" PAST " SAINT PAUL PART XI SAINT PAUL WRITES FROM ROME Segment I

 

St Paul Writes from Rome I




The chain that secured him to the wall and the constant attention of the Praetorian Guards reminded Paul that he was a prisoner of the Emperor Nero. But the wall was in a house he had rented at his own cost possibly near the Jewish quarter of the City, and the regular stream of visitors reminded him of the relative privilege his Roman Citizenship afforded him. Imprisoned by the authorities in Jerusalem and Caesarea at the behest of the Jews, Paul had used his Roman Citizen’s right to be tried by the Emperor himself to ensure the fulfillment of his long held desire to visit Rome. It seems he arrived there around March AD 61.

Being a prisoner of the increasingly demented Nero was a very insecure position. Nero had ordered the murder of his own mother in circumstances that degenerated into blackest “comedy “in AD 59 and would have his wife murdered in AD 62. What hope could a humble imprisoned preacher hold out for himself?

Only three days after arriving in the City and securing the house, Paul invites the leaders of the Jewish community to visit him, preaches to them and seeks to ensure that they will not persecute him as the Jews in Jerusalem and Caesarea did. They had heard nothing about him from Jerusalem and were not concerned about his work, saying that all they knew about the followers of Christ was that they were everywhere reviled.

Paul’s circumstances, as might be expected, affect the content of his letters. Unlike St. Peter, who as yet, remained free to move about the great City, Paul is not exposed to its glamour and cosmopolitan splendour. St Peter is, and he is greatly concerned, warning his flock to avoid conforming to the dress and manners of the pagans about them. St. Paul’s world is confined physically to his room. But his soaring spirit and classically Jewish trained and powerful mind cannot be so easily confined. His physical immobility gives him for the first time since his retreat in Arabia so many years ago, time to reflect on the totality of his teaching to date.

He perceives that there is room to develop more fully his teaching about the centrality of Christ and about His relationship to His Church, the relationship of Head to mystical body. Indeed St. Paul discloses that this teaching came to him by direct revelation. This intense mental and spiritual reflection during his two years captivity gives rise to a substantial written output. Thirty per cent of all of St Paul’s writings come from this relatively short period.

Three of these “captivity “letters, as they are known, form a group in time- all being delivered by Tychicus(Col. 4:7-9) and (Eph. 6::21) on the same journey. Internal evidence suggests that Colossians was written before Ephesians. Each of the letters is different in type – Colossians is pastoral and monitory, Ephesians is mainly a doctrinal reflection and Philemon is a private letter. The fourth, Philippians was written at a different time.

COLOSSIANS

St Paul refers to the founder of the church at Colossae, Epaphras, as his “fellow servant”(Col.1:7). In Monsignor Ronald Knox’s excellent translation this is rendered “bondsman”. However later, in Philemon V 23 Paul refers to him as “my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus”. So it appears that Epaphras came to Rome to see St Paul, or happened to be in Rome and called on Paul, and told him of his concerns for the church he led in Colossae. which Paul had not visited. It seems that he stayed in Rome too long and came to be imprisoned for his activities and perhaps for his association with Paul, but this is unlikely since Paul seems to have been allowed free visiting privileges. We cannot know precisely.

Heresy seems to have been the problem in Colossae. Specifically, the heresy that later came to be known as Gnosticism. It is referred to as “philosophy “in the Epistle, the very description of some Jewish teaching used by Josephus and Philo.

We are told in V 16:23 that these false teachers wished to introduce the observance of Sabbaths new moons and other such days, and forbad the eating, drinking, tasting, touching of certain things. Worse still they held angels to be equal to or superior to Christ and promoted worship of them. (There were at the time a variety of Jewish sects, including the Essenes, who held bizarre obsessions with “angels” of the stars, of the seasons, months, days of the year, heat, cold etc., etc.)

Remembering that Paul had not been to Colossae and that Epaphras had come from there and was asking Paul to help correct these false teachers and their errors, conjures up a scene of the anxious Epaphras hovering about as the great Apostle to the Gentiles seeks to devise his address to these strangers in a strange place, occasionally pausing to receive further input from Epaphras or to question him further. The letter as it evolved, falls into two parts, the first is doctrinal and polemical, and the second is moral and pastoral.

FIRST PART

Paul opens by thanking God for the faith of the Colossians made known to him by Epaphras. He prays that the Colossians may remain steadfast in belief and practice.

He opens his teaching at its very heart: the pre-eminence of Christ - God become Man. He is the Creator of all things and creatures in the natural order and in the supernatural order: angels, Thrones, Dominations and Powers. He is the Head of His Church which is His Body. (Here we see Paul clearly enunciating the existence of the one Universal Church of which individual local churches are parts. Christ did not found Churches but only one Church.) And he identifies the role of Christ as reconciler of man to God “through the Blood of His Cross” (1:20).

Paul knows that the majority of Colossians is Gentile - converts of Greek and Phrygian origin (1:26, 27 & 2: 13). There may have been a small number of Jewish converts also, because Josephus (Ant.XII, iii and 4) refers to a scattered Jewish population in the Colossae area. He reminds them that before their conversion they were estranged from God by their evil works. But now, through Christ’s saving Death and Resurrection they are reconciled to God. He affirms his role as Apostle to the Gentiles and his great concern for them and also for the Laodecians because he has been unable to visit them.

Paul urges them to build their faith on Christ as they have been taught and to beware of false teachers whose human traditions are based on the “elements of the world” (see above). He emphasises how they have been brought alive by Baptism and spiritually “circumcised”. He warns against those who preach dietary taboos and new moon festivals, sabbaths and the false practice of worshiping angels (as opposed to legitimate veneration of them and their true role). Disregard mere human teachings, seek and follow what comes from above, he urges them.

“For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, your life shall appear, then you too will appear with him in glory”.(Col.3 3-4)

SECOND PART

Paul urges the Colossians to avoid immorality, uncleanness, lust, evil desire and covetousness which the unbelievers practice, and to avoid “anger, wrath, malice, abusive language and foul-mouthed utterances. Do not lie to one another”. (Col. 3:8-9) They are all one in Christ with no racial or status distinctions. Physical circumcision has no privileged position or value among them.

He urges on them all the practical virtues and they should show forth: mercy, love and forbearance and forgiveness and do and say everything in the Name of the Lord Jesus whilst thanking God the Father through Him.

He counsels these virtues in specific terms within the families of the faithful, with detailed attention to the roles of husbands, wives and children and their relations with one another. He cautions convert slaves to work diligently for the sake of their fidelity to God. As we saw in Foundation for March, Paul had urged Timothy to preach along the same lines. Few things could more certainly bring down the wrath of the Roman state on the infant Church than to be seen by Romans as fomenting rebellion among the slaves.

Paul urges upon the Colossians regularity and consistency in prayer and asks them to pray for him. He exhorts them to consider carefully how they spend their time with, or enter into discussion with unbelievers, so that all will work toward their conversion. He explains that Tychicus is carrying the letter and will tell them more about Paul and how he is faring. He is also to be accompanied by Onesimus, himself a Colossian, who has been working with Paul and is now returning to them.

He sends greetings from his “fellow prisoner” Aristarchus (we recall that whilst in Ephesus with Paul, Aristarchus had been set upon by a mob in the theatre) who had sailed from Caesarea with Paul being one of his close co-workers. Greetings also come from Mark, Barnabas’ cousin and of course from Epaphras whom Paul assures the Colossians is ever solicitous for them in his prayers, as he is for Laodicea and Hierapolis.

Finally he sends greetings from “Luke, our most dear physician” (Col. 4:13) and from Demas. He sends his personal greetings to the church in Laodicea and to the church in the house of Nymphas and sends a brief message to Archippus – “Look to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it.)

He finishes “in my own hand”: “Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen”.

Tony Dixon
Copyright. This article first appeared in the April, 2009 issue of FOUNDATION.

" PAST " SAINT PAUL PART IX SAINT PAUL WRITES FROM MACEDONIA Segment I

 

Saint Paul

St Paul Writes from Macedonia II – First Epistle to Timothy


This is one of St Paul’s shortest Epistles. He is writing in AD 65. St James had been executed by Ananias three years earlier and in the previous year Rome had been destroyed by fire and the Emperor Nero had been persecuting the Catholics, in an endeavour to fix the blame on them. The infant Church was under external attack, but internally she was also under attack from false teachers. St Paul had left the Church in Ephesus under the care of the young man Timothy – his “beloved son in the Faith” (1 Tim. 1:2).

He recalls that when he left Timothy in charge in A.D 64 he had given him the task of correcting those propagating false teachings and useless speculations.

He humbly acknowledges his past persecution of the Church and thanks God for being given his role as Christ’s minister – “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief” (1 Tim. 1:15). St Paul has, he says, given the same vocation of ministry to Timothy, and he refers to prophecies once made concerning Timothy. He contrasts Timothy’s faith and good conscience with Hymeneus and Alexander who have been delivered up to Satan for blasphemy.

St Paul urges Timothy to lead the Church in Ephesus in supplications, prayers and thanksgivings for all men, for kings and for all in high positions “that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all piety and worthy behaviour” (1 Tim. 2: 1-2). Clearly, he has the horrors of the persecution under Nero in mind.

St Paul reflects on the very basis of his life’s work: “For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, Himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, bearing witness in his own time. To this, I have been appointed a preacher and an apostle (I tell the truth, I do not lie), a teacher to the Gentiles in faith and truth’. (1 Tim. 2: 5-7)

He firmly sets before Timothy his concept of what is appropriate for women in the church. They should dress modestly and simply without excessive ornament and expense. They should not speak or teach in the church. This brief section of the text concludes with the phrase most often translated “Yet women will be saved by child-bearing”. Quite apart from sending legions of feminists into paroxysms of rage, this false translation is a theological nonsense – what of all the saintly virgins throughout the Church’s long history?  No – as the late Monsignor Ronald Knox’s accurate translation shows: “Yet woman shall find her salvation in the Child-bearing…”

The Greek definite article refers to one unique Child-bearing, the birth of Our Lord at Bethlehem”. (Mons. Ronald Cox “It Is Paul Who Writes” P.463) finally, we see what St Paul truly wrote.

St Paul goes on to list the qualities of a good Bishop: blamelessness, married but once, reserved, prudent, of good conduct, hospitable, a teacher, no drinker or brawler, moderate not quarrelsome or avaricious. He must rule his own household well. He should not be a new convert lest pride overtake him. And he must have a good reputation outside the Church.

He then lists the requirements for Deacons whose responsibility in the early Church was principally ministering to the poor and the needy through charitable works. The requirements are not greatly dissimilar to those for Bishops in spirit, though less exacting in detail.

St Paul gives the rationale for his letter: he hopes to come to Ephesus soon but, if he is delayed, he wants Timothy to have sound advice on how to conduct himself in his weighty position. Interestingly he reveals that the Holy Spirit has made it clear that in future times some will leave the Faith to follow false teachers, forbid marriage, and require abstinence from certain foods. St Paul reminds Timothy that all that God has made is good and not to be so falsely rejected.

He urges on Timothy authentic piety – “…avoid foolish fables and old wives’ tales and train thyself in godliness” (1 Tim. 4:7). He directs him to let no man despise his youth – we must remember here that in the ancient world authority went hand in hand with maturity – the young Timothy could expect some resistance to his Episcopal appointment.

St Paul urges Timothy not to neglect the grace infused in him by his ordination and to be an example to the faithful in speech, conduct, charity and chastity and to be diligent in reading, exhortation and teaching.

SAINT TIMOTHY

He lays out a careful plan of respect for older men, older women and younger women – to be treated as fathers, brothers, mothers and sisters respectively. He urges him to honour widows but stresses that they are primarily the responsibility of their families.

Where there is no family and the widow is less than sixty years old and of good and pious reputation, she may be accepted as the responsibility of the Church. He suggests that younger widows should re-marry so that they avoid becoming mere gossipers and busy-bodies.

St Paul praises priests (presbyters) who rule well and are active in preaching and teaching. Complaints against priests should only be entertained where they are supported by two or three witnesses. When they sin they are to be rebuked in front of all. He charges Timothy to act impartially in these matters before God the Father and Christ Jesus and the elect angels. He urges Timothy to remain chaste and urges him to cease drinking only water and to take a little wine for his stomach’s sake and for his frequent infirmities.

He urges Timothy to exhort slaves to treat their masters with honour and not to presume upon masters who are believers. He makes it clear that in this, his purpose is to ensure that “the name of the Lord and His Teaching be not blasphemed”.

Few things could give Roman society greater anxiety than anything which seemed to encourage the disaffection/discontent of slaves. Any attempt to do so or any appearance of doing so would lead to swift and ruthless suppression. St Paul had little time for “rights language” in the name of which so much evil is done today (e.g. the invented “RIGHT” to choose – used to justify the abortion super holocaust). What matters to him is personal fidelity to Christ and the eternal salvation of souls. Strict personal rights must await the further development of the Kingdom – but first things first.

He warns against false teachings and against the pursuit of wealth. The former lead to the loss of godliness and bring  about envies, quarrels, blasphemies and base suspicions and the latter often stray from the faith and fall prey to temptation.” For we brought nothing into the world, and certainly we can take nothing out...” (1 Tim. 6: 7).

He rousingly exhorts Timothy to the pursuit of justice, godliness, faith, charity, patience and mildness until the coming of the Lord “… the Blessed and only Sovereign, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords; who alone has immortality and dwells in light inaccessible, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be everlasting dominion. Amen.” (1 Tim. 6: 15-16). He urges him to exhort the rich not to be proud but to become truly rich in good works in order that they might secure eternal life.

St Paul concludes “O Timothy...” to guard what has been entrusted to him and to avoid the profane novelties of speech used by false teachers, noting that some of their users had fallen away from the Faith.

This is the letter of a busy, faith-filled man burning with fatherly love for his Ephesians and for his young co-worker in whose hands he has left them.

In typical St Paul style, the ideas tumble forth always hitting the mark precisely and always serving faithfully the Lord Jesus Christ who claimed the undying loyalty of St Paul on the road to Damascus all those years and miles ago.

Tony Dixon
COPYRIGHT. This article first appeared in the March 2009 issue of FOUNDATION.