Paul Catalogs His Sufferings

The false apostles at Corinth boasted in their supposed ministry successes (2 Cor. 10:13–18), which seems to have been part of a pattern of their glorying in outward displays of strength. We gather as much from texts such as today’s passage, where Paul catalogs his sufferings. Since he is boasting in these things to counter his critics, he must be boasting in the opposite of what they boasted in. Indeed, he later says that he will boast only in his weaknesses, implying that his opponents boasted instead in their “strengths” (12:9).

Paul sees the hardships he faced in ministry as demonstrations that he was a better servant than the teachers of error in Corinth (11:23). He now sets forth many of these sufferings, beginning with his receiving thirty-nine lashes from the Jews on five different occasions (v. 24). We do not know when these beatings happened, but it would have been as he was preaching the gospel in synagogues throughout the Roman Empire. The punishment of thirty-nine lashes is rooted in Deuteronomy 25:1–3, which establishes a maximum penalty of forty lashes for certain crimes. By the time of the first century, the Jews had set the number of lashes at thirty-nine to guard against making a mistake and hitting a person more than forty times. These were severe beatings, with thirteen lashes administered to the chest and twenty-six to the back, and it was possible for them to cause death. Thus, we get a picture of the depth of suffering that Paul endured.

Second Corinthians 11:25 says that Paul was beaten three times with rods before writing 2 Corinthians—punishments inflicted by Roman authorities. The stoning Paul mentions in the same verse is likely the stoning he and Barnabas suffered in Lystra in Acts 14:8–23. He also mentions three shipwrecks (2 Cor. 11:25), which we have no other record of. The shipwreck recorded in Acts 27–28 occurred after Paul wrote 2 Corinthians.

In 2 Corinthians 11:26–27 Paul refers to various other trials, including danger from robbers, hunger, thirst, sleeplessness, and more. He even mentions “danger from false brothers,” indicating that he suffered at the hand of professing Christians. The picture emerges of one who had received the suffering promised when Jesus called him to faith (Acts 9:16). He could boast in these things because they proved that he was being faithful to Christ’s commission.