“Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness¬—besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity.”
What is Paul’s boast? What are his credentials as an apostle? Only his scars! The infirmity Paul refers more likely is the life of hardship and stress he lived as a whole. Paul’s human ancestry was more than enough to qualify him as an apostle. He was a Jew of Judean descent, as opposed to Jews who were born from people coming from areas far from Judea. Paul grew up in Tarsus of Cilicia. Paul knows very well that his blood ancestry does not make him an apostle or a servant of Jesus, but many of the most eminent apostles either said or implied that it was important. Knowing the silliness of this, Paul prefaced his remarks here with “I speak foolishly.” Paul explains what qualifies him to be called a minister of Christ, in contrast, the more of a minister you were, the less you should have to work and the more others should serve you. “I am a minister of Christ because I have been beaten many times for Jesus’ sake.” Paul received beatings from both the Jews (five times I received forty stripes minus one) and the Romans (three times I was beaten with rods). The Rabbis restricted the number of stripes you could give to 39 (forty stripes minus one) and it was not out of mercy, but they feared that there might be a miscount and forty stripes would be exceeded by accident. Paul speaks of being in prison several times. Paul was close to death when an angry crowd tried to execute him by stoning in Lystra (Acts 14:19). Paul travelled many miles for Jesus’ sake. Through the book of Acts, we read of no less than 18 journeys Paul took by ship, with half of them occurring before the writing of 2 Corinthians. Since the book of Acts is an incomplete record, there was many more in addition to this. The world must think Paul is crazy. They found nothing to boast about the hardships Paul gloried in. For them such hardships said, “God is not with me. I’m a loser. I’m weak. I’m not happy. My life is too hard.” They could only glory in the image of power and the appearance of success. If they did not have that image, they felt God was against them. The perils of Paul’s life were really plenty enough to kill any man, but nothing or no one could kill him until God finished His purpose for Paul on this earth. Paul’s burdens were not only physical, but they were also emotional. It wasn’t the mere fact of a hard life that made Paul a true minister of Christ. Many people have hard lives but are in no way servants of Jesus. But for Paul, all these perils and hardships were freely chosen because he could have lived differently if he wanted to. But he didn’t want to. He wanted to serve Jesus, and if these hardships were part of serving Jesus, he would accept them.
Lord, help me to understand for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
How could the man who lived this life possibly be happy? Because Paul could say, I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20). Because of this, Paul could practice what he preached when he wrote: we also glory in tribulations. This wasn’t just “spiritual talk” from Paul; he really lived it.
In our modern world, we should be ready to live the life of
Christ even among the perils. It is our duty to live simple and hard life as a missionary, travelling and preaching the gospel.
Leave a Comment