Paul’s Letter to Philemon is part of his swan song, written from his final time in prison. It’s a message to a Christian man Paul knows, a letter carried in the hands of one of his escaped slaves, now returned to him as a believer. We can imagine the counseling process the slave endured to…
Month: May 2023
Titus versus Cretan Culture
Jumping now to Titus, we will save 2 Timothy for later, as it was Paul’s swan song. With little introduction, Paul relates to Titus the qualifications for elders, referring to them also as episkope, as we noted previously. Paul’s emphasis is on the context of Crete, where the culture led to the admiration of cantankerous…
Manifesting the Good Shepherd
We pick up the thread in 1 Timothy 5:17. A good elder is hard to find, so those who shepherd well warrant “double honor”. I previously noted in regard to 1 Corinthians 9 that Paul wanted ministers to be compensated for their ministry, on the grounds that the Old Covenant proscribed muzzling oxen when threshing…
Church Offices and Roles
In our day and time, we have a serious problem with terminology. Western Church History is loaded with examples of words that have been invested with special religious meaning. This does violence to the teaching of the Bible. In Chapter 3, Paul lays out the qualifications for the role of episkope. The current English translations…
Deny the Flesh
Paul’s letters to Timothy are loaded with Christian Law. Historical context: Paul went before Caesar and won his case. The Sanhedrin could not justify under Roman Law having Paul jailed or executed. Upon his release, he made a beeline for Macedonia. From there, he wrote to Timothy, who by this time was the senior man…
A Clear Witness
We’ve mentioned previously how the two Thessalonian letters covered the very critical issue of Christ’s Return. Meanwhile, most of the content is just personal stuff between Paul, his entourage and the church. However, he does mention in 1 Thessalonians 4 one item of Christian Law: sexual purity. Instead of specifics, Paul builds the image of…
More Nailing Flesh to the Cross
We come to two more Prison Letters from Paul, written while in Rome. In his letter to the church at Philippi, there’s a lot of personal stuff. The first invocation of Christ’s Law — to love each other as He loves — is in Chapter 2. Most people take this as an admonition, but I…
Feudal Oneness in the Body
The next letter we look at is Ephesians. Paul opens with a glorious vision of feudal faith in Christ. The whole of Chapter 1 is consumed with the image of God as an eastern potentate adopting us into His household, with unspeakable wealth and glory. Chapter 2 recounts what a high privilege it is to…
External and Internal Peace
Closely connected to Paul’s letters to the Corinthian church was the letter he wrote to Rome while there in Corinth. There’s not much Christian law here at all. Paul spends most of the letter wading through a lot of theology to correct some false impressions, but it seems his ulterior motive is to promote harmony…
Covenant Offerings
For the rest of 2 Corinthians, Paul’s writing is mostly personal in nature. In it he shares some of the most interesting details of his life after coming to Christ. It is here he mentions an out-of-body experience wherein he spent some time with the Risen Lord. It’s here we also get the impression Paul…