2 Corinthians 11:30Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see that he never boasts in miracles, but in persecutions and temptations? For these, he says, are the weaknesses.

He calls persecutions “weakness.” For in hunger, scourging, shipwreck, and the endurance of other calamities, human weakness is revealed. He does not mention signs here, because they were the gift of God. Calamities, however, showed both the power of God and his own patience.

If it is necessary to boast, then I must boast in the works of weakness, that is, in temptations.

Paul says this because, if it is worthy for a Christian to boast, he must boast in humility, by which he grows in God.

The Apostle made it clear that he could have pointed to what he had accomplished by grace. Yet he thought the struggles of patience most fitting for him.

To prove here the purity of his intentions, that is, that he is not boasting of himself, but ascribes all his struggles to the grace of God and only weaknesses to himself, the holy Apostle calls God Himself as witness. As he says: "If I must boast, I will boast of my weakness." "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying." This is clearly an oath of assurance. How unreasonable, then, are those who altogether deny and forbid oaths, wrongly understanding and one-sidedly interpreting the Lord's words (Mt 5:34). The Apostle of Christ, who had the Spirit of God (1 Cor 7:40), is a direct rebuke to such vainly wise people.

All the calamities endured by the Apostle caused him many outward sufferings. Yet the inward anxiety over the success of his evangelic work gave him especially many torments. Meanwhile not everyone believed in this painful inner feeling, since it was invisible. This was true, for example, of those who had yielded to the influence of the false teachers. Therefore the Apostle again calls God as witness, and again praises sufferings and the exhaustion that comes from them as something very high and glorious. "See again," Saint John Chrysostom exclaims, "how great his grief is, as shown by the word burning. I am inflamed, I am consumed, he says. This grief is truly greater than all. The other sorrows were grievous, but soon passed and brought unfading joy.

This is the conclusion of all that preceded. He speaks as though saying: If I must boast, as you compel me, then I will boast of my weaknesses. By this he means everything he has just said about himself: privations, sorrows, and persecutions. "For all this reveals the weakness of human nature. He does not mention miracles, because they are God's gift. But all these things, under God's command and protection, also show his patience" (Theophylact). "The Apostle showed that he could have pointed to what had been accomplished by grace, but he deemed it more fitting to point to the struggles of patience" (Theodoret). Why did he judge thus? Because "such is the distinctive mark of an apostle. By this the Gospel is confirmed" (Chrysostom).