Jonathots Daily Blog
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Paul was a blogger.
Although it’s commonly accepted that he authored books, what he really penned were entries which he posted to various individuals and congregations, expressing his mood in the moment.
So sometimes we have:
- happy Paul
- sad Paul
- angry Paul
- theological Paul
- philosophical Paul
- bruised Paul
- attacking Paul
- judgmental Paul
- merciful Paul
- Pharisee Paul
- and Gentile Paul
Nothing much is achieved in reading the New Testament without understanding this concept. For if you isolate off one of Paul’s posts and attempt to characterize his entire message by its content, you will soon be frustrated by another entry, which seems to be contradictory.
Before you become critical of this grab-bag styling, you might want to consider the audience Paul was trying to reach. First, he worked around the erroneous premise of trying to be “all things to all men so that he might save some.” Here’s the problem with the idea: the Jews seek for a sign, the Greeks want wisdom, the Romans crave power and the Barbarians yearn for an identity. It’s difficult to believe that any singular paragraph, clump of verses or accumulation of chapters could appease all of these sensitivities.
So by the time the first century came to an end, and all of the original folks who ate and lived with Jesus were dying off, the message was suffering from a “clarification crisis.”
Some people favored Paul, some Peter, some Apollos, and others, some no-name who didn’t make the Biblical cut.
Simultaneously, the Romans were gradually getting tired of killing Christians and because of the failings of their Empire, were looking for a fresh motivation. So as time marched on, the Romans embraced this “Mesopotamia Message” as their own, and of course, in the process, swallowed it up with their bureaucracy.
The Romans, being authoritarians, felt that the weakness of the Pauline preaching was that it allowed too much freedom for the individual, without the structure of a governing body filled with superiors.
So this new Roman church was structured exactly the same as Rome itself–with an Emperor, a Senate, tribunals and even, to a certain degree, legions of soldiers.
The ironic result was that a God who came to study man was ignored in favor of men who decided to study God.
Meanwhile, the Barbarians discovered a potent identity. They could defeat Rome and rule the world, such as it was.
So a message which was intended to place the Kingdom of God within the heart of each believer was now placed within the whim of a potentate.
Alas, my friends … leave it to human beings to make things worse when they organize.
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