Romans 12:9-21

In Romans 12:9-21, St Paul lists a variety of attitudes, feelings and behaviors which he believes are genuinely Christian, and thus to be put into practice by all who follow Christ.  The list is simple and straightforward, so no commentary is needed.  We only need to put them into practice in our hearts, minds and lives to demonstrate our own desire to be disciples of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Let love be genuine;

hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;

love one another with brotherly affection;

outdo one another in showing honor.

Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord.

Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Live in harmony with one another;

do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; never be conceited.

Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.

If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all.

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

No, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The Call of Paul

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.  (1 Corinthians 5:7-8)

Unlike the 12 Apostles who Jesus originally chose to be in His inner circle, St. Paul was chosen by Christ to be an Apostle without the three year discipleship training the others had enjoyed.  The original Twelve were given several years to hear the Master’s teachings and to observe His behavior.  Paul on the other hand was antagonistic to Christ and His disciples, but then met the Risen Christ and became convinced that Jesus was both Messiah and Lord.

“For Paul, this conviction stemmed from his encounter with the Risen Christ, who had called Paul, the persecutor of Christians, to be an apostle (1 Cor 15:8-11).  Paul describes his call as a kind of premature birth, which may seem a strange expression to use, since he was, he tells us, the last of those to whom Christ appeared.  Yet this metaphor reminds us of the abrupt nature of his conversion/call.  There had been for him no preparatory ‘gestation’ period as a disciple of Jesus: instead, he was suddenly confronted by the Risen Christ.”  (Morna Hooker, Paul: A Beginners Guide, pp 44-45)

This confrontation Paul has with the Risen Jesus causes a profound change in his understanding of God and what it means to be faithful to the Tradition he was so intent on defending.

“Saul’s conversion is so familiar a story that its theological and moral significance is often overlooked.  Saul was a man of violence, persecuting and killing those who adhered to ‘The Way’ sect of Judaism, followers of Messiah Jesus.  Struck down by a blinding light on the road to Damascus, Saul’s violence (cf 1 Tim 1:13) was confronted and transformed.  Speaking out from this heavenly light, Jesus addresses this violence, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ (Acts 9:4-5).  From this dramatic encounter of both conversion and call to ‘bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel’ (Acts 9:15; 26:17-18), Paul becomes the clearest first-century voice for peace and peacemaking, giving his life to unite formerly alienated peoples, and exhorting those caught in divisive rivalry within the newfound congregations to seek peace with one another (Rom 14:19; 1 Thess 5:13; 2 Cor 13:11).”   (Willard Swartley, COVENANT OF PEACE, p 161)

St Paul recognized not only that Jesus was the Christ, but that his whole worldview of a separation between Jews and Gentiles was simply wrong in the face of the Messiah, for Jesus was Lord for everyone, Jew and Greek, male and female, slave and free.  Instead of pushing the Pharisaic agenda that keeping Torah meant keeping apart from Gentiles, now St Paul tried to organize communities in which Jew and Gentile embraced one another and considered each other brothers and sisters – one race instead of two.  All the dividing walls between Jew and Gentile were torn down.  Additionally, Paul abandons his way of enforcing his agenda through violence and endeavors to follow the peacemaking way of Jesus Christ the Lord.

and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.  (Micah 4:2-5)

Paul’s conversion meant a radical paradigm shift for St. Paul.  His experience of Christ in his encounter with the Risen Lord has been celebrated as a rebirth which any Christian might experience.  St. Symeon the New Theologian said about his own conversion experience:

“I see the unseeable beauty,

That unapproachable light, that unbearable glory.

My mind is completely astounded.

I tremble with fear.  …

I found him whom I had seen from afar,

The one Stephen saw when the heavens opened,

And later whose vision blinded Paul.

Indeed, he was a fire in the center of my heart.

I was outside myself.  I broke down, lost to myself,

And unable to bear the unendurable brightness of that glory.”

(John McGuckin, ILLUMINED IN THE SPIRIT,  p 240)

Coming to Christ means seeing all things new (Revelation 21:5).

 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.   (Revelation 21:1)

St Paul not only saw everything in a new way, he embraced a new way of life including the rejection of violence as a means to serve God and embracing a ministry of reconciliation for all the people of the world.

Being “In” Christ

In the present life those who are blessed are perfect in relation to God in respect of their will, but not yet with respect to the activity of their mind. One may find perfect love in them, but by no means pure contemplation of God. If, however, that which is in the future is present with them while they yet live in the body, they already experience the prize, yet not continually or perfectly, since this life does not permit it. For this cause Paul says, “we rejoice in hope” (Rom. 12:13), and “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7), and “we know in part” (1 Cor. 13:9). Even though he had seen Christ (1 Cor. 9:1, 15:8), yet he did not enjoy this vision at all times.

For “always” looks to the future only, and this he himself showed when he spoke of Christ’s presence, saying, “and so shall we always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17). Thus, anyone who is in Christ and has received eternal life has it through his will, and through love he will arrive at the ineffable joy. He has the pure vision of the mind in store for the future while faith leads him on to love. This the blessed Peter shows, saying, “though you do not see Him you believe in Him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy” (1 Pet. 1:8). (St. Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ, pp. 226-227)

The Blinding Light which Illumined St. Paul

Again, the light that illumined St Paul on the road to Damaskos (cf. Acts 9:3), the light through which he was raised to the third heaven where he heard unutterable mysteries (cf. 2 Cor. 12:4), was not merely the enlightenment of conceptual images or of spiritual knowledge. It was the effulgence of the power of the Holy Spirit shining in His own person in the soul.

Such was its brilliance that corporeal eyes were not able to bear it and were blinded (cf. Acts 9:8); and through it all spiritual knowledge is revealed and God is truly known by the worthy and loving soul.

(St Symeon Metaphrastis, THE PHILOKALIA, Kindle Loc. 34516-22)

Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Glorious and All-Praised Leaders of the Apostles, Peter and Paul.

Glorious Leaders of the Apostles Peter and Paul

If, as we have said, we commemorate each of the saints with hymns and appropriate songs of praise, how much more should we celebrate the memory of Peter and Paul, the supreme leaders of the pre-eminent company of the apostles? They are the fathers and guides of all Christians: apostles, martyrs, holy ascetics, priests, hierarchs, pastors and teachers. As chief shepherds and master builders of our common godliness and virtue, they tend and teach us all, like lights in the world, holding forth the word of life (Phil. 2:15–16).

Their brightness excels that of the other radiantly pious and virtuous saints as the sun outshines the stars, or as the heavens, which declare the sublime glory of God (cf. Ps. 19:1), transcend the skies. In their order and strength they are greater than the heavens, more beautiful than the stars, and swifter than both, and as regards what lies beyond the realm of the senses, it is they who reveal things which surpass the very heavens themselves and indeed the whole universe, and who make them bright with the light “in which there is no variableness neither shadow of turning” (cf. Jas. 1:17).

Not only do they bring people out of darkness into this wonderful light, but by enlightening them they make them light, the offspring of the perfect light, that each of them may shine like the sun (Matt. 13:43), when the author of light, the God-man and Word, appears in glory.

(St Gregory Palamas, On the Saints, Kindle Location 672-682)

A blessed Feast of the Holy Glorious Leaders of the Apostles, Peter and Paul!

A Call to Christian Service: Imitate Paul

“At the heart of Paul‘s message in the letter is his appeal to the Philippians to imitate him (Philippians 3:17), which we must read in light of his depiction of himself as being in humble and humiliating circumstances. He opens the letter by noting that he and his co-worker Timothy are ‘slaves’ of Christ, then points out that he is also a prisoner. Thus, Paul’s basis for his assurance is not arrogance or a feeling of success. Rather, his confidence emerges from the fact that in his own situation, God has used what seems to be a bad situation for a greater purpose: although Paul is in prison, the gospel has spread (Philippians 1:12-14); although some preach from impure motives, Christ is still proclaimed (1:15-18); although death seems preferable, life is necessary, but Christ is honored in either case (1:19-26). What seems to be a lowly and dangerous situation Paul upholds as an experience to be used for the greater glory of God. Paul intentionally interprets as positive circumstances that seem to indicated a loss of status: imprisonment, dissension with others, the threat of death. He reaffirms his role in God’s greater purpose in order to underscore his own character, which allows him to speak to the Philippians as he does.

He calls them to be like him- not to aspire to greatness, but rather to unity (humility) and service (Philippians 2:1-14). Instead of competing for honor, he directs them to pursue a vision that continues and strengthens a value that already exists in the community: mutuality.”  (Richard S. Ascough, Passionate Visionary, p. 38)

First Among Sinners

The conversion of St. Paul

 St. Paul the Apostle writes to his spiritual son, Timothy (who is one of the 70 Apostles):

The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the foremost of sinners; but I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience for an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

  (1 Timothy 1:15-17)

St. Isaac the Syrian says:
“Love sinners, but hate their works; and do not despise them for their faults, lest you be tempted by the same.”  (Orthodox Prayer Life, p. 160)

Celebrating the Feast of Sts Peter and Paul

Celebrating the Feast of the Holy Glorious Leaders of the Apostles Peter and Paul on June 29 is an ancient practice of the Church.  It was already celebrated in the Pre-Constantinian Church.  As such it actually predates some of the Twelve Major Feasts of the Church.

“This feast was instituted by Sixtus II (Pope from 257 to 258) on 29 June of 258, when the relics of these two great apostles were translated to the catacomb of St. Sebastian in Rome. The Gospel reading for the Liturgy of the day is Matt. 16:13-19: St. Peter’s confession of Christ at Caesarea Philippi.” (footnote, Saint Gregory Palamas, The Homilies, p 584)

 

In the modern world, some scholars who reinterpret Christian history in order to discredit some of the theological claims of the Church, try to portray some of the theology of St. Paul as late developments in Christian thinking.  They discredit St. Paul, claiming he invented a Christianity that didn’t exist prior to his teaching, and that it was Paul and his followers who turn Jesus from a messianic rabbi into the incarnate God.  NEW YORK TIMES columnist Ross Douthat points out that history itself does not support this revisionist version of understanding Christianity.

“In other words, the popular revisionist conceit that the early Christians initially meditated on Jesus’ sayings and only gradually mythologized their way toward the idea of his divinity finds no support whatsoever in the oldest surviving stratum of Christian writing. As Adam Gopnik, no believer himself, put it in a New Yorker essay: ‘If one thing seems clear from all the scholarship … it’s that Paul’s divine Christ came first, and Jesus the wise rabbi came later. This fixed, steady twoness at the heart of the Christian story can’t be wished away by liberal hope…Its intractability is part of the intoxication of belief.’” ( Bad Religion, p 165)

St. Paul doesn’t invent Christianity or distort it as some Muslims claim, as do some modern liberal biblical scholars.  St. Paul received a tradition and proclaimed it to the world, while the other Apostles were still alive.  There was opportunity for them to quash his teachings, but instead the Church embraced Paul and recognized him as one of the glorious leaders of the Apostles.  Paul didn’t change the theology or the message, he just proclaimed it more loudly and to new people.

The Cross in St. Paul’s Theology

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”    (Romans 1:16)

“But why does Paul stress the fact that he is not ‘ashamed’ to bring that gospel to the Roman patricians? The reason is that the apostolic ‘word’ of preaching is closely linked to the cross: ‘For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word, namely (the word) of the cross, is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.’ (1 Cor. 1:17-18) For Paul, the cross is a reason for boasting: ‘But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.’ (Gal. 6:14) The clue to making sense out of this factual equation between ‘gospel’ and ‘cross’ lies in the aspect of shameful death linked to the cross in the Roman empire.

Crucifixion was intended for public humiliation and was the punishment administered to slaves, foreigners, and those involved in a revolt against the legal authority. It was the opposite of the soldier’s glorious death for the sake of a noble cause: martyrdom for one’s own country or nation or empire. Crucifixion was a death unto total oblivion of someone whose life was unworthy of remembrance: an unworthy end of an unworthy life, shame ending in shame. So Paul here is making sure that his Roman patrician hearers not be mistaken that, should they fully endorse his preaching, they will be considered as having committed the sin of lèse majestè against the emperor and might end up in the arena of the Coliseum.” (Paul Nadim Tarazi, The Chrysostom Bible: Romans, pp 46-47)

St. Paul the Apostle and the Gospel

As our parish community celebrates its heavenly Patron, St. Paul the Apostle, here are two quotes with some thoughts about St. Paul.   First biblical scholar Peter Ellis notes that St. Paul’s faith deepened with experience.  The original Twelve Apostles didn’t like Jesus discussing his own death, but wanted to sit at His right hand in His triumph.  They learned that Christ’s death and triumph were the same event, and they were called to share in it!  So too St. Paul had his own lesson about this to learn.

“Paul’s close brush with death at Ephesus, reflected in Phil. 1:12-26 and 2 Cor. 1:8-11, had a double effect on him: it made him realize that he might not be alive for the Parousia and that following Christ meant more than sharing in his victory – it also means sharing in his sufferings and death. This latter realization was the more significant. It led Paul to a more profound conception of Christian existence and its relationship to the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ. Growth in Christ meant sharing in Christ’s sufferings.” (Seven Pauline Letters, p 7)

As St. Paul himself wrote about this in Romans 6:3-11:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Scripture scholar N.T. Wright points out that St. Paul is consistent in all his thinking about the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

“According to Paul’s view of creation, the one God was responsible for the whole world and would one day put it to rights. According to his covenant theology, this God would rescue his people from pagan oppression. His messianic theology hailed Jesus as King, Lord and Savior, the one at whose name every knee would bow. His apocalyptic theology saw God unveiling his own saving justice in the death and resurrection of the Messiah. At every point, therefore, we should expect what we in fact find: that, for Paul, Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not.” (Paul, p 69)