4) Identity and Paul

Identity and Paul (click the arrow to listen)

Paul is recognised as a very intelligent theologian from his letters. What can easily be missed though is the wealth of information which can be gleaned about him as a person. He is very candid about himself. In fact, contrary to the views of those who try to frame him as unfeeling and harsh, he reveals great compassion for people.

Consequently, we can learn much about identity from his writings and the remarkable revelations which were given to him. As we have been noticing so far in this series, Paul views himself as a servant of Christ:

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:1)

But also as a servant of others:

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:7-8)

They were prominent in his prayers and important enough for him to write this special letter.

loss

In chapter 3, he explains why becoming a Christian required a total change of identity:

we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh – though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. (Philippians 3:3-6)

By ‘the flesh’ Paul means his outward appearance to others. He was a bona fide Jew. He was a Pharisee who followed their teaching on the Law to the minutest detail. He lived with a zeal for what he believed was correct. No one was more committed than he was.

But when Jesus confronted him on the Damascus Road, his eyes were opened to the futility of that identity. It had been his life; it gave him meaning; it made him feel superior to others. In fact, he felt so assured of being right with God that he even persecuted the embryonic church. But his conversion to serving Jesus smashed that confidence. He had to discover identity all over again:

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. (Philippians 3:7-9)

He had to lose it all: his Jewish identity, his identity as a Pharisee, his self-important identity, an identity which he imagined God viewed as righteous.

You can appreciate from this paragraph that, once he saw clearly how God really viewed him, that he willingly gave it all up. He was actually quite disparaging about his previous identity – he calls it ‘garbage’. This is a strong word; it is sometimes translated as ‘rubbish’ or ‘refuse’ (there is another more agricultural word we might use; but I’ll resist)! Now you see another reason why Paul was so hated by those who previously spoke highly of him. In rejecting his old identity, he was also offending them.

death

Faith in Christ means a complete turnaround of our lives and hence of our old identity and way of seeing ourselves. It was through faith in Christ that God now considered him righteous: he could no longer earn it as he thought before. But this faith also has another considerable effect:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Faith in Jesus is also a transaction which changes our identity. It removes the identity of self (the “I”) and replaces it with the person, character and likeness of Jesus. The cross is not just the place where sin dies and Christ forgives our sins. The cross is also where the ego, the self, the old identity also dies.

Paul the self-important became Paul the servant. Everything he then did was in the service of Jesus and others. His old self-obsessed identity had died. He could then be free to serve in whatever way the Holy Spirit would lead:

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

As a servant or slave, he adopted a flexible identity according to the needs he met. This was always the role of the servant. Whatever a servant was tasked with, he took on that role. His own importance was of no consideration.

commend

This is not to debase oneself. It is merely to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who, as you will recall:

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, (Philippians 2:6-7)

Jesus became nothing. A servant is considered nothing except someone who does exactly what is expected of them. A servant has no place for pride. Effectively, a servant had few if any rights. Their whole identity was to serve others using their gifts in the best possible way.

Paul went to great extremes to demonstrate that he was a servant without demanding conditions for his service:

Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonour, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
(2 Corinthians 6:4-10)

Indeed, it was no longer Paul who lived but Christ who lived in him and through him.

Paul’s previous identity was partly dependent on his physical appearance. He was circumcised; he would have dressed as a Pharisee; he would be seen to complete all the religious rituals expected of him. But now his appearance had no meaning. His body was just the means through which he could serve. For some people, apart from the fact that our body helps people recognise who we are, the body and its appearance is considered a very important part of their identity. However, this too is crucified with Christ. The point is that this body will be transformed when Christ returns again:

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
(Philippians 3:20-21)

The new body is a spiritual body. It is a gift from God and not a personal possession to treat however we wish.

‘stigmata’

It is fashionable to attempt to create a personal identity by body modification. In the will of God, both the body of Jesus and that of Paul experienced modification; but it was not of personal choice or design:

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. (John 20:19-20)

Jesus retained the wounds of servanthood.

Paul also had body modification imposed upon him:

Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, (2 Corinthians 11:23-25)

These were all consequences of that revelation that he was now a servant of all. The scars on his body bore witness to his service:

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule – to the Israel of God. From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. (Galatians 6:14-17)

Paul, like Jesus, found his identity as a servant. All his gifts, talents and ministries were devoted to this. The self-obsession was ended – crucified on the cross; the self-sacrifice had begun – in the service of Jesus, as a servant in whom Christ lived.