The Hardships of Paul
2 Corinthians 11:22-25
We're going to begin looking at 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 22 and following. You can open to that section in your Bible while I make a few introductory remarks. If I were to title this portion of Scripture, I might title it "Humble Boasting...Humble Boasting." Frankly, boasting and humility are generally mutually exclusive, incompatible if not, in fact, opposites. But the apostle Paul does a marvelous job here of humble boasting. He boasts defending his own superiority to the other teachers and apostles, false apostles who had come to Corinth. And while boasting of his superiority, maintains his humility at the same time. This is a great challenge and Paul feels the tension of being forced to defend himself, being forced really to show himself superior to the false apostles and at the same time not compromise his humility. Doing such a carefully balancing act is not easy and for him was undesirable, even to attempt it, but he finally is forced into it.
In doing so he gives us what turns out to be one of the most wonderful and insightful sections of Scripture anywhere in his writings and, I think, maybe the richest example of humility anywhere in the New Testament, apart from our Lord Himself. Here is the real test of a man's humility, can he be humble when he's boasting about what is true of himself? He is forced here to show his superiority to the false apostles and does so yet never compromises his humility. It is a remarkable, remarkable portion of Scripture.
I don't need to remind you, but for those of you who haven't been here, just briefly to say this. Second Corinthians was written to the church of Corinth by Paul in defense of his ministry because some false apostles had come in preaching a different gospel, a different Jesus. They were agents of Satan. They were disguised as ministers of light. They were disguised as servants of righteousness. They were the agents of hell and false doctrine. They brought in damning lies. The Corinthians were seduced by them, began to believe them, give them the pulpit, let them preach and teach. Paul confronts that, deals with it the best he can with a personal letter, even a visit. And when he starts to see things turn back toward him, he writes this letter to affirm permanently in their minds his credibility. Remember, the false apostles in order to gain a hearing had to discredit Paul because the people loved Paul. Paul had founded their church, spent nearly two years with them and he had been their teacher. He was the servant of God and the messenger of the truth. And so in order for them to teach their lies, they had to destroy Paul and so they assassinated his character every way they could. It was successful in the minds of some people and they had turned from Paul to the false apostles forcing Paul, finally, to this self-defense. Now he has been throughout 2 Corinthians saying a lot of things about the nature of his ministry, the character of his ministry, the character of his life. He's been answering a lot of the accusations but finally here in 2 Corinthians 11:22 he actually compares himself to the false apostles. Heretofore he hasn't done that, but here he does it in no uncertain terms. And the purpose of this section, and actually begins in verse 22 and runs all the way down to verse 13 of chapter 12, so it's a long section, the purpose of this section is to show Paul as superior, he is better than the false apostles. That's a hard thing for him to do because he's more comfortable talking about himself as the chief of sinners, does not like to talk about his superiority, even though it is true. He won't say more than is true, he made that very clear back in chapter 10 verses 13 to 15. He won't speak beyond what he ought to say. He won't overstate the case. He will speak truthfully but even speaking truthfully about what is true about him, about his real and genuine superiority is a hard thing for him to swallow. But the whole necessary defense must be done.
Now he's had a hard time getting started. Starting in chapter 10 he could have just launched into the comparison, but in verse 12 he said, "We're not bold to do this." We're not bold or eager or anxious to burst into this comparison. And so starting in chapter 10 verse 12 clear through chapter 11 verse 21 he's been giving a series of disclaimers, in effect saying...this is foolish...this is fleshly...this is forced and I don't want to do it. And he's just been saying that over and over with all those disclaimers. He wants us to understand how distasteful it is for these false teachers to set an agenda for him that forces him to have to brag about himself. He doesn't like that. He doesn't have a model in Jesus doing that and he doesn't like to have to follow a model set by false teachers. But he has no choice. It is foolish. It is fleshly. It is forced. But it is necessary. It's necessary to preserve the gospel. It's necessary to protect the church. It's necessary to honor the Lord. He must show that he is superior to the false apostles so that they will be rejected and with the rejection of those men, the rejection of their lying message. It is distasteful. It is necessary.
Finally...finally we come to verse 22 and he is ready to present his apostolic credentials. And as I said, in doing so he gives us a powerful example of humility because he shows us humility in the midst of necessary boasting.
Now the section that we're going to look at really is a fascinating one. We're just going to get in to verses 22, 23, 24 and 25 briefly this morning. There's a distinction between verse 22 and the rest of the passage and I'll show you what it is. In verse 22, would you notice three times he says "so am I...so am I...so am I." However, in verse 23 he says, "I more so in far more, far more," there's a very great distinction there. In verse 22 he shows where he's equal with the false apostles. In verse 23 and following he shows where he is superior to them. So he starts out by talking about where they're equal...so am I...so am I...so am I he says in verse 22. Are they Hebrews? Are they Israelites? Are they descendants of Abraham? I am too. There is equality there and a necessary equality because apostles needed to be racially in that heritage. But then in verse 23 he launches into his superiority, "I more so.." and from then on down to the end of verse 13 in chapter 12 he shows his superiority, but he starts with his equality. Verse 22 then puts him on an equal footing with them in terms of heritage. Look at it.
"Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I." It may well have been, by the way, that the false apostles were questioning this. It may well have been that they had spread some lies about Paul not having the right racial credentials. In fact, they may have said that since he was born in Tarsus he really didn't fit. All...all the original twelve apostles were Jews, therefore they were all Israelites, they were descendants from Jacob. They were all children of Abraham because, of course, Jacob came from Abraham. So they were all descendants of Abraham. They were all Israelites. And they were all Hebrews. That is to say they were of the nationality of the Hebrews and they spoke the language which is called Hebrew. So they would be classified then as Jews and Palestinian Jews as opposed to Greek Jews that spoke Greek or something else. They were all true Jews, Palestinian Jews. And with the exception of Judas, by the way, they were all Galileans. They all came from the northern part of Palestine known as Galilee which is the more rural part, being north of the great metropolis of Jerusalem.
So all the apostles were Jews. All of them were Palestinian Jews and with the exception of Judas who was certainly disqualified as an apostle, all of them were Galilean Jews. Any one then claiming to be an apostle would have to show that he was a Jew and that he was a true Jew, a Palestinian Jew. The false apostles may have been accusing Paul of not fitting the qualifications of being an apostle because he was born in Tarsus which is a Gentile city and therefore indicating he did not belong. Tarsus, by the way, was in Cilicia which is along the northern part of the Mediterranean where modern Turkey exists today, it's outside Palestine and therefore they may have been accusing him of being an intruder into the apostolic realm since he didn't have a birthright credential.
Well Paul wants to answer that. It is right, true apostles are ethnically pure, Aramaic and Hebrew-speaking Jews of Palestine rather than Greek-speaking Jews of the dispersion. But Paul is going to answer that question and here's how he does it. "Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I." It's really three ways of saying the same thing, although we could break it up a little bit.
Hebrews sort of refers to the Jewish people ethnically and linguistically. They are the Hebrew people who basically are associated with the Hebrew language. The root of that is probably from Eber. In the genealogy of Genesis 11 verses 15 to 17 as you go through the genealogy of the Jewish people, there is a person there by the name of Eber of whom Abraham is a descendant. Eber probably is the one who contributed Ebrew which was the name given first to Abraham in Genesis 14:13. So it probably goes back to the fact that he was a descendant from Eber.
Foreigners used it of the Jews. They called them Hebrews, descendants of Eber, and the Jews also used it of themselves. You'll find that in Genesis 40, and Genesis 43. Both the Jews used it and others used it of them as well. They accepted it as a moniker that stuck.
Paul born in Tarsus, however, was still a Hebrew in every sense. In Philippians 3:5 he calls himself "a Hebrew of Hebrews." Which means when it came to nationality and it came to ethnicity and it came to linguistics, he was every bit a Hebrew. He knew Aramaic. He lived his whole life in Palestine. And he followed all the Hebrew traditions to the very letter, fastidious to the max, even being a Pharisee. This apparently was an issue in his life because he mentions it in Acts 22 and verse 3, "I am a Jew," he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, it says. "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city," meaning Jerusalem, educated under Gamaliel who was the premier teacher of the Jewish law of his day, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you are all today. So he says...Look, he has been teaching in Hebrew, I am a Jew, I was born outside of Palestine but I've been brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, educated strictly as a Pharisee according to the law, zealous for God, etc.
In the twenty-sixth chapter of Acts and verses 4 and 5 he gives a similar defense of himself. He says, "So then all Jews know my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem." So obviously he was born in Cilicia but very early...very early as a very young child came to Jerusalem. And since they have known about me for a long time previously, if they're willing to testify that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion, and so forth.
So everybody knew Paul. He had been there since he was a very small child. He had been raised, he fit the qualification of being a Hebrew in every sense, ethnically and linguistically. And then he says, "Are they Israelites?" That refers perhaps to their descent from Jacob which speaks of their social life, their religious life and he followed that as well. He was in every sense an Israelite. He was faithful to the society, to the religion of the Jews.
And then he says, "Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I." He was here referring to his covenant identification. Socially, religiously, covenantally, linguistically, nationally, ethnically, every way you cut it he was equal to them. He was within the Jewish culture, following all the Israelite habits of society and religion. He was a part of the theocratic kingdom, he took his identity with God's chosen people in the promised land that God had pledged to Abraham and he was enjoying the covenant privileges and the covenant promises and blessings of God promised to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. So in every area, ethnicity, language, religion, society, theology, covenant promise, he says, "I am equal. I am equal." That's his whole point here in that verse where he says, "I the same," or "So am I," in the English.
If you look at Philippians 3 for a moment you get another place where he affirmed all of these credentials. Philippians 3:4, "If any one has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more." I'm telling you, even as the Jews go, he says, my credentials exceed everybody else's. "I was circumcised the eighth day," verse 5, "of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin," which is a very noble tribe, "a Hebrew of Hebrews," meaning he kept all of the traditions and spoke the language. "As to the law, a Pharisee," there were only about six thousand of them in the world at that time and he was one of them, they were fanatics about keeping the law. "As to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless." In other words, he followed the prescriptions of Judaism to the max. So he had all the right credentials to be chosen as an apostle from the standpoint of birthright, from the standpoint of heritage.
And what he is saying then in verse 22 is, "I'm equal to them in my inherited credentials as far as race and religion goes." But then coming to verse 23 he gets to the real point. And the real point here is to show not that he's equal but that he's superior and this has been hard to come by but he finally arrived and he's now willing to give his defense and it is a defense of his superiority. To the Corinthians should stop listening to the false teachers and turn back to Paul because he is superior to them in every way. And he does this, as I said, in a remarkable way, at the same time maintaining his humility completely.
Now if you were in the situation that Paul was in and you were asked to do this and you were supposed to defend yourself as a true apostle of Jesus Christ and you were to show them you were superior to the false apostles who were ravaging the church and you wanted to make your best case, how would you approach it? If somebody asked you your credentials, what would you say?
Well, you might be expected to say, "Well I've had a tremendous background. I was born in the Gentile world so I have some orientation there. I've been trained here in Jerusalem, I know my culture very well. I have been privileged to sit at the feet of Gamaliel, the most outstanding teacher, he was my trainer. I have had tremendous and immense experience in travel all over this part of the world. I have traversed this part of the world. I have met numerous people. I have rubbed elbows and shoulders with the elite of every culture, the hierarchy of Jerusalem, Gentile leaders, governors and so forth and so on. Later on in his life even kings as well." He could have said, "I have planted numbers of churches. I had gotten to know leading people in various cities and had the privilege of leading them to Christ. And I have...I have watched large masses of crowds be saved under my preaching. I've seen people burn idols and destroy idols in the response to the gospel. I've had an immense impact on the men that I've discipled who are now out preaching and teaching," and so forth and so on. He could have given a lot of credentials like that.
But he doesn't. In verse 23 this is what he says, "Are they servants of Christ?" And the very statement itself makes him sick, so he says, "I speak as if insane," as an aside. What does that mean? Well to call false apostles servants of Christ at all is repulsive to him. So he says, "Are they servants of Christ?" only for the sake of argument. And then he has to add the disclaimer, "I speak as if insane." No false apostle is a true servant of Christ, this is just for the sake of argument. There's a bit of sarcasm in it and he can't just leave it at that, he has to add, "I speak as if insane." What an insanity to even suggest this for the sake of argument. But are they servants of Christ? "I far more." It's insane to even think of it. By the way, the word "insane" is a stronger word than the word "fool." The word "fool" used in verse 17 and used again in verse 21, fool or foolishness, aphron, aphrosune comes from phroneo which means "to think." The word for insane is paraphroneo which literally means "to be beside yourself," para meaning to be beside or alongside, to be beside your mind. The word phroneo, to think, or referring to the mind, "to be out of your mind," that's where it comes from, or "to be beside yourself," which is another way of saying you're insane. Paul says I'm a madman to even suggest that they're servants of Christ but for the sake of argument I have to say it. "And I more so."
A far better minister of Christ then they are. In what pertained to their birth privileges, he was equal. In what related to the truth of Jesus Christ, he was far superior. And his credentials will now be listed to make his point. First credential, "In far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death, five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I spent in the deep, I've been on frequent journeys and dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the cities, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren. I've been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure."
What? This is an apostolic credential? This sounds like a man who needs to do a reality check on the way he's approaching life. This is a guy who should hear a suggestion about changing his style of ministry. If ever a guy needed to read a book on being seeker-friendly, this is the guy. I mean, this guy is creating havoc every step he takes. In what sense is this a credential, this sounds like a credential to verify what he said in the parenthesis, "I speak as if insane." This would sound like the credentials of a man's insanity. How does he get himself into so many messes? How can a man possibly live such an irresponsible life being imprisoned, beaten so many times he can't count them, living in danger of death, five times having been lashed by the Jews, three times beaten by the Gentiles, stoned, shipwrecked? And then in verse 26, just a long summation of things, and verse 27 as well. What's wrong with this man? How is it that he's living this life and in what sense could this possibly be conceived as evidence of his apostleship?
Go back to Matthew chapter 10 and I'll answer that question. Matthew chapter 10, Jesus calls His disciples together, summons them, verse 1. Empowers them, gives them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, heal every kind of disease, every kind of sickness and they're identified for us in verses 2 through 4. So this is Jesus commissioning the disciples, he sends them out. He says in verse 7, "Go and preach...go and preach the Kingdom." And then verse 16, now this is ordination, this is their commissioning. Here's what he says, verse 16, "I send you out as sheep in the midst of...what?...wolves." That is, folks, right off the bat, a hostile environment, true? I'm just putting you like sheep in the middle of a wolf pack. That is a threatening situation for the sheep. That's how it's going to be. You go out and minister and you're going to be like sheep in a wolf pack. Verse 17, "Beware of men," they are the wolves, by the way, the metaphor is put aside and the reality is now given, "Beware of men, they will deliver you up to the courts and they will scourge you in their synagogues and you shall even be brought before governors and kings for My sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles."
Now He's talking here about the apostles of which Paul was to be one. Paul then is caught up in that prophecy and that pledge. And you want to know something? Paul was a living fulfillment of it, wasn't he? He was like a sheep in the midst of wolves. Everywhere he went they tried to devour him. They tried to eat him. They tried to destroy him. They delivered him to courts, did they not? Don't we see him in court after court after court in the book of Acts having to defend himself, having to answer some magistrate or some governor or some ruler and later on in the book of Acts some king whether it's Agrippa or Festus or Felix or whoever it is? He's always at some tribunal, eventually he's at Rome and he's put in prison there and later on back in prison in Rome again and he has to make another defense and nobody's there with him, as he says to Timothy. Was he scourged? Yes he was scourged, scourged in their synagogues you will be, and Paul was scourged five times and scourgings took place in the synagogues. "And you'll be brought before governors and kings for My sake." That is a prophecy, that's a prophecy Jesus gave of what's going to happen to the apostles. So look at Paul's life and if you want to ask whether he's an apostle, see if he fulfilled the prophecy.
The credentials of the man starts with his suffering cause that's exactly what Jesus said would be characteristic of the life of an apostle. That's what's true of him. Down in verse 34, well go back to verse 19 for a minute, I don't want to leave it yet. "When they deliver you up," literally a word meaning to deliver someone over to a sentencing, "When they deliver you up, do not become anxious about how or what you will speak, it will be given you in that hour what to speak." In other words, I'll be there with you and I'll put the words in your mouth. "It's not you who speaks, the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." This is a promise of inspiration to these apostles. "And brother will deliver up brother to death and a father his child and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. You'll be hated on account of My name," and so forth. "And when they persecute you in one place, go to the next place, just keep going." Verse 24 He says, "A disciple is not above his teacher nor a slave above his master." The point is, "If they persecuted Me, they'll persecute you. I'm your teacher, you're not going to be any different than Me. If I was your teacher and they hated Me, they're going to hate you because you're a reflection of what I taught. If I was your master and they hated Me, they're going to hate you because you're a reflection of what I commanded." Verse 25, "The disciple is going to be like his teacher, the slave is going to be like his master." That's not only true in the terms that you're going to behave like them, but you're going to be treated like them. So that's how it's going to be.
Turn to John 15 and in John 15 you have the pledge of the very same thing in another context. Later on in the life of Jesus He reaffirms these things to the apostles again in John 15 verse 18, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you." Don't be surprised, that's how it's going to be. "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you're not of the world, but I choose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." And then He reiterates what He said in Matthew, "Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master, if they persecuted Me, they'll persecute you. If they kept My word, they'll keep yours also. All these things they'll do to you for My namesake because they do not know the One who sent Me. Because they reject Me, because they reject God, My Father, they're going to reject you because you preach about Me and about God, they're going to treat you the same way they treated Me. They hate My Father," He says in verse 23, "and they hate Me and they're going to hate you."
Chapter 16 verse 2, "They're going to make you outcasts from the synagogue. The hour is going to come when they think that they are doing service to God by killing you." And who did that? Who is the perfect illustration of that? Paul, he was a Jew who thought he was doing service to God by killing believers. He lived on both sides of that pledge. Chapter 16 ends, verse 33, "In the world you'll have trouble. Just remember, I've overcome the world."
Jesus made it very clear to the apostles that there was going to be a life of suffering. They were going to be before courts and judges and trials and kings, incarcerations and beatings. They were going to suffer immensely, they were going to be hated and resisted and resented. And that is the nature of the issue of ministry because what you're doing in ministry is you're taking the truth into the midst of lies, you're taking the message of God into the kingdom of darkness run by Satan and that creates a hostile reaction.
You say, "Well that's a very generic pledge to the apostles and Paul wasn't there." But he was one of the apostles, as you well know, so that certainly could extrapolate to refer to him. But if you want a specific one, go to Acts 9.
And here in Acts 9 is a specific prophecy given to Paul that indeed he would suffer. The Lord speaks to Ananias in whose house Paul was after, you remember, the Lord had struck him blind on the Damascus road and the Lord was working on him. Paul responding. And the Lord speaks to Ananias and says, "Paul is a chosen instrument of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel." And immediately says this, He doesn't say, "I'll show how much success he'll have..." "I will show him how much he must...what?...suffer for My namesake." It's...it's the way it is. And how long did it take? Not long. Verse 22, "Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus was the Christ." And verse 23 tells us, "The Jews plotted together to do away with him." They wanted him dead. And that's the way it always was. It just really never was any different than that.
In the twentieth chapter of Acts, verse 22, Paul says, "I'm on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city saying that bonds and afflictions await me." I mean, that was the way he lived his life. I've often said that when he went into a town he didn't ask what the hotel was like, he asked what the jail was like because he knew that's where he'd end up. I mean, it was the working out of the principle of 2 Timothy 3:12, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." But it was more than that, it was a specific apostolic prophecy. The false apostles had letters of commendation, they said, chapter 3 verse 1 of 2 Corinthians, but Paul had the scars of Jesus. Galatians 6:17, "I bear in my body the marks of Jesus Christ." You want some apostolic credentials? Let me take off my shirt and I'll show them to you, I'll show you my apostolic credentials. I'll show you the scars that I bear because of Jesus Christ.
So the first mark of his authenticity is his suffering. And it just...it was just a constant matter of his life. Chapter 1 of 2 Corinthians verse 4, affliction he mentions, affliction...all...he's only four verses into the epistle. Second Corinthians 1:4, affliction he mentions twice. Verse 5, sufferings abundant. Verse 6, afflicted, sufferings again. Verse 7, sufferings. Verse 8, affliction, burdened excessively. Verse 9, the sentence of death within ourselves. Verse 10, a great peril of