The Apostle Paul always inculcated the spiritual strength of First Century Christians, but he had to rely on their physical strength when they lowered him in a basket from the high wall of Damascus to escape the governor who had ordered his arrest.
The Rev. Daniel Perez, Spanish language pastor of the Odessa Bible Church, said communist terrorists kidnapped him and a number of other people from a children’s Bible camp in Venezuela and later threatened to kill him and his wife and baby daughter because he was espousing the Gospel.
“We felt like Paul in the basket because we had to run away and escape with our lives,” the Rev. Perez said. “If you truly believe in Jesus, you have to be ready to experience those situations of being unsafe and feeling at risk.
“God bless the United States of America.”
Minister Greg Fleming of the Downtown Church of Christ in Midland cited Second Corinthians to say Paul combated Corinthian critics who claimed, based on ‘earthly wisdom,’ that he was too weak to be a good missionary.
“Paul does this by emphasizing that his ‘clay jar’ approach to ministry makes it clear that he relies on God’s surpassing power rather than his own ability,” Fleming said. “A Cross-based ministry looks to Jesus, who ‘was crucified in weakness but lives by the power of God,’ Second Corinthians 13:4.”
Sandwiched within Paul’s essay on not boasting (10:7-12:10) is what is sometimes spoken of as his ‘fool’s speech,’ which he concludes by boasting about his weakness, the minister said.
“His story of being lowered from a window in the high Damascus wall in a basket at night (11:31-32) fits this theme,” Fleming said. “This ignoble account of slipping out of town on the sly is the opposite of common ancient hero stories depicting a brave soldier who is first over the wall to conquer a city.
“In my view this story illustrates his theme of power in weakness. Paul said, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Following the 11th chapter of Second Corinthians is Paul’s account of a vision in 12:2-4: “I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the Third Heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know. God knows. And I know that this man, whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows, was caught up to Paradise and heard inexpressible things, things no one is permitted to tell.”
