ACC ~ 2 Corinthians 11 v16 - 29

OVERVIEW:

In the pretended posture of foolishness (THEODORET OF CYR), Paul boasts of worldly things: his birth, wealth, wisdom, circumcision and popular reputation. He knows that none of these things matter before God, which is why he called this way of speaking foolish (CHRYSOSTOM). He earned his living with his own hands, from early morning until about eleven o’clock, and from then until four in the afternoon he would engage in public disputation with enormous energy. He had been beaten, stoned and shipwrecked, in danger from rivers in winter, in danger at sea from soldiers who in a shipwreck would have killed him rather than risk his escape by letting him swim to safety (AMBROSIASTER). Paul shared the suffering of all the saints (CYPRIAN, EPHREM THE SYRIAN, AUGUSTINE). Such discipline is beneficial not only for bringing the body into subjection but also for showing charity to neighbors (BASIL). Meanwhile, the false apostles rob the Corinthians privately while they exalt them publicly (CHRYSOSTOM).

11:16 | Accept Me as a Fool

APPEARING FOOLISH. AMBROSIASTER: Paul returns here to what he said at the beginning of the chapter. What he is about to say is true, though it may make him appear to be foolish, because these truths redound to his praise. Paul is not really boasting but merely wants to show that others who boast have nothing more to show for themselves than he has, so that if they are worthy of praise so is he. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

11:17 | Boastful Confidence

WITHOUT THE LORD’S AUTHORITY. AMBROSIASTER: God does not approve of boasting, so this mode of speaking does not come from him. But the content of what he is saying is still true. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS. THEODORET OF CYR: Jesus said that when we have done all, we should confess that we are no more than unprofitable servants. This is why Paul says here that he is not speaking with the Lord’s authority. COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 344.

11:18 | Boasting of Worldly Things

CLAIMING SUPERIORITY. AMBROSIASTER: Paul is saying this because some Jewish believers were claiming superiority as children of Israel. To glorify oneself according to the flesh is to claim nobility of the flesh. The Jews claimed this because they are the children of Abraham, who believed in God. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

WORLDLY THINGS. CHRYSOSTOM: What are these worldly things Paul will boast of? His birth, his wealth, his wisdom, his being circumcised, his Hebrew ancestry and his popular reputation. Of course he knew that none of these things mattered in the slightest, which is why he called this way of speaking foolish. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 24.2.

11:19 | Gladly Bearing with Fools

PRIDE IN CIRCUMCISION. AMBROSIASTER: Paul gives the name of fools to those who prided themselves in the circumcision of the flesh. It was because these people were accepted by the Corinthians that Paul wants them to recognize that he too can boast of this. But he does not glorify himself as a result. On the contrary, he points out that such boasting is foolish and worldly. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

RIDICULING FOLLY. CHRYSOSTOM: To boast about such things was a sign of foolishness, and Paul ridicules them accordingly. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 24.2.

11:20 | Taking Advantage

BEARING HUMILIATION. AMBROSIASTER: Paul is referring to certain Jews who were maltreating them because they were uncircumcised. They were claiming high rank for themselves and humiliating everyone else. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

11:21 | Speaking as a Fool

EXALTED PUBLICLY, ROBBED PRIVATELY. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul means by this that he can do all the things mentioned here, but he does not do so. Meanwhile, the false apostles exalt the Corinthians publicly and then rob them privately. But the people seem not to notice, having been deceived by them. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 24.2.

11:22 | Descendants of Abraham

THEIR EQUAL. AMBROSIASTER: Paul is making it clear that he is the equal of the men to whom he referred above. His purpose was to show that the disparaging opinions by which they were judging him were false. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

ISRAELITES. CHRYSOSTOM: Not all Hebrews were Israelites, for the Ammonites and the Moabites were Hebrews as well. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 25.1.

11:23 | A Servant of Christ

PAUL’S LABORS. AMBROSIASTER: The other apostles labored, but not as much as Paul. He used to earn his living with his own hands, from early morning until about eleven o’clock, and from then until four in the afternoon he would engage in public disputation with such energy that he would usually persuade those who spoke in opposition to him. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE APOSTLE OF LOVE. CHRYSOSTOM: No one else has been granted such a love of the Lord as this blessed spirit. I mean, as though freed from the body and raised on high, so to say, and not considering himself to tread the earth, he delivers himself of all these remarks. You see, desire for God and burning love elevated his thinking from material things to spiritual, from present to future, from visible to unseen. This is what faith is like, after all, and love of God. For proof of his sound attitude, see this man, with his great love for the Lord and his burning desire for him hunted, persecuted, chastised, suffering countless abuses and exclaiming, “In toils more frequently, in scourgings beyond counting, at death’s door often; at the Jews’ hands I five times received forty lashes bar one; I was thrice beaten with rods; once I was stoned; a day and night I spent adrift at sea, always traveling, at peril from rivers, at peril from false brothers, in toil and hardship”—and while suffering such things he rejoiced and was glad. You see, he was quite convinced that the labors of the present life proved an occasion of great reward for him, and dangers were the source of a crown. After all, if out of love for Rachel Jacob regarded as a few days the period of seven years, much more did this blessed man count it all of no consequence, on fire as he was with love of God and prepared to endure everything for the Christ he loved. Let us too, therefore, I beseech you, be concerned to love Christ. Christ looks for nothing else from you, in fact, Scripture says, than loving him with all your heart and carrying out his commands. HOMILIES ON GENESIS 55.

11:24 | Receiving Lashes

FORTY LASHES LESS ONE. CHRYSOSTOM: There was an ancient law that anyone who received more than forty lashes would be permanently disgraced among the Jews. So in order to prevent this from happening as a result of the impetuosity of the executioner, the law decreed that the forty lashes should be inflicted excepting one, so that even if the executioner overdid it he would not go past forty. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 25.1.

11:25 | Beaten, Stoned, Adrift

BEATEN, STONED AND SHIPWRECKED. AMBROSIASTER: Paul suffered the beating with rods at the hands of Gentiles. He was stoned by the Jews in a city of Lycaonia. Someone who sailed as much as he did would easily have been shipwrecked three times. He was adrift at sea on his journey to Rome, when he had appealed to Caesar. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

GOING DOWN TO THE SEA. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: The East has grown luminous with the saints, with them the West has become brilliant, the North is raised up by them, from them the South has learned. They have ascended to the firmament and opened it, they have gone down to the sea and explored it. HYMNS ON PARADISE 6.22.

11:26 | Frequent Journeys and Dangers

IN DANGER. AMBROSIASTER: Paul was in danger from rivers in winter, when there was constant rain and rivers often overflowed their banks. The danger at sea which he is alluding to here was the danger that in a shipwreck the soldiers guarding prisoners on board would kill them all rather than risk letting them swim to safety. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

SET APART. AUGUSTINE: What great complaints the apostle Paul makes of false brothers. Yet he was not defiled by their physical companionship, because he was set apart from them by this distinction: purity of heart. LETTER 108, TO MACROBIUS.

TWO KINDS OF PASTORS. AUGUSTINE: Therefore, there are some who occupy the pastoral chair in order to care for the flock of Christ, but there are others who sit in it to gratify themselves by temporal honors and worldly advantages. These are the two kinds of pastors, some dying, some being born, who must needs continue in the Catholic church itself until the end of the world and the judgment of the Lord. If there were such men in the times of the apostles, whom the apostle lamented as false brothers when he said: “Perils from false brothers,” yet whom he did not proudly dismiss but bore with them and tolerated them, how much more likely is it that there should be such men in our times. LETTER 208, TO FELICIA.

11:27 | Toil and Hardship

COLD AND EXPOSED. AMBROSIASTER: Some of Paul’s sleepless nights were voluntary, but others were forced on him. When he was in dire straits, he had to stay awake and seek God’s help. Furthermore he taught not only in the daytime but at night as well. He was cold and exposed when he was shipwrecked on the island of Malta, where the local people came to his rescue. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THE BENEFIT OF RIGOROUS EXERTION. BASIL: Such exertion is beneficial not only for bringing the body into subjection but also for showing charity to our neighbor, so that through us God might grant sufficiency to the weak among us. THE LONG RULES 37.

11:28 | Anxiety for the Churches

THE DAILY PRESSURE. AMBROSIASTER: This happened because Paul adopted the habit of teaching the people entrusted to him on a daily basis. He worked during the day and taught at night, for he did not hesitate to put himself out for their sakes. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

11:29 | Who Is Weak?

THEIR CAPTIVITY IS MINE. CYPRIAN: The captivity of our brothers must be thought of as our captivity. The sorrow of those in danger is our sorrow. You may be sure that there is one body of our unity. Not only love but also religion ought to incite us and to encourage us to redeem the members of our family. LETTER 62.1.

SUFFERING IN SYMPATHY. AMBROSIASTER: Paul is saying that he suffers in sympathy with everybody and that he shares their pain in order to provide medicine for the wound. He presses the point in order to show how carefully he is guarding and ruling the church entrusted to him. In this way he shows that he should not be considered inferior to the other apostles, seeing that he labored more than all of them. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

AM I NOT WEAK? THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: By “weak” in this case Paul means “sinful.” PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

SYMPATHIZING WITH WEAKNESS. AUGUSTINE: Paul does not mean that he was counterfeiting their weakness but that he was sympathizing with it. LETTER 40, TO JEROME.

THE RESPONSIBLE PASTOR. CHRYSOSTOM: What wonderful affection in a pastor! Others’ falls, he is saying, accentuate my grief, others’ obstacles inflame the fire of my suffering. Let all those entrusted with the leadership of rational sheep imitate this and not prove inferior to the shepherd who for many years cares for irrational sheep. In that case no harm ensues even if some negligence occurs, but in our case if only one rational sheep is lost or falls to predators, the loss is extreme; the harm, terrible; the punishment, unspeakable. After all, if our Lord did not forbear to pour out his own blood for him, what excuse would such a person deserve for allowing himself to neglect the one so esteemed by the Lord and not making every effort on his part to care for the sheep? HOMILIES ON GENESIS 57.