11:24-29
Paul then expands on what he has outlined in the previous verse. Five times he received forty lashes minus one from the Jews, three times he was beaten with rods, and once pelted with stones. He was shipwrecked three times. He has faced all sorts of dangers, from the Jews and from bandits. He has been constantly on the run. He has been in danger from the Gentiles as well as the Jews. He was in danger in the country and in the city, this is a play on Deut 28:3. He has been hungry, thirsty, without food, cold and naked. Added to all this were the inward pressures that come from seeking to serve the church. Seeking to serve the church means having to endure all the pressures that come with that. He feels everyone else's weakness and failings. So much for the prosperity gospel!
11:30
Having sort of played along with the false apostles in “boasting”, Paul now gets to what he really wants to “boast” about. The super apostles boasted about how great they were. Paul wanted to boast about how great God is. He wanted to boast about his own weaknesses, for God did not work through him because he was so wonderful, but because God is so wonderful. So he is not ashamed to speak about his weaknesses (as he did in the opening of the letter), and is indeed delighted to do so. For God can save anyone.
11:31-34
All the things Paul has already spoken about, the things he is about to speak about, and his willingness to glory in his weakness is all true, and God knows that it is true. He starts off by recalling the time that he escaped from Damascus in a basket. This fleshes out a little the detail given in Acts 9:25. This was in the time immediately after his conversion. Having to leave the city by escaping in a basket would be somewhat humiliating.
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