THE MAN WHO BORE THE MARKS OF CHRIST (PART I)

“The Apostle Who Would Not Retreat”

By Akin Ojumu

From the beginning of his ministry, the Apostle Paul carried a target on his back.

He was marked for opposition, humiliation, persecution, imprisonment, and death. Wherever he went, enemies gathered, mobs formed, authorities intervened, and violence followed.

Paul was a bondservant of Christ Jesus and not a celebrity preacher. The man bore the marks of the Lord Jesus on his body.

Galatians 6:17

“From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.”

Yet through every insult, beating, threat, and rejection, Paul refused to retreat. There was no surrender. There was no turning back.

For Paul, preaching the Gospel was not a platform for acquiring fame, wealth, influence, or public admiration. It was a divine commission for which he was prepared to suffer and, if necessary, die.

To understand the magnitude of what Paul endured for Christ and His Gospel, consider only a few of his many sufferings.

1. Stoned and Left for Dead in Lystra

Acts 14:19

“But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.”

Paul was not merely criticized, insulted, or unfollowed by offended admirers. He was surrounded by a mob, pelted with stones, dragged outside the city, and discarded like a corpse because his attackers believed they had killed him.

Yet Paul did not abandon his calling. He did not announce his retirement from ministry. He did not accuse God of failing to protect His servant.

He got up and continued preaching.

2. Beaten and Imprisoned in Philippi

Acts 16:23–24

“And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.”

Paul and Silas were publicly beaten without a lawful trial. Their wounded bodies were thrown into the innermost section of a prison, and their feet were fastened in stocks.

Yet even there—bloodied, bruised, humiliated, and chained—they prayed and sang hymns to God.

They did not demand special treatment because they were “anointed.” They did not pronounce a curse upon the city for dishonoring their apostolic office. They did not threaten the authorities with prophetic judgment for touching “God’s anointed.”

What did they do? 

They worshiped.

3. Driven Out of Thessalonica

Acts 17 records that Paul entered the synagogue in Thessalonica and reasoned from the Scriptures, explaining that the Christ had to suffer, die, and rise again. Some believed, but others became jealous, recruited wicked men, formed a mob, and threw the city into confusion.

Their accusation was revealing:

Acts 17:6

“These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.”

Paul turned cities upside down, not by advertising himself, but by proclaiming another King—Jesus Christ.

His message was not about accessing mysterious realms, activating spiritual dimensions, commanding angels, breaking secret codes, or discovering the formula for prosperity.

His message was Jesus Christ: crucified, risen, reigning, and commanding all people to repent.

The opposition became so severe that the believers sent Paul and Silas away by night.

4. Pursued from Thessalonica to Berea

Acts 17:13–14

“But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the Word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds.”

Paul’s enemies were not satisfied with driving him out of Thessalonica. They followed him to Berea and stirred up opposition against him there as well. His persecution was not confined to one city. His enemies pursued him from place to place because he would not stop preaching Christ.

Once again, the believers had to hurry Paul away for his own safety.

Yet persecution did not silence him. It merely changed the location of his next sermon.

5. Mocked by the Intellectuals of Athens

In Athens, Paul stood before philosophers and intellectual elites who considered themselves guardians of wisdom, sophistication, and culture.

Paul proclaimed that the God who created Heaven and earth does not live in temples made by human hands. He commanded his audience to repent and warned that God had appointed a day on which He would judge the world through Jesus Christ, whom He had raised from the dead.

Acts 17:32

“Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.”

But Paul did not dilute the message to gain their approval. He did not conduct a survey to discover what the Athenians wanted in a religious experience. He did not rebrand the Gospel to make it attractive to sophisticated pagans. He did not remove repentance, judgment, and the resurrection because those doctrines offended enlightened sensibilities.

Some mocked him. Paul preached anyway.

6. Regarded as a Fool in Corinth

1 Corinthians 1:22–24

“For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

The Jews demanded miraculous signs. The Greeks craved philosophical sophistication and mystical esoteric speculation. Paul catered to neither audience. He preached Christ crucified.

He did not turn the Church into a miracle circus to satisfy those who demanded signs. He did not convert the pulpit into a philosophical theater or mystical box office to impress those who worshiped human wisdom and celebrated esoteric conjectures.

He proclaimed the Cross.

Despite the ridicule, persecution, and rejection he suffered, Paul declared:

Romans 1:16

“I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”

Neither criticism, imprisonment, mockery, nor physical persecution could extinguish his boldness. Paul was determined to proclaim the message of the Cross, even when it appeared foolish and irrational to the sophisticated, enlightened, but spiritually dead people of his generation.

For Paul, suffering was not evidence that the Gospel had failed. It was often the price of preaching it faithfully.

To be continued.