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?