From the Pulpit...

Paul boasts about his credentials, even though he would prefer not to do so. This course of action seems to be a way that he can recover the Corinthians from being swayed away by the false teachers. His boasting, however, is almost entirely a list of trials and afflictions that he experiences in ministry. Verse 30 is the key to the passage: if he is driven to boast, he will focus and limit his boasting to his weaknesses. This is hardly "resume worthy" but it actually extols God because the power to survive these afflictions comes from Him. Paradoxically, weakness is better than strength. Suffering better shows the reality of a ministry than strength because it exalts God’s power. Weakness overcome by God’s grace is a better measure of a ministry, and more convincing than human strength and wisdom like that of the false teachers.