2 CORINTHIANS 11 — PAUL'S FOOLISH BOASTING AND SUFFERINGS

Chapter 11 is the center of Paul's "fool's speech" (11:1–12:13), an extended piece of irony in which he plays the role of a boaster in order to expose the folly of boasting. In the ancient world, boasting of one's achievements was an accepted rhetorical practice, and it was what the Corinthians admired in the "super-apostles." Paul shows that he could play this game if he chose, but then he turns it on its head by boasting in weakness and suffering. The chapter has several movements: Paul's concern for the church's loyalty to Christ (verses 1–6), his refusal to take money from them (7–12), his exposure of the false apostles (13–15), the beginning of the fool's boast (16–21a), the catalog of credentials and sufferings (21b–29), and the boast of weakness (30–33). The passage is also a major historical source for Paul's life, listing many experiences that Acts does not record.

Paul's catalog of sufferings is an important historical source. It is independent of Acts, and yet it overlaps with Acts at several points: the stoning at Lystra (Acts 14:19), the beating with rods at Philippi (Acts 16:22–23), and the escape from Damascus (Acts 9:23–25). The latter detail is confirmed by historical evidence of Nabataean influence over Damascus in the late 30s AD, which fits what we know of Aretas IV's reign and the Roman situation at the time of the emperor Caligula. Around AD 96, Clement of Rome wrote that Paul had been in bonds seven times, driven into exile, and stoned (1 Clement 5), confirming that these sufferings were remembered by the early church. A man willing to endure such things, and to say that he did so for the sake of Christ, is an unlikely candidate for a fraud. His sufferings do not prove his message by themselves, but they show that he was fully convinced that he had met the risen Lord.