I Will Boast of the Things That Show My Weakness

Paul was Publicly Beaten 8 times

Paul uses worldly logic to prove his point.  If our salvation depended on works or our goodness...then he was so much more than the others that were preaching to his friends. " I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again." Then Paul goes through a very impressive line of hardships that he has endured. He has suffered more than any other at that time for the cause of the gospel.  I think his argument is quite convincing.

And yet at the end of his argument, Paul says that it is his weakness that he must boast, "If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness."  So it is not his work that saved Paul....but by the grace of God's love for Paul. Paul's weaknesses are what glorified God.