Kipling and Lewis disagree here. Lewis would say that Christ makes us more like ourselves, and that we don’t dissolve into some form of convergence where we are nothing but all things to all men.

But Kipling begged to differ. This poem is his meditation on this, and Paul’s traditional fate: beheaded by that Tyrant Nero.

At His Execution

“The Manner of Men”
St. Paul

I am made all things to all men–
Hebrew, Roman, and Greek–
In each one’s tongue I speak,
Suiting to each my word,
That some may be drawn to the Lord!

I am made all things to all men–
In City or Wilderness
Praising the crafts they profess
That some may be drawn to the Lord–
By any means to my Lord!

Since I was overcome
By that great Light and Word,
I have forgot or forgone
The self men call their own
(Being made all things to all men)
So that I might save some
At such small price, to the Lord,
As being all things to all men.

I was made all things to all men,
But now my course is done–
And now is my reward…
Ah, Christ, when I stand at Thy Throne
With those I have drawn to the Lord,
Restore me my self again!

From “Limits and Renewals” (1932)

Rudyard Kipling.