2 Corinthians 11:23-24; I am More
2 Corinthians 11:23-24 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
The Apostle Paul’s words read like a parody of the famous inscription of Augustus in which he catalogs the glories of his reign, the achievements he wanted all to remember:
Twice have I had the lesser triumph … three times the [full] curule triumph; twenty-one times have I been saluted as “Imperator.” … Fifty-five times has the Senate decreed a thanksgiving unto the Immortal Gods … Nine kings, or children of kings, have been led before my chariot in my triumphs … thirteen times had I been consul.
The original inscription was erected on bronze pillars at the emperor’s mausoleum in Rome, and copies were distributed throughout the provinces. Portions have been found in Ancyra (capital of Galatia), Apollonia (in Illyricum), and Antioch (in Pisidia). Such chronicles of glory would have been familiar to Paul and the Corinthians, rendering Paul’s “boast” all the more ironic.¹
Being reminded of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul walked in His steps.