4 Ways to Boldness

The apostle Paul was promised a life of suffering, and God delivered on that promise. Few have ever lived such a hard life. Much of what made it so hard was the uncertainty of what would hit him around the next corner. It was like being blindfolded at the receiving end of a dodgeball game where anything was allowed to be thrown. Would the next thing be a rotten tomato or a wrench?

Yet, amazingly, Paul had a boldness that is hard to comprehend. We want to know how he had that kind of boldness and if we can have it to. Is it something that can be understood and attained? I believe it can be. However, it will not be acquired like you pick up milk from the grocery store. It will be a work of grace. But that work of grace will not normally be creating something out of nothing. God can do that, but normally it will be a grace-produced illumination of truths previously known, but not cared about until God does this grace work.

So what are those things you can know about Paul’s boldness. What are those things that God may graciously cause to bloom into Christ-exalting boldness? 2 Corinthians is Paul’s most personal book and the first 4 chapters contain creators of boldness.

1) Boldness comes from a special comfort God gives to sufferers – Obedience is costly in this world. Satan makes sure of that. Even though the book of Proverbs speaks of the blessings that come to the wise, Satan will do whatever he can to make those blessings come through pain. Therefore, God has seen fit to give comfort in the midst of such affliction. Paul had found this to be true, and it emboldened him. He said 1:5, “For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.” Paul even detailed some of that comfort by a particular instance. In verses 8-11 Paul speaks of an instance where the affliction surpassed their strength and they had “the sentence of death within themselves.” What was the purpose? Paul says “so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.” So God brought Paul to a place where he had an unshakable trust, not just in God, but in the God who raises the dead. So whether or not God delivered him at that affliction, ultimately he would deliver him through the resurrection. This is an awesome comfort. If, by grace, this grabs your soul, then you will have a boldness to enter into suffering when the time comes.

2) Boldness comes from a depth of amazement that compels Christ’s ambassadors – In chapter two, Paul mentions his travels, and abruptly jumps into the glories of what he is doing. He is spreading the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ in every place. He understands that some smell glory and salvation, others smell the corpse of dead autonomy. This is to be expected. What is really amazing for Paul is that he gets to do this. He cries out “who is adequate for these things?” He then says that this isn’t some kind of part time job of moonlighting in gospel work for a few extra bucks to take a better vacation. Quite the opposite, Paul says that this bone-deep sincerity comes from the fact that this call is “from God.” God sent him and now Paul speaks as one who lives in the presence of God who called him and will also hold him accountable. The glory of the mission and the majesty of the one who gave him the mission causes him to speak no matter how people might react when they catch a whiff of the gospel.

3) Boldness comes from a hope of a glory that does not fade – In 3:12 Paul explicitly said that he spoke with boldness and that it was the result of something. That something is the contrast of a glory that fades compared with a glory that doesn’t fade. This was explained in the previous verses. The heart of the law was to bring the knowledge of sin. This was what the world needed and it was from the glorious God. Yet the law could not save. Paul said it was like the glory of Moses’ face that faded away. The Law did its work powerfully, but then just left us dead. The gospel, however, had a glory that didn’t just remain, it abounded. It transforms people from one glory to another. It conforms us more and more and more to the glory of the Son of God who is sanctifying us. So for Paul, the power of this radical transformation that happened in people, the glory of seeing people begin to reflect Christ-likeness was too overwhelming to be suppressed by fear. The greatness of Paul’s hope was that God would do this over and over in people if he would just be obedient to speak.

4) Boldness comes from faith in God’s written promise of resurrection – This is similar to the first point, and should prove to us just how fixed Paul was on what was to come. In chapter 4, Paul tells of the difficulties of sharing the gospel and of serving in places with great opposition. Verse 8 and 9 tell just how hard it was; He was afflicted, crushed, persecuted, and struck down. Verse 10, 11, and 12 all say the same thing in slightly different ways; We are dying in real ways on the outside so that Christ’s life in us would be seen. Let’s be clear, though. Paul really was being hurt and injured. This tends to silence the speaker and stop the worker. But not for Paul. Why not? Verse 13 explains; God’s word was believed. Faith was standing on actual promises. Because he really believed such grand promises, he spoke. How could he not. Boldness only happens when a person truly knows something that is massive and awesome and which life is shaped around. If your boldness comes from anything else, that boldness will either melt away in the heat of the moment, or be found to actually be foolishness. Life-shaping faith in anything other than God’s word is foolishness. Life-shaping faith in God’s word produces boldness.