Epiphany 3
By Canon Dr John Toy, Sunday 25th January, 2009
Today co-incides with the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, the man whose interpretation of Christ dominates the New Testament through all his letters, written at different times and to different congregations with their various problems. As a person he also dominates the New Testament, second only to that of Jesus himself, for whereas the four evangelists hide their characters in their writings, Paul reveals himself, warts and all. Some of us get very angry at some bits of his letters where he shows himself to be a man of his own time and culture, so different from ours, and it is all read out in church as if it was God`s Word to us now. I remember once having had to read the section where Paul says that women must not speak in church and if they want to know something should ask their husbands to explain it at home; so instead of saying at the end the prescribed ” Here ends the second lesson” I said ” Here ends the opinions of St Paul”.
But this man does not dominate the New Testament for no reason. No other figure of the early church, except perhaps the author of the fourth gospel, has shaped Christianity as St Paul has. Sometimes he seems to have been more influential even than Jesus, though the more we know of Paul the more we realize that is the very last thing he wanted. This quotation from Martin Luther is too extreme, but it does show how many in the church have regarded Paul : “(the gospels) do not describe much more than the history of the works and miracles of Christ. But no-one gives a finer account of grace which we have through Christ than St Paul…. It would be better to lack the works and the history than the word and the doctrine”.
No-one today would describe the gospels as just descriptions of what Christ said and did, they are just as theological as Paul himself in the way they present Christ. Thank God we have not only the gospels but also the letters of others than Paul so that we can have a wider grasp of our faith than just being led by Paul as Luther tended to be. But let us look for a moment at just three of the things that nevertheless makes Paul so important for us.
His Conversion:
Here is a man who had the courage to change completely, from being a fervent Jew and persecutor of the early Christians to being so wholly taken up with Christ that he can say ” I have been crucified with Christ- the life I now live is not my life but the life which Christ lives in me” Most of us who have been Christians as long as we remember can only admire at a distance those who have had a conversion experience and often become the most active, the most committed, the most thoughtful among us. Paul was one of those and at just the time when the church needed to take it beyond Judaism.
His emphasis on God`s grace received by faith
He goes to the heart of his Jewish tradition and sees there the overwhelming goodness of God, His ever-readiness to forgive and His care for His people. But then he sees that Jesus has expanded the whole concept of God`s people to include everyone God has made, that being a Jew or keeping their laws is not necessary any longer, that the holiness God requires can come through believing in Christ, in becoming possessed by him, living as nearly as we can to his way of living. So faith becomes an essential word for us, a faith shown in our words, our actions and our whole life-style, rather than in the fulfillment of specific commandments.
His interpretation of baptism
This faith is not only an attitude of mind, it must issue in certain acts and the first of these is baptism, the public declaration of one’s faith in Christ. For little children it is the parents`and godparents who proclaim their own faith in the presence of the congregation as the context in which the child is to brought up. Paul is clear that baptism is not just a matter of a washing of forgiveness – it is being identified with Christ both in his death and in his resurrection. Philip, who in a moment, will be baptised in the presence us all, thus becomes identified with Christ and a member of the church for the rest of his life. This is one of the great gifts his parents can give to him, second only to the gift of life itself. It is a great moment for us too as we are reminded of our own commitment and join with the parents and godparents in confessing it.
So we now proceed to this great sacrament of our faith :-
