2 Corinthians 11:21-23

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

²¹ To my shame, I must say, _z we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of - I am speaking as a fool - I also dare to boast of that. ²² Are they Hebrews? _a So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. ²³ Are they _b servants of Christ? _c I am a better one - I am talking like a madman - with far greater labors, _d far more imprisonments, _e with countless beatings, and _f often near death.

1. Cross References
   2 Corinthians 10:10
   For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.
   
2. Cross References
   Romans 11:1
   I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
   Philippians 3:5
   Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee.
   
3. Cross References
   2 Corinthians 3:6
   Who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
   2 Corinthians 10:7
   Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ's, so also are we.
   
4. Cross References
   1 Corinthians 15:10
   But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
   
5. Cross References
   2 Corinthians 6:5
   Beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger.
   
6. Cross References
   Acts 16:23
   And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.
   
7. Cross References
   2 Corinthians 1:9 - 10
   Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
   2 Corinthians 4:11
   For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
   2 Corinthians 6:9
   As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed.
   Romans 8:36
   As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
   1 Corinthians 15:30 - 32
   Why are we in danger every hour?