Knowing God through His Word … Day by Day

Coty Pickney, in a sermon on 2 Corinthians 11:16-33, “Boasting in Weakness”

Here Paul says, “They are very foolish to have a boastful confidence, to be proud of themselves in a worldly way. But please, given that you have foolishly listened to them – even though they are enslaving you! – bear with me as I act foolish like them.”

Having said that he would boast foolishly, in verses 22 and 23a he does so:

22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one- I am talking like a madman-

Do you see what Paul is boasting in, and why that is foolish? He first boasts in his ancestry. He is a Hebrew, an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham. But John the Baptist already showed that such boasting was nonsense:

And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Matthew 3:9

Ancestry means nothing. God can create descendants of Abraham any time He wishes.

Paul’s second foolish boast is that he is a great servant of Christ – a better servant than they are. Such boasting about who is a better servant, about who as accomplished more, is foolish.

But when Paul continues writing, he no longer boasts foolishly. For the evidence he provides here does not concern pedigree or personal accomplishment but concerns his failures! Indeed, Paul now boasts of the very suffering that his opponents have used against him:

23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one- I am talking like a madman- with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, 33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.

Paul was almost killed, he was imprisoned, he was shipwrecked, he was always in danger, he was without sustenance, he was exposed to the elements, he was anxious for the welfare of the churches he planted. He is weak – and, indeed, his whole Christian life began with an act of weakness, his blindness. So he says, “I will boast of the things that show my weakness.” This is in marked contrast to the slick, professional, successful false apostles.