My Enemy, Myself
Complex Corinthians
"Similar concerns drove the apostle and church planter to the nations. One marvels to watch Paul struggle in his first letter to the wretched Corinthians to strike a balance between rhetoric of exclusion and rhetoric of inclusion. Chapter 1 assails them for their partisanship; chapter 5 commands them to excommunicate an unrepentant brother. Chapters 2 and 3 distinguish between the spiritually mature and the immature, then group them together as God's temple, then sort them into workers of gold, silver, hay, and straw, then hand them all things and forbid any to boast. Chapter 4 contrasts its readers with the apostles, only to beg them to erase the contrast through imitation. Chapter 6 draws a bright line separating the holy body of Christ from the unholy world; chapter 7 blurs it with mixed marriages that sanctify unbelievers, unmixed marriages that secularize believers' lives, and singleness that ordains the status quo.
But Paul isn't moderating difference with indifference, as we might. For him exclusion and inclusion are two sides of the same coin. Pauline life is not an Anglican via media, but a bold Lutheran dialectic."
See Christianity Today
christianitytoday.com
Santi |
