Look at all those books covered! Just kidding, they're just Paul's letters. I figured I might as well get them all done in one fell swoop. I'm so close to the end I'd be able to taste it if not for the taste of blood in my mouth from the space formerly filled by my wisdom teeth.
So, first off--The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians!
"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you?" 1 Corinthians 3:16.
"'All things are lawful for me,' but not all things are beneficial" 1 Corinthians 6:12.
"For the woman does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does" 1 Corinthians 7:4. He means sexually. This is the only time he's going to put men and women on an equal level. For extra fun, you can see my rage build as we go on! Anyways, he goes on with this bit: "Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement of a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control" 1 Corinthians 7:5. Yes, I included it here mostly because it made me chuckle. So I'm not so mature. So sue me!
"It is better to marry than to be aflame with passion" 1 Corinthians 7:8. He means that it's better to marry than to sleep around with anyone, but it definitely sounds harsh if you don't realize that...
"For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his [believing] wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her [believing] husband" 1 Corinthians 7:14.
Paul talks a lot about the wed versus the unwed, and how the unwed are better off because they don't have to spend so much time worrying about pleasing their spouses, and "the affairs of the world" 1 Corinthians 7:33. He doesn't say don't marry ever, but he says that he just wants to make that point. Okay, fine, but wow, talk about throwing an institution under the bus. Paul wasn't even ever married either, just saying!
One thing that I don't understand is how he explains how widows' second marriages should be: "But if the husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord" 1 Corinthians 7:39. What does that mean? Is that like how nuns are "married" to God?
"Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up" 1 Corinthians 8:1.
"Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wealth, but we an imperishable one" 1 Corinthians 9:24-25. I know that it's not fair to say Paul's writing reminds me of CS Lewis's because CS Lewis came much, much later, but again, I read CS Lewis before I read this, so let me be. The whole section of 'The Rights of An Apostle' (which concludes in the paragraph that contains that last quote), or 1 Corinthians 9, reminds me greatly of CS Lewis's writing style in particular, maybe not as much as anything else Paul wrote, either... Well, maybe that's just me.
"You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons" 1 Corinthians 10:21.
"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, so that they may be saved" 1 Corinthians 10:31-33. I like the first sentence a lot, but that which follows bothers me. It makes me think of Aesop's fable about the father, the son, and his donkey--they take the donkey to market, and the first man to pass them laughs because they are walking and not riding the donkey. So the father puts his son on the donkey, and the next person to pass is upset that the boy is forcing his father to walk, and says it out loud. So the man takes his boy off of the donkey, and he gets on. The next person expresses verbally his disgust at the father making his son walk. So, the two of them get on the donkey together and the next person who passes gets upset that they should be overworking the donkey so. According to this, the clincher is that they carry the donkey and the donkey slips from their grasp and drowns, though that doesn't sound quite right to me... But the point of this tangent is that the moral is, "Please all and you will please none", or "Try to please everyone and you will end up pleasing no-one", or anything else in that vein. Soooo yeah.
And here comes the first of many times Paul enrages me with what he says about women! "A man ought not to have his head veiled, since he is an image and reflection of God; but woman is the reflection of man. Indeed, man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man. For this reason a woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head" 1 Corinthians 11:7-10. Really, Paul? You're cool. He goes on to say that they are still important, as both genders come from God, but still. Listen, Paul. Broski
Surprise, surprise: I like 'The Gift of Love' (1 Corinthians 13). "Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude... it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. / "Love is like a tree: it shoots itself; it strikes its roots deeply into our whole being, and frequently continues to be green over a heart in ruins"--Victor Hugo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame).
"Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end" 1 Corinthians 13:8.
"And now, faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love" 1 Corinthians 13:13.
"...Women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?" 1 Corinthians 15:34-36. Really, Paul? That's cute of you. I know it was undoubtedly the mindset of the times, but did you have to add the "Or did the word of God..." et cetera bit? Women are allowed to talk in church now, so there! BAM, Paul. Bam.
"And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour? I die every day!" 1 Corinthians 15:30-31. I'm not sure if I quite understand what Paul means here, other than that he means it metaphorically...
Here's Paul's second letter to the Corinthians--aptly named 2 Corinthians in the index.
"And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them" 2 Corinthians 5:15. / "Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it"--CS Lewis.
"Everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" 2 Corinthians 5:17.
The next book, Galatians, is a letter from Paul to them too.
"Am I now seeking human approval, or God's approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ" Galatians 1:10.
"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith through love" Galatians 5:6. Again, it is not the symbol that matters, it is the heart that matters.
"...Through love become slaves to one another" Galatians 5:13. / "We burned with love for ourselves, all of us, starters of the fire we suffered--our love was the affliction for which only our love was the cure"--Jonathan Safran Foer (Everything is Illuminated).
"For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another" Galatians 5:14-15.
Paul also lists a number of sins, some of which look familiar--some of the seven deadly sins are listed here, though not all of them--those that make an appearance here are: lust, envy, and avarice. Just thought I'd mention it. (Who decided the whole list?)
Ephesians is another letter from Paul.
"Be angry but do not sin; do not act rashly on your anger, and do not make room for the devil" Ephesians 4:26-27. / "When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent. Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord" Psalms 4:4-5.
"Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children on the light--for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true... Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them" Galatians 5:8-9, 11.
Paul annoys me more about what he says about women, but that's really all you need to know. My note on it again is, "REALLY, Paul?" ('The Christian Household', Ephesians 5, if you're that curious about what Paul said.
"Whatever good we do, we will receive the same from the Lord, whether we are slaves or free" Ephesians 6:8.
I have no notes on Philippians, but I've got two quotes from Colossians.
"Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourself with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!" Colossians 3:9-11.
"Above all, clothe yourselves with love" Colossians 3:14.
One quote from 1 Thessalonians:
"...Encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances" Thessalonians 5:14-18.
Two quotes from 2 Thessalonians:
"Anyone unwilling to work should not eat" 2 Thessalonians 3:10.
"Brothers and sisters, do not weary in doing what is right" 2 Thessalonians 3:13.
1 Timothy, 'The First Letter of Paul to ""'.
Paul makes me mad about treatment of women again... (1 Timothy 2.)
"...In later times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods, which God created to be thanksgiving by those who believe and the truth" 1 Timothy 4:1-3. This throws me off a little. Is the abstinence from food meant to be abstinence from (certain) foods? If so, is this a shot at the Jews? Wasn't Paul Jewish? Did Christianity exist as its own thing at this point? Help, please.
"For everything created by God is good" 1 Timothy 4:4. But what about these demons and liars that were just named? I'd say that yes, they are still good--because they would exist to test man and see who is worthy and upstanding and whatnot. So... They have good... means? Kind of? But you see what I mean?
And you know the saying that "Money is the root of all evil"? One, Jesus didn't say that. Two, that's not the correct quote. "For the love of money is the root of all evil" 1 Timothy 6:10. Aha! What a difference a seemingly paltry four words can make!
"They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life" 1 Timothy 18-19.
"Avoid the profane chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge; by professing it some have missed the mark as regards the faith" 1 Timothy 6:20-21. Aaaaand this is why the Catholic church pretty much suppressed every discovery prior to the nineteen-hundreds, I'm going put my neck on the chopping block and say.
I have no notes for 2 Timothy, The Letter of Paul to Titus, or Philemon.
MLA citation information: Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Edition. American Bible Society: New York, 1989.
Not much to say that I haven't said above. One thing I have noticed that, while the old testament emphasized the fear of God, the new testament seems to emphasize love, love from either party. I guess this explains why things were kind of fudged in Sunday school...
Well, one more post--less than sixty pages left--eleven books left--we're almost there. See you later.
Answer to last post's cryptic song lyrics: Time of Your Song by Matisyahu
This post's cryptic song lyrics: "Love is a many-splendoured thing! Love--lifts us up where we belong! All you need is love!"
No comments:
Post a Comment