We’re following Paul this week on his second and third missionary journeys. It’s a pretty rough start in Acts 17, but he recovers and we’ll move on to hear Paul’s pastoral advice and encouragement of these new believers in his letters. Some of the churches are growing and learning. Others are having struggles (here’s looking at you, Corinth). All in all, it’s an interesting week of reading. Pay attention to how Paul works out his pastoral advice through the lens of the cross and resurrection.
Today, we read about Paul’s missionary activity in Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens. Here’s a map of Paul’s second journey so far if you need a visual. Per usual, the response to the gospel of Christ is a mixed bag. The Jews are jealous in Thessalonica, noble in Berea, and curious in Athens. But, the most interested audience is the Greeks. We’ve heard Paul’s proclamation to the Jews, but what’s his proclamation to the Greeks? His discussion in Athens gives us a small glimpse – but so do Paul’s letters. What most strikes me about Paul is that he is so immersed into the story of redemption that he can move freely in and out of it hitting the highlights and modifying the details depending on his audience. That should be a model and a challenge for contemporary Christians to know the story so well and be able to show how Jesus meets the need of each individual you speak with.
Having just read about Paul’s encounter in Thessalonica yesterday, let’s read 1 and 2 Thessalonians through that lens (This is actually a very helpful practice when you’re reading Paul’s letters – read them through the lens of Acts). 1 Thessalonians 1-3 recount Paul’s eagerness to see them and encouragement about their faith. Chapters 4-5 give a few notes of brief instruction about their discipleship (how to live a life pleasing to God) and their faith (correcting some confusion of Christ’s return). Pay special attention to 5:23 to see how Paul ties everything together there at the end. Similar themes appear in 2 Thessalonians, also. It seems the affliction they’ve experienced has also come with some theological deceitfulness in the form of fake letters. Paul encourages them to remain faithful to their teaching, to stand firm until the coming of the Lord, and to stay away from lazy believers who become busybodies easily led astray.
These chapters mark the conclusion of Paul’s second missionary journey and the start of his third (see a map of his third journey here). He concludes his second journey in Corinth and Ephesus – two important churches who receive several letters from Paul later in his ministry. Pay attention to the ruler of the synagogue in Corinth because he’ll show up in tomorrow’s reading. In his brief stop in Ephesus, he goes to the synagogue and promises to return at a later date. On both his leaving and his coming Paul just missed meeting with Apollos. The account of Ephesus in Acts 19 represents about three years of Paul’s life, with wonderful works emerging from the proclamation of God’s word – until the riot and the Spirit presented a prime opportunity for Paul to move on to Macedonia and Greece.
We finish the rest of the week in 1 Corinthians – which we should read through the lens of yesterday’s reading in Acts 18. Here in these early passages, Paul is chiefly concerned about the unity in the Corinthian church. Clearly, people have chosen sides with their favorite teacher of the gospel, which Paul will not tolerate. Instead, he points them not to the “wisdom” of the teacher but to the “foolishness” of the cross. The factions in the church stem from their flesh and not a proper understanding of the gospel. Chapter 4 lays out Paul’s authoritative understanding of the apostles, who are merely stewards of the gospel who must be found faithful, no matter what comes.
Corinth was in many ways the New York or Los Angeles of the ancient world. Obsessed with status, honor, and wealth, the Corinthians sought social mobility by trampling over weaker people, rubbing shoulders with the powerful, pulling strings, scratching one another’s backs, and dragging others through the mud. Simultaneously, the Corinthians were obsessed with wisdom, knowledge, and spirituality. Throughout the letter, Paul addresses eight issues. In seven of the eight issues, Paul addresses both the centrality of the cross and the future eschatological hope. Paul understand the present life as a tension between the already and the not yet. In these chapters Paul addresses lawsuits, sexual immorality/marriage, and food sacrificed to idols.
In these chapters, Paul addresses food sacrificed to idols and the Lord’s supper. Before he gets there, he talks about the proper posture when it comes to our “rights” in worship as Christians. Paul is clear: we strive to avoid putting obstacles in front of the gospel – even to the extent that we lay down our own rights. “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor” (10:24). In chapter 11, Paul commends the Corinthians for showing proper order in wearing head coverings in worship, but he does not commend them for their practice of the Lord’s supper.
Paul continues addressing Corinthian worship in his instruction about spiritual gifts. In a culture obsessed with spirituality, there was a latent belief that some gifts were better than others. Paul, however, roots all spiritual gifts within the Trinitarian shape of our faith. The Spirit gives the gifts, that they may be used in service of the Lord (Christ) for the glory of God (the Father). And just as love is at the heart of Trinitarian life, so “The Way of Love” is the far more excellent way that forms the heart of the church’s worship and that worship should be orderly – because God is not a God of confusion.