyre and the Far East.

The governor, etc. Literally, “The ethnarch of Aretas the king.” Aretas IV was King of Arabia Nabataea 9 B.C. to 40 a.d., with Petra as his capital. His daughter was married to Herod Antipas, and was afterwards divorced by Herod for the sake of a marriage with Herodias (Mark 6:17). How Damascus was subject to the Arab King shortly after St. Paul’s conversion is not easy to explain; for Syria was a Roman province from some time before the Christian era until 33 a.d., as is proved by the fact that Damascene coins from 30 B.C. to 33 a.d. bear the name of Augustus or of Tiberius. These coins are wanting from 34 to 62 a.d., but after 62 we have them with Nero’s name.

We know from Josephus (Antiq. xviii. 4, 5) that Herod Antipas and Aretas became bad friends when Herod divorced the latter’s daughter in order to marry Herodias, and that in a battle over some frontier disputes around 32 a.d. Aretas completely defeated Herod. A few years later, in 37 a.d., Caligula became Emperor. He disliked Antipas, and perhaps showed his antipathy by giving Damascus over to his enemy Aretas. This would explain how the latter was governor of that city when St. Paul had to fly from it.

Guarded the city, etc. St. Luke (Acts 9:24) says that the Jews “watched the gates day and night, that they might kill him,” but this is no contradiction of the present passage. Since it was the Jews who moved the ethnarch to persecute St. Paul they would naturally watch the gates of the city together with Aretas’ guards because they had determined to kill the Apostle (Acts 23:12).

2 Cor 11:33. And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands.

This same incident is narrated in Acts 9:23-25.

A window. Literally, “an aperture” (θυριδος = thyridos). An opening in the wall around the city of Damascus is still shown as the place.

The flight from Damascus probably took place after St. Paul’s return from Arabia (Gal 1:17). If St. Luke seems to make it follow soon after the Apostle’s conversion, it is because he omits explicit mention of the retirement to Arabia, although he leaves room for it (cf. Acts 9:19).