As this is my Christmas column, I have chosen to write on the second most important theologian in the Christian Bible: John. I have chosen John’s Christmas meditation, John 1:1-14. This is the Gospel you will probably hear at your church’s main Christmas Eve service.

John doesn’t use the story of Bethlehem and the manger and the angels that we find in Luke, or the wise men from the east that we find in Matthew. No, John takes us back to the beginning of creation: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

The Greek word “logos” that John uses to begin his meditation means so much more than “word,” which is the English translation. To the Hebrew mind, the word of God was equated to wisdom, which was the creative power of God. John is telling us that Jesus was the creator God. Logos was an important word for the Jewish people of the first century.

For the Gentiles, “logos” would have been seen in philosophical terms, describing the design of the universe. It was the divine principle of reason that gave order to the world. Again, they would understand “logos” as the divine name for the creator of the universe. John sets the tone for his Gospel in the first sentence. Jesus was part of the creative force of the universe. “Logos” would have appealed to both the Hebrew and Greek followers in Ephesus.

The spirituality of John’s Gospel is evident from this prologue. John tells us that Jesus was God from the beginning of time. He was sent into the world so that all people could be enlightened through him.  The Christmas Gospel concludes with the beautiful sentence, “And the Word [logos] became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

This sentence confirms the belief that Jesus was the incarnate Messiah. The Word came into the world as God with us, leading us back to God. There is no doubt that Jesus was indeed the Messiah sent to bring the world into a loving relationship with the Father.

Let me tell you a bit about the writing of this fourth Gospel. It was probably composed by John, who, with his brother James, was among the first disciples called by Jesus. They were part of the inner circle who were with Jesus in all the events of his earthly ministry. John had outlived his contemporaries. Most of the apostles had suffered martyrdom many years before John wrote his Gospel, probably between 85 and 100 CE. John was in Ephesus, where he had migrated to escape persecution in Jerusalem.

This early church community would have been encouraged by John’s Gospel and strengthened by his words during persecution. They knew that this Jesus whom they professed was indeed the incarnate Word of God sent into the world to bring them eternal life.

Amid the busyness of Christmas, please take time to read this prologue of John as you prepare to celebrate the birth of the Christ-child into our world. Meditate on this passage and sense the encouragement John brought to his followers. Try to visualize the early Christian community gathered in someone’s tiny home in Ephesus, finding great comfort in the words of their leader and companion. Please continue to dialogue with the holy words written for you, and have a blessed Christmas.

All things must come to an end! This is true of this column, as this will be my last. I started it on a six-month trial basis in 2008, and it has lasted over eight and a half years. It has been a challenge to write something each month, and the past two months have been extremely difficult due to medical issues. But mostly it has been a great joy to put together this column, and I am amazed at the response I have received around the diocese. You, the readers, have made it worthwhile. I shall miss the research and the monthly demands. Please continue your dialogue with Scripture.

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The Epistle of James is a series of moral laws and exhortations, typical of much Jewish preaching of the day. Preachers were taught not to dwell too long on any one subject, so they would read out a series of laws with brief commentaries, one after the other. This letter is a good example of that Rabbinic style.

Perhaps the epistle was a sermon preached especially to those Jewish Christians who were on the verge of fleeing Jerusalem during the first wave of persecution and the beginning of the dispersion, and James was trying to encourage them to lead a moral life in exile. This would place the letter very early in the life of the church, perhaps as early as 40 CE – before Paul’s writings were in circulation. The main theme of this letter was to be “doers of the word and not hearers only. Faith without works is dead.” This is very different from Paul’s talk about being justified by faith alone.

This little epistle is experiencing a renewed existence in the life of the church, especially with the rebirth of healing ministry so much in evidence today. It is in James that we read those beautiful words, “Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over you, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick” (James 5:14).

This demonstrates quite clearly the practice of the first-century church. It has also become the practice of the 21^st-century church and the church throughout the ages. Many Christians today are practising the same ministry given by Jesus to the first Christians and passed on to us.

How do we reconcile Paul and James? Let us look briefly at St. Paul’s “justification by faith.” Although it is mentioned in a number of epistles, the most complete summary of his theological position is found in the first seven chapters of his Epistle to the Romans. However, if I know that I am saved by my belief in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour, then good works should naturally follow. If Jesus is my saviour, I must do something about the poor and disadvantaged in our midst. If I know I am saved by my belief in Jesus Christ, my response must be to help others come to this belief too. Thus I am called to be an evangelist or a witness to the saving power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We need to remember that Paul’s letters are occasional documents, written at various times and places to address specific issues. Much of the time he is handling emergencies, addressing practical problems and misunderstandings, responding to threats and defending himself against his enemies. He often assumes rather than explains the details of his teachings. His letter to the Romans is a fortunate exception to this general rule. It comes very close to a formal treatise, expounding Paul’s view of the Gospel.

Perhaps that is why Paul expands so thoroughly on justification by faith in Jesus Christ in his letter. This is central to his proclamation and has affected theologians throughout the ages, from Augustine to Martin Luther to more modern-day theologians like Paul Tillich. Dare we ignore this topic? I trust you have enjoyed this dialogue with Paul, our first Christian theologian.

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His letters were in circulation some 20 to 30 years before Mark, the first Christian Gospel, was written. Was this Gospel shaped by Paul?

We need to remember that Paul was a Pharisaic Jew, learning from the most important rabbi of his generation. But he was also caught up in the Greek philosophical thought of his day. To call Paul a Platonist is to misread him, but to say that Plato had no influence on his theological thought would be wrong as well.

Paul is that strange mixture of classical Jewish teaching, Roman citizenship and Greek philosophy. As such, his theology differs a great deal from the other Jewish Christians of the first century, namely Peter, James and John.

Peter, James and John had accepted Paul into the fellowship of Christians, and he was given the mission field of the Gentiles. Partly because of his great organizational ability, the Gentile church soon surpassed the Jewish Christians in influence. The church became very Gentile by the early second century. After the destruction of the Jewish temple and most of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the Jewish Christians lost their influence, and we see the authority of the church moving from Jerusalem to Ephesus and eventually to Rome.

Let us look at the doctrine of baptism. For Jesus, this was from the Jewish purification rite, which cleansed us so we could be ready to enter the kingdom when it arrived. This was the baptism offered by John the Baptist and probably Jesus as well – and thus the early church.

Paul takes this simple rite and gives it new meaning, almost making it equivalent to Jewish circumcision. It became the way we are made a Christian, joined to the body of Christ, giving us a new spiritual existence. It also became the infilling of the Holy Spirit; one was made holy to be part of this new kingdom of God. We are baptized in Christ. One only has to read the Epistle to the Romans to see how far Paul was from the simple rite of Jesus. Paul’s understanding of baptism seems to have survived through the Gospel writers as well.

The early church went to great pains to show that the resurrected body of Jesus was a dead body restored back to life. The empty tomb, the grave clothes, eating with his followers, inviting Thomas to put his hands in the wounds – all of these suggest that Jesus was restored in a flesh-and-blood body.

Paul has a somewhat different view of the resurrection. For Paul, the most basic belief that a Christian must have is the belief in the resurrection of Jesus. This is the place where we must begin our search for truth. But even here, Paul would suggest this is not the restoration of a dead corpse. Jesus’ resurrection was more like a metamorphosis, from flesh and blood into a life-giving spirit (see 1 Corinthians 15:45 or 2 Corinthians 5:1-5). Jesus becomes the first of the spiritual children of God.

One of the most significant doctrines that seems to have come from Paul is the doctrine of the Eucharist. There is no Jewish source that suggests that the followers of the messiah are sharing in the body and blood of their messiah. Yet all four Gospel writers include this thought at the last supper, when Jesus said, “Take and eat, this is my body…”

For Paul, eating bread and drinking wine was no simple memorial meal; it was quite literally a participation in the spiritual body of the glorified heavenly Christ. Those who ate and drank at this meal were connected by the spirit to the nurturing life we need as children of God

For this column, I have been reading a rather fascinating, sometimes frustrating book by James D. Tabor, Paul and Jesus. It has given me a rather different perspective on Paul and his influence on the writers of scripture. I hope you enjoy the dialogue.

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Clement, the Bishop of Rome, wrote about Paul’s visit to Spain in his letter to the Corinthians. As this is a source very close to the time, I think Paul did make that trip.

Did Paul visit Spain? According to the Epistle to the Romans, written several years earlier, this was his plan. What happened to Paul during this time also brings to mind the authorship of the pastoral epistles 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. Most scholars would suggest that these letters are pseudonymous; that is, they were not written by Paul but by later authors who used Paul’s name to ensure that they would be acceptable to the local churches. This was a fairly common practice in that era.

I am going to suggest that these pastoral letters were indeed written by Paul. They may have had extensive editing by scribes at a later time, as they were copied and passed from church to church.

Assuming that Paul wrote these letters, it would appear that Paul took Timothy and Titus to their respective missions – Timothy to Ephesus and Titus to the island of Crete. Paul then wrote the letters to his two disciples as he made his way to Spain, giving Timothy and Titus their orders for their respective missions.

About 25 years ago, I was asked by the Bishop of Toronto to lead an ordination retreat, as five young people were being prepared for ordination as deacons in the Church of Jesus Christ. As we gathered at St. John’s Convent in Willowdale, we used 2 Timothy as our retreat text, which talks about the ministry in the church and what is required to be an ordained minister.

If this letter was written by Paul, it would be his last epistle. He was in prison in Rome, awaiting execution. Compare this description of his imprisonment to that in the Acts of the Apostles. They are very different. In the Acts, Paul is under house arrest, and he has visitors who seem to come and go at random. In 2 Timothy, he is in a dungeon, with few visitors, no communications and little freedom. Only Luke is with him (4:11). I have often wondered why Luke didn’t continue this part of Paul’s life in the Acts. For some reason, he ended the Acts rather abruptly at Paul’s imprisonment in Rome. There seems to have been much more to Paul’s life journey.

Timothy is listed as the first Bishop of Ephesus. He died about 97 CE. He was like a son to Paul and is mentioned often in the epistles and the Acts. This second letter to Timothy is Paul’s final word to his “son,” with exhortations about his need for endurance and faith in the midst of adversity. It was Paul who laid hands on Timothy for this work and mission (2 Tim 1:6). God’s gifts to Timothy through the laying-on of Paul’s hands were the gifts of power, love and self-discipline. (1:7.)

All of us are called to be ministers in God’s church. May I suggest you read these three pastoral epistles to help us understand what it means to be a minister in God’s church. Those of you who are ordained, I beseech you to read these letters once a year, to be reminded of your call to ordained ministry. To those five deacons who were with me 25 years ago, congratulations on reaching your 25th anniversary of your ordination! I pray your ministry has been rewarding and full of His presence as you have walked with Him along this road of life. May this life be a continuous search for what it means to be ordained in His church and committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. And may we continue to dialogue with His holy word.

As you read these pastoral letters, there are three questions I suggest you keep in mind: what does it mean to be a minister today (both lay and ordained)?; how do I listen to that still, small voice of Jesus in the midst of a very noisy world?; and what do the scriptures tell us about living in faith for today?

Enjoy the dialogue.

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Paul continued to face the accusation that he counselled Christian Jews away from the laws of Judaism. This was not true, but widely believed. (Gentile converts did not have to follow all of the laws of Judaism, but Christian Jews were expected to.) James suggested that Paul attend a Jewish purification rite to help dispel this accusation.

Paul, with some others, went through the purification rite. As he entered the temple to offer his sacrifice, he was recognized by some visitors to the temple and they stirred up the crowd against him. They accused him of teaching against the Law, the temple and the Jews, and they attempted to put him to death. He was rescued by Roman soldiers.

In Acts 22, Paul addressed the crowd in their native Aramaic. He gave them his credentials. He was born a Jew, he said, educated at the feet of Gamaliel, the greatest Jewish rabbi of the first century. He had persecuted the Christians until, on the Damascus Road, he met the risen Christ. He related to the crowd all the details of his conversion. He told them of his need to leave Jerusalem and take the Gospel message to the Gentiles. This had been his mission and role in life for the past few years. Finally, he appealed to being a Roman citizen, and the soldiers agreed to bring him before the Jewish Sanhedrin.

At the Sanhedrin, he again defended himself by starting a debate between the two ruling bodies, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection of the body. This debate became so heated that once again the Romans had to rescue Paul. Later that evening, he had a vision, telling him that he would indeed preach the Gospel in Rome.

The soldiers moved Paul to Caesarea, the local centre of Roman authority. Felix was the governor but not a very good ruler. Kept in protective custody, Paul continued to proclaim the Christian faith to Felix and his wife for the next two years. In 59-60 CE, Felix was recalled to Rome, probably for his misrule. Not wanting to further alienate the Jews, he left Paul in prison. Felix’s successor was Festus.

Festus, wanting Roman justice to prevail, brought a delegation from Jerusalem to try Paul once again. They did not succeed in their accusations, and Paul eventually appealed his case to Rome. He knew that in Jerusalem he would probably be sentenced to death, whereas in Rome he would undoubtedly win his case, which would give the Christians some standing as a religious organization. (At this time in history, Christians were seen as a sect of Judaism.)

Thus Paul was to receive his long-time wish, to preach in Rome, albeit in chains. In Acts 27, he and a few friends and his soldier guards set off for Rome. It was quite an adventure, with storms and shipwreck. They were stranded for a time on the island of Malta. Here they considered Paul a god, as he was bitten by a viper and did not die. He also healed the father of the chief of the island and many others who came to him for laying-on-of-hands and prayer.

After three months on Malta, another ship arrived and took them the rest of the way to Rome. Here Paul appeared to be under house arrest. He had a certain amount of freedom, and the Christians in Rome came freely to visit him in prison. Paul was in prison in Rome for about two years, and Luke ends his account of Acts at this point. This was about 61 CE, and Paul wasn’t martyred until 67-68 CE. What happened in the intervening years? The epistles suggest that he revisited some of the churches in Asia and Europe. He possibly went to the island of Crete. Legend suggests that he went as far as Spain. Clement of Rome, writing in about 100 CE, seemed to confirm this. A lot could have happened to Paul in that six-year period.

During his house arrest in Rome, Paul probably wrote the epistles to the Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon and possibly 1 Timothy. We will discuss Paul’s possible visit to Spain and the authorship of the pastoral epistles, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, in our next column.

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He desperately wanted to make it to Rome. His mission work around the Aegean Sea had been completed. All that was left was to return to Jerusalem, taking with him the donations that were collected from the mission churches to help the Jerusalem church. Then he would be free to make the trip to Rome. Little did he know that in Jerusalem he would be arrested by the Romans and end up in Rome in chains, a prisoner of the state.

Paul planned to send Phoebe ahead to act as his financial representative in Rome (Romans 16:1-2) and to start the collection necessary for his mission base there. Meanwhile, he started to lay the groundwork for it with his letter, outlining his understanding of the Christian faith. He realized there was a problem between the Jewish and Gentile Christians. This was probably a universal problem and he addressed the issue. (See Romans 9-11.)

Through the centuries, the Epistle to the Romans has been used by various scholars to develop their theology. Martin Luther concentrated on chapters 1 to 8 because they contained Paul’s most explicit teaching on Justification by Faith. John Calvin focused on chapters 9 to 11 because they contained Paul’s teaching on divine predestination. Paul’s main thesis appears in 1:16-17: the righteous person will live out his faith; the wrath of God is revealed among humans by the opposite of faith, which is sin.

This thesis is more fully developed in 3:21-31, showing how it is the faith of Jesus that saves humans. He then demonstrates this thesis with the example of Abraham as the person who models faith (4:1-25). He completes this argument through an appeal to experience (5:1-21), and then responds to a series of questions raised by this thesis (6:1-11:31). The questions seem to be, “If the Gentiles have this good news and the Jews are turning away from it, does this mean that God has failed?” Finally, Paul applies this argument to the moral life of the Roman community as exemplary for every community (12:1-15:6).

In chapter 8, Paul says that because we have been empowered by the Spirit, we can do what the law asks of us. In this letter, Paul is writing one continuous rhetorical argument. His final argument is that all Israel will be saved.

Throughout the letter, Paul develops an elegant and powerful argument based on the story of Jesus.

It is in the response of faith that establishes a human in a right relationship with God, as shown by Abraham’s faith in God while he was still a Gentile (4:1-11).

Human sin has inhibited the possibility of obedient, trusting faith (1:18-3:20). God has gifted humans with the power to respond with faith through the faithful obedience of God’s son Jesus (1:16-17, 3:21-26). Thus Jesus’ faithful obedience places humans in a right relationship with God (5:12-21). The power to respond as Jesus did is given by the Holy Spirit (5:1-11, 8:1-39).

God’s plan in history is to reconcile Jews with the Gentiles through the principal of faith (9:1- 11:36). We can all be righteous by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ (13:14). The Romans demonstrated this transformed mind by the quality of their lives (12:1-21). They especially demonstrated this by the mutual love that respects and welcomes all diversity in the community (14:1-15:13).

Paul is an intensely difficult person to comprehend. We need to remember that he uses the ancient convention of rhetoric as an instrument of persuasion. We should read his letters for argument rather than for a revelation of his personality.

Paul did not create Christianity. He used the stories of Jesus as they were known to the early church in developing his theology. Jesus is the centre of his writings. He used many earlier traditions, such as baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the words and the stories of Jesus throughout his epistles. He is also a creative thinker and demands that we think along with him. He provides us with a creative dialogue to stretch our minds and spirit. Enjoy the dialogue.

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We don’t know how Christianity came to Rome. Perhaps followers of Peter made it there early in the life of the church. We date Paul’s letter to about 57 CE. We know from the writings of Suetonius, a second-century pagan historian who wrote Life of the Caesars, that the emperor Claudius expelled all of the Jews, including the Christian-Jews, from Rome in 49 CE. Paul had met two of these exiles – Aquila and Prisca, short for Priscilla – in Corinth about 50 CE, during his second missionary journey, and he greeted them in this letter.

The emperor Claudius was murdered in 54 CE, and many of the Jews and Christian-Jews made their way back to Rome following this death. Was there difficulty for these Christian-Jews integrating back into a primarily Gentile church? This would explain Paul’s emphasis on God’s plan for the redemption of Israel (Romans 9-11).

This letter is undoubtedly Paul’s most important work. His mission in the area of the Aegean was coming to a close, as he neared the end of the third missionary journey. He planned to visit Rome on his way to Spain. He was actually hoping to establish a mission base in Rome for the conversion of the western end of the empire. His plan did not quite work out. He was arrested in Jerusalem and arrived in Rome a couple of years later as a prisoner in chains.

It is possible that Paul made it to Spain. It is one of those mysteries of the early church that may never be resolved. If we accept the possibility of a second imprisonment for Paul, he may well have made his way to Spain, writing the pastoral epistles to Timothy and Titus on his way there. We will discuss this concept further when we look at his pastoral epistles. Paul was executed in Rome during the Neronian persecutions about 67 CE.

In the Epistle to the Romans, Paul takes great pains to explain his understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Roman Christians. This letter becomes his treatise on the faith. Remember, Paul is not sitting down at his laptop, trying to polish every word. He is dictating to a scribe, pouring out his thoughts and trying to keep them in an orderly fashion. The scribe for his letter is mentioned in Romans 16:22. His name is Tertius. He manages to insert a small personal greeting into the letter.

The theme of this great epistle is found in Romans 1:16-17. It is God’s plan for salvation for the Jew first and then for the whole world, and God’s righteousness for all people. Paul outlines his doctrines on “justification by faith,” unity, the Holy Spirit, baptism, sin, salvation, grace, death, and resurrection. We will look at some of these theological topics from Paul in the months ahead.

Throughout history, this epistle has been used by scholars such as Martin Luther, especially chapters one to eight, which contain Paul’s explicit teaching on justification by faith. Calvin focussed on chapters nine to eleven, which are about Paul’s teaching on divine predestination. A more modern recovery of classical rhetoric has helped scholars to see the entire epistle as a single rhetorical argument, with each section of the letter serving a different function. We will attempt to discuss some of these issues in future articles.

Please take time to read through this epistle and contemplate the meaning of Paul’s words for you in this 21^st century. It will be quite a dialogue!

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In this column, we will concentrate on 1 Corinthians. This is Paul’s second longest epistle in the New Testament and probably his second most important. (The letters in the New Testament are listed according to length; thus, 1 Corinthians follows the Epistle to the Romans.)

Paul seems to have had a love-hate relationship with the Corinthian church, which he had established during his second missionary trip in 50 CE. During that journey, he stayed in Corinth for 18 months. Corinth was the home of the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and it was a rather sinful city. It was also the capital of the Roman province of Achaia (most of modern-day Greece). The story of Paul’s mission there can be found in Acts 18:1-17.

His first letter to the Corinthians was written from Ephesus in about 55 CE, during his third missionary journey. Paul stayed in Ephesus for almost three years and met with Chloe’s people, who were from Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:11). He also received a letter from the Corinthian church. It included a long list of difficulties about church life. Paul tried to help the Corinthians correct these abuses, calling on them to reflect on what it meant to be called from their pagan past into a new life in Jesus Christ.

His first pastoral concern was unity. There were arguments among the members of the Corinthian church as to whom was to be considered superior – Paul, Apollos, Cephas or Christ. (Cephas is the Greek name for Peter. It is doubtful that he was ever in Corinth, but some of his followers may have passed through it.) “Christ” was probably inserted into this list by Paul to emphasize that they were all baptized into Christ.

Paul answered these complaints. “Has Christ been divided?” he asked. “Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:13). He said unity in the body of Christ was essential to the church. There was only one Christ, who was crucified for everyone. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth,” Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:5.

Chapters 12 to 14 may be the most important part of his epistle. They form a unit and give us a glimpse into worship in the first-century church. It starts with a discussion about the gifts of the Spirit. There are many gifts listed, such as wisdom, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues and interpretation of tongues, but there is only one Spirit who allocates each of these gifts.

Paul continues his narrative with a beautiful analogy of the Body (1 Corinthians 12:12-31). There is one Body with many parts: each member has his or her own purpose and each works with the other parts of the Body for the proper functioning of the whole. The church is the Body of Christ. It has many members, having different gifts, but all working together to build it up.

At the end of chapter 12, Paul writes, “And I will show you a still more excellent way.” What follows is probably the most beautiful passage in the New Testament, Paul’s great love sonnet, found in 1 Corinthians 13.

Love is the central theme of this first epistle. Love builds up the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 8:1). As Paul so eloquently states in chapter 13, “If I do not have love, I gain nothing.”

Chapter 14 speaks about the gifts of prophecy and tongues. These gifts are given for building up the Body of Christ. The gift of tongues is important for the individual, but for building up the Body, it needs to be interpreted. Prophecy, on the other hand, builds up the Body as it is given. Paul continues with the need for orderly worship. “God is not a God of disorder but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:39-40).

I encourage you to read this letter to the Corinthians from beginning to end. It is only 16 chapters in length. Let Paul’s words speak to you across the centuries. Visualize the people in Corinth who received the letter so long ago. Feel with them the impact of Paul’s words upon the life of their church. Let his words resonate in your hearts – and enjoy the dialogue.

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Again, Paul was writing in reply to a perceived problem: some of the Galatians were seeking to be circumcised. We are not sure if this was the result of some Judaizers who were following Paul. (Judaizers were people who insisted that Christian converts be obedient to the laws of Judaism before they could be admitted to the church. They plagued Paul for most of his ministry.)

The issue of circumcision had been settled at the Council of Jerusalem in 50 CE. Paul and Barnabas had been present with the leaders of the Jerusalem church and had argued on behalf of the Gentile converts. The council pronounced that Gentile converts were not required to follow the Torah and thus did not need to be circumcised for membership.

Galatia was a Roman province in modern-day Turkey and included the cities of Pisidian-Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, which were evangelized by Paul during his first missionary journey. Perhaps this letter to the Galatians was a circular letter that travelled from church to church and read to each congregation. It was addressed “to the churches in Galatia” (1:2). It was probably written from Ephesus during Paul’s third journey, or about 54-55 CE. Paul spent two years in Ephesus during that trip.

It is possible that some Galatians thought that circumcision would give them greater status, that somehow it would make them purer or more holy (and thus more faithful to the church), than those who were merely baptized. Baptism was considered necessary for salvation, and that was all that was needed for those who believed in Jesus Christ. Whatever the reason for this growing phenomenon, Paul wrote this letter to cease what was actually damaging to their salvation.

Paul argued that to proceed with circumcision was to deny the power of God as it was first given to them by their faith in Jesus. To live according to the law of the Jews was a form of slavery and death, he said. They had been freed from the law through their faith. Paul sketched a vision of life empowered by the Spirit and shaped by a pattern of Jesus’s faith and love.

Paul then demonstrated his knowledge of the Midrash in 3:6-18, where he states that all who rely on the works of the law are cursed. No one is justified before God by the law. The one who is righteous will live by faith, he said. Christ redeemed us by faith from the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written “cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree” (Deut. 22:21). Christ did this so that the Gentiles may receive the blessing of Abraham through the promise of the Spirit by their faith in Jesus (3:14).

For Paul, to be baptized in Christ meant that there was no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female – all are one in Christ (3:27). To be circumcised was to be a Jew and a man, and to be enslaved by the Torah, he said. This was not what Christ willed for us.

Paul tells the Galatian Christians “if they allowed themselves to be circumcised, then Christ is of no benefit to you” (5:2). We are saved by Christ’s faith in God. In our baptism we became children of God in Christ and were no longer under the law (3:26-28).

Bear one another’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ, he wrote. When I was under the law, he continues, “I persecuted the church of Jesus Christ. I became an apostle when I experienced the risen Christ.” Paul then reminds them that it was by living in the fruit of the Spirit that they demonstrated that they were indeed in Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There is no law against these things (5:22). In baptism we become children of God in Christ (3:28). In baptism all are equal.

It is the Holy Spirit working within us that empowers us to live a Christian lifestyle. We must be empowered by this Spirit of God and respond by living in the gifts of this Spirit.

We will continue next month with the epistles to the Corinthians. Enjoy the dialogue.

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Advent also marks the beginning of the new church year. This year, we will be in Year C. This means that most of the Gospel readings will be from Luke, which provides a fascinating account of the life of Jesus.

Luke is the only Gentile writer in the New Testament. He was probably a medical doctor, converted by Paul. He accompanied Paul on most of Paul’s missionary journeys. In addition to his Gospel, Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles, the fifth book in our Christian Bible.

Luke met most of the leaders of the early church as he travelled with Paul. He may have even talked to Mary, the mother of Jesus. His stories reflect a very compassionate and loving Jesus, a Jesus who is concerned for the underdog, the poor, outcasts, and women and children. It is only in Luke that we find the parables of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan.

It is also in Luke that we find the classic birth story of Jesus. This is the beautiful account of angels and shepherds and the stable in Bethlehem. The emperor in far-off Rome decides to have a census taken. A decree goes out, causing Mary and Joseph to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. (As they are of the House of David, Mary and Joseph have to return to their ancestral hometown. Bethlehem is the birthplace of David, born a thousand years before Jesus. David was Israel’s greatest king.)

It is in Bethlehem that the Saviour of the world is born, in a dark, damp cave fit only for animals. For Luke, Jesus is the fulfillment of Jewish history. His arrival marks the inauguration of the Kingdom of God. Jesus is the king, born to lead his people into a new relationship with their God. His enthronement is to be the cross on Calvary Hill. Luke emphasizes the kingship of Jesus and the establishment of his kingdom here on earth.

For Luke, Jesus is a revolutionary who comes to replace temple worship and to renew the old Jewish order with a new order. He represents the new Israel. Thus the cross, his throne, is central for the history of God’s people, which includes all people on earth. His Gospel message is universal, and Christians are called to proclaim it to all people.

I would encourage you to read Luke’s Gospel during this Advent season. It reveals a very loving and compassionate Jesus, who reaches out to us across the centuries with the love of God for each person.

Luke probably wrote his Gospel shortly after the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. The temple was one of the great wonders of the ancient world, the most holy place for every Jewish person. Luke did not want the believers in Jesus Christ to interpret this destruction as a sign of the end of the world. God had not deserted his people. Their hope was in the future, with Christ’s triumphant return. The Christian community was encouraged to continue to live faithfully, endure suffering, and wait patiently for God’s promise of a new beginning to be fulfilled here on earth.

May Advent be a time of joyful hope, anticipation and expectation, as we prepare for the birth of the Christ-child in our hearts, and for His coming again in great glory to reign forever. Have a blessed and holy Advent and may Christmas be filled with love, joy and peace for all.

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