Boasting About
Weaknesses, 11:30-31
Boasting is the subject of v. 30, where the apostle
admits with some reluctance that it is necessary. He has said as much in
11:18, where he refers to the boasting of others (cf. 11:12), and he says it
again, explicitly in 12:1a. The necessity of boasting makes it no less
foolish, however, as Paul reminds his readers several times (11:16, 17; cf.
11:1, 12:11). Moreover, he wants them to realize that the boasting in which he
is now engaged concerns only his weaknesses. This is how they are to understand
the long recital of adversities with which he has just concluded (11:23b-29):
as documentation of how much he has suffered, and therefore of his
vulnerability. In this sense the present comment looks back over what has gone
before; but, more fundamentally, it also articulates the principle according to
which the apostle wants his whole speech to be interpreted (Zmijewski
1978:28-79). It is a principle to which he will subsequently allude in 12:5, 9b,
10a, and which is in full accord with his conviction that it is the
weakness of his apostolate through which God’s mighty power is disclosed (4:7;
cf. 13:3-4). It is probable, therefore, that the reference to weakness
is meant to be broadly inclusive of the various kinds of afflictions with which
Paul has been beset as an apostle. These would certainly include the
adversities catalogued in 11:23b-29 and elsewhere, showing his vulnerability,
but also the personal characteristics (appearance, manner, and speech, 10:1,
10; 11:6) and behavior . . . which at least some in Corinth have regarded as
further signs of weakness.
The oath of v. 21 . . . should be seen
primarily in relation to v. 30, and only secondarily in relation to vv. 32-33.
God is invoked as a witness that the apostle is not lying when he claims
to boast only about his weaknesses. This serves to distance Paul still further from
his rivals in Corinth, whom Paul has accused not only of unwarranted boasting .
. .but of outright deceits (11:13-15; cf. Zmijewski 1978:282). (Victor Paul
Furnish, II Corinthians [AB 32a; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday &
Company, Inc., 1984], 539-40)