ST. PAUL WAS A BONA FIDE BAD ASS

 

5/27/22

Unlike many of the saints, St. Paul is rarely depicted as clean, scrubbed, well-groomed, perfectly put together, and nearly delicate, as are many of the saints, in most cases nearly equally falsely.   There is a reason for this:   St. Paul was a genuine bad ass.

We know that Paul was a tough guy form reading the 11^th chapter of his second letter to the Corinthians, in which Paul recounts (vv. 24-27)

 

“Five times…I received forty lashes minus one.   Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, though hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure.”

 

One could argue, if this passage were read out of context, that Paul was just being braggadocious here, tooting his own proverbial horn.   But Paul himself described this seeming self-adulation as foolish, and only engaged in it to make a point, i.e., that his love and concern for the Corinthians was genuine.   This argument was necessary because at that time Corinth was inundated with false preachers who were trying to make a buck from those whom they claimed to have been sent to save.   It seems that there is indeed nothing new under the sun, but I digress.

 

Further, we don’t need Paul’s own words to demonstrate that he was a genuine hard case.   For this, we should look to his co-worker, St. Luke, who wrote one of my favorite passages in what is perhaps yours truly’s favorite book of the Bible. 

 

 To set the scene, Paul and his travelling companion, and sponsor of sorts (Acts 9, 27), Barnabas were traveling through Lystra.   After Paul heals a man “crippled from birth,” the Gentile townspeople immediately assume that Barnabas is Zeus and Paul is Hermes, and not because of the way he accessorized.   Paul and Barnabas immediately disabuse the townspeople of that notion, and, due to some outside intervention, the amazingly fickle crowd turns on Paul….

 

“They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.   But when the disciples gathered around him, he got up and entered the city.   On the following day, he left with Barnabas for Derbe.” (Acts 14, 19-20)

 

This passage is easy to read quickly and thus miss its meaning.   But think about it.   The crowds in Lystra stone Paul to within an inch of his life.   To the surprise of everybody, Paul survives, doubtless much worse for the wear.  At that point, you and I would have thanked God, high-tailed it out of there, and headed to Derbe.  But what does Paul do?   He heads back into Lystra!   It was as if he was saying “You want another piece of me?   Well here I am!”    Indeed, Paul was a bad ass, and we all have a pretty good idea whence that toughness sprang.

 

Another note on this passage in the fourteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles…

 

In verses 14 and 15, Paul and Barnabas are tearing their garments in outrage that the crowds believed that they were gods, that they were Zeus and Hermes visiting Lystra in human form.   Paul and Barnabas exclaimed

 

“We of the same nature as you, human beings.   We proclaim to you good news that you should turn from these idols to the living God.”

 

By verse 19, Paul has gotten up from a stoning that everyone thought had killed him.   If Paul was trying to convince the Lystrans that he was not a god, this surely did not contribute to his argument!

 

All God’s blessings.