In Search of Awe

We had a look at Ephesians 3:1-13 in a small group study last night and got a chance to see Paul roll out one really big reason that should keep us from being discouraged as Christians. Here’s what I think Paul is doing in this passage…

He’s in prison at the time of writing and as he announces himself in verse 1 as a ‘prisoner of Christ’ he realizes that his current situation could be one of great discouragement to the various churches around the area of Ephesus. This leads him to a little digression from which he only recovers in verse 14 of chapter 3. But its a digression that just frames everything beautifully. Basically Paul tells the Ephesians that God, in Christ, has made his manifold wisdom known to all the powers in the universe through the church – and he Paul is the herald of this great revelation.

Now on face value our eyes can glaze over what he’s saying here as old hat and so I think we need to empathize with the recipients of the letter and see Paul, our apostle, in prison and looking completely unspectacular and so get a sense of the discouragement they were facing. When we grasp this what Paul says should cause us to gaze in awe at the great God who through this weak and beggarly church of reconciled Jews and Gentiles is going to magnify his name through the universe.

The awe of these truths should drive us onward as we go through the numerous unspectacular events that make up the majority of our Christian life. As we go through day to day struggling to be faithful, as we look at our local church which simply gets on with the work of discipleship in ways that are far from glamorous we are reminded of the awesome work of God through his church. Ultimately he’s going to show up the dark forces of this world who will be left gaping in awe of his manifold wisdom. Do we get the same sense of awe as we internalize this passage?

Grace Teaches Change

In light of the comment thread that has appeared under one of my previous posts on love I thought the following section from Titus was rather applicable. Paul writes:

‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.’ Titus 2:11-14 (NIV)

So Paul then sees a didactic element to the cross of Christ in that it ‘teaches’ us to change from our former ways. The grace displayed in the cross becomes not only the means by which people are reconciled to God it also becomes the means whereby the individual is transformed into the likeness of Christ as he/she grows in Christian maturity. The gospel teaches godliness.

Anyone got any insight?

I have been trying to understand what Paul means in Colossians 1:24 when he says;

“Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.”

We can know from the rest of scripture that he can’t mean that Christ’s death did not fully acheive all that scripture tells us and as one sees in the previous verses and the rest of Pauls argument he clearly keeps reminding the Colossians that Christ is sufficient and that they must not move from the gospel but remain rooted in it (1:23). So we know from that that Paul himself is not saying that the cross is not enough. So what then does he mean when he says “…I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions…”

If anyone can point me to a good commentary or book that might help understand in the context of Colossians what Paul means that would be great, or if anyone has any insight that would be helpful please leave a comment or e-mail me.

Gathercole on the New Perspective

The August edition of Christianity Today has a cover story dedicated to the New Perspective on Paul. Here Simon Gathercole, a quality New Testament lecturer, gives us the run down and some of his own opinions on the New Perspective. Its well worth a read.