Dwell in the Word: 2 Corinthians 11:16-33

Consider these questions as you dwell in 2 Corinthians 11:16-33:

1. Paul boasts about his weaknesses and hardships, highlighting his sufferings in ministry. In today's culture, there's often pressure to present strength and success. How can Christians embrace and articulate their weaknesses without feeling ashamed or inadequate in a world that values prowess and accomplishment?

2. Paul's boasting centered on his sufferings and the ways God's strength was revealed through his weaknesses. How can believers today find a balance between acknowledging their limitations while embracing God's strength and grace in their lives?

3. The passage emphasizes boasting in weaknesses rather than in worldly accomplishments. How might this perspective reshape the way Christians perceive personal achievements and successes, encouraging a focus on God's grace and power working through human frailty?

Transcript:

Here we see Paul continuing to address this idea of the Super Apostles, these people who are claiming to be better than Paul. He is going to do some boasting of his own, and he decides to, as he says, boast according to the flesh. And he starts out bringing himself at an equal level. He goes through the genetic line here. Are the Hebrews, are the Israelis, are the offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? Well, this is where he starts to really talk about why he sees himself as a better servant of Christ. And this is why he says he's talking like a mad man, because this is not something that the average person of the world that they would see as a reason for boasting. Look at the things that he decides to boast about. Remember, these are things of the flesh. These are things that have happened to him in this life. Five times he received these beatings. He was near death. Beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked. He was drift at sea. He was on all these journeys. And you love the repetition that he uses here, 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.

You get the idea. He's using this repetition of the word danger to drive home the point that what he is doing here is boasting, but by the worldly standards, by the standards of the flesh, he wouldn't be considered to be boasting, but he is concerned about the things of God. And he sees this persecution as a sign that he is faithfully serving Christ in the midst of everything that is going on. He is sticking to what God has called him to do, regardless of the circumstances in hunger and thirst, whether he's got food or not, whether he's cold. But there's always this pressure, he says, as well, this anxiety for all the churches. He is so concerned about the ministry of these churches. This is coming on him hard. And so Paul is saying, Look, these guys are claiming to speak better than me. They claim to have more experiences than me, and we're going to see that in the next chapter. But let me talk about... If they're going to talk about their ability in the flesh, let me tell you what I have experienced in the flesh. And what I have experienced in the flesh, Paul says, is I have experienced persecution, but yet I continue to proclaim the gospel.

And so he's been boasting, but it's boasting about things that no one would have expected him to boast about, and that's the point that he drives home in verse 30. If I'm going to boast, I'm going to boast to the things that show my weakness. He doesn't want to be seen as strong. He's not going to talk about all his extra, super, special wisdom to boast. He's not going to talk about his great rhetorical skills like these Super Apostles. In fact, he's going to concede that stuff. That's what he's been doing. He's fundamentally conceding that, Hey, they may be better speakers than me, but I'm going to boast. But it's going to be boasting and weakness. It's going to be about what God has done. It's going to be about my weakness, but Christ's strength. That is what we see here, and we're going to see that continue as he continues to address the things with the Super Apostles. But what does this mean for us? This is important for us to understand. If we're going to boast, let's boast about the weakness that we have, but how God has blessed us anyway in the midst of it.

Let's boast of how weak we were in our sin and unbelief, but Christ saved us in the midst of our weakness, and he is glorified in that. We're not glorified in that, Christ is glorified, and that is the end goal that we would bring glory to God for who He is and what He's done. So may we be willing to speak of our weakness, and at the same time, trust that God has been good to us in Christ, and so we can boast about what He has done for us.