2 Corinthians 11:23

Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly [1 Corinthians 15:10], in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft. [1 Corinthians 15:31. On Jewish grounds Paul claimed equality, but as a minister of Christ, superiority. Knowing that his enemies would say that it accorded with his general insanity to thus assert his superiority, he ironically admits his madness in thus asserting that his ministerial labors exceeded those of his easy-living adversaries--theirs being in fact no labor at all, but rather an effort to steal the credit of his labors. This verse gives the general bodily distresses endured, while the next three tell of special cases. According to Acts, Paul had, up to this date, been imprisoned but once, and was afterwards imprisoned thrice. Clement of Rome, who wrote toward the close of the first century, says that Paul was imprisoned seven times. Paul's life for long periods was hourly exposed to death (Acts 9:23; Acts 13:50; Acts 14:5-6; Acts 14:19; Acts 17:5; Acts 17:13); but the best comment on this expression is the catalogue of sufferings which follow.]