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The Character of Paul an Example to Christians (Philippians 3:17) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome back to Reform Thinking. It is really good to be back
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with you today as we open up another stack of dense, heavy
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and, well, absolutely gold standard theological material.
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Yeah, I am looking forward to this one.
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Today we are shifting gears just a bit.
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We aren't looking at a systematic theology textbook or
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debate on church government. We were looking at a biography.
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But you know, not just any biography.
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We're looking at a specific application of a biblical
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command that I think it's overlooked way too often in our
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modern context. That is very.
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We are analyzing a series of four sermons preached by the
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Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards in February of 1739 and
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1740. Right, and you are spot on to
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frame this carefully right out of the gate.
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This isn't a history lesson about a guy named Paul who lived
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a long time ago. This is a very specific,
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somewhat provocative theological argument Edwards is making.
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The title of the sermon series is the character of Paul, an
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example to Christians and it is anchored in Philippians chapter
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3 verse 17, which says brethren be followers of me and mark them
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which walk so as you have us for an example.
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That is a verse that I think makes a lot of modern people
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squirm. It sounds arrogant, doesn't it?
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Follow me. It really does to our ears, yes.
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We are so used to the humble brag culture or the idea that we
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should always point away from ourself.
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Like, don't look at me, look at Jesus.
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But Edwards takes this text and really leans into it.
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He seems to be arguing that the Apostle Paul is not just a
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random figure in history, but a distinct, necessary pattern, a
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mold really, for the Christian life.
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He is. And as Protestant Christians who
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hold to the Westminster Confession, we have to be
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extremely precise here. We know that Christ is the only
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mediator. We know Christ is the only
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Redeemer. We know he's the only one
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without sin. So the immediate tension Edwards
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has to resolve, and the one we need to unpack first, is the
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why. Why imitate a man when we have
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the God man? Why look at Paul when we have
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Jesus? If Jesus the perfect example,
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isn't looking at Paul a downgrade that?
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Is the big question it it feels like buying the generic brand
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when you can afford the name brand?
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That is a great way to put it. But Edward starts right out of
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the gate by establishing the doctrine of imitation.
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He notes that Paul urges the church to follow him together.
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There is this sense of corporate unity in it.
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It isn't just a suggestion for a few super Christians or the
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clergy. It is a command for the whole
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body. Absolutely.
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And Edwards makes a fascinating theological distinction here
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between Christ and Paul to justify this very thing.
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He acknowledges, of course, that Christ is the perfect rule.
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He calls Christ's example the highest possible perfection.
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Christ is God. His nature is, as Edwards says,
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infinitely different from ours, and that infinitely different
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part is where the rubber meets the road for us.
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Because Jesus never had a sinful nature, He never had to wake up
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and fight a bad attitude, or struggle with a lustful thought,
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or repent of pride. He was tempted, yes, but without
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sin from within. Precisely, Christ is the head,
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we are the members. There is a structural gap there.
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Edwards argues that the value of a fallible example, someone like
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Paul is specifically that he was a falling creature.
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He was sin only accepted in Christ regarding his legal
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standing. But practically, Paul had sin in
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him. He carried around what the Bible
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calls the body of sin and death. So because Paul had to do things
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that Jesus never had to do, Paul becomes a template for us in a
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way Jesus cannot be. That sounds almost heretical
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until you break it. Down, I know.
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Let's break it down further. Jesus never had to repent.
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Jesus never had to mortify a lust that means to kill it, to
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starve it to death. Jesus never had to war against
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internal corruption. Paul did all of those things.
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So when we look at Paul, we see an example that is accommodated
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to our circumstances. To use Edward's phrase, it
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provides this massive encouragement that a person with
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a sinful nature can actually attain high degrees of holiness.
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If Paul could do it with a sin nature, there's hope for us.
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That is actually really comforting.
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It brings holiness down from the abstract divine realm into the
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gritty reality of human struggle.
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It means when I'm fighting my own sin, I'm not doing something
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alien to the Christian experience.
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I'm doing just what Paul did. And Edwards points out that this
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isn't just a one off idea. He mentions Abraham as a pattern
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of faith and the prophets as patterns of suffering, but he
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seems to think Paul is in a league of his own.
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He does. He argues that no mere man is
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set forth as a pattern in Scripture as frequently as Paul.
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He cites First Corinthians 4.16, first Corinthians 11.1, First
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Thessalonians 1.6. It is a recurring theme.
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The Holy Spirit seems to have specially designed Paul's life
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to be a mold for the Gentile church, Right?
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If you want to know what a Christian looks like, you look
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at Jesus for the perfection of it, but you look at Paul for the
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process of it. So if Paul is the mold, we need
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to examine the shape of that mold.
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And the first thing Edwards highlights in this sermon series
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is what he calls the violence for salvation.
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Now, to a modern ear, violence sounds negative.
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We think of aggression. But he's talking about spiritual
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intensity, right? Spot on.
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This is a classic Puritan concept derived from Matthew
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1112. The idea that the Kingdom of
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heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.
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Edwards describes Paul's earnestness in seeking salvation
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as absolute. He did not halt between
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opinions. He wasn't casual.
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He was willing to suffer the loss of all things, his status
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as a Pharisee, his comfort, his reputation, his family
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connections, just to win Christ. Edwards uses these very visceral
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analogies. He talks about a runner
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straining every nerve, neck outstretched toward the finish
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line. He talks about a soldier
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storming a city. It is this idea that you don't
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just drift into heaven. You don't just accidentally
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become holy while you are scrolling on your phone.
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And this leads us to a crucial reformed point that Edwards
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hammers home, which is essentially a critique of easy
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believism. There is a common error, maybe
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even more common today than in 1740, of thinking that
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conversion means the work is finished.
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You pray a prayer, you get saved, you get the certificate,
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and then you just coast until you die.
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Right, the fire insurance mentality.
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I have my ticket now. I can relax and live however I
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want. Edwards looks at Paul and says
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absolutely not. He points out that Paul's
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violence continued after he had full assurance of salvation.
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Look at Philippians 3.1114. Paul writes about forgetting
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those things which are behind. He didn't rest on his past
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experiences. And think about what those past
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experiences were. I mean, Paul had been caught up
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to the 3rd heaven. He had seen the risen Christ on
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the road to Damascus. He had performed miracles.
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If anyone had a right to say I arrived, I am good, my resume is
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full, it was Paul. Yes, absolutely.
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But Edward says he treated all that as if it were nothing in a
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sense compared what was still ahead.
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That is a vital distinction. Assurance of faith in a true
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believer does not lead to sloth or laziness.
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It leads to greater industry. If you know you're on the
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winning team, you play harder. You don't sit on the bench.
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There's a great analogy. Edwards notes that Paul acted as
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if he had not yet attained an interest in Christ, even though
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he knew he had. He kept pressing.
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He kept running. This brings up a really intense
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part of the sermons where Edwards discusses the fear of
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the castaway. This is based on 1st Corinthians
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9.27 where Paul says I keep under my body lest I myself
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should be a castaway. Now hold on.
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We believe in the perseverance of the Saints.
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We believe that the elect cannot lose their salvation.
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So how do we handle this? Was Paul afraid of going to
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hell? This is where we need to be very
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precise theologically, and Edwards handles this
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beautifully. Edwards holds firmly to the
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perseverance of the Saints. He doesn't believe Paul could
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actually lose his salvation. Okay.
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However, he argues that Paul kept the conditional proposition
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in mind. The proposition is, if I live
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wickedly, I will be damned so. It is a logical statement if A
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then B. Even if A living wickedly won't
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happen because of God's grace, the threat of be damnation is
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still the deterrent. Correct.
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God uses the threat of damnation as a means to keep the Saints in
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the path of obedience. It is not that the Saint will
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actually perish, but the fear of perishing is the guardrail that
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keeps them on the road, Edwards says Paul beat his body into
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submission, literally gave himself a black eye in the Greek
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because he knew that a wicked life leads to hell, full stop.
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He didn't presume upon Grace to excuse laziness.
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That is a heavy counter to the modern idea that grace means
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consequences don't matter. It puts some steel in the spine
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of the Christian walk. It suggests that if you are not
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fighting sin, if you aren't worried about Your Holiness, you
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have reason to be alarmed. It does.
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It destroys the idea of the carnal Christian who lives like
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the devil but goes to heaven. Edward says no.
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If you live like the devil, you go where the devil is going.
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The proof of election is perseverance and holiness.
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But this fighting spirit wasn't just about avoiding hell.
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It wasn't just fear based. It was fueled by positive
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virtues. Respect in God and Christ
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Edwards moves on to discuss Paul's virtues, starting with
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his strong faith. He says Paul lived as if the
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invisible was visible. That strikes me because Edwards
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contrasts it with the diffident vibrating spirit of Christians
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in his own day. Vibrating spirit.
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I love that phrase. It sounds like anxiety it.
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Is anxiety. It is instability, it is being
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shaken by every headline, every bad day, every doubt, Edwards
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says. We are up and down, shaky.
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Paul, on the other hand, had this concrete confidence when he
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faced martyrdom in Second Timothy 1.12.
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He didn't say, I hope I am right, he said.
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I know whom I have believed. And that confidence wasn't just
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intellectual, it was driven by love.
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Edwards talks about the constraint of love from 2nd
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Corinthians 5. He describes this love as a
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precious, fragrant ointment diffused in the soul.
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It sounds very experiential. It is experiential.
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Edwards is the theologian of the affections.
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After all, he says, this love is the engine.
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Why did Paul labor so hard? Why did he suffer so much?
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It wasn't just cold duty. It was this fragrance of love.
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It was the love of Christ constraining him and makes the
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labor sweet rather than a burden.
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And because of that love, Paul was not ashamed of the gospel.
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Context is everything here. Edwards points out that
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Christianity was the off scouring of the world.
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It was despised by the elite. And Paul wasn't an uneducated
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fisherman like Peter. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees,
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educated at the feet of Gamaliel.
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He had status. He had a reputation to lose.
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That is true. For a man of high learning and
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status to follow a crucified Carpenter, a man executed by the
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state as a criminal, That was social suicide.
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It was ridiculous to the philosophers at Athens.
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It was a joke to the elite at Rome.
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Yet Paul engaged them without shame.
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Edwards applies this to great men of his day and ours who are
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tempted to hide their religion to avoid looking little or
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foolish in the eyes of the world.
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It is the temptation to be cool, right?
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To be accepted by the culture, to be seen as sophisticated.
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Oh, I'm a Christian, but not one of those Christians.
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Yes, we modify the message. We hide the hard parts about
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judgement or sexual ethics. Paul didn't do that.
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He preached Christ crucified, which was a stumbling block and
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foolishness. Edwards says that when we hide
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our faith, we are showing that we value the opinion of men more
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than the approval of God. Paul had a heavenly mindedness
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that viewed the world's Trinity, riches, pleasures, and honors
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with contempt. He found his pleasure in
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infirmities and distresses for Christ's sake.
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That is a complete inversion of worldly values.
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But there's another point Edwards makes here that I think
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is one of the most unique insights in these sermons.
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It is about Paul's humility regarding his spiritual
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experiences. Oh, this part is fascinating.
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Edwards highlights that Paul was reluctant to speak of his
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visions. He mentions the 3rd Heaven
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experience in 2nd Corinthians 12, but notice the timeline.
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He only brings it up 14 years after it happened.
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That is a long time. And even then, he only brings it
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up because he was forced to defend his apostleship against
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false teachers. That is incredible restraint.
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Today, if someone has a vision, they have a book deal and a
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speaking tour the next week. My trip to heaven and back.
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And Edwards drills down on why Paul was violent.
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Paul says he for Bears. Lest any man should think of me
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above that which he seeth me to be, that is striking.
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Paul did not want people's estimation of him to be based on
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his secret spiritual highs. He wanted their estimation to be
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based on what they could see in his daily life, his patience,
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his work ethic, his conduct. That is a massive conviction for
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the modern church. We love the supernatural
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testimony. We love the I Saw Vision story,
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but Edwards is saying Paul intentionally suppressed that
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because he wanted his daily character to be the measure of
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the man. It teaches us that it is better
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to refrain from boasting of spiritual highs if our daily
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conversation doesn't match that altitude.
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If you claim to speak with angels, but you are rude to your
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waiter, there is a disconnect. Paul refused to allow that gap.
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He wanted his public life to be the evidence, not his private
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ecstasy. Speaking of being rude to
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waiters, that transitions us perfectly to the virtues Paul
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showed respecting men. Edward spends A surprising
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amount of time on Paul's meekness and his courtesy.
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It is easy to think of Paul as this hard charging theological
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battering ram, this intellectual giant.
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But Edwards notes his exquisite manners.
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He specifically points out Paul's courteous behavior when
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he was addressing the angry Jewish mob in Acts 22.
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He calls them men, brethren and fathers.
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When he speaks to the heathen governor, he calls him Most
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Noble Festus. Edwards makes the point that
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piety does not excuse rudeness. Incivility is a vice.
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You can't claim to be holy and be a jerk.
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Simply put, yes. Grace restores nature.
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It doesn't destroy common decency, and it went deeper than
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just surface manners. Paul had a massive capacity for
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sympathy. He burned when others were
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offended. Yeah, you see that he rejoiced
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when Titus arrived just because it meant Titus was safe and the
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Corinthians were doing well. He was emotionally connected to
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the body of Christ. He wasn't a stoic.
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And he loved his enemies. That scene with Agrippa.
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Paul is in chains on trial for his life, and he says he wishes
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Agrippa was just like him, except for these bonds.
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He wanted his judges salvation, not his judges suffering.
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He also wished himself a cursed if he could save his Jewish
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brethren in Romans 9. That is true meekness.
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Meekness isn't weakness, it is strength under control for the
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good of others. He was willing to compromise on
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non essentials, becoming all things to all men, not because
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he didn't have convictions, but because he valued their souls
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more than his own preferences. Let's dig into that becoming all
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things to all men a bit more because that can be abused.
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People use that to justify looking just like the world.
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Edwards is careful there. The distinction lies in the
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content versus the method. Paul never compromised the
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message of the gospel. Remember, he was not ashamed,
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but he was infinitely flexible on cultural preferences.
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OK, that makes sense. He wouldn't budget on the
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resurrection, but he would happily give up eating pork if
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it helped a Jewish neighbor listen to him.
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He wouldn't budget on justification by faith, but he
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would circumcise Timothy to remove a social barrier.
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He was rigid on truth, flexible on preference.
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We often get that backward. Today.
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We are rigid on our preferences, our music style, our political
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tribe, our traditions, and flexible on the truth.
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Yes, that is a good diagnostic. Paul was the opposite.
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And this moves us into what Edwards calls the public spirit.
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Paul wasn't just a private Christian working on his own
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holiness in a cave. He was consumed with zeal for
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the Church. This is where we see Paul's
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heart expanding beyond himself. Edwards notes that Paul wasn't
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anxious about his personal wealth.
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His jealousy was a godly jealousy over the church.
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His grief wasn't over financial loss.
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It was over the corruption of the church in Corinth.
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He cried over bad theology and sinful behavior and others.
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Edwards says most men are of a private, narrow spirit.
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They prefer their own things. If their bank account is full
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and their health is good, they are happy, even if the church is
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burning down. Paul preferred Jerusalem above
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his chief joy. And that drove his labor.
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Edwards makes a bold claim here. He says Paul did more good in
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his 30 years of ministry than 1000 men do in an age.
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Think about it. Paul turned the world upside
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down. He planted churches in the major
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cultural centers of the Roman Empire.
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He wrote the documents that built Western civilization and
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he did it while working night and day at tent making so he
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wouldn't burden the church, right.
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This destroys the idea of the clergyman who is too spiritual
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to get his hands dirty. Paul was indefatigable.
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There is a phrase Edwards uses here that I want to unpack.
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Holy craftiness. He quotes 2nd Corinthians 12.16
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where Paul says being crafty, I caught you with guile.
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Now guys usually sounds bad, like deception.
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It does, but Edwards contrasts worldly scheming with Paul's
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schemes. The world uses craftiness to get
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money or power. Paul used strategy, wit and
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cultural adaptation to catch souls.
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It is what Jesus meant by being wise as serpents.
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I see Paul studied his audience at Athens.
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He quoted their poets at Jerusalem, he spoke Hebrew.
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He was crafting his approach to catch them for Jesus.
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It wasn't manipulation for personal gain.
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It was adaptation for their salvation.
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So Christians should be strategic.
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We shouldn't be passive or naive.
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We should be plotting. Plotting how to win people to
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Christ. That is it, Edwards asks.
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Men stay up late at night plotting how to get rich.
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Why aren't we staying up late at night plotting how to save our
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neighborhood? Where is the Strategy Meeting
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for evangelism that rivals the strategy Meeting for corporate
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quarters? Yearly earnings.
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That includes the willingness to forgo lawful liberties.
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This is a big one for Edwards. Paul had the right to a salary.
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He had the right to eat meat. He had the right to a wife.
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He refused them all. And the application for us is
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sharp. Just because an action is
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lawful, just because the Bible doesn't explicitly forbid it,
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does not mean a Christian should do it.
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If it hinders the gospel, or if it stumbles A weaker brother,
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you drop it. Paul's question wasn't am I
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allowed to do this? It was.
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Will this help save people? That is a completely different
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operating system than the one we usually run on.
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We usually ask how far can I go without sinning?
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Paul asked How much can I give up to win more?
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And giving up things leads us, inevitably, to the topic of
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suffering. Edwards titles this section of
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the sermon series The Suffering Servant, focusing on how Paul
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didn't just suffer once, but lived a life that was a series
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of deaths. I die daily, Paul wrote.
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Edwards lists the resume of trials, stripes, shipwrecks,
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robbers, false brethren, hunger, nakedness.
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It is relentless. It is, Edwards notes.
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Paul was always delivered unto death.
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But the key isn't the suffering itself.
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Plenty of people suffer. The key is the cheerfulness in
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it. Paul didn't complain.
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He didn't use his suffering as an excuse to take a break from
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duty. He viewed it as filling up that
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which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.
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He saw his suffering as necessary service to the body.
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How is that psychologically possible to be cheerful in
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shipwreck? It is only possible if your
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treasure is elsewhere. Paul took pleasure in
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infirmities because he saw that his weakness was the platform
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for Christ's strength. When I am weak, then am I
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strong? He embraced the weakness because
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he loved the strength that flowed into it.
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So we have this massive picture of Paul.
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He is intense, humble, loving, hardworking, strategic and
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suffering. Now we get to the so wet.
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Why does Edwards think we are obligated to follow him?
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Edwards lays out a few grounds for this authority.
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First, God appoints teachers to be examples.
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The flock is commanded to follow the shepherd.
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Paul is the principal teacher of the universal church.
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He wrote the bulk of the New Testament doctrine.
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Yes, he did. If you follow the doctrine, you
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must follow the life that embodied it.
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You can't separate Paul's theology from Paul's biography.
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And there is a specific note for us gentiles.
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Right. Yes, Edwards calls it the
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Gentile debt. We are specifically the fruit of
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Paul's labor. He was the apostle to the
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Gentiles. We owe our knowledge of the
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gospel, humanly speaking, to his ministry.
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If Paul had stayed a comfortable Pharisee, the gospel might not
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have crossed into Macedonia when it did.
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Wow, that is a thought. It might not have reached
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Europe, It might not have reached us.
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He is our spiritual Father. You should imitate your Father.
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Edwards also lists the benefits of imitation.
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It isn't just duty. It is good for us.
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It brings comfort, victory over Satan, and intimacy with God.
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And usefulness, That is a big one for Edwards.
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Paul was the greatest blessing to the world after Christ.
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Edwards argues that if we imitate Paul, we become
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blessings rather than what he calls cumbers of the ground.
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Cumber of the ground. That is an agricultural term,
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right? Like a tree that takes up soil
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and nutrients but produces no fruit.
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It is just in the way. Correct.
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Edwards challenges us to live such that our lives actually
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contribute to the stock of goodness in the world, to the
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Kingdom of God, to not just consume resources, air, food,
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money, church pews, without producing fruit.
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Following Paul's life leads to Paul's confidence and death,
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too. I have fought a good fight.
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Henceforth there's laid up for me a crown.
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Then it. Edwards goes into some
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speculation that I found really striking.
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He talks about Paul's reward in heaven.
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This is where Edwards allows himself a theological
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probability. He suggests that it is probable
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that Paul is next in glory to Jesus Christ in heaven. #2 in
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heaven, that is bold claim. It is, but it is based on
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scripture. The Bible teaches that rewards
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are according to labor. Every man shall receive his own
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reward according to his own labor.
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Since Paul labored more abundantly than they all, and
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suffered more than perhaps any other mere man, the sheer
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magnitude of his capacity for glory is likely unsurpassed.
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That makes you pause. We often think of heaven as a
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flat equality, everyone floating on the same cloud.
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But Edwards, following Scripture, sees degrees of
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glory, and Paul is aiming for the gold.
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And that leads to the final encouragement, because looking
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at Paul can be discouraging. He is so high up there.
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He is the #2 it feels impossible to imitate him.
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But Edwards points out Paul was a man of like passions.
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He was a Sinner. In fact, before conversion, he
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was a violent persecutor. He was a murderer, effectively.
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He was arguably worse than most of us listening to this.
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Right. And he faced greater outward
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hindrances. He didn't have the support of a
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Christian culture. He was building it from scratch.
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He was constantly haunted. And most notably, Edwards brings
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up divine aid. The same spirit that empowered
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Paul is available to help our sincere endeavors.
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We aren't upgrading the hardware.
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We have the same spiritual resources Paul had.
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The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead and the
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same Spirit that empowered Paul to preach in Ephesus Is the
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Spirit available to us to be patient with our kids, or to
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witness to our Co worker, or to endure a sickness?
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We don't have to be apostles to have Apostolic strength for
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holiness. So as we wrap up this deep dive
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into Edwards sermons on Paul, let's circle back to the core
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mission. Edwards wants us to take Paul as
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a rule. Not just an admired hero on a
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pedestal, but a functioning rule for our daily life.
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That is the distinction. We admire heroes.
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We imitate rules. Edwards wants us to look at our
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choices, how we spend our money, how we treat our enemies, how we
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work at our jobs and lay the Paul grid over them.
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What would Paul do? Not as a cliche, but as a
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serious theological inquiry. It is challenging, It confronts
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our comfort. But as we have seen, it is the
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path to joy. It is the path to the crown of
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righteousness. We're in the end and following
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Paul. We are following Christ.
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Paul is just the lens that helps us focus on the Savior.
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Before we go, I want to leave you with that final provocative
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thought from Edwards. He asked us to consider if you
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had never been born, would the world have lost any good?
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Contrast that with Paul. If Paul had never been born, the
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void would be immeasurable. The challenge is to live a life
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that leaves a mark, a mark of grace, a mark of truth.
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A life that isn't just about surviving, but about conquering
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for the Kingdom. Thank you for joining us on this
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deep dive into the mind of Jonathan Edwards and the life of
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the Apostle Paul. We hope this has challenged you
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to look at your Christian walk with new intensity.
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Until next time.