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2 Corinthians 11 · a question people ask

"let no one think me foolish. But if so, yet receive me as foolish, that I also may boast a little." (11:16). Why does the chapter boast at all?

In the text

It gives its own words for it: "Seeing that many boast after the flesh, I will also boast." (11:18), and "If I must boast, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness." (11:30). In the next chapter the letter says, "I have become foolish in boasting. You compelled me" (12:11). These notes add no reason of their own and pass no verdict on the boasting.

The verses

“I say again, let no one think me foolish. But if so, yet receive me as foolish, that I also may boast a little.”
2 Corinthians 11:16 · World English Bible
“Seeing that many boast after the flesh, I will also boast.”
2 Corinthians 11:18 · World English Bible
“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness.”
2 Corinthians 11:30 · World English Bible
“I have become foolish in boasting. You compelled me, for I ought to have been commended by you, for I am in no way inferior to the very best apostles, though I am nothing.”
2 Corinthians 12:11 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 Corinthians 11

2 Corinthians 11: If I must boast

The chapter that says "If I must boast, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness" (11:30) ends with being "let down in a basket through a window by the wall" (11:33). And one Greek verb is behind every bear with in it.

In Favor, questions like this come up right where they arise as you read, with the Hebrew and Greek behind the words and how the chapter leads to Jesus.

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Last reviewed October 8, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions