Forced to answer men who boast about their credentials, Paul presents a record of beatings, prison stays, shipwrecks, hunger, and sleepless nights. He even recounts escaping a city in a basket. Who would offer that as evidence of a ministry worth hearing? Beneath his sharp irony lies a pastor’s daily anxiety for the churches and his grief when believers are led into sin. Paul’s strange account of his qualifications challenges a congregation impressed by power and prestige. What should they have recognized in an apostle who boasts of his weakness?
The Rev. Dr. Jedidiah Maschke of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Carson City, Nevada, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study 2 Corinthians 11:16–33.
To learn more about Bethlehem in Carson City, visit blcs.org.
What happens when Christians turn their pastors into rival teams, take one another to court, and leave their neighbors hungry at the Lord’s Supper? Corinth gives Paul plenty to write about. Questions about marriage, meat sacrificed to idols, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection bring the apostle into the daily life of a church struggling with pride and division. Through it all, he keeps bringing them back to Christ crucified and risen.
In 2 Corinthians, the strained relationship between Paul and the people he loves brings its own painful questions about forgiveness, faithful ministry, suffering, and weakness. These letters give us the treasure in jars of clay, the promise of resurrection, and the assurance that Christ’s grace is sufficient. Join Thy Strong Word as we study 1 and 2 Corinthians verse by verse and hear what God speaks to a troubled church He has called His own.
Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.
Thy Strong Word is graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation. Through the mission gifts of people like you, LHF translates, publishes, distributes and introduces books that are Bible-based, Christ-centered and Reformation-driven. Learn more at lhfmissions.org.
2 Corinthians 11:16-33
Paul’s Sufferings as an Apostle
[16] I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. [17] What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would but as a fool. [18] Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. [19] For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! [20] For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. [21] To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!
But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. [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—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.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
