“Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh,
arm yourselves with the same way of thinking,
for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin…” 1 Peter 4:1
This seems to go hand in glove with Hebrews 12.4:
“In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”
Now, Galatians 6.17
“From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.”
Paul does not seem to be dealing with the struggle against sin,
but, rather, the struggle against those want to sit around and argue with him
about the “errors” in his doctrine.
He more or less says,
“I’ve proven who I am by the 195 whiplashes I have received, plus the stoning I got, and having been beaten with rods.”
We often live a soft, scary-cat Christianity today. I’m inspired by Paul and Peter to live a Christianity that is a bit tougher than that.