Day 62: Weakness and Grace at the End of 2 Corinthians

So we are drawing to the close of Paul's 2nd Letter to the Corinthians (though some people think it is actually portions of two different letters) and Paul is ratcheting up his rhetoric in the face of his competition:  the super-apostles.  Whether the problem is that those super-apostles are there, on the ground, or that the super-apostles just seems so, well, super, strong, without flaw, awe-inspiring, charismatic, inspiring -- or, perhaps, all of the above, I don't know.  But his reputation among the Corinthians suffers by comparison.  He doesn't speak as well as they do.  He doesn't cut as fine a swatch as they do.  He does not have the mega-churches or large crowds that they do.

So, what does Paul really have to brag about?

Plenty, as it turns out.

He can brag about the hardships and persecution that he has endured.  (and he does.)  He can brag about how much he loves them (and he does).  He can brag about his credentials as a good Jew (he does mention that).  He can brag about Jesus (this is always Paul's point:  if you are going to brag, brag about Jeus!).  And, he can brag about his weaknesses.

Which he does -- because, as Paul writes, when he is weak, God's grace shines even more brightly.

Oh, Paul backtracks a little; he talks about his own and others' visions and revelations, as if to say, "if that's what is important to you, I've had them too."  But then he goes on to say, "being caught up into the 7th heaven is not what is most important.  God's grace is what is most important."

So he talks about his "thorn in the flesh".  No one knows what it is.  A long time ago, I heard some say they thought it was a speech impediment, like a stutter.  More recently some interpreters have opined that Paul struggled with homosexual urges.  Both interpretations are interesting, but actually, we don't know what Paul's thorn in the flesh was.  All we know is that he heard God say that he would not remove the thorn, saying, "My strength is made perfect in weakness."

So, Paul boasts about his weakness.

When I think hard about this, it's about the most amazing thing.  Do I want to boast about my weaknesses?  Do I even want anyone to know what they are?  What does it mean to let God use the holes in our lives, and not just our successes?  What does it mean to boast in God's grace?  Really?  Seriously? 

Day 54: Corinth is sort of like a Soap Opera

Or, at least that's what it seems like, reading Paul's next three chapters.  They've been staying up late in Corinth, and engaging in some actions that some people won't do.  And even if they aren't all behaving immorally, they are not calling into account one of their own who is (ahem) sleeping with his father's wife, for example.

The Corinthians brag that they are free -- they are free, right?  That means they can do whatever they want, right?  Paul is all for freedom, but thinks that the Corinthians might have misunderstood him.

Of course, that's not all of it.  Paul begins by calling the Corinthians on their arrogance.  They are acting as if they "know-it-all".  They don't need a teacher; they don't need instruction.  Paul sarcastically says, "We are fools for Christ, but you are wise for Christ!  We are weak, but you are strong!  You are honored, but we are dishonored.!"   The Corinthians have let some success in spiritual matters go to their heads, and it has affected their vision with regard to their behavior toward one another as well.

(This reminds me a little of the arrogance of the Enron executives right before its fall.  They were so drunk with their financial success they lost their moral compass.)

The Corinthians are wayward not only in sexual matters, but also in matters of how they treat one another.  They accuse each other and bring lawsuits against each other.  They are contentious.  They treat each other (and themselves) with disrespect.

Yes, you're free, Paul tells them, but free for what?  That's the question.

In Corinthians, Paul's ethics is defined by this axiom:  "Don't you know that your body is  temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?  Do't you know that you have the Holy Spirit from God, and you don't belong to yourselves?"

Honor your body.  Respect your body as given by God and a dwelling for the Holy Spirit.  And respect and honor your neighbor's body too.

It's not just your spirit that is important.  It is your beautiful, breathing body, created by God.

Day 49: Bondage to Sin/Freedom in Christ

Perhaps chapter 7 of Romans confuses you somewhat.  I find the sentence structures convoluted, and it seems like (at times, anyway) that Paul is really struggling to say what he wants to say.  Then, for a moment, it becomes clear.  Then, it's a struggle again.

Since Paul is talking about the relationship between sin and the law, between our desire for God and our temptations to do evil, it's perhaps understandable that his language sounds like a struggle.  Because there's a struggle going on inside us:  the struggle to do good, and the knowledge that we have done evil, and our guilt before God.

Many people have assumed that what Paul is writing is a sort of confessional, that he is saying, "this is what it was like for me before I followed Jesus."  But actually, he is not writing about himself, but his "I" is meant to be EveryMan.  He is not telling his story; he is telling all our stories.  We are in bondage to sin, struggling to do the right thing but failing at every turn and in every way imaginable.  We are spiraling out of control.  What are we going to do?

The good news is:  "what are we going to do?" is not even the right question.  There is nothing for US to do.  The question is not "what are we going to do?" but "what is God going to do?"  And the answer is,

Thanks be to God, who has given us the victory through out Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter 8 follows as one of the most soaring chapters in all of scripture.  The chapter begins:  Now there is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  God has ended the struggle.  God does not condemn us.

By grace God's spirit dwells in us, and helps us to turn to God again and again.  By grace God's spirit dwells in us, and helps us through our suffering, helps us in our weakness, and proclaims to us, holds on to us, so that we know that God's love will never let go of us, no matter what happens to us.   Even death can't separate us from God's love.

This is such a long way from the struggle just one chapter ago, in chapter 7, but it is the movement of our lives, every day, and every time we confess our sin.  We move from our awareness of our bondage to experiencing the gift of freedom again.  That is the power of God in Christ.

Day 48: Abraham, Adam, Jesus -- Peace with God

In the next three chapters are three different models for us.  In Chapter 4 we meet Abraham, the father of Israel, the father of the circumcised, the one who originally heard God, and set out on a journey to a place he had never been before.  Paul makes the argument that Abraham is the father not just of Israel, not just of the circumcised, but of all who trust God's faithfulness.   Didn't God's call to Abraham (and Abraham's answer) precede his circumcision? Paul asks.  (Yes).  Well, then, it is not circumcision that makes the difference but it is faith in God.  It is trust in Christ's faithfulness, not whether we meet a particular legal requirement, that makes the difference.

Before we meet the next model (Adam), there is that wonderful portion of Romans 5 that shows us the consequences of trusting in Christ's faithfulness:  peace with God.  This peace transcends our circumstances, builds character, and gives meaning to our suffering, because God's love has overflowed into our hearts.

So, what about Adam?  Paul also lists Adam as a model -- a model not of obedience but of disobedience, not of trust but of distrust.  Adam and Eve were in the garden, with free gifts all around them, and instead of seeing the abundance of gifts, they focused on the one thing denied them.    Paul says -- we are like Adam -- and yet, God values us, loves us, and Jesus died for us.

Then, finally, is Jesus, the third model.  Unlike Adam, Jesus trusts God.  Jesus is faithful to God -- and to us.  Somehow because of this faithfulness, the cycle of sin is broken, and we are set free.  We don't have to obey God, out of fear or obligation.  But we get to hear God's voice, experience God's love and caring, and help our neighbor in ways that really help.

Paul is talking about, trying to explain big things, big concept:  Freedom and captivity, sin and faith and righteousness.  What do those words mean to you?  What does it mean to be free?  or, not free?

Day 47: Digging into Romans: All Have Sinned

Have you eaten a good breakfast?  are you sitting down and ready to think deeply?  We are out of the stories of Jesus and the Apostles now and into the deep theology of the letters of Paul.  Romans is the longest, and the deepest, and the most systematic of these letters.  I wish we had more than a few days to read the whole thing.

Most of Romans, actually doesn't read much like a letter.  It sounds more like a treatise.  Paul is on his way to Rome, but on the way he is collecting an important offering from his Gentile churches to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem, an important symbol of unity between the two bodies of believers.  In the meantime, he's writing to Rome to share his faith with Gentile believers, at least in part to help them to live with, and be good witnesses to, their Jewish brothers and sisters.  As it is, there is much misunderstanding between them.

Paul is writing this letter to a church he has never met (that is not the case with most of the letters).  Perhaps this is one of the reasons it sounds less personal than many of the others you will read.  After framing his greetings in the common format of letter of the day, he begins his argument for the gospel -- salvation for everyone, "the Jew first and also to the Greek."  (Paul will repeat this phrase many times.) His main point in these first three chapters is to prove that all of us, Jewish or Gentile, are sinners, that we have no excuse, that we have no defense before God.  He debates with imaginary sparring partners, refuting their arguments at every turn in order to make it to his main point and eventually to the height and the depth and the width of the love and grace of God.  On the way, he speaks of sins, which are the result of idolatry -- of worshipping creation rather than Creator, of looking into the mirror at ourselves  (with out selfishness, greed and hard-heartedness) and imagining God from what we see there.

The well-known verse in chapter three, "since all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is Christ Jesus," is a sort of climax to the whole first section.  If you read it aloud (which I actually recommend), imagine it being read in a louder and louder voice, until finally, the words "Justified by his grace as a gift..." make the peak of the mountain, from which we come down now.

Much as I know well this letter, it's going to be a learning curve for me in the next few days to think of compelling ways to write about what I find here, what my thoughts are, and what stories might emerge.

What is your experience of the book of Romans?  Do you know it well?  What are your stumbling blocks?  What do you appreciate here?