ALL OF THOSE who have been possessed by Christ can identify with the passion that Paul expresses: “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” (Col. 1:29) This ‘God-disease’ captivates the mind, permeates heart and soul, and drives the will to acts both implausible and seemingly impossible—Paul’s feats recorded in the NT seem at times superhuman to us, as in fact they are; it is clear from both his and Luke’s writing that he never wavers from accrediting the basis for his years of missionary endeavor to the spirit of Jesus, ‘which works so powerfully in me.’ Paul’s motivation is pure and his testimony to Jesus faultless, and it is this singular characteristic of him that we might all both note and emulate to and for good effect, and for the effect of good. And the good of which Paul speaks of so continuously is nothing less than the gospel of Jesus Christ: “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15, Matt. 3:2) For Paul, this has become an undeniable reality which shapes and drives all his actions. “This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.” (Col. 1:23)
Not a single one of us has come into relationship with God the Father through Christ the Son by any act of our own. Throughout Paul’s writings the theme of free will is present, and also the mystery of election. Those who strain to present clarity in these matters from a particular perspective only create division, and miss the greater point: “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight.” (Col. 1:21-22) And that point is, ‘he has reconciled you.’ Yes, you ‘have heard the gospel’ and received it and ‘he has reconciled you’ by this gospel. But it is he who initiated, he who “so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Paul, in his passion, writes, “I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.” (Col. 1:24)
Peter cautions us of Paul that “His letters contain some things that are hard to understand” (2 Pet. 3:16), and this is one of those ‘things.’ It is best to separate the clauses in the English transliteration from the thoughts Paul writes in the Greek. In the first clause, Paul is referring to the suffering of Christ on the cross, on which “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.” (1 Pet. 2:24) The second clause does not indicate that there was something missing from Christ’s suffering that Paul had to take upon himself to complete atonement, for that would be heresy—only Jesus’ death fulfilled all of the requirements that the prophets of old spoke of that would satisfy God’s wrath against all mankind.
Instead, this indicates the depth of Paul’s fervor and motivation to serve both Christ and others. He is willing, as the biblical record makes clear, and as the last clause states, to suffer himself for the sake of those who do not understand and have been unable to receive Christ’s mercy. And, Paul’s physical agonies have been great: “I have worked much harder, been in prison—flogged—exposed to death. Five times I received forty lashes minus one—beaten with rods—stoned—shipwrecked—been constantly on the move—been in danger from river—bandits—my own countrymen—Gentiles—in the city—country—sea—false brothers. Labored and toiled—gone without sleep—known hunger and thirst—without food—been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” (2 Cor. 11:23-28)
When God called Paul, he called him with a specific purpose in mind. “This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:15-16) It is clear in the biblical record, and in two thousand years of human history, that Paul fulfilled the mission that was inherent in the call of God on his life. Paul started at least fourteen churches in his lifetime, and his teachings have been used in all Christian churches planted since that time.
This begs some questions of self-examination from the rest of us. These might be, “Has God called me?” “Does the ‘powerful energy’ of Christ flow through me?” Or, maybe, “Do I have too much friendship with the world?” Perhaps one way to check is to see if the power of God is being fulfilled in and through us: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph. 2:10) These are questions that are between us and God, and no one else.
Q. Have my labors been without struggles, or have my struggles been without results?
Leave a Reply