2 Corinthians 11:33

2 Corinthians 11:33. and through a window was I let down in a basket by the wall or ‘over' it; that is, from an overhanging house, such as is still to be seen at Damascus (and see Joshua 2:15; 1 Samuel 9:12), and escaped his hands.

Note. The catalogue given by the apostle in this chapter of his labours and sufferings in the service of Christ “represents (as Dean Stanley says admirably) a life hitherto without precedent in the history of the world. Self-devotion at particular moments, or for some special national cause, had been often seen before; but a self-devotion involving sacrifices like those here described, and extending through a period of at least fourteen years, and in behalf of no local or family interest, but for the interest of mankind at large, was up to this time a thing unknown.” The only Qualification of this statement which we should be disposed to make is, that one element in the case of the apostle precludes any perfect comparison with that of other heroes, outside the pale of Revealed Religion. “The love of Christ constraineth us (he says) to live no longer to ourselves, but unto Him who died for us and rose again.” Even among those who are themselves so “constrained,” there are few who come within any measurable distance of our apostle; but the one principle animating them and him alike must never be lost sight of. “While there is nothing in this account (continues the same elegant expositor) which contradicts the narrative in the Acts, yet the greater part of it goes far beyond that narrative. Of the particular facts alluded to, only two (the stoning and one of the Roman scourgings) are mentioned in the Acts; and of the general facts, although the narrative of the Acts gives a notion of critical dangers from time to time, we should hardly gather from it any notion of such continued hardships as are here indicated. In one point of view this is extremely important in relation to the authority of the Christian history, as has been well argued by Paley in his Horae Paulinae. It shews that the biography of the apostle, unlike most heroes and saints (as that of Francis Xavier), instead of overrating, underrates the difficulties and sufferings which we learn from the apostle himself; the accuracy of the apostle's own account being further guaranteed by the extreme and apparently unfeigned reluctance with which it is brought forward. On the other hand, it impresses us with a sense of the very imperfect and fragmentary character of the history of the Acts, as a regular narrative, during that period to which the apostle's words relate (from Acts 9:1 to Acts 20:2). This consideration gives a double value to this detailed aspect of the apostle's life, which but for the goading provocations of his opponents would (humanly speaking) have been altogether lost to us.” But yet another consideration must not be lost sight of, the infirm health under which such perils and sufferings were undergone (see 2 Corinthians 4:7-12; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Galatians 4:13-14). In view of all this, including his “anxiety for all the churches,” well might Calvin exclaim, “What a picture of a complete minister, to embrace in his care and consideration not one church, nor ten, nor thirty, but all at once; teaching some, others confirming; exhorting some, others counselling, and healing the disorders of others!” No wonder that the writings of so vast-minded and heroic a servant of Christ have a stamp upon them so characteristic and incisive, and that the mind of Christ as reflected in them has penetrated the religious thinking and feeling of all intelligent Christendom.