Day 28

Paul is a letter writing machine!

New Shredcast Episode on the Gospels and Acts:

We read probably 3 of Paul’s harshest letters in the NT today. You can tell in his tone that he has a pretty contentious relationship with the Corinthian church. Then his letter to the Galatians is scathing as they have so easily turned to another gospel. Then we end with Ephesians, which is one of the kindest and most encouraging letters that Paul writes. Across these letters and the conclusion to Romans, you are being introduced to the authority of Paul and his apostleship of these local churches. Paul was shot out of a cannon in Acts after the road to Damascus, and he just ran after the mission of the expansion of the gospel message and the local church from there. Paul planted so many churches and either because of persecution or another opportunity he had to move on to the next area, so it left behind local communities with very new and inexperienced leaders, thus a lot of room for heresy and confusion. So Paul has to use this awesome feature of the modern world - letters! And he uses these to lead these believers remotely through these challenging issues.

The Corinthian letters are focused highly on correction. The first letter is primarily written over sexual immorality in the church that is not only unaddressed but approved. Yet in this letter, he also talks about divisions in the church, a disrespect of the Lord’s Supper, and a mistaken belief about the resurrection of the dead, just to name a few. Then his second letter gives instructions to reintegrate the sexually immoral person because he has repented. Then he goes on to ask them to prepare a gift for believers in need. You can see a lot of his inner turmoil and the pain that Paul experiences. He wants the truth and good life for these Corinthian believers, but he doesn’t want to be overly harsh in leading them there. He is all crossed in his tone, calling them his spiritual children and other times rebuking them strongly. All of this in both of these letters with the hope that it will set up for a good reunion when Paul visits them next.

Paul is furious with the Galatian church for not only hearing out the Judiazers, but also believing them. The Judiazers’ message was that Jesus was great and his sacrifice for sins also great, but would only apply to you if you kept to the tenets of the Jewish law. Most importantly of that list was circumcision. On top of this would be expectations about Kosher law and other things like that. You can see why this would have been such an effective false teaching. The Jews liked it because their cultural preferences could now be mandated as necessary for salvation, so it made their new relationships with Gentiles more comfortable since Gentiles functionally needed to become Jewish. You can also see the desire for Gentiles to listen to this message too. How scary to think that I might be missing something essential for salvation. So this message spread quickly throughout the early church, and Paul had to confront it a lot as the Apostle to the Gentiles. The issue Paul took with this way of thinking is that it robs the cross of Christ of its power. By mixing the law with the work of Jesus to be saved, it is not salvation by grace alone but salvation that starts with grace and is completed by your works and efforts. We so badly want to deserve our salvation that we are prone to this kind of message still today! Paul tells them that if they lean on the law even a little bit, then they are not leaning on Christ at all. He will be trusted fully for salvation or not at all. Remember from Romans that the law’s purpose was to expose sin so that we might find salvation and freedom in Christ and life by the Spirit.

Ephesians does not need a very corrective tone, so we get a view that is more encouraging and building them up. Paul highlights the unique work Jesus has done to create this new unified body that will be a beacon to their communities as they are unified, and this new relationship to Christ and each other has drastic implications for their relationships in every other area of their lives.

Here’s my takeaway from all of that - I love the way Paul leads the churches. He pays careful attention to their theology and the places that their theology will lead them. He loves them and respects them enough to tell them the truth and hard things, but it is done gently and humbly. He does not lead out of compulsion but love. He wrestles over his tone and wants to be gentle but firm. I love the way he gives his all to leading them, protecting them, and loving them. I want to continue to grow and aim at loving you like that as a Pastor at HDC. My simple question for you is do you let anyone speak into your life and beliefs like Paul does to these churches? Do you have a leader or a Pastor that could even know if you were walking astray? Would you seek their leadership or run at correction? The NT churches’ problems are not irrelevant problems. They are still around today, and we still need leaders to guide us and protect us today too.

TLDR:

• Paul’s Relationship with Corinthian Church: Contentious, marked by correction of issues like sexual immorality, divisions, and misguided beliefs.

• Purpose of Paul’s Letters: To guide and lead new, inexperienced church leaders remotely through challenging issues.

• Paul’s Leadership Style: Balanced between correction and encouragement, reflecting a desire for believers’ well-being.

• Paul’s Concern: Paul was angry with the Galatian church for believing the Judiazers’ message that salvation requires adherence to Jewish law, particularly circumcision.

• Paul’s Argument: Paul argued that relying on the law for salvation undermines the power of Christ’s cross and emphasizes works over grace, contradicting the core message of salvation through faith alone.

• Need for Accountability: Do you allow someone to speak into your life and beliefs like Paul did with the early churches?