Paul opens this chapter with an odd request: bear with him in a little foolishness. He is not being coy. He is about to do something that goes against his own instincts—boast about himself. But the situation in Corinth has forced his hand. False apostles have arrived, and they are winning the congregation by boasting in their credentials, their eloquence, and their visions. Paul must answer them on their own terms, even if it makes him look like a fool.
His jealousy is not petty. He describes himself as the one who betrothed the Corinthian church to Christ, like a father presenting a pure virgin to her husband. But he fears that the serpent’s cunning, the same craftiness that deceived Eve, is now corrupting their minds. The danger is not just bad teaching but a seduction away from the simplicity and purity that is toward Christ. The false apostles are preaching another Jesus, offering a different spirit, proclaiming a different gospel—and the Corinthians are tolerating it.
Paul insists he is not inferior to those “chiefest apostles.” He admits he may be rude in speech, but he is not lacking in knowledge. And he reminds them of a concrete fact: he preached the gospel to them free of charge. He did not take money from them. He robbed other churches to support his ministry in Corinth. When he was in need, the brothers from Macedonia supplied him. He kept himself from being a burden, and he intends to keep doing so.
This is not about money. It is about cutting off the opportunity for those who want an occasion to boast. Paul wants them to be found just as he is—servants who do not exploit the church. The false apostles, he says plainly, are deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And that should not surprise anyone. Even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. So it is no great thing if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will match their works.
Now Paul begins his foolish boasting. He says he is not speaking according to the Lord, but as a fool, in this confidence of glorying. Since many boast according to the flesh, he will too. And he levels a sharp accusation at the Corinthians: they gladly bear with fools, being wise themselves. They bear with anyone who brings them into bondage, devours them, takes them captive, exalts himself, or strikes them in the face. Paul speaks as if he were weak—but he is bold in the same things.
He lists his credentials. Are they Hebrews? So is he. Are they Israelites? So is he. Are they the seed of Abraham? So is he. Are they ministers of Christ? He speaks as if he is out of his mind, but he is more: in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes beyond measure, in deaths often. Five times he received forty stripes minus one from the Jews. Three times he was beaten with rods. Once he was stoned. Three times he suffered shipwreck. A night and a day he spent in the deep sea.
The list continues: journeyings often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from his own countrymen, perils from Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers. In labor and hardship, in sleepless nights often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. And beyond all that, there is the daily pressure on him—anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and he is not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and he does not burn with indignation?
If he must boast, he will boast of the things that concern his weakness. And he calls God as his witness that he is not lying. Then he tells one specific story: in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city to arrest him. But he was let down through a window in a basket along the wall, and he escaped the governor’s hands. That is the kind of credential Paul offers—not a vision, not a pedigree, but a basket and a wall.
The chapter ends there, without a conclusion. Paul has made his case. He has matched the false apostles in boasting, but his boasting is a catalog of suffering, not of power. He has shown that his authority comes not from human credentials but from the hardships he has endured for the sake of the gospel. And he has warned the Corinthians that the false apostles, however impressive they appear, are servants of Satan disguised as servants of righteousness. The congregation must decide whom they will follow.