Did Paul Have An Enormous Self-Image?

Paul said many things that are so far from humble that one must truly wonder. It appears Paul had an enormous ego. This is important in many ways, but in particular to determine whether Habakkuk 2:2-6 is a prophecy about Paul, as we contend elsewhere. For Habakkuk prophesies of an end-times figure, a man of pride, who like SHL (the spelling of Paul's name Saul) gathers all nations / Gentiles to himself in competition with the true God's plans for His people.

Let's begin by looking at Colossians 1:24 NIV which has Paul affirm Jesus' affliction for the church is lacking which Paul makes up by his own affliction for the church. Here are a couple of pertinent versions:

²⁴ Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. (NIV)

Now I’m happy to be suffering for you. I’m completing what is missing from Christ’s sufferings with my body. I’m doing this for the sake of his body, which is the church. (Col 1:24, CEB)

As Robert Roberg says in Did Paul Preach Another Gospel? (2009) at 58:

Paul apparently felt Yahshua had failed in some respect and God chose Paul to finish the work of salvation.

Paul defenders admit the issue. David May in Colossians (2000) at 71 asks: "Does it suggest that Jesus' sufferings were insufficient to bring salvation and that Paul is in the process of making up for [this deficiency]?" While Paul-defenders engage in blanket denials that this was Paul's meaning, e.g., "in this verse, Paul is not saying that Christ's death was insufficient" (NKJV Study Bible (2008) at 1887), they do not give articulate reasons to think Paul is saying anything else. They typically explain that Paul does not mean Christ's sufferings were "insufficient" to save us, but instead only that Christians must "encounter trials and difficulties in promoting the kingdom." (New Englander (1844) Vol. 2 at 581.) However, none of that explanation wrestles in what sense was Paul "completing" the sufferings of Christ which were otherwise "lacking" or "missing" something. Thus, a plain reading of Col 1:24 presents an obvious spiritually prideful statement from Paul that he was making up in his own sufferings that which was not complete in that given by Christ for us. This will not be the last prideful statement we find from Paul.

Paul also viewed that his spirit was wherever believers gathered, much like Jesus said where two or more are gathered together, He is with us. While in Jesus' case, as the Shekinah dwelled in Jesus, this was justified. In Paul's case, not so much. Paul claimed his presence in spirit authorized their gathering to hand one over to Satan to destroy the flesh:

³ For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. ⁴ So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, ⁵ hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,^[a][b] so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. (1 Cor. 5:3-5 NIV.)

Paul likewise does not tell his followers to listen to the words of Jesus, but instead to stand fast in what Paul taught in his epistles or in person:

¹⁵ So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings^[a] we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. (2 Tim. 2:15 NIV.)

In a similar vein, Paul made his teaching the criteria whether one would associate with another one who was a Christian rather than what Christ taught (which is never quoted in Paul's letters):

⁶ In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching^[a] you received from us. (2 Thess 3:6 NIV.)

Paul made it very clear that "my gospel...about Jesus Christ" -- Paul's Gospel rather than the "Christ's gospel" -- is the one that saves and which God endorses:

²⁵ Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, (1 Cor. 16:25 NIV.)

Rather than tell people to follow Jesus, as Jesus taught (Matt 4:19 "follow me"), Paul said:

¹⁶I call upon you, therefore, become ye followers of me; (1 Cor. 4:16 YLT.)

Paul viewed that he was set apart at birth to reveal Jesus "in me" -- as if Jesus fully dwelled in Paul, like the Father dwelled in Jesus:

¹⁵ But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. ¹⁷ I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus. (Gal. 1:15-17 NIV.)

Paul said likewise Jesus dwelled in himself:

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. (Gal. 2:20 NIV)

Paul also taught the world was crucified unto Paul, and Paul was crucified unto the world:

¹⁴ May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which^[a] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Gal. 6:14 NIV.)

Paul explains he means he has crucifixion wounds in his flesh, apparently meaning his sufferings are equivalent to the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross:

¹⁷ From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. (Gal. 6:17 NIV.)

This may explain Col 1:24 where Paul says Jesus' work was not complete until Paul completed it in his own flesh. See above. It also adds clarity to what Paul means by saying "I am crucified with Christ...for Christ lives in me." Gal. 2:20 NIV.

Also, Paul put down the apostles of Jesus, and placed himself above them, and proclaimed he strove to win favor by doing miracles but was disappointed that they did not commend him:

¹¹ I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the “super-apostles,”^[a] even though I am nothing. ¹² I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles. (2 Cor. 12:11-12 NIV.)

Paul gives a litany of boasts in 2 Corinthians 11:21-29 NIV, apparently sore about not being commended by the so-called 'super-apostles':

²¹ To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!

Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. ²² Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. ²³ 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. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.²⁵ 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, ²⁶ I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. ²⁷ I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. ²⁸ Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?

Paul said it best what this reflects -- he talks "as a fool" and he is "out of my mind to talk like this."

Paul was unrestrained equally another time, with similar boasting, even insisting God's grace was "with me" in his much harder labors than others:

⁹ For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. (1 Cor. 15:9-10 NIV.)

If God was truly with Paul, we wonder if Paul would have suffered from such lack of humility, right?

Yet, it never stops with the Corinthians. Paul also wrote them:

¹⁸ I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. (1 Cor. 14:18 NIV.)

Despite our Lord's telling us to call no man father -- meaning a spiritual father, Paul ascribes that to himself in speaking with the Corinthians:

¹⁵ Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. (1 Cor. 4:15 NIV.)

Paul also haughtily mocked men who quite harmlessly sought to be circumcised, and to teach others to do likewise to please God. Even if unnecessary if applied to themselves (which is unclear in context), did they deserve the following slam from Paul?

¹² I wish that the people who are upsetting you would go all the way; let them go on and castrate themselves! (Gal. 5:12 Good News Bible. ISV God's Word)

This verse is typically mollified so that you would barely know it says "castrate themselves" in most editions. The NIV, NASB come close, saying "emasculate" themselves. The New Living is "mutilate themselves." But the ASV is they should "go beyond circumcision." A nice euphemism.

Conclusion

It appears quite clear that Paul had an extremely elevated opinion of himself. In other words, Paul was clearly a proud man. This fits in well with our view that the prophecy of Habakkuk 2:2-5 is about Paul -- a prophecy of an end-times figure who is a "proud man" who gathers as SHL (Paul's name) all "nations" (Gentiles) to himself whose "faith" the "just shall live by" but who is working at cross-purposes with God. See our article "Is Habakkuk 2:2-5 A Prophecy About Paul?"

Study Notes

S. asked me to investigate Col. 1:24 on 4/8/2012 as follows:

I have not seen on your site the subject of Colossians 1:24 addressed. I find this to be a sticking point that Paul's admirers cannot answer. In that verse Paul says that Yahushua's sufferings were "lacking" and that his own sufferings make up for it. When confronted with this verse, most will say that we all suffer as "christians," but they can not give an answer when bluntly asked, "were Yahushua's sufferings lacking?" They can not answer because they know that they were not.