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276 How Are the Christian Scriptures Confirmed by the Peculiar Glory of God?
They show profound concern for others, even at great cost to himself.
They show a wide and healthy range of human emotion rather than
the pathological lopsidedness of the mentally ill. In other words, it is
not possible to make a compelling case that Paul was mentally ill or
psychotic or delusional. That explanation of his transformation is pure
speculation without any basis in historical fact.
Then, second, the apologist would observe that year after year Paul
embraced a life of suffering to spread the gospel for the salvation of
others. This simply rules out the thought that he is using his apostleship
as a cover for a con game. People often embrace suffering for what is
false but not for what is known to be false. When we know what we
are teaching is false, we are motivated to line our own pockets with
money, not get whipped and beaten and imprisoned and killed. Paul
repeatedly proved by his life that he was not being driven by money—
making tents to earn a living, not taking offerings for himself, having
others handle the money he collected for the poor, living simply. His
sufferings for the sake of the churches were part of the open record
(2 Cor. 6:3–10; 11:23–28). This suggestion, that his transformation is
owing to his desire to deceive the churches, has no evidence to support
it.
Third, the apologist would observe that Paul certainly was not a perfect
man and could make honest mistakes. But to say that this explains
his decades-long ministry is not compelling. The problem with such a
suggestion is that the ostensible mistake at his conversion goes on for
decades. Year after year, Paul would be making the most outrageous
claims about his own revelatory experiences and the truth of Christ and
the Holy Spirit and the nature of reality. This would not be an honest
mistake. This would be a lifetime of sustained delusion or fabrication.
Unless Paul is telling the truth.
And thus the apologist would point out that the evidence is strong
that when Paul explains the divine origin of his apostleship, he is speaking
as a reasonable and honest man who knows what he is saying and
why. His explanation is that Christ appeared to him and that he is the
ongoing recipient of divine revelation (1 Cor. 2:13). With this apostolic
authority, Paul claims that all of the Old Testament is inspired by God
(1 Tim. 3:16–17); presents a full portrait of the deity of Christ (Col.