Ancient Anglican

James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised; only they would have us remember the poor, which very thing I was eager to do. Gal. 2:9-10

And from those who were reputed to be something (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who were of repute added nothing to me; but on the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised. Gal. 2:6-7

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace . . . Gal. 1:15

Am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ. Gal. 1:10

The Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age according to the will of God the Father. Gal. 1:4

Whereas Romans and Galatians cover the same subject matter, in the former Paul employs a loftier discourse and more sophisticated arguments, and in the latter, he addresses those who are “senseless” and “foolish” and adopts a style appropriate for censure and not instruction.

The discussion tonight is to help us articulate how we reach moral conclusions of right and wrong. Dr. Sosis will give us some contemporary paradigms to think through what it means to be moral and how to discover that which God has impressed upon our conscious. 

Paul’s letter acerbically refutes the teaching that legal obedience makes one a better Christian. Paul strongly affirms that we are made right with God through the faith of and in Jesus and that there are to be no divisions in the church based upon whether a person obeys the black-letter biblical laws.

In the actual text of the Sermon on the Mount, for instance, at least in the original Greek, an ominously archetypal figure, identified simply as “the wicked man” (ὁ πονηρός), makes a brief appearance. He is almost certainly meant to be understood as a depiction of the sort of avaricious, disingenuous, and rapacious man who routinely abuses, deceives, defrauds, and plunders the poor.

Like Schrodinger’s Cat, we need to recognize and embrace the ambiguity we encounter in our spiritual lives and in our relationships with other.

Part of being a healing presence and living in the present moment requires us to understand that, most of the time, we simply do not understand. 

Memento, Mori (Remember, thou art mortal)