The Self-Drawn Portrait of the Apostle Paul. (12)
Posted by Marvin Pagkanlungan on Thursday, June 5, 2014
by Charles H. Welch
#12. Separate Features: Tender Grief.
“Here we see . . . . . that grief for the sins of others, which moved him to tears when he spoke of the enemies of the cross of Christ, ‘of whom I tell you even weeping’.” (Conybeare and Howson).
The man who could stand as Paul stood before the Council at Jerusalem (Acts xv.; Gal. ii.) must have had the heart of a lion. In the man who could endure for Christ’s sake that list of troubles about which Paul so reluctantly speaks in II Cor. xi., there was enough material to have made a dozen heroes. The man who spoke as Paul spoke at Mars’ Hill; who was willing to preach the gospel at Rome; who, in spite of rejection and betrayal, stood unashamed at the end of his course; who could say, “None of these things move me”; that man, by the grace that was given him, was as firm as a rock and as true as steel. But while opposition and misrepresentation left him undismayed and unmoved, the many failings and follies of his family in the faith often brought tears to his eyes.
The fact that the Apostle drew near to the close of the early ministry that he had received and was about to enter into the ministry which was associated with bonds and afflictions (Acts xx. 23), by no means indicated that “tears” would be a new experience and learned only in prison, for, in summarizing the ministry that had occupied Acts ix.-xx., the Apostle could say:
“Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews” (Acts xx. 19).
While Paul could remain unmoved at the prospect of prison, or even death, for Christ’s sake, he was exceedingly moved by the tears of the saints who sought to dissuade him from his purpose. It is recorded:
“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 xxi. 13).
Paul also remembered the tears shed by others. He writes to Timothy:
“Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy” (II Tim. i. 4).
In his counsel to the church at Rome he wrote:
“Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep” (Rom. xii. 15).
although, some time earlier, in a different context, he had said:
“The time is short: it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not” (I Cor. vii. 29, 30).
While weeping was far more common in Eastern lands than in our own, and not considered a sign of weakness, to be hidden or repressed, there is nothing in the Apostle’s mind or manifested in his character which is indicative of weak or maudlin sentimentality. He would have been as severe a critic of the lachrymose preacher as any to-day, but he could not refrain from tears, nor did he attempt to hide the fact, when he wrote to the Philippians warning them of the evil example of those who were minding “earthly things”. If not repudiated, such conduct would do for the Philippians what the mixed multitude did for Israel—cause them to lose the prize.
It is enough to make one weep to-day to see how many different ways the evil one has of cheating the believer of his reward, and perhaps the one most used, is the denial, falsely put forward as in the interests of grace, that there is a prize to be won or a reward to be lost, and that in spite of Phil. iii. 14 and Col. ii. 18; iii. 24.
We feel sure that the Apostle shed more tears over others than he ever shed for himself. Trials and troubles that come from the world are not unexpected; it is the “lying in wait of the Jews”, his own countrymen; the attacks of ignorant brethren; the slanders created by envy and spite, where love and appreciation should have been found; these, and the sins of the Lord’s people, were the cause of the Apostle’s weeping. In all this he followed the steps of his Lord. The chapter in John’s Gospel that contains one of the mightiest of Christ’s self-revelations also contains the most human of all:
“I am the resurrection, and the life” (John xi. 25).
“Jesus wept” (John xi. 35).
And so the tears of Paul blend with his lion-like courage, and help us to understand the grip that such a man had upon hearts that were attuned to the same grace that saved, moved, kept, and empowered himself.
---------------------------
(From The Berean Expositor vol. 33, page 147).
--------------------------------
#12. Separate Features: Tender Grief.
“Here we see . . . . . that grief for the sins of others, which moved him to tears when he spoke of the enemies of the cross of Christ, ‘of whom I tell you even weeping’.” (Conybeare and Howson).
The man who could stand as Paul stood before the Council at Jerusalem (Acts xv.; Gal. ii.) must have had the heart of a lion. In the man who could endure for Christ’s sake that list of troubles about which Paul so reluctantly speaks in II Cor. xi., there was enough material to have made a dozen heroes. The man who spoke as Paul spoke at Mars’ Hill; who was willing to preach the gospel at Rome; who, in spite of rejection and betrayal, stood unashamed at the end of his course; who could say, “None of these things move me”; that man, by the grace that was given him, was as firm as a rock and as true as steel. But while opposition and misrepresentation left him undismayed and unmoved, the many failings and follies of his family in the faith often brought tears to his eyes.
The fact that the Apostle drew near to the close of the early ministry that he had received and was about to enter into the ministry which was associated with bonds and afflictions (Acts xx. 23), by no means indicated that “tears” would be a new experience and learned only in prison, for, in summarizing the ministry that had occupied Acts ix.-xx., the Apostle could say:
“Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews” (Acts xx. 19).
While Paul could remain unmoved at the prospect of prison, or even death, for Christ’s sake, he was exceedingly moved by the tears of the saints who sought to dissuade him from his purpose. It is recorded:
“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 xxi. 13).
Paul also remembered the tears shed by others. He writes to Timothy:
“Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy” (II Tim. i. 4).
In his counsel to the church at Rome he wrote:
“Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep” (Rom. xii. 15).
although, some time earlier, in a different context, he had said:
“The time is short: it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not” (I Cor. vii. 29, 30).
While weeping was far more common in Eastern lands than in our own, and not considered a sign of weakness, to be hidden or repressed, there is nothing in the Apostle’s mind or manifested in his character which is indicative of weak or maudlin sentimentality. He would have been as severe a critic of the lachrymose preacher as any to-day, but he could not refrain from tears, nor did he attempt to hide the fact, when he wrote to the Philippians warning them of the evil example of those who were minding “earthly things”. If not repudiated, such conduct would do for the Philippians what the mixed multitude did for Israel—cause them to lose the prize.
It is enough to make one weep to-day to see how many different ways the evil one has of cheating the believer of his reward, and perhaps the one most used, is the denial, falsely put forward as in the interests of grace, that there is a prize to be won or a reward to be lost, and that in spite of Phil. iii. 14 and Col. ii. 18; iii. 24.
We feel sure that the Apostle shed more tears over others than he ever shed for himself. Trials and troubles that come from the world are not unexpected; it is the “lying in wait of the Jews”, his own countrymen; the attacks of ignorant brethren; the slanders created by envy and spite, where love and appreciation should have been found; these, and the sins of the Lord’s people, were the cause of the Apostle’s weeping. In all this he followed the steps of his Lord. The chapter in John’s Gospel that contains one of the mightiest of Christ’s self-revelations also contains the most human of all:
“I am the resurrection, and the life” (John xi. 25).
“Jesus wept” (John xi. 35).
And so the tears of Paul blend with his lion-like courage, and help us to understand the grip that such a man had upon hearts that were attuned to the same grace that saved, moved, kept, and empowered himself.
---------------------------
(From The Berean Expositor vol. 33, page 147).
--------------------------------
