16 And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
17 From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
The idea of being Christ's slave and captive is one that stands out also in 2 Corinthians 2:14, where Paul speaks of being led in triumph as a captive at Christ's char- iot wheels. It is of this wonderful verse that Denney says, 'Wherever Christ is leading a single soul in triumph, and the fragrance of the gospel should go forth...the lowliest life which Christ is leading in triumph will speak infallibly and persuasively for Him.' How true this was of Paul! It is not a big step from this to 2 Corinthians 4, another of the pas- sages where Paul speaks of the 'marks' of Christ upon him, as he shared in His sufferings, and of the way in which the 'treasure' of the gospel light gets out to men - by the breaking of the earthen vessels (Matthew Henry suggests that Paul is thinking here of the story of Gideon and the earthen pitchers in which his men carried the lights - the pitchers were shattered, the lights exposed, and the enemy were scattered). And Paul adds, 'Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body' (2 Corinthians 4:10). These are the marks that Paul makes the ground of his plea in 17. And is there not at least a suggestion, a veiled warning to his opposers: 'I am Christ's property, the Lord's anointed, and he that touches me will have Him to deal with.' (cf Psalm 105:15).