Christ in Me, Christ in You: An Introduction to Paul and His Letters

Transcription

1 Christ in Me, Christ in You: An Introduction to Paul and His Letters Diocese of West Texas Fall 2012 SESSION THREE Paul s Project: Communities in Christ 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. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham s offspring, heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:27-29). In the last session, we talked about the inclusion of the Gentiles as the heart of Paul s Gospel of the cross: God made the free choice to receive Jesus death as a sacrifice that would bring about the reconciliation of ALL people to God and to one another. For that reason, the establishment of new communities made up of all kinds of people, reconciled to one another, became Paul s life s work. For him, these communities of people who would never be together if not for the cross and resurrection of Christ, were the visible sign of the power of God poured out for human beings. Paul called each of these new communities an ekklēsia, a name derived from the city councils of Greece. This is the word that is translated church in your English Bible. The name tells us a lot about what Paul imagined to be the purposes of his churches. Just as a city council meets to deliberate over how to apply the law of the land to the context of a particular city, the new believers in Christ met to reflect together over how to apply the teachings of the Jewish scriptures and the teachings and life of Jesus to their actions and their moral decisions in the cities where they lived. The problem comes when these new, diverse communities developed fissures and fractures down various lines: In Galatia, people argued over how much of the Torah they should still be keeping. In Corinth, people disagreed over their allegiance to particular teachers, over whether knowledge or love was more important, over the deportment of women prophets in worship.

2 2 In Rome, both those who had been traditional Jews before becoming believers, and those who had been Gentiles before becoming believers, had reason to believe that they were superior. In Philippi, Roman citizenship and allegiance to particular leaders of the congregation seem to be at issue. It s no wonder that Paul is sometimes frustrated with the churches, and they are equally frustrated with him. At the top of this lesson, we have placed a key quotation from Galatians that sums up Paul s commitment to baptism as the entryway into a completely reconciled life in Christ: 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. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham s offspring, heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:27-29). This statement--which some scholars believe to be a baptismal creed that Paul received as part of the traditions of baptism--outlines the shape of a faithful community in Christ. It is a community where none of the status-markers of the culture have any significance any more. The harmony of this community is envisioned as the harmony of the single body of Christ, where every part works for the well-being of the whole. Note that while Paul says there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, when he comes to the sexes he says, there is no longer male and female. While no one knows exactly what Paul intends by this, it shows how thoroughly he imagines God s erasure of every distinction that human beings make between one person and another. Paul s counsels and exhortations in his letters are mostly concerned with helping people live out this radical view of reconciled life in community. Corinth: Reconciliation Among People of Different Social Classes Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose

3 3 what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:26-31). The community at Corinth has a lot of pride, and Paul is proud of them as well, as they are the church with whom he probably spent the most time. But he also sees that the pride of some members is becoming a stumbling block for the community as a whole. When he says, not many of you were wise by human standards, he is implying that some are wise by human standards, some were born into the elite social class, some are powerful in the world s eyes. The problem comes when people, perhaps unthinkingly, bring their expectations of these status-markers into Christian community, where all that we are and all that we have is recognized to be sheer gift from God s graciousness. Late in the letter, in 1 Corinthians 8, Paul cuts through the distinctions that some want to make between those who are simple and those who have more theological sophistication. To that point of view, Paul says, Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (1 Cor 8:1). When Paul says that God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, perhaps he has in mind something like what he will allude to in chapter 8, that sometimes the simplest people in the community are the people who are wisest in how to love others well. Those who think that their intelligence will save them have it wrong, because only God s love saves, and when we love others we enter into the treasure house of God s love. Rome: Reconciliation Among Jews and Gentiles In session two, you had a chance to learn more about the issues in Rome, and Paul s insistence that God s response to the cross of Christ had made a way for Gentiles to become part of the people of God, along with Jews. In this session, we

4 4 see the consequences of the cross for the actual community of Jews and Gentiles in the house churches in Rome: Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name (Romans 15:7-9). Welcome one another is Paul s main counsel to the house churches in Rome. Paul describes Christ as the servant of the circumcised (the Jews) in two ways: to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs and so that the Gentiles may become people who glorify the one true God. The consequence of what God has done in Christ is that Jewish and Gentile Christ-believers in Rome must welcome one another and live in true harmony, rejoicing in God s power to unite them in a single community. 1 Corinthians: No Slave or Free Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. But if indeed you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity. For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters. In whatever condition you were called, brothers and sisters, there remain with God (1 Cor 7:21-24). One of the ways in which the churches were different from other social gatherings was their inclusion of both slave and free, especially when a central feature of their weekly gatherings was a common meal, the Lord s Supper (see 1 Corinthians 11:17-34). Here, Paul is expanding on his counsel that people should not spend precious energy trying to change their earthly status, when those markers are passing anyway. People who are married should stay married, men who are uncircumcised should not be circumcised, and those who are circumcised should not try to erase the marks, etc.

5 5 In addressing the question of whether slaves should seek their freedom, Paul expresses one of the mysteries of Christian life: that our deepest freedom is found in becoming slaves to Christ. It is, in fact, as Christ s slaves that we open to door of our hearts to all people. Those who are slaves in their daily lives are free in Christ; and those who think themselves free in the world are only truly free if they are slaves to Christ. In the Letter to Philemon, Paul makes a plea for the release of a runaway slave whom he has befriended. His argument there gives more insight into how he regarded slavery. While Paul did not take on the challenge of slavery as a societal practice, he clearly did not think that it was right for one Christian to be in a slavemaster relationship with another, as they were truly brothers or sisters in Christ. There is no evidence that race or skin color was related to the practice of slavery in the Greco-Roman world. Slavery was most often the result of war or indebtedness. In fact, it is hard to find any references at all to skin color in the Bible. It is likely that society in ancient cities was more mixed in terms of race than ours is. Philippi: Citizens and Non-Citizens The city of Philippi experienced a re-founding in 30 BCE when it was populated mainly with Roman veterans who were citizens of the Empire. From the several instances of references to citizenship in Paul s short Epistle to the Philippians, it would appear that citizenship is being played out in a kind of one-up-manship in the ekklēsia in Philippi: Only, live out your citizenship in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel... (Phil 1:27)....our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil 3:20). Paul counters people s attempts to brag about their citizenship by subjecting all citizenship to the standards of the cross of Christ. Paul recasts citizenship for Christians as concerning their allegiance to the things of God, a citizenship in heaven.

6 6 All the things that people do in their life on earth should, then, be subject to the standards of the mind of Christ who was obedient to God even at the price of his life. Unity in the church, reconciliation with a diverse assortment of people, and energetic living out of the Gospel are the evidence of a community s citizenship in heaven. Philippi: Reconciliation Among Leaders Leadership was an issue in several of Paul s congregations. In Philippi, the church appears to have been torn by disputes between the two women who are their principle leaders, Euodia and Syntyche: I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life (Philippians 4:2-3). In the lesson that follows this one, we will be discussing the so-called Christ Hymn of Philippians, where the same mind is clearly the mind of Christ, a mind of obedience to God and service to one s neighbor. Having the mind of Christ toward one another is really the glue of Christian community. In Corinth, a similar issue arises to the one that we highlight, with people claiming allegiance to the person who baptized them, or to their favorite teacher. Some even try to play a kind of trump card, saying, I belong to Christ, as though no one else belongs to Christ! Loyalty to a good teacher and to wise teaching is a good thing, but it can become a wedge in the community if it is not handled well, or if it becomes infected with egotism. We also chose this passage because it refutes a common assumption that Paul did not respect women s leadership. Euodia and Syntyche are important co-workers of Paul, both of whom have spent themselves for the spread of the Gospel. Their problems with one another are, no doubt, very painful to the community that loves and respects them both. An aspect of reconciliation in Paul s communities concerns the erasure of society s expectations concerning men s and women s proper roles. Women

7 7 were important co-workers for Paul and leaders in his communities. For instance, a woman named Phoebe was probably the carrier of Paul s letter to Rome. Questions for Reflection Questions for an individual doing the study: A woman in one of our weekly reflection groups said one day, It s funny. These are not people I would ordinarily choose to be with. They would probably not be my friends. But I look forward to being with them every week, and they are some of the most important people in my life, because we help one another live the way we intend to live, as Christians. Look at the people in your life. Do you have gatherings like that, where God has brought a diverse group of people together? What are the advantages of that group? Can the diversity of the group sometimes present difficulties? How do you work through those difficulties? Can you tell a story about a time when someone else s difference from you was very valuable in helping you, whether in consoling you or challenging you? Questions for a church or other group doing the study together: Some groups of people mask their differences by pretending that they have many things in common, when they really don t. Have you experienced that kind of false unity in a church setting? How can a group move beyond falsehood to true reconciliation and common life? What is one thing you could commit to do next week to create more authentic community with a particular person or group? Questions for a Vestry or Gathering of Church Leaders: Paul had a truly radical vision for Christian communities as the visible sign of God s reconciliation with all people through the cross of Christ. As we have seen, that could be a difficult vision to sustain in the day-to-day context of the cities where his people lived, their cultural expectations, and their self-serving interests. Even Paul himself had moments of learning, when he got caught in the cultural norms of the day, and was stretched in trying to apply God s norms of equal regard for all people. We have talked about the healing of divisions along class lines, along lines of leadership and allegiance, and along the line of gender roles. Which norms of our world have a tendency to enter into your church community in a way that is destructive? How do you see your role as leaders in creating authentic, truth-telling community? Can you describe the kind of community that you, yourself, would find most healing? Can you draw a picture of your ideal community?