Paul's Tribulations

I. Introduction
A. We are at the point of 2Corinthians where Paul launches into an inventory of the sufferings he has endured in ministry. The reason he does this, and its place in Paul’s argument with the Corinthians, we will leave to next week. This morning, we are going to look not at the point Paul is making here, but at the information he is relating.
1. If we just focused on his point, we would miss too much of the fascinating detail of what Paul is saying. So, today we’ll focus on the detail, next week we’ll talk about the purpose of it all.
2. You might think this is repeating what we have in the book of Acts. But much of it is not in Acts.
B. Now, as we jump into this, remember that he feels like he’s been forced to compare himself with men who have come into the Corinthian congregation, falsely claiming to be apostles.
C. 2Corinthians 11:23–27 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
D. 2Corinthians 11:32–33 At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, 33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.
E. Since Paul tells us here about incidents in his life, let’s review what we know of Paul’s story up to this point, according to the NT.
1. Paul (also called Saul, of course) grew up in Tarsus, a large city on the southern coast of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). His first language was probably Greek, though he was also fluent in Hebrew. He grew up in a devout family of Pharisees. And he learned to make tents. As a youth, he studied under Gamaliel in Jerusalem, one of the most respected rabbis in all of Jewish history.
2. The next thing we know is years later when Stephen, the first martyr, is stoned to death in Acts 7. Paul is there approving the stoning and holding the garments of those throwing the stones. He then becomes the lead persecutor of Christians, rounding up believers and bringing them to trial, seeking to have them put to death.
3. One day on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians there, Jesus Himself appeared to Paul and his life changed forever. It was not easy for other believers to accept Paul as a Christian at first, since he had ruthlessly persecuted believers. But God assured them in Acts 9:15-16, “He is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
4. About 14 years after his conversion, Barnabas invited Paul to help him in ministry at the first Gentile church, in Antioch, Syria.
5. After a while, the HS led the elders of the Antioch church to send Paul and Barnabas off as the first Christian missionaries. They preached the gospel, planting churches in Asia Minor, notably in Galatia, before heading back to Antioch. We refer to this as Paul’s first missionary journey.
6. This was followed by the first church council – in Jerusalem – to address the controversy which had arisen about Gentiles being included in the church without first becoming Jews.
7. After this, Paul headed off on his second missionary journey. It began by returning to churches they had planted in the first journey, but then continued west through other areas of Asia Minor.
8. When he got to Troas, on the west coast of Asia Minor, Paul had a vision in a dream, through which God called him to cross over the Aegean Sea into Macedonia to preach the gospel.
9. And so, before heading back home, Paul preached the gospel in many cities there in Macedonia, and then south into Achaia, ending up in Corinth, where he spent a year and a half.
10. On his way home from Greece, his boat stopped at Ephesus, and since he found them so open to the gospel there, Paul resolved to return. And when he headed off on his third missionary journey, after revisiting the churches around Galatia, Ephesus is the first place he went, staying there for 2 ½ years. That’s where he got reports of trouble brewing in the church at Corinth and began his visits and correspondence which includes the words we’re reading this morning in 2Corinthians.
II. So, let’s walk through this passage:
A. 2Corinthians 11:23–27
1. 23 “Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one — I am talking like a madman —”
a. If I had had even one of these experiences, everyone I know would have heard about it. But Paul only brings all this out when he feels forced to "boast" in order to refute the false apostles.
2. “with far greater labors,”
a. Paul worked harder than the false apostles, but he knew it wasn’t really him. Listen to what he says in 1Cor.15:10: “I worked harder... though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”
3. “far more imprisonments,”
a. The NT tells us of Paul being imprisoned in Philippi, in Caesarea, in Rome the first time (from where he wrote the prison epistles: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon), then Rome again (from where he wrote 2Timothy).
(1) However, of these, all except Philippi occurred AFTER this letter was written.
b. There must have been more imprisonments during his first two missionary journeys which we don’t know about, and perhaps in or around Galatia or Ephesus during his 3rd missionary journey.
c. 1Clement (150AD– 215AD) tells of seven imprisonments
4. “with countless beatings,” begins a new category, I think, which should all be taken together: “with countless beatings – and often near death: 24 five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one; 25 three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned.
5. “and often near death” literally means, “in deaths often.” This is exactly what he said in 2Cor.1:8-9 “We do not want you to be unaware of the affliction we experienced in Asia (i.e. Asia Minor, where Ephesus was). For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.”
6. 24 “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.” (See Deut.25:1-3.)
a. We have no other record of these five beatings. For some reason, Luke chose not to include them in Acts.
b. But what this refers to is a form of discipline a local synagogue could mete out through scourging. Jesus warned his disciples about this: “Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues” (Matt.10:17). (Paul may have inflicted this punishment himself on Jewish Christians before his conversion and call – Gal 1:13.)
c. You see, the Romans allowed the Jews to settle disputes in their own courts. If someone wanted to remain a member of the Jewish community, he had to submit to its discipline. A person could refuse, but it meant being excommunicated from the Jewish people.
d. That fact that Paul submitted to these beatings five times shows us his commitment to his people, which we can see in Rom 9:2-4: “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel.” Submitting to this discipline gave him continued access to the Jewish community in the cities where he preached the gospel, and also to the folks the NT refers to as Godfearers, Gentiles who participated in the life of the synagogue but never got circumcised.
e. In other words, Paul could have refused these lashes, but that would have prevented him from being welcomed into synagogues to preach the gospel of Christ.
f. — Gal.6:17 may well have in mind the scars left by whippings he received.
7. 25 “Three times I was beaten with rods.”
a. This rod-beating refers to a type of punishment used by Roman authorities.
b. As a Roman citizen Paul was legally exempt from this form of punishment, but citizenship did not always prevent injustice.
c. We have record of only one of these three beatings at the hands of the Romans: at Philippi in Acts 16:22-23, 37. But the fact that Paul was technically exempt can be seen: “The magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.” But when they later tried to release Paul, he said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, without trial, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” Cf. Acts 22:25-29.
d. And in 1Thes.2:2 Paul refers to his experience in Philippi as “being shamefully treated.”
e. But something similar to this happened two other times, though we have no other record of it.
8. “Once I was stoned.”
a. The stoning we know of from Acts 14:5–20. It happened in Lystra. When an attempt had been made to stone Paul & Barnabas in Iconium, they fled to Lystra where they continued to preach the gospel. Now at Lystra there was a man crippled from birth. Paul said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And the man sprang up and began walking. And when the crowds saw, they lifted up their voices, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” But Barnabas and Paul tore their garments, crying out, “We are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them.” But these words scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them. But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and persuaded the crowds, and they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up, and the next day he went on to Derbe.
9. “Three times I was shipwrecked;”
a. Acts reports Paul’s many sea voyages. (One scholar [Hughes] calculated at least 18.)
b. But Acts only records one shipwreck, and that occurs after Paul wrote this letter – Acts 27.
c. So, the three shipwrecks he mentions here we know nothing about.
d. A shipwreck must be a very scary experience, but it gets worse...
10. “a night and a day I was adrift at sea;” A day floating in the sea (probably clinging to a piece of wreckage) is scary enough, but Paul spent a night floating in the deep!
11. 26 “on frequent journeys,” Here is another beginning of a new section.
a. Paul’s movements across the empire exposed him to all kinds of dangers and hardships:
12. “in danger from rivers,” Before many bridges existed, rivers were quite a challenge to cross.
13. “danger from robbers,”
a. There was no police. Out in the countryside, the presence of the Roman army was rare.
b. His main defense was that he didn’t have much to steal.
c. This is probably one of the reasons he had a large group travel with him to Jerusalem to deliver the generous offering he had collected.
14. “danger from my own people,” This refers to Jewish hostility toward Paul, which reared its ugly head in virtually every city Paul went.
15. “danger from Gentiles,”
a. See the stories of Paul being attacked by Gentile mobs in Acts 16:16–24 and 19:23–41.
16. “danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea,”
a. This sums up just about everywhere Paul went.
b. In the city he faced angry mobs, in Damascus he barely escaped a dragnet set to capture him.
(1) 2Cor.11:32–33 “At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, 33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.”
(2) The incident is one we already knew from Acts 9:23–25 “When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, 24 but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, 25 but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.”
c. In deserted areas and mountainous regions he faced dangers from robbers, from kidnappers who sold their victims into slavery, and from wild beasts.
17. ‘danger from false brothers;”
a. This one strikes closest to home. Paul has written this whole letter to expose the false brothers who have infiltrated the Corinthian church. And now he includes them – and others like them – on the list of dangers he has faced (cf. Gal 2:5).
b. He keeps trying to alert the Corinthian Christians to the danger these men pose.
18. 27 “in toil and hardship,”
a. Toil probably refers to his tentmaking, and is probably connected to what he says next...
19. “through many a sleepless night,”
a. We might think he is referring here to insomnia or late nights of ministry (like we read about in Acts 20:7–12). But mainly this seems to refer to times when Paul spend the day in ministry and then worked during the night to make tents, as we read about in:
b. 1Thessalonians 2:9 “You remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.”
c. 2Thessalonians 3:8 “We did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you.”
20. “in hunger and thirst, often without food,”
a. Sometimes this may have been lack of access to food; but often this was probably caused by lack of resources to purchase food.
b. We know that Paul experienced poverty because he said he had learned to be content in plenty and in want (Phil.4:12). This itself implies that his want was probably not a one-time experience.
c. This is truly remarkable! Many of us can’t really appreciate this, but Paul was often dirt poor! In 1Cor.4:11-12, he says, “To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands.” (See also Phil.4:12.)
d. And, as if this isn’t enough, Paul adds...
21. “in cold and exposure.”
a. Imagine Paul shivering in the cold. Probably most of us have been cold a time or two when it was very painful – and maybe scary. Paul experienced cold and exposure – without a lot he could do.
III. — Application
A. And this wasn’t just for the folks he was ministering to, like the Corinthians; it was for us. We are the recipients of what he did. Not only has the gospel come to us through the domino effect begun by Paul and others, but the epistles of Paul form a major part of the NT.
B. So if you have received any encouragement from Paul’s epistles, any comfort from his example of love, any inspiration from the stories of his life and ministry, any hope from the magnificent words he placed on the pages of the NT, then appreciate his shivering, and his hunger, his middle-of-the-night toil, his wounds, his scars,
C. All that was Christ inhabiting and empowering a sinner who was no better than you and me.
D. This catalog of Paul’s woes gives us a glimpse of the apostle we get from nowhere else: lacerated by beatings, shadowed by enemies, worn down by exposure and deprivation, tattered and torn, and with no place to lay his head – and yet unstopped in his devotion to Christ’s cause and calling by all the hardships.
E. And this was just the beginning! We’re catching Paul at the midpoint of his ministry life. Things actually got harder after this, not easier. This is just the first half of the list of Paul’s sufferings.
F. How can we explain this man and his story and his work except that he was filled with the Christ who sweat drops of blood, bore the whip on His back, wore a crown of thorns and allowed Himself to be nailed naked to a cross? Look at Paul and see Jesus. Look at what Paul did and think about what Jesus did. Look at Paul’s love and see the height and depth and width and length of the love of Jesus Christ for you.
G. Unless you have very boastful parents, or unless you’ve required them to boast like the Corinthians did to Paul, your parents have a long list of hardships and difficulties – many of them secret – which they have endured in parenting you. And they’ve done it willingly because they love you.
1. I’m not asking you to pay them back, or even to shower them with gratitude, though that wouldn’t be a bad idea.
2. But I am asking you to do this: never, ever doubt their love for you. If you are able to understand what I’m saying, your parents have done a lot for you. Don’t ever accuse them of not loving you.
H. It would have been easy for Paul to avoid persecution. If he had just left people alone. If he had just minded his own business. If he had just allowed Satan to keep hold of all his children, instead of trying so hard to win them to Christ, to reclaim them for Christ.
I. And how amazing it is that the person who endured all this is so joyful and upbeat! How astounding is it that the person who has suffered so much rejection, so much mistreatment, so much injustice, is still so full of love.
J. Beloved, this isn’t just about the magnificent love of Christ. This is about how the magnificent love of Christ can hold sway over a human sinner like you and me. In light of Paul, there are no excuses. The Holy Spirit can do anything!
K. Lord Jesus, forgive me for thinking that Christ isn’t powerful enough to change me.
1. Forgive me for all the ways I’ve ever felt sorry for myself.
2. Forgive me for thinking I couldn’t handle any more.
3. Forgive me for assuming that it was going to be easy to be a spouse, or a parent, or a sibling, or to care for aging parents, or a church leader, or a Christian.
4. Forgive me for feeling that my burdens are heavy.
5. Lord, help me never to feel sorry for myself!
6. Show me Christ like Paul saw Him!
7. I don’t want to live life according to my flesh, Lord! I want Christ to live in me and through me.
8. I don’t want people to see me, but to see Christ in me.