Paul's letter to the "Christians assembled by God and the Master Christ Jesus" (The Message by Eugene Petersen) begins with much encouragement, love, edification, and joy.
Drawing on several Bible translations, I found him extolling some strong qualities he had evidently noticed within the church body in Thessalonica:
- "amazing grace" and "robust peace" ("inner calm" and "spiritual well-being")
their
- "work of faith" (work "energised by faith"),
- "labor of love" (effort motivated by love), and
- "patience of hope" (steadfast perseverance);
and of the
- "Holy Spirit [that] put steel in [their] convictions".
This Holy Spirit so permeates the New Testament, and especially Paul's work. For instance in Romans 8:2 (from this week's Christian Science Bible Lesson - B19), Paul preaches that "A new power is in operation,,. Spirit...like a strong wind, has...cleared the air" (Message).
And so Paul tells this group of Christians in the northern part of Greece that they are the message. They have set the tone for others. Word has got around!
Paul also relied on team work. He mentions two loved fellow-workers, Silas and Timothy.
In the books of Acts (a continuation of the gospel of Luke), Paul describes Silas as "trusted", "dependable", and a "good preacher". And it's in Acts that we are given a vivid picture of the two men praying and singing in prison, where they found themselves following a public beating. This absolute reliance on God not only saw the release of all the prisoners there, but also the conversion of their jailer and his whole household (Acts 16)!
Timothy meanwhile, is described as "my partner in this work" (Romans), "my friend" (Colossians), "son" (Timothy), and "brother" (Philemon). He had a Greek father and a Jewish mother.
While each has his individual work to do, it is together that the church moves forward.
Julie Swannell
I like how this map clearly shows us the two areas of Macedonia and Achaia.
No comments:
Post a Comment