Paul

This week, we are going to study everyone in Paul’s farewell.

Paul’s command to us is not to surround ourselves with like-minded individuals, but it is to live in love and peace and harmony with those with whom we may strongly disagree.  For if you only love those who love you, what good is that?

The question, therefore, is how can a congregation be reconciled when one faction is denying God’s grace and the other is denying the clear rules of Scripture written in stone?  How can the congregation live in peace and togetherness is the question addressed.

In 17th century England, to be a good Biblical Anglican (as opposed to a Reformed Puritan) was a steadfast belief in the Divine Right of Kings. The unequivocal commands of Scripture required nothing less.  (This understanding later influenced many Anglicans to remain loyal to George III.) 

Secular society teaches us that the goal in life is self-actualization.If we are concerned with self-actualization, then our love cannot be genuine or zealous, we cannot bless those who persecute us, or even rejoice with those who rejoice, because each of these activities is ultimately self-less.

in Romans 11, Paul quotes God’s advice to Elijah to transition from his lament over why the Jews don’t understand Jesus as the Messiah to his recognition that their rejection isn’t final. Paul also knows the end of the Elijah story where Elisha. Elijah’s successor, is ultimately victorious.

“We do not worship the words of a dead prophet, but we worship the living God.”And so when we approach the Scripture, and particularly the troublesome passages, we necessarily see them as living and not frozen in time because their author lives.