2 Corinthians 11:30-33
30: If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.
31: The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.
32: In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me,
33: and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.
Notice that Paul’s boasting was not in the kind of things most people boast about. He briefly mentioned his Jewish lineage but focused on his service to Christ and “boasted” about all the troubles that brought him—beatings, prison, suffering, dangers, and daily pressures. It was a most humbling experience for a man of his pre-conversion position to have to be let down in a basket through a window to escape being caught by the Jews. Yet he said here that if he had to boast, he would boast about those things that pertained to his weakness.
An ethnarch was a Jewish officer who was given authority over Jews by a heathen king in large cities. In Paul’s case, the ethnarch was guarding Damascus in order to arrest Paul and have him put to death (Acts 9:23-25). This was not long after his conversion to Christ when he immediately began to preach the gospel. He had been on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians but encountered the Lord on the way and became a follower of the Lord himself.
So Paul, first of all, boasted in those things most people would think of as shameful or troubling experiences not to be discussed. He appeared to be making the point that being a Christian does not mean a person goes through life strong, untouchable, with prestige and impervious to trouble. This may have been the thinking of some of his criticizers. A Christian, leader or otherwise, will not always be respected, honored, listened to or admired. What is more admirable is a dedication to the truth when it isn’t an easy path.
As Christians, we follow the path of the Lord whether it is easy or hard. Of course, that doesn’t mean we go looking for trouble or have a false sense of humility and deny comfort or prosperity. It means we follow the right path because its right. We don’t avoid a path because it looks easy or hard, or because it will give us respect or humility, prosperity or poverty, but we follow a path because it’s the path the Lord has placed before us to walk. Next, we will see that Paul moved on, uncomfortably, to more boasts.
31: The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.
32: In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me,
33: and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.
***
Notice that Paul’s boasting was not in the kind of things most people boast about. He briefly mentioned his Jewish lineage but focused on his service to Christ and “boasted” about all the troubles that brought him—beatings, prison, suffering, dangers, and daily pressures. It was a most humbling experience for a man of his pre-conversion position to have to be let down in a basket through a window to escape being caught by the Jews. Yet he said here that if he had to boast, he would boast about those things that pertained to his weakness.
An ethnarch was a Jewish officer who was given authority over Jews by a heathen king in large cities. In Paul’s case, the ethnarch was guarding Damascus in order to arrest Paul and have him put to death (Acts 9:23-25). This was not long after his conversion to Christ when he immediately began to preach the gospel. He had been on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians but encountered the Lord on the way and became a follower of the Lord himself.
So Paul, first of all, boasted in those things most people would think of as shameful or troubling experiences not to be discussed. He appeared to be making the point that being a Christian does not mean a person goes through life strong, untouchable, with prestige and impervious to trouble. This may have been the thinking of some of his criticizers. A Christian, leader or otherwise, will not always be respected, honored, listened to or admired. What is more admirable is a dedication to the truth when it isn’t an easy path.
As Christians, we follow the path of the Lord whether it is easy or hard. Of course, that doesn’t mean we go looking for trouble or have a false sense of humility and deny comfort or prosperity. It means we follow the right path because its right. We don’t avoid a path because it looks easy or hard, or because it will give us respect or humility, prosperity or poverty, but we follow a path because it’s the path the Lord has placed before us to walk. Next, we will see that Paul moved on, uncomfortably, to more boasts.
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