New Creations for Reconciliation & Generosity

Week Six - Day 2

Today's Reading

Acts 19:23--2 Corinthians 4:16 to 9:15

This section of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians contains some real scriptural gems:

• “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away, see, everything has become new” (5:17).
• “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation” (5:18).
•  “So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (5:20).
• “The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows abundantly will also reap abundantly” (9:6).
• “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (9:7).

The act of creation is a powerful event filled with all the energy and impulses of God.  It is not something that happens haphazardly; there is intention, wonderment and joy not only in the process but also in the completed work.  Such is the nature of our being when we are “in Christ,” and who could speak better of this than Paul whose own conversion experience on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-31) re-created him from a persecutor of the church to an apostle proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah.  Paul, who once hunted down Christians breaking up families and communities, now sees reconciliation as a primary responsibility of all believers.  Unity of relationship then draws us to mutual caring for one another, with generosity as an outward sign of the spirit that binds us together.

From Ephesus to Macedonia

Week Six - Day 1

Today's Reading

Acts 19:23--20:1, and 2 Corinthians 1:1--4:15

Paul has spent three years in Ephesus (possibly from the fall of 54 AD to the fall of 57AD) and things have gone fairly well.  There have been a number of converts to Christianity, enough to concern some of the local artisans who make their money fashioning idols.  Before Paul arrived it was the goddess Artemis who held the hearts of the Ephesians, but fewer people are wanting the artisans creations to honor her.  The idol makers stir up the people of the city and a confrontation erupts and moves to the theater, an outdoors amphitheater used not only for performances but for public meetings of the citizens.  The town clerk, however, averts a riot by reminding the citizens that there are proper legal channels through which to pursue their complaints.  Paul seems to have had enough of Ephesus and makes plans to leave for Macedonia (northern Greece), where he ends up staying for three months.

Never one to waste a moment, Paul used some of his time in Macedonia, perhaps in the city of Philippi, to write his second letter the Corinthians.  He writes of the affliction he experienced in Asia, which may refer to the trouble he ran into in Ephesus.  He offers his thanks, however, for the prayers that have sustained him and his companions.  He then tells the Corinthians how he had wanted to visit them again but was afraid it might cause too much distress.  Paul does not want discord to exist among them and urges them to be reconciled with a person who has been corrected by the community.  He then turns to issues of his ministry of the new covenant, “written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (3:3).  Although this has had its challenges, Paul tells the Corinthians that “everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase in thanksgiving, to the glory of God” (4:15).

Faith, Freedom, and Fidelity

Week Five - Day 7

Today's Reading

Galatians 3:19--6:18

Paul still has some harsh words for the Galatians as he moves through his arguments against what he sees as backsliding within their faith.  “I am afraid that my work for you may have been wasted” (4:11), and “I wish those who unsettle you would castrate themselves” (5:12).  One has to wonder how a congregation of today would react if it’s preacher said such things from the pulpit on Sunday morning?  I don’t think they would be shaking hands at the door saying “Nice sermon, pastor.”

On the other hand, there are the words of Paul’s words that have rung down through the ages: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (3:27-28).  Paul may have chastised the Galatians regarding their turning to the rules of the Law rather than relying upon God’s grace, but he also reminds them of the eternal promise once given to Abraham and now available to all through Christ Jesus.  “For freedom Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (5:1).

Concern for the Saints

Week Five - Day 6

Today's Reading

1 Corinthians 16:1-24, and Galatians 1:1--3:18

Paul ends his first letter to the Corinthians with a concern for the poor Christians in Jerusalem.  This was a major project for Paul during his ministry through this region of the Roman Empire.  Wherever he saw people who had enough to share he would urge their support.  He then tells them of his hopes for a future visit with them and sends them news and greetings from people whom they would have known from their ministering among the community in Corinth.

We then move on to Paul's Letter to the Galatians.  There is no clear scholarly conclusion as to when and from where Paul wrote this letter, but one of the possibilities was during his three-year stay in Ephesus.  So, that is where we will consider Paul is writing from as we listen to what he has to say to this church that he had personally planted during his travels.

To say that Paul's words are angry is not an understatement.  He cannot believe that they are "so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel" (1:6).  He takes it as an affront to Christ, and certainly as an affront to his credentials.  He uses the occasion to launch into a recounting of his journey of faith, the power of his conversion to Christ, and his standing among the original apostles called by Jesus.  He even pits himself against Peter, claiming a consistency of witnessing to the faith that Paul claims failed the early apostle.  What most upsets Paul, however, is that the Galatians seem to be turning to relying upon the Law for their hope of salvation, and not putting their full trust in Christ alone.  You almost can feel the Galatians cringing as they hear Paul's words.  What more is he prepared to say to them in the second half of his letter?

Love, Prophecy, and Resurrection

Week Five - Day 5

Today's Reading

1 Corinthians 13:1--15:58

We start today's reading with the familiar "hymn of love" (chapter 13). It contains some of the themes that Paul writes about of his own experience of tongues and prophecies, of patience and kindness, of not being envious or boastful or rude.  Although it ties in to what Paul is saying, it seems somewhat foreign to the rest of this letter.  Rather than addressed directly to issues within the community, it is highly poetic and worshipful in nature and tone.  It has the feel of something that was inserted in the middle of his discussion of spiritual gifts that began in chapter 12 and which picks up again in chapter 14.

It is interesting that this "hymn of love," so strategically tied to spiritual gifts, is a popular choice for inclusion in many wedding ceremonies, where I doubt it is heard in the context of which it was intended.  The end of the hymn is the declaration that love is greater than faith and hope.  Isn't that what every bride and groom want to hear, that their love is above all else?  What they don't hear is the very next verse in Paul's letter (14:1) that says, "Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophecy."  Love is not about whispering sweet-nothings in the ear of your beloved, it is about living more fully and proclaiming more boldly the ways of God.

And how is this done?  By seeking those spiritual gifts that build up the Body of Christ, that open up the good news to new believers, and by recognizing that those things that have their seed in the physical world are meant to blossom into that which is heavenly.  

The One Body

Week Five - Day 4

Today's Reading

1 Corinthians 9:1--12:31

Paul must have really been stung by the criticism and questioning of his authority and motives by the Corinthian church, for he returns for a third time in his letter to the defense his credentials and actions.  The fact that he has preached and worked among them for free has some of them perplexed.  Perhaps they felt Paul wasn't a "professional" since didn't accept any pay for his services.  Paul, however, is proud that he is not compensated by them - proof that he is not in it for anything other than the hope of winning some souls for Christ.

The list of issues that Paul had received regarding the church in Corinth seems to have been extensive as he moves to address a variety of concerns.  There are questions regarding the worship of idols, eating foods which were sacrificed to pagan gods, the proper role and conduct of women in church, the lack of concern for the poor within the community, the understanding of the sacredness of the celebration of the Lord's supper, and the proper role of spiritual gifts.  Through Paul's letter we get the picture of a community that is engaging and trying to make sense of the gospel of Jesus Christ and what it means for the various aspects of their daily lives.  They are to be commended for their faith, but are still in need of instruction as to how to put it into practice in ways that are truly reflective of the good news.

It is interesting to note how Paul tends to swing back and forth between what sounds to be rather harsh criticism and words that are uplifting and full of grace.  The entire chapter (12) on spiritual gifts and the body of Christ should be required weekly reading for all Christians.  It contains the essence of how we should appreciate the divergence of gifts within the church, as well as how we should celebrate our mutual dependance with all who are brothers and sisters in Christ.

To Judge or Not to Judge

Week Five - Day 3

Today's Reading

1 Corinthians 4:1--8:13

To continue from yesterday, the issues in Corinth are deeper than just who the believers are lining up behind, whether it be Paul or Apollos or Cephas.  Paul is reacting to an apparent challenge to his authority as an apostle, and warns the Corinthians about pronouncing "judgment before the time" and to leave such matters to the Lord.  This, of course, doesn't prohibit Paul from telling the community to clean up its act and to shun those within the community who are not measuring up to what Paul states are the standards of conduct for believers.

This section of Paul's letter points out not only the difficulty of trying to literally apply every verse of the Bible, but needs to be a reminder of the sources behind the writings.  These are the words and reflections of human beings who are attempting to make sense of the experiences they have had of God, and also the world in which they lived.  Sometimes those words can have unintended consequences.  For example, in Paul's concern for the purity of the Christian community against what he sees about him in the pagan Greco-Roman world (5:1-13), he says that the community should expel a person whom it judges to be immoral and "to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord" (5:5).  As one commentator puts it: "Paul's reasoning for this excommunication had a disastrous effect in later centuries when the church had the power to sentence sinners, heretics, and witches to torture and death to save their souls" (Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza, in Harper's Bible Commentary).

Power struggles, legal battles, the intimacy of marital relationships, human sexuality, you name it and somehow it could become a point of contention.  The underlying struggle, then as it is now, is to discern what it means to live a holy and faithful life with God and one another.  Two thousand years of history should have taught us that we, of any age, do not know as much as we think we do, and that a little humility goes a long way in forming and maintaing the bonds of love and respect that bind us together with Christ.