Can we have a hard conversation?

Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Owen Lynch:

What did I like about today’s passage?

The thing about all of Paul’s letters is that what we are reading is just one side of a conversation and we know only snippets of what, in this case, the Corinthians are saying to Paul. What we do know from Acts 18 is that Paul (remember he was a Jew) had persuaded many Jews in Corinth that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, which had led to attacks from some other Jews.

That Paul generated so much opposition from Jews wherever he went should not surprise us because, when he arrived in a new town, he would first start preaching in the local synagogue that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah, and that did not go down well. (Just read Acts 13-28 - it’s all about Paul and the constant theme is opposition and violence towards him.) We need to read all of Paul’s letters with this in mind because the opposition that he faced from other Jews is the reason that Paul spends so much time in his letters defending himself and his reputation.

His second letter to the Corinthians starts with him doing just that in the first three chapters and, if I’m honest, it’s a bit of a difficult read - there’s not much to like if you read it in the context of arguments and the threats of violence towards Paul and his team. Paul’s defence of his argument reaches its theological high point in 3:7-18. He uses a rabbinical debating technique called qal va-ḥomer, in which he contrasts the Old Jewish Covenant administered by Moses with the New Jewish Covenant administered by Jesus. Paul is effectively saying that if the Old Covenant was true and glorious, how much more true and glorious in the New Covenant. (Jesus uses a similar rhetorical technique in Matthew 12:10-12.) If you are a Jew who doesn’t accept Jesus as the Messiah, you are really going to struggle with Paul making this contrast.

The reality is that you and I are only going to appreciate the huge significance of Paul’s words here if we are immersed in Jewish tradition.

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

It reminds me that Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew and that much of what we label as our ‘Christian’ heritage is thoroughly Jewish. The theological tradition of Messiah is also thoroughly Jewish and the elevation of Jesus of Nazareth to Jesus the Messiah ('Jesus Christ’ in Greek) after his resurrection and ascension is rooted in Jewish theology. In the first few centuries of the Roman Empire, what we would call Christianity was thought of as a Jewish sect called the Nazarenes (Acts 24:5). Like Jesus, Paul, who was considered a ringleader of the Nazarenes, encountered opposition primarily from some Jews who did not accept Jesus as their Messiah. I wonder how you would feel about identifying yourself as a ‘Nazarene’ - a sect within Judaism - rather than as a ‘Christian’?

What am I going to do differently as a result?

I am going to re-read Acts chapters 13 to 28 and try and understand Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians in light of the fact that most of the opposition that Paul endured was from some Jews who did not accept Jesus as their Messiah.

Who am I going to share this with?

I’m going to try and spend some time with a Jewish rabbi and ask them how they view Jesus of Nazareth.