Biblical Profile: Paul, the Bible’s Last Action Hero

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In the Book of Acts, the apostle Paul is heroically recast as invincible to physical assaults and incapable of suffering either injury or pain. The blindness that afflicts him on the road to Damascus proves to be temporary and is followed throughout the book by several cycles of fast-paced, narrow escapes from hostile opponents and bodily harm (e.g., Acts 9:23–25; 14:5–6; 17:5–10). When Paul arrives in Lystra, for example, he is caught by a hostile mob intent on stoning him and dragging his body out of the city (Acts 14:19–20); though he is presumed dead, in a surprising reversal of […]

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Endnotes

1. Notably, Paul boasts of his weakness in the very same context in which he most extensively appeals to his wonder-working in Corinth (2 Corinthians 12:6–10). See David Weddle, Miracles: Wonder and Meaning in World Religions (New York: New York Univ. Press, 2010), p. 153.