This article is an excerpt from Gordon Keddie’s newest book,The Real Christian: 2 Corinthians. It will be available through Crown & Covenant in June.

One of the most wonderful examples of a man in a state of encouragement is Paul standing in chains before King Agrippa: “I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused” (Acts 26:2). Paul applies this to his hearers’ consciences: “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains” (Acts 26:29). Here is a man of exalted spirit, who is a prisoner on account of his faith, giving his testimony in a world overwhelmingly ignorant of the gospel—even hostile to him (for his life is on the line)—and he is happy in his soul.

This ties in with our text. Paul here says that the glory of “this ministry”—of the ...