Apostle Paul Was Assertive and Aggressive
Paul Didn’t Play Games
I had a conversation recently about confrontation—the kind that’s necessary but uncomfortable. Keeping with my recent article, Jesus Was Assertive and Aggressive, I thought it would be beneficial for us to explore Apostle Paul’s assertive and aggressive mannerisms and methods too. This is the kind that calls people out, holds them accountable, and forces a choice. And then, as I was reading through 2 Corinthians 10-11 and Galatians again, I was reminded… Paul didn’t play games or mince words.
Too many people picture Paul solely as this strict theologian, endlessly dissecting doctrine, writing long letters, and debating the finer points of theology. But that’s not the full picture. Paul was a sage and a warrior.
Before he was Paul, he was Saul, who acted as the muscle enforcer for the Jewish Sanhedrin on the Temple Police. He sought early followers of Jesus, known as followers of The Way (which I believe we ought to get back to referring to ourselves as that), and not only dragged them out of their homes to beat and imprison them, he would lead the charge of judge, jury, and executioner as some were stoned (Acts 7:57-58). He was certainly assertive. He was most definitely aggressive when the situation called for it— especially, later in his life after he converted to following Jesus, when the gospel was on the line.
That, the gospel being on the line, was exactly what was happening in the Jesus communities in Corinth and Galatia. Some so-called “super apostles” (Paul’s sarcastic term, not mine but I agree) had slithered their way into the churches, claiming to be more authoritative, more impressive, more worthy of attention than Paul (2 Corinthians 11:4-5). These super apostles had charisma. They had a polished message. They had influence. They were louder. But they didn’t have the true gospel. As Paul said, they “preached another Jesus and a different gospel” (2 Corinthians 11:4).
Paul wasn’t about to let them get away with it. He mustered his assertive side and aggressively called them out because the true gospel being preached and real Jesus being known was everything to Paul so much so that he put his life on the line.
Snarky, Direct, and Unapologetic
Paul didn’t just push back—he went after them hard. In 2 Corinthians 11:5, he practically mocks them:
“Now I consider myself in no way inferior to those ‘super apostles.’”
And in verse 13, he drops the hammer:
“For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.”
In Galatians, he doesn’t hold back either. They were believing the deception of the super apostles that he called the Galatians fools (Galatians 3:1) with an exclamation point. He was so fed up with people distorting the gospel that he said in Galatians 1:8-9 that if anyone—even an angel from heaven—preaches a different gospel, they should be accursed. Let that sink in.
Paul wasn’t just having a theological debate over coffee. He was going to war over truth— God’s truth that was not subjective truth according to anyone’s personal interpretation or opinion but objective truth based on Jesus’s words and Old Testament scripture.
And then there’s Galatians 5:12—a verse that doesn’t often get preached on Sunday mornings. Paul, frustrated with those trying to push circumcision on Gentile believers, says directly: “I wish those who are disturbing you might also let themselves be mutilated!”
Yeah, you read that right. Paul just said, “If you’re so obsessed with circumcision, why not go all the way?” That’s not just assertive—that’s savage.
Why Was Paul So Intense?
Because he knew what was at stake. This wasn’t about winning an argument or asserting himself above the so-called super apostles. This was about people’s eternal reality. If these false teachers succeeded, they wouldn’t just lead people astray—they’d sever them from the true gospel.
Paul’s intensity wasn’t arrogance; it was love. Love for the truth. Love for Jesus. Love for the people he had poured his life into.
That’s why he didn’t just rebuke the false teachers—he equipped the church to see through their deception. In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, he reminds them that the battle isn’t against people, but against “arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God.”
It wasn’t just about calling out lies. It was about taking thoughts captive—realigning hearts and minds with Jesus and being able to see the deception for what it is.
Committed to Truth
What we believe (doctrine of our faith) is important and knowing what is correct OR incorrect is important. If we don’t understand what “good doctrine” is, we’ll become easy prey for bad doctrine or counterfeit truth.
Think of true TRUTH like this... The Secret Service does not study counterfeit dollar bills to know if they are fake. No! Instead, they diligently study the authentic dollar bill so intently they can instantly spot a counterfeit when they see one.
The moral of the story is to study God's Truth so intentionally and earnestly that we KNOW his gospel truth as well as will KNOW the counterfeit truth (and the world gives us soooo much of this don't they?) when you hear it or see it.
The most important thing to note is that we ought not to follow a person or a denomination or particular doctrine or Church tradition. We are to simply follow Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible, and to understand him we need to understand the Bible—not from our current, modern, Western lens, but from the hermeneutical understanding of what the Biblical authors meant, who they were specifically writing for, and what God was saying through them in the specific time as it was written.
Do we take this approach with reading to understand God’s Word?
If we are so familiar with the Bible, and who Jesus is, who Yahweh is, throughout the entirety of scripture, then anytime we listen to someone teach, we will know, without a doubt who is speaking truth and who is skewing it in some way or another. The only way to the truth is through Jesus. Some people might be elegant speakers, have a great story and ministry, and do all these good things, but not point to Jesus.
“Christian movements start when the founder really knows Jesus. Movements die when the followers only know the founder.” -an India pastor to Francis Chan
What Does This Mean for Us?
We live in a world full of “super apostles.” They may not call themselves that, but they’re out there. They appear polished, persuasive and often preach a gospel that sounds good and parallels the Bible but their message isn’t God’s truth.
If we follow Jesus, there comes a time when we can’t stay silent.
We are not called by Jesus to fight as the world fights, but he did model us to fight. As Paul demonstrated, we are to call out deception. We are to stand firm in God’s truth. We are to confront false teaching with the kind of assertiveness Paul modeled— not to tear down, but to build up. Not for ego, but for the sake of the gospel.
Because at the end of the day, the kingdom of God doesn’t advance through compromise. It advances through truth. Sometimes, the most loving thing we can do is turn over tables (John 2:13-22), call out the lies, and make sure the real gospel is the only one that gets preached— especially from the church pulpit or in Bible studies. My recommendation is to not have these conversations on social media. Unless you are an experienced and articulate writer, as Paul, when possible, have these conversations face-to-face or on the phone rather than through written mediums.
*Read these Biblical references for context.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
2 Corinthians 11:13-15
Galatians 1:8-9
Galatians 3:1
Galatians 5:12
Titus 1:10-11
As you go, make disciples who follow Jesus!
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