The key to this long section is 2 Corinthians 11:28, which could be paraphrased: “Yes, I have been through many trials, but the greatest trial of all, the heaviest burden of all, is my concern for the churches!” The word translated “care” means “pressure, stress, anxiety.” The other experiences were external (“without”) and occasional, but the burden of the churches was internal and constant.
“We never know the love of our parents for us till we have become parents,” said Henry Ward Beecher, and he was right. When our older son was a tot, he pushed a toy into the electrical outlet and was “zapped” across the room. (We didn’t have the word zap in those days, but that’s still what happened.) One day recently he discovered his own little son playing with the outlet, and father’s explosive response nearly frightened the child out of a year’s growth. “Now I know how you and Mom felt when I was a kid,” he told me over the phone. “Being a parent has its fears as well as its joys.”
Before listing the various kinds of trials he had experienced, Paul was careful to explain why he was “boasting” in this way. Paul never had any problem boasting about Christ and telling of His sufferings, but he was always hesitant to speak of his own painful experiences as a servant of God. Paul and John the Baptist would have agreed: “He [Christ] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). “But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (2 Cor. 10:17).
It was the immature and unspiritual attitude of the Corinthians that forced Paul to write about himself and “glory” (boast) in these experiences. He had begun this section (2 Cor. 11:1) by apologizing for his boasting, and he repeated this sentiment in 2 Corinthians 11:16. In 2 Corinthians 11:17, Paul was not denying the inspiration of his words; rather, he was admitting that, by boasting, he was being very unlike the Lord (see 2 Cor. 10:1). However, he had to do it to prove his love for the Corinthians and protect them from those who would lead them astray.
To begin with, the false teachers were not ashamed to boast, and the Corinthians were not afraid to accept their boasting. “Since boasting is the ‘in thing’ in your fellowship,” Paul seemed to be saying, “then I will boast.” Paul may have had the principle of Proverbs 26: in mind: “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.”
Furthermore, Paul was boasting so that he might help the church, while the false teachers boasted so that they might “help themselves” to what they could get out of the church. Paul’s motive was pure; theirs was selfish. Second Corinthians 11: lists the various ways the Judaizers had taken advantage of the church: They taught a doctrine of legalism
Bondage: that was contrary to the gospel of grace. They “ate up” all they could get in
Devour: the church; they took advantage of their privilege of receiving financial support. “Take you in,” fool you. The
Take of you: image is that of a bird caught in a snare or a fish caught on a hook. “They baited you and caught you!” They exalted themselves, not the
Exalt: Lord Jesus Christ; they loved to be honored and treated as great leaders. This probably refers to verbal
Smite you: attacks rather than physical violence; the Judaizers did not hesitate to “slap them in the face” and embarrass them in public.
Paul ended this exposure of the unspiritual attitudes and actions of the Judaizers by bringing in some more “inspired irony”: “To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!” (2 Cor. 11: niv). The Corinthians thought that Paul’s meekness was weakness, when it was really strength. And they thought that the Judaizers’ arrogance was power. How ignorant the saints can sometimes be.
When it came to their Jewish heritage, the false teachers were equal to Paul; but when it came to ministry for Christ, it was Paul who was the “super-apostle” and not the Judaizers. Consider what Paul endured for the cause of Christ and the care of the churches.
Sufferings for Christ (vv. 23–25a). Had Paul not been an apostle, he would not have experienced these trials. He received “stripes above measure” from both the Gentiles and from the Jews. Three times the Gentiles beat him with rods, and five times he was given thirty-nine lashes by the Jews. Only one beating is recorded in the book of Acts (16:22), as well as the one stoning (Acts 14:19).
Paul knew from the outset of his ministry that he would suffer for Jesus’ sake (Acts 9:15–16), and God reaffirmed this to him as his ministry continued (Acts 20:23). He who caused others to suffer for their faith, himself had to suffer for his faith.
Natural hardships (vv. 25b–33). Almost any traveler in that day could have experienced some of these hardships; yet we cannot help but believe that they were caused by the enemy in an attempt to hinder the work of the Lord. Acts 27 records one of the three shipwrecks; we know nothing about the other two. We wonder how many of his precious personal possessions Paul lost in this way.
Because he was constantly on the move, Paul was exposed to the perils of travel. The Judaizers visited the safe places; Paul journeyed to the difficult places. But Paul was no ordinary traveler: he was a marked man. He had enemies among both the Jews and the Gentiles, and some would like to have killed him.
Second Corinthians 11: describes the personal consequences of all this difficult travel. In my own limited itinerant ministry, I have had the convenience of automobiles and planes, and yet I must confess that travel wears me out. How much more difficult it was for Paul! No wonder he was filled with weariness and pain. He often had to go without food, drink, and sleep; and sometimes he lacked sufficient clothing to keep himself warm.
While any other traveler could have suffered these things, Paul endured them because of his love for Christ and the church. His greatest burden was not around him, but within him: the care of all the churches. Why did he care so much? Because he identified with the believers (2 Cor. 11:29). Whatever happened to “his children” touched his own heart, and he could not abandon them.
Paul climaxed this narration of his sufferings by telling of his humiliating experience at Damascus, when he—the great apostle—was smuggled out of the city in a basket let over the wall (2 Cor. 11:32–33)! Would any of the Judaizers ever tell a story like that? Of course not! Even when Paul did narrate his sufferings, he was careful that Christ was glorified, and not Paul.
We cannot read these verses without admiring the courage and devotion of the apostle Paul. Each trial left its mark on his life, and yet he kept moving on, serving the Lord. “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself” (Acts 20:24).
Paul certainly proved his love for the church.
Now the church had to prove its love for Paul.
May we never take for granted the sacrifices that others have made so that we might enjoy the blessings of the gospel today.