2 Corinthians 11:22Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Not all Hebrews were Israelites, since the Ammonites and Moabites also descended from Hebrews (see Gen 19:36-38).

"And if anyone," he says, "dares to boast in anything, I speak in foolishness, I also dare." That is, since I see absolute necessity, I too resolve to dare and to do an unreasonable thing. "Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I."

They exalt themselves in this, he says. Let them not think that we lack it. We too share in these very same advantages.

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Since not all Hebrews were Israelites, for the Moabites and Ammonites also presented themselves as Israelites, he purifies the excellence of his origin and adds what follows: "Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I." He points here to Isaac.

If they are Hebrews, so am I. If they are called sons of Jacob, that is, Israel, so am I. If they are from the blessed seed of Abraham, so am I.

By these words the Apostle Paul shows his equality with those whom he indicated above, in order to demonstrate the groundlessness of the attacks against him by those who considered him unworthy.

The Apostle set this forth because they spoke of themselves in this way. In this he showed his equality with them, while in voluntary attainments he shows his superiority.

Saint Paul is authorized in his severity by his apostolic rank (2 Cor 10:12-12:18).

The Apostle defends and proves the certainty of this high rank by pointing to the surpassing glory of his struggles endured for Christ, while having equality in the fleshly advantages in which the false teachers boasted (2 Cor 11:22-32).

2 Cor 11:22. "Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I." The opponents of the holy Apostle Paul were evidently trying to portray him as a traitor to, and debaser of, the promises belonging to the seed of Abraham and to the sacred people of Israel. The Apostle directs his preceding words toward denying this.

At the end of the chapter the Apostle proves the truth of his apostleship by what he endured in the Gospel. After a concluding and transitional qualification, he lists here many of his afflictions. Some of them are mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. Others are found only here, or in other epistles, in the form of hints. The starting point here is also comparative, but the comparison is strange, because it is not greatness that is compared, but suffering. “Why so?” asks Bishop Theophan. “Because it would somehow be offensive to the extraordinary gifts themselves to prove the false apostles’ falsity, and his own true apostleship, by their absence from them.

Hebrews are from Eber; Israelites are from Jacob, who was called Israel after his all-night struggle with a certain unearthly person. The seed of Abraham are heirs of the great promises given to Abraham. This is what the false apostles magnified! This is what especially influenced the Corinthians! But all this, he says, is also found in me. Although the Church of Corinth was composed chiefly of Gentiles, after becoming Christians they entered into spiritual kinship with everything that existed in the Old Testament. Therefore they could value these things, not in themselves, but in the relation in which all of it stood to Christianity. “The Apostle brought this forward because the false teachers spoke this way about themselves.