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Jan 16, 2019 · In 1 Corinthians 15:32, the apostle Paul says that he fought with beasts at Ephesus. Some translations add the adjective "wild" to describe the beasts. But is Paul describing literal creatures from the animal kingdom or is he using the word metaphorically to…
- Introduction
- The Apocalyptic and Magical Backround
- The Historical Setting of Paul's Mission in Ephesus
- The Early Reception of The ‘Beast Fight’
- Conclusion
Modern commentators seem fairly certain that Paul could not actually have entered a beast fight in the arena in Ephesus.1 The reasons for this conclusion are obvious enough: first, if Paul had fought to the death with wild animals in front of a large crowd then this, presumably, would have been quite a memorable experience. However, such an event f...
From earliest times in Judaism, wild animals tended to be conflated with supernatural beasts and evil spirits. Anything that lived outside the bounds of civilized life, in wild and deserted places, tended to be viewed as unfamiliar, uncanny, and dangerous. A neat example of this can be found in Isa. 34:14: ‘Wildcats shall meet with hyenas, goat-dem...
Naturally, this is not the occasion for a detailed discussion of the historical value of Acts. Instead, only what Luke has to say about Paul's mission in Ephesus shall be discussed, and of special interest will be his accounts of controversies concerning magic and the shrines of Artemis. It may, perhaps, seem rather perverse to lean upon such credu...
Though there is no evidence that Christians were thrown into beast fights during Paul's lifetime (this verse does not count), circumstances soon changed. The harsh reality of Christians being killed by wild animals during the imperial persecutions became the lens through which 1 Cor. 15:32 was viewed. It comes as no surprise, then, that the early r...
When Paul asks the Corinthians: ‘If, in a human way, I fought with Beasts in Ephesus, what would I have gained?’ he thinks back to a mission fraught with threats and danger. He performed exorcisms, tried to prevent the practice of magic—no doubt in the face of much opposition—and struck out against the local cult of Artemis, the ‘she-wolf’ and ‘mis...
- Guy Williams
- 2006
People also ask
Where did the first beast come from?
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What does the Beast of the revelation symbolize?
The Apostle Paul, after staying in Corinth for a year and a half, travels to Ephesus in the spring of 52 A.D. The journey to the city, with friends Priscilla and Aquila, is considered part of what is called Paul's second evangelistic or missionary journey. Although he (likely) starts the first Christian church in the city he stays for only a ...
Paul's long residence in Ephesus indicates the importance of the position. The great wealthy city was the best possible centre for evangelising all the province of Asia, and that was to a large extent effected during the Apostle's stay there. But he had a wider scheme in his mind. His settled policy was always to fly at the head, as it were.
Scholars suggest, though, that it's unlikely Paul fought actual beasts in Ephesus. In a world without high-powered rifles, "fighting beasts" was significantly more dangerous than it is today. Paul seems to be using this as a metaphor for facing overwhelming and dangerous circumstances, perhaps including being attacked by angry mobs.
The first beast was the Roman Empire and its emperors, so the second beast is the empire's propaganda machine, the imperial cult. Revelation 13.11-12 specifically Verse 11: The first beast came from the sea, with one layer of this symbolism being that the Roman Empire came from across the Mediterranean Sea.
There is no good reason for taking the text literally. Had such a terrible struggle taken place it would have been recorded in the Acts, and often referred to by Paul himself. 2. By wild beasts he means men, gross and savage in wickedness. Heraclitus called the Ephesians θήρια.
