Monday, June 29, 2020

Yesterday we started 1Corinthians.  The first nine verses are an introduction.  I always tell my classes that it is important to know who is writing the letter, or book, or Gospel.   

Because every writer has a style.  And that will show in the way they put words together.  Which affects how you interpret what they are saying.

For instance, Paul was highly educated.  He studied at the synagog in Jerusalem under the tutelage of the most renowned teacher--Gamaliel.

He is described as having a "thorn in the flesh" which may have been a physical disability.  He says about himself that he was not an eloquent speaker and we know that one young man fell asleep during Paul's preaching and fell from a second or third story window.  But Paul could write.  He was a genius as a wordsmith.  Sometimes lofty, chasing rabbits, but returning to the point.
  
Peter, on the other hand was uneducated.  A fisherman.  A man's man.  His writings are simple.  To the point.  Anybody can read Peter.

I am amazed by the fact that while Paul was imprisoned in deplorable conditions, he wrote.  And wrote.  Encouraging others even when he himself was in fear of his life.  He was beaten, scourged and left for dead one time.

The Jewish religion's leaders tried to get rid of him the same way they got rid of Jesus.  Paul was a threat to them.  But no matter what they did to him, he wrote.  And as a result, you and I can read his words.  And Peter's words. And John, and Luke, and James, and Jude and, and, and...what a blessing we have in the different writing styles of these men. 

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