THIS SUFFERING SAINT (Part 2)

In the last Praiseletter we discussed some of the brutality that the apostle Paul endured throughout the course of his ministry. In an attempt to defend his apostleship before those who might question his authority, he personally itemizes for us the challenging, painful, and traumatic episodes that attended his life and ministry. This list of things he suffered for the cause of Christ is found in 2 Corinthians 11:24-27.

Remember, at the very beginning of Paul’s new life in Christ, his blinded eyes are healed, and now he will begin to experience what the Lord told Ananias, when He said, “I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:16). It’s unlikely Paul had any idea how much he would suffer, and in what ways he would suffer, because of his obedience to God’s call on his life. And so, ultimately, with the same zeal with which Paul (formerly Saul) persecuted the Christian church and violently attacked its followers, he would now endure the zealous and brutal attacks of the same religious leaders, with whom he once was a participant.

In the last letter we highlighted the fact that he endured up to 1,755 lacerations on his body from the five times he was whipped by the thirty-nine lashes of the Cat of Nine Tails. Scar tissue, infection, and persistent pain and discomfort were surely an ever present reminder of the price he must pay in realizing the cost of discipleship.

But that wasn’t all he endured. After he recounts the 39 lashes he received five times, he goes on to say, “Three times I was beaten with rods” (2 Corinthians 11:25). The rod beating was a Roman punishment idea. The rod came in at least two configurations. Sometimes the rod consisted of a bundle of birch twigs or small branches lashed around an ax handle, or some other solid piece of wood.

Another form of the rod was a solid piece of wood, averaging perhaps 3 feet or so in length, sometimes having some designs carved upon it. Its thickness was not too dissimilar from our 2 x 4 board. The application of this form of punishment was different than the 39 lashes of the “nine tails”; in this regard; there were no numerical limitations imposed on the beating with rods. Those who imposed this punishment (usually two men) simply kept “swinging away” until they could swing no more. Sheer exhaustion determined the limits of this brutal punishment! Paul endured these beatings three times. It would seem there is simply no way that Paul didn’t suffer broken ribs, probably fractures on his vertebrae and arms, and very possibly broken bones in his legs.

I think we’re beginning to form an image in our minds of this beaten, wounded, and brutalized apostle who limps as he walks, groans as he rises and sits, and bears on his body, through countless lacerations, the physical testimony of one who has paid the price to follow Jesus. “I bear on my body, the marks of Jesus” (Galatians 6:17).

So again I ask, as I did in the last letter, to what end are we considering the suffering of this saint of God? I would respond, in part, to that question by saying, the depth of our commitment to Christ, and the power to persevere through any difficulty will be greatly determined by the degree to which we have participated in the fellowship of His sufferings.

I was just this day talking to a man who has a global ministry of presenting the gospel to people all around the world, many who endure great and severe persecution for their unwavering commitment to, and faith in, Christ. Very often these persecuted saints have far less gospel information than those of us who have Bibles in every room, yet I am humbled by the depth of their faith, largely fashioned by the difficulty by which they live out their faith.

Persecution purifies! Suffering solidifies! Obedience amidst difficulty glorifies the name of Jesus! It seems that, especially in the American church, there is almost a choosing up of sides. On the one side we have those who understand, and have experienced, to some degree, the value of joining Jesus, and other saints, in the fellowship of His sufferings. On the other side we have those who believe the Christian should never suffer, be sick, or encounter sorrow. They would say riches, success, and prominence among peers should define true spiritual success.

I said in the last letter, and I’ll say it again, “Persecution is coming to a theater near you (as the saying goes).”  And when the pressure is put on, the heat is turned up, and persecution becomes popular, in whatever form that may take; riches, success, and prominence won’t stand the test! But those who have been tried in the furnace of affliction, tested in the trials of life, and have joined in the fellowship of His sufferings will persevere to the end.

Some of the greatest heights of theological understanding were fashioned in the extreme depths of Paul’s suffering. By God’s grace, in spite of all Paul’s afflictions, he was able to confidently write, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

A faith perfected in the fellowship of His sufferings will stand any and all of life‘s testings. Paul proved this both in his life and in his death.

THIS SUFFERING SAINT!

In Christ, 

Dallas Holm