Before I continue any further, let me pre-empt this post w/ the following disclaimers
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1. I believe the Bible to be infallible and the inerrant God-breathed Word of God.
2. I believe that the epistles are canon, apply today and are beneficial to the Church
3. Paul is my favorite NT writer and believe everything he did, spoke and wrote are the actions of a Spirit-filled Christian. I am enamored w/ his style and simplicity. His 3 basic themes of faith, hope and love permeate and are interwoven masterfully in his writings.
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Now here goes ….
Paul, like other Jewish Christians, considered the Torah and the words of the prophets to be Scripture. As a religious scholar who considered himself as once being the chief of the Pharisees and who studied under the feet of Gamaliel … writes to his son in the Lord, Timothy …
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Even the most novice theologian will tell you that when he wrote these words he did so as advice to a young pastor and mentee in the Lord.
And I believe … it’s safe to say that he did not believe this correspondence to be the Scripture described in this passage. I think it’s also safe to say that the other Hebraic epistle writers did not know that their writings would be compiled into a second or New Testament to be added to what they considered Scripture (the OT?).
Considering the nature of these letters that are targeted to specific churches and/or individuals … must we keep the purpose and audience of these letters into account when we are rightly dividing the Word of God.
1.
For example, as a pastor/overseer of many works in Asia and Europe we see Paul addressing various issues and topics that are unique to a particular church region.
It’s believed that other letters ( possibly 4 total?) were written to the church in Corinth … yet we have only 2 in our bibles.
Were the other letters not inspired by the Spirit of God? If we were to uncover them today would we need to add them to our Bibles?
Undoubtedly, there is valuable and God inspired commandments, counsel and modern-day applications found in Paul’s writings to these specific churches. We get invaluable insight to the Apostles doctrine of the 1st century church from these epistles also.
Yet there are instances that we find traces in these letters that may not be directly from the lips of God.
2. Paul, at times, gives his personal opinion …
In the following two verses quoted as examples, Paul admits he was not inspired in giving some of his advice. He states that had "given his (personal) opinion" and had expressed what he personally "thought to be good".
Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord;
but I give my opinion.....
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I think then that this is good for the present distress,
{I say}, that {it is} good for a man to remain as he is.
1 Corin. 7:25/26
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There are times we see him express personal issues he has w/ others … along w/ open personal rebukes.
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Galatians 2:11 But when Cephas 1 came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he had clearly done wrong. 2:12 Until 4 certain people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he stopped doing this 5 and separated himself 6 because he was afraid of those who were pro-circumcision. 7 2:13 And the rest of the Jews also joined with him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray with them by their hypocrisy. 2:14 But when I saw that they were not behaving consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, although you are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you try to force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
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4. Paul changing his mind …
In
2 Cor 2:5-11
Paul wrote to instruct the Corinthians on what to do about the particular man who had previously caused him so much trouble but now had repented. Paul instructed the Corinthians to forgive him and receive him back.
In another instance had cast away Mark, as being a frivolous and irresponsible young man, but years later he calls for him believing he is useful to the ministry.
5. Paul using the letters to defend himself against those who opposed and criticized him
Ex: In Second Corinthians
10:1-13:10
In this section, Paul turns his attention to the minority that still opposes him. The tone of the letter changes from conciliatory to confrontational.
10:1-18
Paul defends himself against the charges that he is timid in person but bold when he writes to them and that he lives "according to the flesh." He explains that unlike his opponents, he and his colleagues do not compare themselves, commend themselves or boast beyond limits.
11:1-12:13
Paul unwillingly compares himself to his opponents, the "super-apostles," in order to prove that he is not their inferior. He does so with great reservation because he believes that a criterion of apostolic ministry is "weakness," which is incompatible with such self-assertion. He explains how God gave him a "thorn in the flesh" to prevent him from becoming conceited after having heard inexpressible things while caught up in the third heaven.
c. 12:14-13:10
Paul announces to the Corinthians that he is soon coming again to Corinth, and he defends himself against the charge that he exploits the Corinthian during his visits. Paul tells them that he does not want to find sin in the church when he comes and warns his remaining opponents that he will not spare them upon his third visit. He admonishes them to examine themselves to be sure that they are in the faith.
6. And there are times we see him share mundane and business related matters w/ little or no bearing to us ….
Everything from farewells, greetings, appeals for offerings and even travel plans …
2 Cor 1:12-2:4
Paul wrote to defend himself against the charge that he changed his travel plans several times without justification. The charge was that Paul could not be trusted to do what he promised. He explained that, each time he changed his travel plans, he had a good reason.
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And so the question in my thread title still holds:
Did Paul consider or intend for his letters to be holy writ?
What considerations should we make when reconciling the nature of these writings and our obligation to rightly divide the Word?
Do all of his words hold equal weight w/ pronouncements from God through the prophets, patriarchs and even those quoted by Jesus in the Gospels and Revelation?
What must we factor when teaching and formulating doctrine based on the Epsitles? Target audience? Purpose of writing? Specific issues germaine to the time and culture?
Is Paul rolling over in his grave at the sight of how the modern-day Church has handled, or maybe mis-handled, his letters?
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