{"id":7619,"date":"2025-10-01T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T00:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=7619"},"modified":"2025-10-01T07:25:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T23:25:21","slug":"350-three-essential-pauline-elements-for-pauline-ministry-of-the-cross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=7619","title":{"rendered":"349. Three Essential Elements in Pauline Ministry of the Cross"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><sup>24\u00a0<\/sup>Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes\u00a0minus one.\u00a0<sup>25\u00a0<\/sup>Three times I was beaten with rods,\u00a0once I was pelted with stones,\u00a0three times I was shipwrecked,\u00a0I spent a night and a day in the open sea,\u00a0<sup>26\u00a0<\/sup>I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews,\u00a0in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city,\u00a0in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.\u00a0<sup>27\u00a0<\/sup>I have labored and toiled\u00a0and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food;\u00a0I have been cold and naked.\u00a0<sup>28\u00a0<\/sup>Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.\u00a0<sup>29\u00a0<\/sup>Who is weak, and I do not feel weak?\u00a0Who is led into sin,\u00a0and I do not inwardly burn?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><sup>30\u00a0<\/sup>If I must boast, I will boast\u00a0of the things that show my weakness.\u00a0<sup>31\u00a0<\/sup>The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever,\u00a0knows\u00a0that I am not lying<\/span><\/strong>. [<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>2 Corinthians 11:24-31<\/strong><\/span>, <em>NRSV<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Saint-Paul-in-prison-Rembrandt-1627-via-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-7620\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Saint-Paul-in-prison-Rembrandt-1627-via-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"730\" height=\"888\" \/>\u00a0<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0<em>Saint Paul in prison,<\/em> <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Paul_in_prison_by_Rembrandt.jpg\">Rembrandt, 1627, via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><em>The Three Essential Elements in Ministry<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We wrote earlier that in St Paul\u2019s authentic <strong><em>ministry of the cross<\/em><\/strong>, three essential elements among other elements, are clearly observable<strong>. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><em>Firstly, he served Christ<\/em><\/strong>. After his pivotal encounter with the Risen Christ, Paul went through a complete change in his life. From one who zealously persecuted Christ\u2019s followers, Scriptures testify to this Apostle of the Crucified Lord resolutely taking up\u00a0 a ministry of the cross in which he surrendered all other options, especially his own mistaken, death-dealing, agenda and freely chose to <strong><em>serve<\/em> <\/strong>Christ.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><em>Secondly, in serving Christ, he suffered tremendously<\/em><\/strong>. Even though he would <strong><em>suffer<\/em><\/strong> tremendously in that service, he never gave up.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><em>Thirdly, he made immense sacrifices<\/em><\/strong> while serving Christ Jesus and his kingdom-cause.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In a word, he <strong><em>willingly<\/em><\/strong> embarked upon the excruciating service of the cause of the Crucified and Risen Christ, absorbing untold suffering and making immense sacrifices in the process. He ploughed on regardless, persevering and staying on course to the very end.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Concerning steadfastness in the service of Christ and his Church, Scriptures testify to the singularity of Paul\u2019s grit and the grace of Christ that sustained his staying power. For instance, he proudly wrote to Timothy:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<strong><sup>6\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>For I am already on the point of being sacrificed; the time of my departure has come.\u00a0<strong><sup>7\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.\u00a0<strong><sup>8\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing [2 Timothy 4:6-8].<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">From Acts 20:24, we learn that Paul was ever-willing to sacrifice the value and preciousness of his own life, \u201cif only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><em>Concerning Paul\u2019s Suffering<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Concerning suffering in service of the cause of Christ his Lord, references to Paul\u2019s apostolic suffering speak volumes. In this regard, Luke has amply categorised in Acts 20-28 the suffering P<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theologyofwork.org\/new-testament\/acts\/leadership-as-witness-acts-20-28\/pauls-suffering-acts-20-28\/\">aul\u2019s <\/a>work had brought to him:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me,\u201d (<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2020.23;esv?t=biblia\">Acts 20:23<\/a>) he says. He is kidnapped (<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2021.27;esv?t=biblia\">Acts 21:27<\/a>), beaten (<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2021.30-31;esv?t=biblia\">Acts 21:30-31<\/a>;\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2023.3;esv?t=biblia\">23:3<\/a>), threatened (<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2022.22;esv?t=biblia\">Acts 22:22<\/a>;\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2027.42;esv?t=biblia\">27:42<\/a>), arrested many times (<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2021.33;esv?t=biblia\">Acts 21:33<\/a>;\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2022.24;esv?t=biblia\">22:24<\/a>,\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2022.31;esv?t=biblia\">31<\/a>;\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2023.35;esv?t=biblia\">23:35<\/a>;\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2028.16;esv?t=biblia\">28:16<\/a>), accused in lawsuits (<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2021.34;esv?t=biblia\">Acts 21:34<\/a>;\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2022.30;esv?t=biblia\">22:30<\/a>;\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2024.1-2;esv?t=biblia\">24:1-2<\/a>;\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2025.2;esv?t=biblia\">25:2<\/a>,\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2025.7;esv?t=biblia\">7<\/a>;\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2028.4;esv?t=biblia\">28:4<\/a>), interrogated (<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2025.24-27;esv?t=biblia\">Acts 25:24-27<\/a>), ridiculed (<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2026.24;esv?t=biblia\">Acts 26:24<\/a>), ignored (<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2027.11;esv?t=biblia\">Acts 27:11<\/a>), shipwrecked (<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2027.41;esv?t=biblia\">Acts 27:41<\/a>) and bitten by a viper (<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/ref.ly\/Acts%2028.3;esv?t=biblia\">Acts 28:3<\/a>).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In addition to Luke, Paul on his part has written multiple catalogues or descriptions of suffering. They serve more as recurring themes and specific examples rather than as a single, comprehensive list. A catalogue that has drawn much scholarly attention is 2 Cor 11:23-33 where Paul recounts his own experiences of hardship, including beatings, imprisonment, shipwrecks, trials, and other forms of persecution.\u00a0Included in all this are physical pain, emotional distress, and social ostracisation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><em>An Enduring Insight on Weakness as Strength<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Paul\u2019s perspective on suffering is nuanced as he evaluated some types of suffering more positively than others. In all this, Paul offers an enduring insight which gives a special stamp on Christian spirituality. In the midst of suffering, his tenacious turn to grace is epic. Concerning his \u201cthorn in the flesh\u201d for example, three times he besought the Lord to have it removed, only to hear the Lord say to him: \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.\u201d This has yielded the profound Christian spiritual insight that Paul&#8217;s willing acceptance of weakness and dependence on God allows Christ\u2019s power to flow through him to others. This helps Paul to gladly boast in his weaknesses such as hardships and insults, so that Christ\u2019s power could rest on him. It highlights that true strength comes not from self-sufficiency but from acknowledging limitations and allowing divine help to fill them (See 2 Cor 12:7-10).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In sum, Paul\u2019s Christian-specific insight on weakness leading to strength turns on four points:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Weakness is an opportunity, not a final state. God\u2019s power can be perfected in us in moments of human frailty.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Acknowledging weakness takes one to God\u2019s reservoir of help and strength;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Humility serves to check against pride and arrogance and opens one to spiritual growth.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Embracing personal weaknesses and difficulties \u201cfor the sake of Christ\u201d can lead to spiritual resilience and peace.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">All this gives flesh to the claim that serving in the faith community, like leadership, entails suffering. The Lord\u2019s call to \u201ctake up one\u2019s cross and follow him\u201d is no fancy-talk; anyone who will not accept suffering as an essential element of service or leadership can neither serve nor lead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And yet, all this having been said, the harsh reality of personal suffering while serving in ministry is something we should not gloss over too lightly. And the million-dollar question just does not go away:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What if your engagement in <em>this<\/em> ministry at <em>this<\/em> time and place with <em>these<\/em> people has all but become <em>impossible<\/em>, that it has become so asphyxiating that you feel like your spirituality is facing an utter ruin?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We shall address this question briefly in the next post on the 16<sup>th<\/sup> of this month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Copyright \u00a9 Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh, October 2025. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">To comment, email\u00a0<u><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"mailto:jeffangiegoh@gmail.com\">jeffangiegoh@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>24\u00a0Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes\u00a0minus one.\u00a025\u00a0Three times I was beaten with rods,\u00a0once I was pelted with stones,\u00a0three times I was shipwrecked,\u00a0I spent a night and a day in the open sea,\u00a026\u00a0I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=7619\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh","author_link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?author=1"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?cat=1\" rel=\"category\">From Our Perspective<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"24\u00a0Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes\u00a0minus one.\u00a025\u00a0Three times I was beaten with rods,\u00a0once I was pelted with stones,\u00a0three times I was shipwrecked,\u00a0I spent a night and a day in the open sea,\u00a026\u00a0I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7619"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7619"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7644,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7619\/revisions\/7644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}