2 Corinthians 11:25Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I suffered shipwreck” (v. 25). How does the last of these relate to the Gospel? It does because he undertook distant journeys, and by sea.

“A night and a day I was in the deep.” Some explain this to mean that he spent a full day and night in the midst of the sea. Others say that, after the ship was broken, he swam for a day and night in the deep. The latter is more in accord with the truth. The former is not even astonishing, and the Apostle would not have placed it above shipwreck.

“Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned.” Luke did not record for us everything that Paul endured, for you see that he omitted much of what is listed here. He did not labor in writing for his own glory.

“Three times I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I was in the deep.” What relation to the Gospel has the fact that you suffered shipwreck? He suffered shipwreck while making long journeys by sea for the Gospel’s sake. By night and by day he sailed in the deep.

Some, however, say that after the danger in Lystra he hid in a certain well called Bythos, and that he speaks here of that event.

Three times, by command of kings, I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck at sea. A night and a day, from hour to hour, I was without a ship in the depth of the sea. Understand this as the time when he was going to the city of Jerusalem.

Because of these holy ones the East was enlightened, and the West shone forth. The North arose, and the South was taught. Reaching the firmament, they opened it; cf. 2 Cor 12:3. They descended into the sea and came to know it.

Paul was stoned by the Jews in a city of Lycaonia; see Acts 14:19.

“Three times I suffered shipwreck.” Since he spent so much time on ships, he suffered shipwreck three times through storms.

“A night and a day I was in the deep.” This happened when he was sent to Rome after appealing to Caesar; see Acts 25:12.

“Are they ministers of Christ? I speak not wisely: I am more.” Again he used the expression, “not wisely,” thereby making clear that he is compelled to say this against his will. He explains the very manner of his superiority. He sets forth not miracles, not the raising of the dead, not the lame walking, not the flight of demons, and not the salvation of the world. Rather, he sets forth his sufferings for the Gospel. “In labors more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in prisons more exceedingly, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes less one.

“Three times I was beaten with rods.” This was a Roman punishment. The book of Acts speaks of only one case, Acts 16:22.

“Once I was stoned.” This happened in Lystra, Acts 14:19.

“Three times I suffered shipwreck.” The book of Acts says nothing about this either. The shipwreck narrated there, Acts 27:41ff., occurred after this Epistle was written.

“A night and a day I have been in the deep,” that is, for a whole day and night he was carried upon the waves of the sea. This probably happened in one of the shipwrecks just mentioned.

“I was far more in labors, beyond measure in stripes, more frequently in prisons, and often near death. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes less one.” Why “less one”? The ancient law stated: forty blows may be given to one deserving bodily punishment, and no more, “lest your brother be disfigured before your eyes by many blows” (Deut 25:3). From fear that an extra blow might violate the prescribed law through mistaken counting, custom later established that one blow should be withheld. This is according to Theophylact and Chrysostom. “Three times I was beaten with rods.” Then the Apostle lists again and again the tortures he endured from the Jews and his many kinds of danger. Clearly these are far from fully numbered or narrated in the Acts of the Apostles.

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.

The Apostles, martyrs, and venerable fathers: how much they endured with longsuffering in preaching the Gospel, in sufferings for the faith, and in the struggles of the spiritual life. Let us listen at least to Saint Paul alone, speaking about himself: “From the Jews five times I received forty stripes less one.” That is, on five different occasions he received thirty-nine blows. “Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I spent in the deep.

“Three times I was beaten with rods,” that is, with sticks, ερραβδισθην. Acts mentions one such case, namely in Philippi (Acts 16:22). Since this came from the Gentile civil authority, probably all three beatings were likewise from Gentiles. To indicate this, they are marked off separately from the five occasions. Also, the beatings from the Jews were probably not with rods. “Once I was stoned.” This happened in Lystra (Acts 14:19). Ελιθασθην means not “pelted with stones,” but “stoned,” as Acts also says: “having stoned Paul,” λιθασαντες, “they dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead” (Acts 14:19). “Three times I suffered shipwreck.” “How does this relate to the Gospel? In that he undertook distant journeys, and moreover by sea” (Chrysostom).