5 × 39= 195
This is the minimum amount of stripes Paul bore in his body as a result of being beaten on five different occasions, thirty-nine times each. Historians tell us the Roman whips had several cords attached to the main stem; if so, that would add to the number. When taking into account he was beaten three times with rods, and once was he stoned, one can only imagine the horrific sight of that mangled body, that had been given over to God for His use, pleasure, and glory. Remember, along with all this, he carried to the grave his thorn in the flesh.
PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING
Those earned (I didn’t say, deserved) marks in that precious body, were his credentials to all who would question his devotion to Jesus Christ. As he told his legalistic inquisitors at Galatia, “From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” He is one who would not be “carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease!”
AN INGREDIENT NOTICEABLY MISSING IN PAUL’S LETTERS
It is difficult, if not impossible, to find any complaints as to his sufferings anywhere in his thirteen epistles. Rather, you will discover this old warhorse turned the tables on the flesh, the world, and the devil. We see him praising God and glorying in Him in all his afflictions. He found in his weakness, God’s strength, and in his suffering, God’s grace. This seasoned saint believed with all his heart and soul-
“Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
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