2Corinthians 11:29-33 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knows that I lie not. In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.
‘Who is offended, and I burn not.’ The idea here is that no man is offended without Paul burning with zeal to restore him.
‘If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.’ He explained that if he must boast, he will not brag on his natural and acquired powers or what God has done for him, but rather in what he has suffered for Him. Paul stated in 2Corinthians 4:15 that all their sufferings counted as nothing if they could win them and others to Christ.
‘In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me.’ He refers to the events of Acts 9:23-25 where the Jews planned to kill him and the disciples helped him escape.
‘Aretas’ – the father-in-law of Herod Antipas.
Living the Word 