Paul’s Tribulation in Asia

13, 14. (a) How did Paul describe a time of severe tribulation that he experienced in Asia? (b) What incident may Paul have had in mind?

¹³ The kind of suffering that the Corinthian congregation had experienced up to this point could not be compared with the many tribulations that Paul had to endure. Thus, he could remind them: “We do not wish you to be ignorant, brothers, about the tribulation that happened to us in the district of Asia, that we were under extreme pressure beyond our strength, so that we were very uncertain even of our lives. In fact, we felt within ourselves that we had received the sentence of death. This was that we might have our trust, not in ourselves, but in the God who raises up the dead. From such a great thing as death he did rescue us and will rescue us; and our hope is in him that he will also rescue us further.”—2 Corinthians 1:8-10.

¹⁴ Some Bible scholars believe that Paul was referring to the riot in Ephesus, which could have cost Paul as well as his two Macedonian traveling companions, Gaius and Aristarchus, their lives. These two Christians were forcibly taken into a theater that was packed with a mob who “shouted for about two hours: ‘Great is Artemis [the goddess] of the Ephesians!’” Eventually, a city official succeeded in quieting the crowd. This threat to the lives of Gaius and Aristarchus must have greatly distressed Paul. In fact, he wanted to go in and reason with the fanatic mob, but he was prevented from risking his life in this way.—Acts 19:26-41.

15. What extreme situation may be described at 1 Corinthians 15:32?

¹⁵ However, Paul may have been describing a situation far more extreme than the foregoing incident. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul asked: “If, like men, I have fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, of what good is it to me?” (1 Corinthians 15:32) This may mean that Paul’s life was threatened not just by beastly men but by literal wild animals in the stadium of Ephesus. Criminals were sometimes punished by being forced to fight wild beasts while bloodthirsty crowds looked on. If Paul meant that he had faced literal wild beasts, he must at the last moment have been miraculously spared from a cruel death, just as Daniel was saved from the mouth of literal lions.—Daniel 6:22.

16. (a) Why can many of Jehovah’s Witnesses identify with the tribulations suffered by Paul? (b) Of what can we be sure regarding those who died because of their faith? (c) What good effect has come when Christians experience narrow escapes from death?

¹⁶ Many present-day Christians can relate to the tribulations suffered by Paul. (2 Corinthians 11:23-27) Today, too, Christians have been “under extreme pressure beyond [their] strength,” and many have faced situations in which they ‘were very uncertain of their lives.’ (2 Corinthians 1:8) Some have died at the hands of mass murderers and cruel persecutors. We can be sure that God’s comforting power enabled them to endure and that they died with hearts and minds firmly fixed on the fulfillment of their hope, be that a heavenly hope or an earthly one. (1 Corinthians 10:13; Philippians 4:13; Revelation 2:10) In other cases, Jehovah has maneuvered matters, and our brothers have been rescued from death. No doubt those who have undergone such a rescue have developed increased trust “in the God who raises up the dead.” (2 Corinthians 1:9) Afterward, they could speak with even greater conviction as they shared God’s comforting message with others.—Matthew 24:14.