>> Jen: Good morning, faithful listeners. Today we're going to talk about 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, and finish up this chapter. And this is the portion where Paul describes all of the different persecutions and issues that he has suffered while being a Christian. And we're going to get into that because it's probably a lot more extensive than you think it is.
Once again, today has been a beautiful, beautiful day. And it's been just so lovely how having my windows open and hearing the birds chirping, and it just kind of smells like spring outside. And this is the first taste of spring my little area of Ohio has gotten in quite a while. So I'm definitely taking it while I can get it. And all this wonderful weather has been making me, um, a little bit more
energetic, I suppose. And so I am, um, in the process of getting some new T shirts for the P40 Ministries shopping. One of them is a new take on the lion of Judah tea. So I'm really, really excited about this T shirt, and it should be in pretty soon, and I will let you guys know when it is. But I also have another T shirt I'm going to be offering to you guys as well over on the shop. And once again, these T shirts are the comfiest T shirts you will ever wear.
I have never had a complaint from a single person who has purchased these T shirts because they are so comfortable. And I can attest to that. They are very, very comfortable teas. But I'll let you guys know when all that good stuff comes your way. Let's go ahead and read 2 Corinthians 11:16, through 33. Today, as I usually do, I'll be reading from the web. I say again, let no one think me foolish, but if so, yet receive me as foolish that I also may boast a
little. That which I speak, I don't speak according to the LORD. But as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting, seeing that many boast after the flesh, I will also boast. For you bear with the foolish, gladly being wise, for you bear with a man, if he brings you into bondage, if he devours you, if he takes you captive, if he exalts himself, or if he strikes you on the face. To my shame, I speak as though we had been weak. Yet in whatever way anyone is bold, I speak in foolishness. I am
bold also. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I speak as one beside myself. I am More so in labors more abundantly in prisons, more abundantly. In stripes above measure and in deaths often. Five times I received 40 stripes, minus one from the Jews. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep.
I have been in travels often. Perils of river, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers. In labor and travel, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness. Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on me daily. Anxiety for all the assemblies. Who is weak and I am not weak. Who is caused to stumble
and I don't burn with indignation. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness. The God and Father of the LORD Jesus Christ. He who is blessed forevermore knows that I don't lie. In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas guarded the Damascan city, desiring to arrest me. I was let down in a basket through a window by the wall and escaped his hands. For the past two chapters, Paul's been talking about how silly it is to boast about yourself.
And yet here he is going to boast about himself a little bit more. Because the Corinthians, you know, they have a whole laundry list of problems that
they were allowing in their church. And one of the new problems Paul has now mentioned is that the Corinthians were inviting in these false apostles and these false teachers, and not only inviting them in, but opening up their arms to them, accepting their teachings even though their teachings were wrong, allowing them to walk all over them, allowing them to just take their money and abuse certain members of the church.
The Corinthians were opening their arms wide to these people because these people had impressive resumes, and they were saying all of these great things about themselves, and they were boasting, and the Corinthian church was eating it up. They're like, wow, these guys are pretty cool. They have this really impressive resume. They've done all of these good things. They've, you know, they've studied, you know, under this rabbi or
whatever. And so they were accepting these false apostles with open arms, and it was causing a lot of damage in the Corinthian Church. And so Paul is warning the Corinthians. He's saying, look, it's not about what these apostles have once done, yet that is all you're looking for. So he says in verse 16, I say again, let no one think me foolish, but if so, yet receive me as foolish that I also may boast a
little bit. In other words, Paul's like, I hope you don't think me as foolish because you are inviting all of these fools into your congregation. But even if you do think that I am foolish, listen to me a little bit. And what's really sad about this, you know, the Corinthian church was a baby church. It had only been around for a few years. Paul had founded this church, and yet already the Corinthians had completely rejected Paul for all of these new teachings.
And these new people coming in, trying to take, uh, advantage of the Corinthians, and they started believing these lies about Paul. They started thinking, oh, Paul is just a weak man. He just wants our money. He's really a worldly man. He's ugly. He's not very articulate. He can't speak very well. You know, all of these cruel things are getting back to Paul, and of course, it's beginning to hurt Paul's feelings. And apparently the Corinthians also thought Paul was a foolish
man. So Paul's like, I hope you don't think that I am foolish, but since you're obviously very good at putting up with fools, then put up with me as well. And obviously this is very sarcastic. So he says in verse 17, that which I speak, I don't speak according to the LORD, but in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. So Paul's like, I don't
really want to boast about myself. I don't think it's of God to boast about yourself, but because that's the only thing that's going to get through to you guys about the nature of Jesus, then fine, I will boast about myself, since that is what you clearly want. All you want are these people who can talk a big game, these bold people coming into your church, spreading lies. So apparently, that's the only thing that can get through to you. So let
me give you my resume. Now, he says, seeing that many boast after the flesh, I will also boast for you. Bear with the foolish, gladly being so wise for you, bear with a man if he brings you into bondage, if he devours you, if he takes you captive, if he exalts himself, or if he strikes you on the face. So Paul must have had somebody in mind when he said all of this, because he's being really specific
here. He's like, yeah, you're putting up with these people who enslave you, who take everything that you have, who take advantage of you, who take control of everything, and who slap you in the face. And Paul probably wasn't exaggerating here because, um, being slapped in the face was something actually pretty common. Back in Paul's day. The Pharisees taught that it was okay to slap heretics in the
face. And that actually happened to Paul once back in the book of Acts, when he was in trial in front of the Jewish leaders. The high priest at the time actually commanded one of his servants to go and punch Paul directly in the face. And so Paul got punched in the face because the high priest didn't like what Paul was saying. So this was a common abuse tactic that would be used in
Paul's day. And so whoever the Corinthian church was inviting in was not only taking advantage of them, taking control of everything, but was possibly slapping many, uh, like literally slapping many of them in the face. And Paul's like, you're putting up with that sort of foolishness. So put up with a little bit of my foolishness for a second, since you guys are so wise. But verse 21 is kind of funny. It says, I'm ashamed to say we've been too weak
to do what these other people are doing. So he says, you know, you guys think that I'm a weak person. I'm sorry, I'm too weak to take advantage of you guys the same way that these false apostles are taking advantage of you guys. I'm too weak to do any of that. But continuing on in verse 22, he says, Are, uh, these people Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Now, this is something that the Israelites would boast about back in
Paul's day. They would say, I am a, uh, genuine Israelite. I am born from this tribe. I am the son or daughter of Abraham, and you should respect me because I was born Israelite. And of course, since the Corinthians were mostly Gentile, they probably thought that that was pretty cool that somebody with that kind of background wanted to come and minister to their church. And so these false apostles would come in and they'd be like, I am from the tribe of Judah, and I have this
lineage. You know, I'm related to David. And they would come in, like, bragging about their heritage to the Corinthians. And so the Corinthians would be like, wow, you know, a descendant of David wants to come and preach to us. How
cool is that? So then they would accept this false prophet in, and then the false prophet would just preach something that was anti God, anti Scripture, anti Jesus, or would take control of everything, or would spread legalism, or would, uh, exploit the Corinthian Christians or take money from them, or slap them in the face and call them heretics. And the Corinthians were totally fine. They are putting up with all of this just because this false prophet spoke a big game.
So Paul says, okay, you're accepting these people in because they are Hebrews. Well, so am I. You're accepting them in because they're Israelites. Well, so am I. You're accepting them in because they are offsprings from Abraham. So am I. You're accepting them in because they're claiming to be servants of Christ. He says, I am even more so. And here's why in labors more abundantly in prisons, more abundantly in stripes above measure,
in deaths often. So Paul says, you Corinthians, are these false apostles that you are letting in, truly living out the lifestyle of one who belongs to Christ? Have they ever been imprisoned for the Gospel? No, but I have. Have they ever been persecuted because of the Gospel? No, but I have. Have they ever gotten whipped by the Jewish leaders? No, but I have. In stripes above measure
is what Paul says in verse 23. Paul's about to go into his history with different persecutions and troubles that he suffered. But when Paul wrote second Corinthians, he was in Macedonia on his third missionary trip before he even went to prison for the long term. Second Corinthians was written around the fall of A.D. 57, right around the same time detailed in Acts 16 through Acts 20. And yet, if you look at the book of Acts, hardly any of it talks about these persecutions
that Paul encountered. Meaning that the Book of Acts only scratches the surface of the issues that Paul dealt with. And here's what he goes into. He says in verse 24, five times I received 40 stripes, minus one from the Jews. Acts doesn't recall any of those whippings. But what These were, were 39 lashes, 39 whips that Paul would have had to endure. And he endured those on five separate occasions. Can you imagine getting your back whipped with a whip 39 times and
not bleeding out and not going into shock? I was watching a little bit about how the Passion of the Christ was made, and there's a scene where, you know, Jesus is getting whipped by the Cat o'nine tails. And apparently the actor. I forget his name. I'm sorry, but the actor of Jesus had, like, this board attached to his back that obviously the camera couldn't see. And so when the guy who played the Roman official went to whip him, he would whip the board instead of the actor's
back. But what happened was the whip was kind of hard to control. And the guy who played Jesus actually got whipped once with the cat o nine tails. And he said it was the most painful thing he ever experienced. He almost passed out right there. So can you imagine Paul? I don't know if this was a cat o9 tails. I doubt it. It was probably like a normal whip. So not as bad as what Jesus had to endure under the Romans, but still getting whipped on
your back. Whereas, like, the. The skin is so sensitive back there. Getting whipped on your back 39 times on five separate occasions just because you're a Christian. That is what Paul had to endure. But that's not it. He says, three times I was beaten with rods. So, uh, on eight occasions, Paul was either whipped 39 times or was beaten with rods, meaning a rod would hit Paul's back instead of a
whip. And the book of Acts does recount one of those rod beatings that Paul got, but not all three of them. But Paul continues, once I was stoned, which Acts does recall that story. Three times I suffered shipwreck. Which Acts doesn't recount any of those three times because the one time that Acts recalls Paul being shipwrecked was actually after Paul wrote the book of Second
Corinthians. So the book of Acts doesn't mention any of these three other shipwrecks that Paul endured, meaning that Paul went through at least four shipwrecks. Because Paul had a very advanced travel record. He was always traveling all over the place. And, uh, apparently there is no other person with as many documented travels as Paul had in the ancient world. That is how traveled Paul
was. way more so than pretty much anybody else at Paul's time because travel was very, very difficult in Paul's day. You either could go by sea very slowly, or you could go by foot or go by, I guess, horse or donkey or something. But even so, no matter what way you traveled, it would be very difficult, which is why people did not travel
very often. Except Paul. He was pretty much the only one that wanted to traverse the world in order to spread the gospel to the farthest corners of the earth, I guess. He says, I have been in travels often. Yeah, no kidding. Perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, and perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers.
Paul's like in every single place that I go, there is perils, he says, because of so many travels that I have experienced. I have dealt with robbers. I have dealt with rivers and seas being unkind to me. I have dealt with my own countrymen trying to kill me and stone me. I have dealt with Gentiles trying to kill me and stone me. I have dealt with perils in the wilderness. I have dealt with nakedness and cold, being dehydrated, dying of thirst, and experiencing sleepless
nights. Now, you might be wondering, though, what was the point of Paul mentioning all this to the Corinthians? Nowadays, it's kind of cool to become a victim. People almost look for ways to make themselves to be a victim. But in Paul's day, that was not cool. It was not cool to be a victim at all. In fact, if you were not rich or wealthy or had a really cool resume of some sort, then you were not blessed by God. It was not cool to be in the situations that Paul was in.
But the reason Paul mentions these situations is because he's saying, look, these false teachers that are coming in and claiming that they are so holy and so godly, have they gone through any of this? But I don't think Paul is necessarily saying he wants these people to go through these trials that he has gone through, or that Christians need to go through the same kind of trials Paul has been through in order to be a
Christian. I don't think that's Paul's point. I think Paul's point is to shine a light on how these supposed Christians, these false teachers coming into the Corinthian church, are only living for themselves. They are greedy individuals who want to take advantage of a young church. And that's the only reason they are claiming to be followers of Jesus. But their track record doesn't prove in any way that they are followers of Jesus because they're just out for their own gain.
Verses 28 and 29 besides those things that are on the outside, there is that which presses on me daily, anxiety for all the assemblies, who is weak and I am not weak, who is caused to stumble, and I don't burn with indignation. So not only is Paul suffering externally by getting beaten and thrown into shipwrecks and, uh, robbed on his way from church to church, but he's Also struggling internally with anxiety and stress over how the Corinthians are
doing. Paul is actually concerned and stressed about what these false teachers are doing to the Corinthians. They're causing them to stumble. And that is making Paul burn with indignation is what it says. So Paul says, to conclude, if I must boast, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness. There's another verse that Paul says that if we must boast, we should boast about our weakness, because when we are weak, then God is strong.
Verse 31. The God and Father of the LORD Jesus Christ, He who is blessed forevermore knows that I don't lie. In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas guarded the Damascan city, desiring to arrest me. I was let down through a basket in a window by the wall and escaped his hands. It, um, might kind of sound disconnected why Paul suddenly brings up that story away from the past, but the story is actually very relevant to what Paul
is talking about. He's saying, look, my ministry started off with somebody trying to kill me when I was in Damascus. Don't forget, Paul actually got converted while he was in Damascus. On the road to Damascus, Paul saw Jesus and was blinded by the searing light that Jesus emitted. And Paul had a complete heart change. He did a, uh, 180. And Paul, while still in Damascus, spreading the gospel as a new young Christian on fire For Jesus is already in danger because somebody wants to kill him for
spreading the gospel message. It happened to be King Aretas who wanted to kill Paul. Now, because Paul mentioned an actual name from history, we now know when Paul approximately got converted because King Aretas was over Damascus from the years A.D. 36 to about A.D. 39. And Paul spent about three years in Damascus after he got converted. Which means that Paul would have been converted anytime from A.D. 33 to A.D. 36. And Jesus died on the cross approximately around the
year AD 33. Which means that Paul would have known about Jesus and possibly actually saw Jesus on occasion and could have even been there when Jesus was crucified. But the point that Paul's trying to make is that as a Christian, he did not have an easy time of it. From the very beginning, he went through trials. These false apostles coming into the Corinthian Church, were they truly living out the Gospel message? And that's the question Paul is asking the Corinthians to consider.
Well, thank you faithful listeners for tuning in to today's episode. And if you enjoyed it, please share it on your social media platforms and tell people that the Bible Explains podcast exists. I always appreciate all of you guys and I'm so excited that, uh, you are still continuing to tune in to this podcast. But faithful listeners, I hope you have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day. I'll let you all go with a happy listening and God bless.