Gospel Doctrine: The Perils of Paul

The Perils of Paul [1]
By John A. Tvedtnes

[Supplement to Gospel Doctrine New Testament lesson 38]

I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. (2 Corinthians 11:23-27)

In his second epistle to the Corinthians,[2] Paul notes the various trials and tribulations he had suffered for his faith in Christ. He noted that he had served “in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings ... By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true” (2 Corinthians 6:4-5, 8).

He added that, “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me ... Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:7).

Paul’s earlier epistle to the Corinthians also mentions the trials he and his missionary companions experienced: “Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it” (1 Corinthians 4:11-12).

To the saints in Philippi, he wrote, “I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need” (Philippians 4:12).

Paul was treated severely by Jews and Gentiles alike. Five times his Jewish foes whipped him with thirty-nine stripes. The Law of Moses permitted a maximum of forty stripes (Deuteronomy 25:3), but the Pharisees (of whom Paul was one), following their usual practice of surrounding the law with a “hedge” lest anyone inadvertently break one of its provisions (in this case by miscounting), made the maximum thirty-nine.

Soon after his baptism in Damascus, some of his fellow Jews sought to kill Paul and he escaped when the local Jewish Christians let him down in a basket outside the city wall (Acts 9:23-25). He fled to Arabia and returned after the danger was passed (Galatians 1:17). From that time, he spent much of his time preaching in synagogues throughout the northeastern part of the Mediterranean basin.

While serving at Iconium, Paul and his fellow missionaries were threatened with stoning and had to flee (Acts 14:1-6). Pursued by their enemies to Lystra, Paul was stoned and left for dead, then fled to Derbe (Acts 14:19-20).

>In the city of Philippi, in Macedonia, Paul and Silas were stripped of their clothing, severely beaten, and imprisoned in stocks. They were miraculously delivered from prison and, when the local magistrates learned that they were Roman citizens, they asked them to leave town (Acts 16:19-40). It was illegal to punish a Roman citizen without a proper trial.

During his last trip to Jerusalem, the Lord warned Paul “that bonds and afflictions” awaited him in the holy city (Acts 20:22-23). While he and his companions stopped to rest at Caesarea en route,

… there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said,

Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at
Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered,

What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:10-13).

Finding Paul in the Jerusalem temple, some Asian Jews who recognized him stirred up the crowd, who took Paul and began to beat him. “And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them: and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul. Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was, and what he had done.” The Roman soldiers rescued Paul from “the violence of the people,” who cried out for his death (Acts 21:30-36).

Paul asked permission to address the crowd, who again called for his death, whereupon “The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? ... and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him” (Acts 22:22-29; cf. Acts 26:21).

The next day, the Romans allowed the high priest and his council to interrogate Paul. “And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?” (Acts 22:30–23:3).

And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle.

And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.

And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.

And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy.

And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul.

Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to morrow, as though ye would enquire something more perfectly concerning him: and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him. (Acts 23:10-15)

Claudius Lysias, the chief captain, feared that Paul might be killed by the high priest’s council, “having understood that he was a Roman.” He arranged for a large contingent of soldiers to safely accompany Paul to the prefect Felix in Caesarea Maritima, where Felix ordered him kept in ward (Acts 23:26-35).

Paul remained bound under Felix’s successor, Porcius Festus (Acts 24:26-27; 25:14; 26:29). When Festus visited Jerusalem, the high priest and the chief of the Jews informed him against Paul, and besought him, And desired favour against him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying wait in the way to kill him” (Acts 25:1-4).

Ultimately, a Roman centurion named Julius accompanied Paul and other prisoners to Rome. It was during this voyage that Paul and the others experienced a fierce storm at sea and lost the ship and all its cargo, but preserved the people on board (Acts 27:1-44). Safely on shore, Paul was bitten by a viper but remained unharmed (Acts 28:1-5). In some of his letters, Paul notes that he was bound, perhaps suggesting that he wrote those epistles while in custody of the Romans. [3]

Some of Paul’s trials resemble those of Joseph Smith [4] and, to a lesser extent, of Christ. [5] Though often in pain and under threats of violence, Paul was willing to undergo all sorts of afflictions and troubles for the gospel’s sake. His attitude is summed up in his epistle to the Romans:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. [6]

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)

[1] Any resemblance of this title to the movies entitled “The Perils of Pauline” is definitely intended and not coincidental.

[2] Paul evidently wrote three epistles to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 5:9, he declared, “I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators.” Thus 1 Corinthians was really his second letter to the Corinthian saints, while 2 Corinthians was the third.

[3] Ephesians 6:20; Philippians 1:7, 13-14, 16; Colossians 4:3, 16; 2 Timothy 2:9; Philemon 1:10, 13; see also Hebrews 10:34; 13:3.

[4] D&C 122:5-8.

[5] In Galatians 6:17, Paul wrote, “From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Some Christians have assumed that these marks were in the places where the nails pierced the Savior’s hands and feet and the spear pierced his side, but this seems unlikely. Paul wrote that he had been whipped three times and beaten with rods the same amount, so the marks could have been like those that were inflicted on Christ when he was scourged (Matthew 27:26; Mark 15:15; John 19:1).

[6] Quoting Psalm 44:22.