Why did Paul endure imprisonment, beatings, shipwreck, cold, heat, and nakedness?
Paul endured imprisonment, beatings, shipwreck, cold, heat, and nakedness not to serve or please men, but because he was the bond slave of Jesus Christ. He could not seek men's approval, for one cannot serve both God and mammon, so he served Christ alone.
Les explains that Paul was not serving men because he did not draw a salary and did not have to be beholden to anybody; if he needed money, he made tents. Paul asks whether he persuades men or God, and says that if he yet pleased men, he would not be the servant of Christ. You cannot serve both, just as you cannot please God and mammon. Therefore, his suffering—imprisonment, beatings, shipwreck, cold, heat, and nakedness, the things studied in the Corinthian letters—was not for men. He endured it because he was the bond slave of Jesus Christ, which Les connects with Ephesians 3:1 and the whole motivation of the apostle.
Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
See the restFor do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
More Questions
Why did Paul suffer imprisonment, beatings, starvation, and shipwreck?
Paul went through trials like imprisonment, beatings, starvation, and shipwreck for the sake of the gospel, and those trials came not only from the effects of men but from satanic powers.
Why was Paul imprisoned, beaten, starved, and shipwrecked?
Paul's imprisonments, beatings, starvation, and shipwreck were all for the sake of the gospel, and the opposition came not only from human beings but from satanic powers, which are real.