16I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. 17In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. 18Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. 19You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! 20In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face. 21To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!
What anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about.
Why is Paul talking so much about his own suffering?
It wasn’t the kind of boasting that expects praise in return. No. I think Paul spoke of his suffering because he wanted people to know how passionate he was about the church. “Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of how the churches are getting along. Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger?”
They were aware he had suffered, but the very specific accounts of the offenses against him were sure to attract attention and assure them that he was suffering because he was completely committed to seeing the truth of Christ spoken everywhere he went.
Paul’s ministry and suffering still speak. His testimony, teaching and suffering has been an example to an untold number of people over the past two thousand years. We’ve been charged with taking the truth to the ends of the earth, and Paul is one of the greatest examples of someone who was not ashamed or afraid of doing that.
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