Winter is dreadful, is it not? My brain seems to be out to lunch, and I'm very tired of it's seeming as if it were night all of the time, shivering even in the heavy coat, having chapped skin, and wearing trousers so much. I haven't been quite up to writing much that is useful, but wanted to drop a line just to keep in shape. My only comfort this dreadful season is that at least we'll all have a break from anyone's preaching about global warming.
Few of us shall have such dramatic conversions as did Saul of Tarsus - but what a providential conversion this would be. Indeed, I could write half a shelf of books about Paul - and about conflicts in the early church, such as how Paul whacked Peter at the first ecumenical council. My idealistic generation, who seemed to think that singing "they'll know we are Christians by our love" would return us to a blissful tenderness of the first century should have read Paul's epistles with a little more critical sense. (Discernment was unthinkable at the time, as I recall... my time, not Paul's, though it wasn't too plentiful in his time, either.) It was no peace and love fest in the early days, either.
Paul must have been quite a difficult character, but, naturally, I especially cherish him because he was the strength of the Gentile mission. There were many debates in the early Church - indeed, Christ's gospel should extend to all of the earth, but is the Gentile mission on a level with that of the Church in Jerusalem? In Ephesus, it is possible that (reading the letters of John), many of the conflicts about love and hating one's brother are not abstract speculations, but have to do with conflicts between Johannine and Pauline Christians. (Yes, it's true I love reading John more than Paul... but I'd praise Paul's pastoral work on any occasion. I'd also caution 21st century readers to recall that nearly all of Paul's writings were addressing specific pastoral difficulties.)
Lord, I'm getting nowhere today! :) Well, until my brain thaws, probably around Holy Week, I need to lean on a few great scholars. I was consulting some notes I had, from Jerome Murphy-O'Connor's "Paul: A Critical Life," since he is one of my favourite scripture scholars. Perhaps one section, which has to do with not only the old chestnut of Paul and the Law (...no sarcasm there... none of us found that essay easy to write, and we all felt stupid because every divinity student in history had to write it...), but with very apt points we can remember in any era. He treats in particular of the letter to the Romans (without dwelling on what immediately struck me... does any sermon in history not have some reference to collections?)
Anyway, here is Jerome (in summary)He argues cleverly, regarding Jewish attitudes towards the Law, that ‘the human mind instinctively simplifies.’
- Lip service was paid to the fundamental concept of gratuitous grace in election, but, in practise, attention was concentrated on observance of the commandments. (I see this as the clearest explanation yet! Rather than other views I have seen, one in which the law is a distraction because, in practise, it denies the free gift of divine grace makes great sense.)
- One false, inherited value: attitude towards the Law which distorted its true purpose. Fundamental in Jewish thought is a belief in their election by a divine, gratuitous act.
- Membership in the covenant was necessary to salvation. God’s giving of the law established the covenant. Tricky point for Jewish theologians: precise relationship of divine initiative and human response.
- If disobedience meant damnation, it seems logical (given the tendency to simplify!) that obedience wins salvation.
- A religion of grace expressed in covenant form (in the popular imagination, if not in theological dissertations) becomes one of meritorious achievement.
- Paul’s concerns: less the idea that there could be an approach to the law of effectively ‘buying salvation’ than the inversion of values consequent on the importance attached to obedience and law.
- Murphy-O'Connor illustrates, from rabbinical stories, how God 'failed to realise that, once He’d given the Law, it was out of his hands. Only the voice of rabbis counted.'“Jewish theological thought debated points of law, not mysteries of grace.”
- Murphy-O'Connor comments that the Law,“Left no real space for God, grace, or faith – only for obedience.”
‘In order to ensure that the gracious gift of God, in Jesus Christ, would retain its primacy in practise, Paul had to insist it was irrelevant for all believers.” Fundamental objection: Law, once admitted, inevitably created an attitude which monopolised the religious perspective.Authentic response to God’s grace is in the self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ –in no way anticipated by the Law.Once the goal of the Law was achieved in Jesus Christ, the means thereto (the Law) had no raison d’être.
Close the quotes... and, if this wise gentleman is in the neighbourhood, or I happen to be in Jerusalem, I must meet him for a pint. I have a feeling we'd agree on many points... and, if I don't have his knowledge, indeed I do have the same type of humour. I leave these wonderful quotes to ponder. (And, if you wish to have a better laugh still, with more insights, obtain a copy of the same book and see what he has to say about Corinth.)
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