28. Price of Liberty - 6:17

Price of Liberty - 6:17 “For the rest let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the brands of the Lord Jesus.” (6:17) The last time we saw a man who caused trouble (chapter 5). Now Paul says, “Let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the brands of the Lord Jesus.”He did not need to be troubled as he had enough trouble already. In 2 Corinthians 11:1-33, for example, we find a whole list of his physical sufferings because of his allegiance to Christ. These were the brands that counted, not the fact that he was circumcised or not, that had no value at all. (1) In antiquity a soldier was tattooed with the name of his commander, his general. In the same way Paul had the brand of the Lord Jesus Christ, because the Lord Jesus Christ was his general, his commander, and this was a sign of allegiance. The fact that Paul had these brands, these stigmata’s in his body was more important than circumcision. (2) The bond-slave was often marked with the name of his master. This is another example. Paul had had all kinds of physical sufferings, he had been stoned several times, he had been shipwrecked and many other things had happened to him and these marks could be seen in his body. This is what really counted before God. You, teachers, talk about physical things; well let us talk about these things. Paul said he was a bondman and these physical signs showed that. (3) He was also seen as a criminal, not a real criminal, of course, but he was considered as a criminal in the eyes of the Jews (in Ephesians 4:1-32 we see that he was in bonds because of the testimony). In the case of criminals, these marks or brands were to expose their crimes. What was Paul’s crime, if we may use this language? He preached Christ and that is why the religious leaders wanted to get rid of him, but he said that these brands were very precious, for they showed his allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ, and nobody could change that. (4) Fourthly, every priest of any religion had this kind of mark in his body, to show his consecration to his god. Here we see Paul’s commitment, his consecration, his devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. So in all these four different settings we see these brands in his body, that was what indeed counted.