By Angus Harley

Why does Paul have to break the system? There I was going about my business believing that when we ‘confront’ sinners, it must be done in love and with zero harshness in order to win them. Then comes alone that spoilsport Paul the apostle, and he coldly just shoves aside my view. The man has no manners, I think. Listen to the rascal:

6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, 7 who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him, 10 and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?11 Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.12 Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord. (Acts 13:6-12).

Paul didn’t follow the Evangelical confrontation three-step procedure. What’s wrong with him?

I searched for Step 1, and labored hard to find love shown to Elymas, but for the life of me I couldn’t squeeze it out of, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?” What’s the saying- ‘If looks could kill’? Well, Paul has that down, “ Paul…fixed his gaze on him”. Why the unloving eye, Paul?

Step 2 was obviously violated severely, wrecked, for Paul did not avoid harsh words, but was incredibly harsh, insensitive, indeed, brutal and belligerent, and caustic to the extreme, in his choice of words! I know there’re optimists out there, but this is one case where the lemons will not be turned into lemonade- deceit, fraud, son of the devil, enemy of righteousness. Believe you me, I tried to find a way to make it all positive!

Then I thought to myself that surely, at the very, very least, his intention in using this ungodly, bellicose, condemning rhetoric was to fulfill Step 3 and win Elymas through the Gospel. But, yet again, he broke the mold, for he called for a temporary curse on Elymas, “Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.”

What really, really bothers me is that Paul had a very bad influence on Luke, for Luke himself does not mention anything more about Bar-Jesus, aka, Elymas. I can’t get closure! I need to know that something nice happened to Elymas, that he repented, or loved Jesus, or stopped being a false prophet. Anything! Luke is so deluded and duped by Paul that he actually thinks that the Holy Spirit empowered Paul to say and do these things, “Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit”. I mean, come on now. There’s only so much a chap can take!

I would utterly despair for poor Luke, except I’m offered a crumb of consolation, for he concedes that the Roman proconsul did come to faith in Jesus. But, frustratingly, he kind of implies that this happened because of the curse on Elymas and because of the Gospel teaching. Why not just leave aside the Elymas part? It’s not necessary anyway, right?

To be honest, my greatest fear is that others will follow this model and become verbally aggressive against those who openly and viciously attack the Gospel. Far worse, they might even think that harshly confronting someone who attacks the Gospel might be a step toward someone else looking and listening in and coming to faith in the Gospel. Such absurdity! You don’t overcome fire with fire. You use honey to win bees…even if they are killer bees! ‘Jesus died for you’, ‘Jesus loves you’, ‘I’m praying for you’, ‘He has a plan for you’, any of these, and other similar phrases, will do, my friend. They come with a powerful Spirit-unction when you say them, and are sure to help win the lost sheep for Jesus.

Plainly Paul needs some sensitivity training, and has to coming under a form of assembly discipline- not harsh, of course, but the gentle kind of discipline, like a mother redirecting her baby. He has to give up witnessing until he’s graduated, and show he can handle the pressure of confrontation. It’s all for Jesus, all for Jesus!