TRV
Translation
Complete Jewish Bible
Who is weak without my sharing his weakness? Who falls into sin without my burning inside?
Berean Standard Bible
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?
American Standard Version
Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I burn not?
World English Bible Messianic
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I don’t burn with indignation?
Young's Literal Translation
Who is infirm, and I am not infirm? who is stumbled, and I am not fired;
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In the KJVVerse 29,019 of 31,102
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Commentary on 2 Corinthians 11 verses 22–33
22 ¶ Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.
23 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.
24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?
30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.
31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.
32 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:
33 And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.
Here the apostle gives a large account of his own qualifications, labours, and sufferings (not out of pride or vain-glory, but to the honour of God, who had enabled him to do and suffer so much for the cause of Christ), and wherein he excelled the false apostles, who would lessen his character and usefulness among the Corinthians. Observe,
I. He mentions the privileges of his birth (Co2 11:22), which were equal to any they could pretend to. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews; of a family among the Jews that never intermarried with the Gentiles. He was also an Israelite, and could boast of his being descended from the beloved Jacob as well as they, and was also of the seed of Abraham, and not of the proselytes. It should seem from this that the false apostles were of the Jewish race, who gave disturbance to the Gentile converts.
II. He makes mention also of his apostleship, that he was more than an ordinary minister of Christ, Co2 11:23. God had counted him faithful, and had put him into the ministry. He had been a useful minister of Christ unto them; they had found full proofs of his ministry: Are they ministers of Christ? I am more so.
III. He chiefly insists upon this, that he had been an extraordinary sufferer for Christ; and this was what he gloried in, or rather he gloried in the grace of God that had enabled him to be more abundant in labours, and to endure very great sufferings, such as stripes above measure, frequent imprisonments, and often the dangers of death, Co2 11:23. Note, When the apostle would prove himself an extraordinary minister, he proves that he had been an extraordinary sufferer. Paul was the apostle of the Gentiles, and for that reason was hated of the Jews. They did all they could against him; and among the Gentiles also he met with hard usage. Bonds and imprisonments were familiar to him; never was the most notorious malefactor more frequently in the hands of public justice than Paul was for righteousness' sake. The jail and the whipping-post, and all other hard usages of those who are accounted the worst of men, were what he was accustomed to. As to the Jews, whenever he fell into their hands, they never spared him. Five times he fell under their lash, and received forty stripes save one, Co2 11:24. Forty stripes was the utmost their law allowed (Deu 25:3), but it was usual with them, that they might not exceed, to abate one at least of that number. And to have the abatement of one only was all the favour that ever Paul received from them. The Gentiles were not tied up to that moderation, and among them he was thrice beaten with rods, of which we may suppose once was at Philippi, Act 16:22. Once he was stoned in a popular tumult, and was taken up for dead, Act 14:19. He says that thrice he suffered shipwreck; and we may believe him, though the sacred history gives a relation but of one. A night and a day he had been in the deep (Co2 11:25), in some deep dungeon or other, shut up as a prisoner. Thus he was all his days a constant confessor; perhaps scarcely a year of his life, after his conversion, passed without suffering some hardship or other for his religion; yet this was not all, for, wherever he went, he went in perils; he was exposed to perils of all sorts. If he journeyed by land, or voyaged by sea, he was in perils of robbers, or enemies of some sort; the Jews, his own countrymen, sought to kill him, or do him a mischief; the heathen, to whom he was sent, were not more kind to him, for among them he was in peril. If he was in the city, or in the wilderness, still he was in peril. He was in peril not only among avowed enemies, but among those also who called themselves brethren, but were false brethren, Co2 11:26. Besides all this, he had great weariness and painfulness in his ministerial labours, and these are things that will come into account shortly, and people will be reckoned with for all the care and pains of their ministers concerning them. Paul was a stranger to wealth and plenty, power and pleasure, preferment and ease; he was in watchings often, and exposed to hunger and thirst; in fastings often, it may be out of necessity; and endured cold and nakedness, Co2 11:27. Thus was he, who was one of the greatest blessings of the age, used as if he had been the burden of the earth, and the plague of his generation. And yet this is not all; for, as an apostle, the care of all the churches lay on him, Co2 11:28. He mentions this last, as if this lay the heaviest upon him, and as if he could better bear all the persecutions of his enemies than the scandals that were to be found in the churches he had the oversight of. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not? Co2 11:29. There was not a weak Christian with whom he did not sympathize, nor any one scandalized, but he was affected therewith. See what little reason we have to be in love with the pomp and plenty of this world, when this blessed apostle, one of the best of men that ever lived, excepting Jesus Christ, felt so much hardship in it. Nor was he ashamed of all this, but, on the contrary, it was what he accounted his honour; and therefore, much against the grain as it was with him to glory, yet, says he, if I must needs glory, if my adversaries will oblige me to it in my own necessary vindication, I will glory in these my infirmities, Co2 11:30. Note, Sufferings for righteousness' sake will, the most of any thing, redound to our honour.
In the last two verses, he mentions one particular part of his sufferings out of its place, as if he had forgotten it before, or because the deliverance God wrought for him was most remarkable; namely, the danger he was in at Damascus, soon after he was converted, and not settled in Christianity, at least in the ministry and apostleship. This is recorded, Act 9:24, Act 9:25. This was his first great danger and difficulty, and the rest of his life was a piece with this. And it is observable that, lest it should be thought he spoke more than was true, the apostle confirms this narrative with a solemn oath, or appeal to the omniscience of God, Co2 11:31. It is a great comfort to a good man that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is an omniscient God, knows the truth of all he says, and knows all he does and all he suffers for his sake.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 22–33. Public domain.
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CyprianAD 258
Epistle LIX
With excessive grief of mind, and not without tears, dearest, brethren, I have read your letter which you wrote to me from the solicitude of your love, concerning the captivity of our brethren and sisters. For who would not grieve at misfortunes of that kind, or who would not consider his brother's grief his own, since the Apostle Paul speaks, saying, "Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member rejoice, all the members rejoice with it; " and in another place he says, "Who is weak, and I am not weak? " Wherefore now also the captivity of our brethren must be reckoned as our captivity, and the grief of those who are endangered is to be esteemed as our grief, since indeed there is one body of our union; and not love only, but also religion, ought to instigate and strengthen us to redeem the members of the brethren.
CyprianAD 258
Epistle XI
That you bewail and grieve over the downfall of our brethren I know from myself, beloved brethren, who also bewail with you and grieve for each one, and suffer and feel what the blessed apostle said: "Who is weak," said he, "and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? " And again he has laid it down in his epistle, saying, "Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member rejoice, all the members rejoice with it." I sympathize with you in your suffering and grief, therefore, for our brethren, who, having lapsed and fallen prostrate under the severity of the persecution, have inflicted a like pain on us by their wounds, inasmuch as they tear away part of our bowels with them,-to these the divine mercy is able to bring healing. Yet I do not think that there must be any haste, nor that anything must be done incautiously and immaturely, lest, while peace is grasped at, the divine indignation be more seriously incurred. The blessed martyrs have written to me about certain persons, requesting that their wishes may be examined into. When, as soon as peace is given to us all by the Lord, we shall begin to return to the Church, then the wishes of each one shall be looked into in your presence, and with your judgment.
AmbrosiasterAD 384
COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES
Paul is saying that he suffers in sympathy with everybody and that he shares their pain in order to provide medicine for the wound. He presses the point in order to show how carefully he is guarding and ruling the church entrusted to him. In this way he shows that he should not be considered inferior to the other apostles, seeing that he labored more than all of them.
Pseudo-ClementAD 400
Two Epistles on Virginity
This is also comely and helpful to the servants of God, because they act according to the injunctions of our Lord, who has said: "I was sick, and you visited Me, and so on." And this is comely and right and just, that we visit our neighbours for the sake of God with all seemliness of manner and purity of behaviour; as the Apostle has said: "Who is sick, and I am not sick? Who is offended, and I am not offended?" [2 Corinthians 11:29]
John ChrysostomAD 407
HOMILIES ON GENESIS 57
What wonderful affection in a pastor! Others’ falls, he is saying, accentuate my grief, others’ obstacles inflame the fire of my suffering. Let all those entrusted with the leadership of rational sheep imitate this and not prove inferior to the shepherd who for many years cares for irrational sheep. In that case no harm ensues even if some negligence occurs, but in our case if only one rational sheep is lost or falls to predators, the loss is extreme; the harm, terrible; the punishment, unspeakable. After all, if our Lord did not forbear to pour out his own blood for him, what excuse would such a person deserve for allowing himself to neglect the one so esteemed by the Lord and not making every effort on his part to care for the sheep?
John ChrysostomAD 407
Homily 25 on 2 Corinthians
"Who is weak, and I am not weak?" He did not say, 'and I share not in his dejection?' but, 'so am I troubled and disturbed, as though I myself were laboring under that very affection, that very infirmity.'
"Who is made to stumble, and I burn not?" See, again, how he places before us the excess of his grief by calling it "burning." 'I am on fire,' 'I am in a flame,' he says, which is surely greater than any thing he has said. For those other things, although violent, yet both pass quickly by, and brought with them that pleasure which is unfading; but this was what afflicted and straightened him, and pierced his mind through and through; the suffering such things for each one of the weak, whosoever he might be. For he did not feel pained for the greater sort only and despise the lesser, but counted even the abject amongst his familiar friends. Wherefore also he said, "who is weak?" whosoever he may be; and as though he were himself the Church throughout the world, so was he distressed for every member.
Theodore of MopsuestiaAD 428
PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH
By “weak” in this case Paul means “sinful.”
Augustine of HippoAD 430
Paul does not mean that he was counterfeiting their weakness but that he was sympathizing with it. Letter , To Jerome.
Gregory the DialogistAD 604
Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 32
For the cross is taken up in two ways: either when the body is afflicted through abstinence, or when the mind is troubled through compassion for one's neighbor. Let us hear of the cross of the mind in compassion for one's neighbor. For Paul says: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?" Indeed the perfect preacher, in order to give an example of abstinence, carried the cross in his body. And because he drew upon himself the losses of another's weakness, he carried the cross in his heart.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
In 2 Corinthians 11:29, the Apostle Paul profoundly articulates the depth of his pastoral empathy and spiritual burden for the Corinthian believers, concluding his "fool's speech" where he reluctantly defends his authentic apostolic ministry against the superficial boasts of false apostles. Through two rhetorical questions, Paul reveals that he not only shares in the weaknesses and struggles of the church members but also experiences intense anguish and righteous indignation when any believer is led astray or stumbles in their faith, thereby showcasing a shepherd's heart fully identified with his flock.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Paul employs several powerful Rhetorical Questions in this verse, which are questions asked for effect rather than to elicit an answer. By posing "Who is weak, and I am not weak?" and "who is offended, and I burn not?", Paul compels his audience to acknowledge the undeniable truth of his profound empathy and pastoral burden, making his claim more impactful than a simple declarative statement. This technique also serves to highlight the Contrast between Paul's genuine, self-sacrificial ministry and the self-serving, aloof leadership of the false apostles. Furthermore, the verse is rich in Pathos, an appeal to emotion. Paul's language evokes strong feelings of compassion and righteous indignation, allowing the audience to perceive the depth of his emotional investment in their spiritual welfare. The phrase "I burn not" also functions as a Metaphor, portraying his intense emotional reaction as a consuming fire, conveying the fervent zeal and anguish he experiences when believers stumble.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Paul's identification with the weak and his anguish over those who stumble reveal a profound theological truth about the nature of Christian leadership and community: true spiritual authority is rooted not in self-exaltation or worldly power, but in self-sacrificial love, empathy, and a willingness to bear the burdens of others. This mirrors the very heart of God, who does not remain distant from humanity's suffering but enters into it. Paul's "burning" zeal for the purity and spiritual integrity of the church also reflects God's own holiness and His fervent desire for His people to walk in righteousness, guarding against anything that would cause them to fall. This verse thus serves as a powerful reminder that the body of Christ is interconnected, and the spiritual well-being of one member profoundly impacts all.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Paul's example in 2 Corinthians 11:29 challenges every believer to cultivate a heart of profound empathy and a vigilant concern for the spiritual well-being of others. It calls us beyond mere sympathy to genuine identification with those who struggle, to feel their weaknesses as our own, and to share their burdens. This means actively listening, offering support, and refraining from judgment. Furthermore, Paul's "burning" indignation when others stumble should ignite within us a righteous zeal for the purity of the church and a commitment to avoid being stumbling blocks ourselves. It compels us to examine our own actions, words, and teachings, ensuring they build up rather than tear down, and to respond with fervent prayer and compassionate action when we see fellow believers falter. True Christian community is one where we are deeply invested in each other's spiritual journeys, bearing burdens and guarding against anything that would cause harm.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does Paul mean by "weak" in this context?
Answer: When Paul says, "Who is weak, and I am not weak?", he is referring to a broad spectrum of vulnerabilities and struggles experienced by believers. This can include those who are weak in faith, struggling with doubts or temptations, facing persecution or social pressure, feeling inadequate in their spiritual walk, or even those whose conscience is weak regarding certain practices (as discussed in 1 Corinthians 8). Paul's point is that he deeply identifies with all these forms of weakness, feeling their burdens as his own, rather than standing aloof in a position of perceived strength or superiority. This empathy is a hallmark of his authentic apostolic ministry.
What does it mean to be "offended" and why does Paul "burn" when it happens?
Answer: To be "offended" (from the Greek skandalízō) means to be caused to stumble, to fall into sin, to be led astray, or to have one's faith compromised. It implies a spiritual injury or a deviation from righteous living. Paul's declaration, "who is offended, and I burn not?", signifies his intense emotional and spiritual anguish when this occurs. His "burning" (from pyróō, to be inflamed) is not necessarily anger in a negative sense, but a fervent zeal, deep grief, or righteous indignation over the spiritual harm inflicted upon a believer. It underscores his fierce protectiveness over the flock and his passionate commitment to their spiritual integrity, reflecting a heart aligned with God's own concern for His children.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Paul's profound empathy and identification with the weak and stumbling in 2 Corinthians 11:29 find their ultimate fulfillment and perfect expression in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Our Lord is the quintessential Good Shepherd who not only knows His sheep but actively lays down His life for them (John 10:11). Unlike any human leader, Christ perfectly embodies the willingness to become weak for the sake of the weak. He "emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:7), identifying fully with our human frailty and suffering, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He was "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3), not merely observing human pain but personally bearing it. When He saw the crowds "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd," He had compassion on them (Matthew 9:36). His "burning" over those who stumble is seen in His righteous indignation against those who would cause "little ones" to fall (Matthew 18:6) and His fervent zeal for the purity of God's house (John 2:17). Thus, Paul's pastoral heart, though remarkable, is a reflection of the infinitely compassionate and protective heart of Christ, who truly became weak to make us strong and burned with divine love to redeem us from stumbling into eternal ruin.