I'm not sure I've ever read this epistle before ....but it struck me as being very arrogant and self serving.....if I got a letter like that it would not get a good reception...
And yet.....Paul had good reason for his arrogance . He had to sort out lots of strange anxieties, like Jews eating with Gentiles and circumcision and somehow get away from people assuming that Christianity was a sort of sub branch of Judaism.
This is how my sermon ends.
Paul had had this marvellous revelation and his whole life became changed as a result....and because of his conviction that he really had been chosen to spread the word, it became necessary that he convince everyone else and if that sounds like arrogance or conceit then I can live with that....
He got results....
He made converts and then sent them letters to make sure they stayed with his teaching...
Those letters and much of his teaching form the body of the New Testament today.....and we can still learn from them whilst at times they may seem self serving and arrogant....
God uses us and our talents in all our diversity.....but what we share is much more than what divides us!
Amen.
1 comment:
Martin Ryeland posted a comment which I inadvertently deleted.
"Read Joseph Hellers "God Knows" very funny but an enlightened interpretation. Thank you Marin.
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