Paul begins his boast by quickly revealing his human lineage, descendant of Eber and Abraham, the father of faith and the promise, after which he exclaims that he is a servant of Christ, more so than his pseudo-Christian opponents claimed to be. (21b-23a)
Paul continues his boasting with the almost foreign way (to them and many today) that being a servant of Christ was for him. For Paul, being a servant of Christ included hard labor and endless physical hardships. Frequent prison, severe flogging, repeated exposure to death, forty lashes minus one, beaten by rods, stoned, shipwrecked, exposed in the open sea, and constant travel were part of the life of being a servant of Christ for Apostle Paul. (23b-26a) Then he lists eight constant dangers. (26b) In verse 27, he adds poor life conditions. His final boasts are the pains he feels when a loved one experiences persecution and temptations. These are most unusual boasts.
How do I respond when these things happen to me? Doubt, worry, complaints, fear, self-pity, hopelessness, and fatalism are all too common. I certainly wouldn’t boast about them. Job said when hardship and trouble came, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1:21b) Jesus taught, “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'” (Luke 17:10)
