Passionate

Definition: Strong emotions

"... Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool...

What anyone else dares to boast about-- I am speaking as a fool-- I also dare to boast about. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more serverly, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received [39] lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers... I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressures of my concern for all the churches...

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows I am not lying..."

~2nd Corinthians 11:16-31, by the apostle Paul

Paul's passionate boasting of his suffering for Christ is one of the most well-known passages of the New Testament. Paul's conviction in this chapter of his second letter to the Corinthian church is so unlike his other letters. He uses questions, and then answers them, and saying "(I am out of my mind to talk like this)" only further demonstrates his passion. His run-on sentence beginning with "Three times I was beaten..." gives the reader Paul's passionate boasting of his sufferings. The reader only has to simply read the passage to understand Paul's passion for Christ.