word when he tends to ignore or soft-pedal controversy in the early church is an indirect
testimony to vehemence of this issue between Paul and Barnabas.
Two chapters later Luke uses the verb form of this word (
paroxuvnw
) with regard
to Paul's confrontation with the pagans in Athens when he saw all the idols in that city.
He was greatly distressed, says the NIV in Acts 17:16
--
so much so that the Athenians
finally called Paul in to address a meeting of the Areopagus. Think about it. Here is a
stranger for his first time in the decadent cultural center of the world, and he creates
enough waves in the city that he is asked to address the city council
--
an event that might
be comparable to one of us making enough noise as a visitor in Hollywood that we get an
opportunity to address the Screen Actors Guild. That would take a lot of noise!
Paul's letters likewise testify to his extreme passion as a Christian. In Galatians
2:11 Paul refers to an occasion when he opposed Peter to his face, because Peter
stopped eating with Gentiles when men from James came to Antioch. This encounter
with Peter was a face-to-face confrontation
--
or perhaps better, an in-your-face
confrontation
--
in which Paul (based on Gal. 2:13) calls Peter a hypocrite to his face,
probably in public. The ensuing shouting match still reverberates in our ears.
The key passage that demonstrates Paul's passion and ability to vent his anger is
2 Corinthians 10
12. The apostle uses sarcasm in his so-called fool's speech, and he
uses finger-pointing gestures at his opponents. Listen to 11:19
21: You gladly put up
with fools since you are so wise! In fact, you even put with anyone who enslaves you or
exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face.
To my shame I admit that we were to weak for that. Or 12:13: How were you inferior to