ACC ~ 2 Corinthians 11 v30 - 33

OVERVIEW:

The governor of Damascus intended to capture Paul in order to keep the Jews happy, but this plan was foiled (AMBROSIASTER). Paul did not refrain from accepting human help when necessary. At times when evils are inevitable, grace alone suffices, but where timely choices are to be made, one does not hesitate to seize available opportunities (CHRYSOSTOM, AUGUSTINE). The time when God’s help is necessary is when all human help fails (AMBROSIASTER).

11:30 | Boasting of Weakness

BOASTING IN HUMILITY. AMBROSIASTER: Paul is saying this because if a Christian must boast, he should boast in humility, from which comes growth in God’s sight. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

THINGS THAT SHOW WEAKNESS. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul boasted of his trials—the very things that showed his weakness. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 25.2.

11:31 | I Do Not Lie

GOD AS WITNESS. AMBROSIASTER: Paul calls God as his witness in order that what he says may be readily believed. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

11:32 | A Trap at Damascus

A WICKED SCHEME. AMBROSIASTER: The governor of Damascus, seeing that the Jews had set a trap for the apostle, wanted to bring this wicked scheme to pass by a wrongful use of his power. He intended to capture Paul both in order to keep the Jews happy and to demonstrate that he was doing his job properly. This occurred at the very beginning of Paul’s ministry. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

11:33 | An Escape

HUMAN HELP. AMBROSIASTER: Some people say that this action was not worthy of Paul, because he was not set free by the help of God. But what need was there for that when he could be delivered by the help of men? The time when God’s help is necessary is when human help fails. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

IN A BASKET. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul did not refrain from resorting to this kind of thing when necessary, because he wanted to keep himself free for preaching the gospel. At times when evils were inevitable, grace alone sufficed, but where there were choices to be made, he did not hesitate to seize the opportunity. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 25.2.

A TIME TO FLEE, A TIME TO REMAIN. AUGUSTINE: And the apostle Paul, when he was let down from the window in a basket so that his enemy might not capture him and so escaped from his hands, did he deprive the church, which was there, of a necessary ministry, and was that duty not discharged by other brothers appointed for that purpose? The apostle so acted in deference to their wishes that he might save himself for the church, since he was the only one whom the persecutor was seeking. Therefore, let the servants of Christ, the ministers of his word and of his sacrament, do what he has commanded or permitted. Let them by all means flee from city to city when any one of them is personally sought out by persecutors, so long as the church is not abandoned by others who are not thus pursued and who may furnish nourishment to their fellow servants, knowing that otherwise these could not live. But when the danger is common to all, that is, to bishops, clerics and laity, those who depend upon others are not to be forsaken by those on whom they depend. Therefore, either all should move to places of refuge, or those who have to stay should not be abandoned by those who minister to their spiritual needs; thus all may equally live and suffer whatever the Master of the household wishes them to endure. LETTER 228, TO HONORATUS.