When I was being raised in the church, we were taught a lot about Paul, and rightly so. He is a pretty big part of the New Testament. Of the 27 books in the New Testament, I think 13 were written by Paul. He also is the main source of knowledge about the church and he has basically shaped our modern day understanding of what the church is and what it should do. Needless to say, he is pretty important. That being said, in my own mind, Paul sort of took up this super hero sort of mantle in my mind. He could do no wrong. I mean, this is the guy that spread the knowledge of the Word to almost the entire Mediterrean!! He is one of the main reasons why Gentiles are accepted in the church!! However, with the recent critique of Paul that I read in Keefer, it sort of shook my view of Paul in a way. Don't get me wrong, he is still amazing and probably the most influential person to Christianity outside of Jesus, but he isn't the super human that I thought he was.
You know what this really does is even more impress me with Jesus and his flawlessness. Paul is an amazing teacher and follower of God, but he still has many flaws that are evident in his work. Jesus has none of those in his life. It really just makes it more evident how perfect Jesus was.
-Jacob Millay
Jacob,
ReplyDeleteYeah. I like Paul, but the letters certainly reveal his human side--anger, frustration, pet peeves, etc. I think the letters are likely the most human books on the Bible.