New book: February 2015

For February, let's dive into "Boundless Light - Poems of Healing" which may have made its way into your collection over recent months. If not, pop into a Christian Science Reading Room to get yourself a copy - and maybe a copy for a friend too!

Happy reading.

Greeting friends

A last word from me for January.

Loved Paul’s sending greetings to all his friends in Rome in the last chapter.  How much better I could do when writing to far off friends!

In the light of my comment on Paul’s continuing theme of love, it reminded me of having looked up “Senses” on JSH Online (where one can consult old issues of the Christian Science Sentinel and Journal).  I found that in the 1950’s/1960”s one author/editor had three articles on the first page and one on the next page.  I guess that some themes are infinite in nature and can contain many facets to claim our attention, and from which we can learn new lessons.  Certainly this is comprehensively true of love.

Till February, so long, hooroo.

 

Joyce Voysey

Food and conscience

Chapter 14 (dubbed by Eugene Peterson in The Message: Cultivating Good Relationships).

How critical mortals are of each other – and of themselves.  I got a message once, “When you have forgiven yourself, there is no one else to forgive.”  Am still pondering that truth.

Anyway, about food, vegetarianism, etc., I love what Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (by Mary Baker Eddy) has to say, ‘ “In seeking a cure for dyspepsia consult matter not at all, and eat what is set before you, “asking no question for conscience sake” ‘ (S&H 222:29-31, with Bible reference I Cor. 10:25).

What is conscience telling us about food?  “If I eat all of this chocolate I will get fat”, is a prime example, but I am sure we all can come up with many others.  Instead of asking those questions, we can eat to satisfy hunger, rather than greed or addiction or craving appetite.

“Eat what is set before  you.” Yes.  Though I would say, “Do not drink every thing which might be set before you.”  You may be being presented with an alcoholic drink.  And Mary Baker Eddy has this to say about strong drink, “Whatever intoxicates a man, stultifies and causes him to degenerate physically and morally.  Strong drink is unquestionably an evil, and evil cannot be used temperately: its slightest use is abuse; hence the only temperance is total abstinence.  Drunkenness is sensuality let loose, in whatever form it is made manifest”  (Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896 p.288:32-289:6).

 

So, even if we are criticised for not taking that glass of champagne to drink a toast, we make our stand for righteousness.  And, perhaps we might know about our friends, that man in truth is “hungering and thirsting after righteousness,” and so will be blessed and filled.  (See Matthew 5: 6^th Beatitude.)

Once again, Chapter 14 reminds me of I Cor. 13, Paul’s wonderful sermon on charity/love.  A theme of love is always there, isn’t it?  

Joyce Voysey

Faith that helps your church grow strong in the Lord

As we prepare for the visit of Madelon Maupin in early March for some Bible workshops, I love what the Living Bible has in Romans 1: 10 - 12 from the great apostle Paul:

And one of the things I keep on praying for is the opportunity, God willing,

to come at last to see you and, if possible, that I may have  a safe trip.

For I long to visit you so that I can impart to you the faith that will help your church grow strong in the Lord.

Then, too, I need your help, for I want not only to share my faith with you

but to be encouraged by yours. Each of us will be a blessing to the other.

If you are coming along, please get your registration form in soon (by Feb 6 if possible) so that we can plan our logistics!

 

Julie Swannell 

Subject to the higher powers

The Message titles Chapter 13 To Be a Responsible Citizen.  Somewhat obscure in the King James Version, I reckon.  Valuable however for we citizens of Queensland with an election at the end of the week!

I find a correlation between Matt. 22:29, 30 and Rom. 13:9, 10.  I had always thought that Paul was echoing Matthew, but once again Paul wrote first.

Rom. 13:9, 10: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Matt. 22:39, 40: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hand all the law and the prophets.

How well did Paul know Jesus’ teaching before his conversion?  Did that conversion serve to join up all the dots, all the clues Jesus emphasised from the Old Testament?  Those writings which Paul also knew so well?

 

Joyce Voysey

Which came first: the Gospels or Paul's Letters?

In his overview of Chapter 12, Dummelow says:

“The doctrinal part of the Epistle being finished, (Joyce – Phew!) St. Paul now turns to practical exhortation.  God’s mercy, shown in the gospel set forth in the previous chapters, calls for the sacrifice of ourselves to do His will (vv.1, 2) by the humble and devoted use of God’s spiritual gifts (vv. 3-8), and in love (vv. 9-21).”

Did Paul have the Gospels to refer to?  Had he read the Sermon on the Mount?  Chapter 12 reminds me of that Sermon.  Did wonderful Paul come up with similar ideas through his own inspired communion with the Father-Mother?  After all, he knew that he had same Mind which was also in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:5). One is reminded of one of our Daily Duty prayers: “You have simply to preserve a scientific, positive sense of unity with your divine source, and daily demonstrate this” (Pulpit and Press by Mary Baker Eddy p. 4:9-11).

My curiosity is satisfied with this list from A Guide to Bible Study (Sorry, I don't have the reference for this text just now - Ed)

James - 50 A.D.

First Thessalonians - 52-53.

Second Thessalonians - 52-53.

Galatians - 55.

First Corinthians - 57.

Second Corinthians - 57.

Romans - 57-58.

Philippians - 62-63.

Colossians - 62-63.

Philemon - 62-63.

Ephesians - 62-63.

Luke - 63.

Acts - 64.

First Timothy - 65.

Titus - 65.

Second Timothy - 66.

Mark - 66.

Matthew - 67.

Hebrews - 67.

First Peter - 67-68.

Second Peter - 68.

Jude - 68.

Apocalypse - 68.

John - c. 85.

Epistles of John - 90-95.

 

So, Paul actually beat Matthew as far as Romans is concerned.  I Cor. 13 was written at a similar time.  How full of love Paul was at that time!

Joyce Voysey

Even the brocken-off branches...

Isn’t it great that we have the same examples to turn to as did Paul, e.g. His reference to Elijah (Elias) and Elijah’s complaining that he was the only one left to carry on God’s work?  God told him “I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.”  The lesson is perhaps that there will always be a remnant of believers to carry on the work.   And so, for us, the lesson carries through from the Old Testament to the New.

Paul goes on to affirm that all must come to Christ some time and in some way – God will provide the opportunity and the willingness.  Even the broken-off branches of the olive tree can be grafted on again by God’s grace, and made to bear fruit.

Paul finishes Chapter 11 on a triumphant note:

For who hath know the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller?  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?  For of him, and through him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.  Amen.*

 

Joyce Voysey

 

Ed.

*Here's how Eugene Petersen has those verses in The Message:

 

Is there anyone around who can explain God?

Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do?

Anyone who has done him such a huge favor

 that God has to ask his advice?

 

Everything comes from him;

Everything happens through him;

Everything ends up in him.

Always glory! Always praise!

Yes. Yes. Yes.

 

For me, it's a helpful paraphrase and elucidates the meaning so that I can return to the King James Version's rich, compact and powerful translation with deeper appreciation and insight.

the Promise discerned

Wow!  What a come down for Paul from the end of Chapter 8 to the beginning of Chapter 9!  He was speaking in the absolute when he rejoiced that he is persuaded “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38, 39).

But with Chapter 9 we find him dealing with the Israelites, the people who believe they have inherited the promise to Abraham and Isaac.  He seems to be saying that they have the wrong idea of the promise – it does not come through the seed of generations from human fathers to human sons, but through the spiritual discernment of the children of promise.  The Message (Eugene Petersen) has: “It wasn’t Abraham’s sperm that gave identity here, but God’s promise.”

Interestingly, a couple of women are cited as receiving the promise – Sarah would have a son in extreme old age; Rebecca would have twins and that, “The elder shall serve the younger” (Rom. 9:13).

How exciting is that!  The golden thread passing along the female line!

I like The Message's interpretation of the last couple of verses of Chapter 9:

            Careful!  I’ve put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion,

                 a stone you can’t get around.

            But the stone is me!  If you’re looking for me,

                 you’ll find me on the way, not in the way.

No doubt, Paul will keep on with his loving shepherding of the Israelites.

 

Joyce Voysey

Proof of true Christianity through the ages

Having read up to the end of Romans Chapter 6, something reminds me of the chapter "Some Objections Answered" in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (Mary Baker Eddy), beginning p. 362.  Both Paul and Mrs. Eddy had to contend with much criticism and many objections.  One wonders if the criticism and objections were similar; and if they remain similar in our time – in the year 2015.

This matter of history repeating itself, or continuing in a wrong direction, is handled in an interesting manner by Jill Gooding in her Shared Reflections Lecture Prophecy and Healing Today. (See pull-out from the January 2015 issue of The Christian Science Journal.)

In speaking of the change that came about in the Christian church at about 250 AD, she says: "But about 250 AD the early church began to shift the focus from Jesus’ teachings – the Christ, Truth, he taught – to a worship of the man, Jesus.  Also, the bishops of the early Church wanted to establish a bigger and more powerful church; and in order to get more members they compromised standards and allowed in elements of paganism and idolatry."

Ah!  It is all in the proof!  “Proof is essential to a due estimate of this subject.”  We find this statement early on in the chapter "Some Objections Answered" (362:11-12).  A student of Christian Science can relate to that statement, but what about Paul’s students?  He must have been teaching them that Christianity included, or rather was based on, works.  And those works must have included healing.  How could one live the truths of the Sermon on the Mount without healing, I ask myself?

Referring back to Jill Gooding’s lecture, I found “In the early Christian era, up until 300 years after Jesus’ resurrection, historians recorded many remarkable cases of healing, similar to Christ Jesus’ healings.”  (That sentence precedes the one already quoted.)

One is reminded that, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).  So Paul’s emphasis on faith must come back to that truth.  What is the point of Christianity if it is not practical?

Thinking again, after perusing Chapter 7:  I wonder if the substance of this epistle was composed in one session, or if it is the development of Paul’s thought over a period of hours, days, even?  (I find that as I begin to type something, other ideas come to mind which can lead in fresh directions.  It can be thrilling!)  Paul has talked about sin for a while, but in Chapter 7 we find that remarkable passage which includes, “The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do;” with verses 14-25 developing the idea.  Paul was impersonalising evil.

Glorious Chapter 8!  We recognise almost every verse as familiar from Bible Lessons and references in articles in the Christian Science periodicals.  Paul brings Spirit to the fore: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (8:2); “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (8:14); “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (8:16).  The capitalised word Spirit is used 19 times in this chapter, mostly in giving Christ Jesus as the supreme example of life in and of Spirit.

Joyce Voysey

Ed. I love Eddy's definition of Christianity in Retrospection and Introspection: "I named it Christian, because it is compassionate, helpful, and spiritual" p. 25:10 - 11. Also I see she adds: "Spirit I called the reality; and matter, the unreality" (25: 18).

Opening up Paul's letter today

I wanted to get an overview of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Here’s what I came up with. It’s extraordinary how familiar are so many passages. But it’s wonderful to get them in context by reading the whole letter in one sitting, just as we would if it had arrived in our letter box today!  

Romans 1

Introduction: I am Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ (the Son of God)
I write to “all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints”
First: thank God for your faith!
Second: I really long to come and visit and to preach in Rome.
Third: I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God.
Fourth: Invisible things are clearly seen (understood) but some have gone off course.

Romans 2

Don’t judge others.
2: 11 “…there is no respect of persons with God.”
We must be true to ourselves.
2: 28, 29 “..he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly…But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly…”

Romans 3

3:3 “For what if some did not believe?”
The law of faith
No boasting!
3:29 “Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles?”
Does this negate “the law”? No way: “we establish the law.”

Romans 4

More about faith
What about Abraham?
Law vs promise/faith/grace
4: 16 “Abraham…the father of us all”
4:20 “He staggered not at the promise of God …but was strong in faith, giving glory to God”

Romans 5

Trials, faith and grace – the gift
5: 1, 2 “justified by faith…peace with God…access by faith into…grace”
5:3, 4 “glory in tribulations” because of their outcome, one thing building on another e.g. tribulation brings patience; patience brings experience; experience, hope.  
5:5 “…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
(Eugene Petersen’s The Message: “…we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! Christ arrives right on time to make this happen.”)
5: 15 - 18 “the gift” – by grace; the free gift; the gift of righteousness

Romans 6

“Shall we continue in sin…?” or “walk in newness of life”?
6: 12, 13 “Let not sin therefore reign…but yield…unto God”
6: 16 Who’s the boss anyway?
6: 23 more about “the gift”

Romans 7

7: 6 “…serve in newness of spirit…not in the oldness of the letter”
Conflict 7: 19 “the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do”

Romans 8

No condemnation
Not in the flesh
8:16, 21 “children of God”; “glorious liberty”
Intercession.
There’s something at work in us!
8: 28 “and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
8:31 “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
The Message: Romans 8: 26 “Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along.”
8: 35 – 39 Nothing can separate us from God’s love!!!!!!!

Romans 9

Sorrow and heaviness
9: 8 “the children of the promise”
9:26 “children of the living God”
Remnant

Romans 10

10: 1-3 Prayer for Israel: “...ignorant of God’s righteousness…have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God”
10: 12 “…no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.”
10:14 “…how shall they hear without a preacher”

Romans 11

Paul speaks about Elijah’s experience of thinking himself alone when in fact there were seven thousand (v. 3,4).
Remnant
11: 20 the olive tree example and “be not highminded”!!!
11: 34 “who hath known the mind of the Lord?”

Romans 12

12:1,2 “present your bodies a living sacrifice…and be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed…”
Watch your thoughts about others; we are all members of the one body in Christ.
LOVE each other!
12: 21 “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Romans 13

God’s power the only power but obey the laws of the land.
Keep the commandments.
v. 10 Love is the fulfilling of the law.
Wake up!

Romans 14

It’s best not to judge another in matters of food, for “the kingdom of God is not meant and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (v. 17).
v. 12 “..everyone of us shall give account of himself to God.”

Romans 15

We are all members of the same choir.
Paul admits that his writing is rather bold but acknowledges that his is a Christly mission which has taken him from Jerusalem to the north of Greece.
Now he wants to visit Rome en-route to Spain, after he delivers a substantial sum of money to those in Jerusalem due to their extreme need at that time.

Romans 16

Final salutations and a who’s who of the early church workers including
Phebe
Priscilla
Aquila
Epaenetus
Mary
Andronicus
Junia
Amplias
Urbane
Stachys
Apelles
Aristobulus
Herodion
Narcissus
Tryphena
Tryphosa
Persis
Rufus and his mother
Asyncritus
Phlegon
Hermas
Patrobas
Hermes
Philologus
Julia
Nereus and his sister
Olympas
Timotheus
Lucius
Jason
Sosipater
Tertius (scribe of this letter)
Gaius (Paul’s host)
Erastus
Quartus
[put your name in here!]

How enriched we are to have this wonderful letter. How much ground Paul covers in it. How useful it is to us today.

 

Julie Swannell

Higher Criticism

In my daily consecutive reading of Mrs. Eddy’s Prose Works, I came this morning to page 136 of Miscellany.  Mrs. Eddy explains why she has created a Trust to handle her property, and says she has done it so that she “may have more peace, and time for spiritual thought and the higher criticism.”

“Higher criticism” was a phrase I had been vaguely aware of, but had never looked it up.  So I did just that and found this very enlightening – from New World Encyclopedia. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/higher_criticism

            Historical criticism or higher criticism is a branch of literary analysis that investigates the origins of a text. "Higher" criticism is used in contrast with Lower criticism (or textual criticism), whose goal is to determine the original form of a text from among the variants.

Higher criticism, whether biblical, classical, Byzantine or medieval, focuses on the sources of a document to determine who wrote it, when it was written, and in which location. In biblical studies higher criticism is used to address the synoptic problem, the question of how the texts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are related to one another. In some cases, such as with several Pauline epistles, higher criticism confirms the traditional understanding of authorship. In other cases, higher criticism contradicts church tradition (as with the gospels) or even the words of the Bible itself (as with 2 Peter). The documentary hypothesis, which attempts to chart the origins of the Torah, is another key finding of the work of higher criticism.

The work of higher criticism helps modern readers to understand something about the historical context in which the scriptures were written.

Higher criticism treats the Bible as a text created by human beings at a particular historical time and for various human motives, in contrast with the treatment of the Bible as the inerrant word of God. Lower criticism is used for attempts to interpret Biblical texts based only on the internal evidence from the texts themselves.

Thank you, New World Encyclopaedia!

Now Mrs. Eddy did not have the Internet or weighty tomes of writings by scholars of the Bible to consult.  Her “higher criticism” must have been accomplished through inspiration gained from the actual sacred writings.  The year was 1907.  And how much she had already contributed to that knowledge from her divinely inspired writing, especially of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures!

In her Message on the occasion of the dedication of the Extension of The Mother Church, of June 10, 1906, Mary Baker Eddy refers to Christian Science as the higher criticism.  And on page 240 of Miscellany, she answers a questioner on the subject.

I called Christian Science the higher criticism in my dedicatory Message to The Mother Church, June 10, 1906, when I said, “This Science is a law of divine Mind… an ever-present help.  Its presence is felt, for it acts and acts wisely, always unfolding the highway of hope, faith, understanding.”

I now repeat another proof, namely, that Christian Science is the higher criticism because it criticizes evil, disease, and death – all that is unlike God, good – on a Scriptural basis, and approves or disapproves according to the word of God.  In the next edition of Science and Health I shall refer to this.

There is further reference to this statement on page 237:

The contemplated reference in Science and Health to the “higher criticism” announced in the Sentinel a few weeks ago, I have since decided not to publish.

I now wonder if Mrs. Eddy was expecting to gain greater spiritual understanding through her further study of her work Science and Health as well as the Bible.

Joyce Voysey

Paul's "one man" represents a "type" of man

On reading Romans Chapter 5, I found it helpful to consult the definition of "Adam" in the Glossary of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (by Mary Baker Eddy). 

The definition is so comprehensive that the phrase “all the etceteras” came to mind. We find this phrase on page 330 line 32 of Science and Health. There, in speaking of evil, Mrs. Eddy lists many of its lying phases, ending with “hell, with all the etceteras that word includes.”  So Adam and hell is the same thing.* Adam is the false, mortal man, while Christ is the real man of Spirit’s making. These then are the “one man” and the other “one man” Paul is describing in verses 12 and 15; the same as Mrs. Eddy has dubbed “mortal man” and “immortal man.” And mortal man has been comprehensively shown by Mrs. Eddy in her writings to be a delusion.

One could say that the definition of "Adam" (SH 579:15 - 580: 27) covers all the aspects of the so-called mortal man. Here is one passage from that definition which could possibly be a basis for the Christian Science Bible Lesson for this week (Sunday 18^th January, 2015) on the topic of “Life”: “The name Adam represents the false supposition that Life is not eternal, but has beginning and end” (p. 580:21-22).

And, of course, Science and Health has the antidote for Adam in answering the question, "What is man?", in the chapter Recapitulation (p. 475). The statement from it which came to me this morning is, “not a single quality underived from Deity” (line 20).

 

Joyce Voysey

* I wrote, “So Adam and hell are the same thing.” The computer corrected me – interesting. It reminds me of the statement in S&H, “Principle and its idea is one.” The sentence goes on, “and this one is God, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Being, and His reflection is man and the universe” page 465. I have learned a lesson in grammar!  And I always appreciate that.

The New Covenant

Circumcision was a huge issue with the early Christians; it had been part of God’s Covenant with Abraham, and some who had progressed from the Jewish faith in most things could not let it go.

Wikipedia on Covenant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covenant_(religion)

A biblical covenant is a religious covenant that is described in the Bible. All Abrahamic religions consider biblical covenants important. Of the covenants found in the Pentateuch or Torah, the Noahic Covenant is unique in applying to all humanity, while the other covenants are principally agreements made between God and the biblical Israelites. In the Book of Jeremiah, verses 31:30-33 predict "a new covenant" that God will establish with Israel and Judah. Most Christians believe this New Covenant is the "replacement" or "final fulfilment" of the Old Covenant described in the Old Testament and as applying to the People of God, while a minority believe both covenants are still applicable in a dual covenant theology.

In Genesis chapters 12–17 three covenants can be distinguished based on the differing Jahwist, Elohist and Priestly sources. In Genesis 12 and 15, God grants Abraham land and descendants but does not place any stipulations (unconditional). By contrast, Gen. 17 contains the covenant of circumcision (conditional).

 It was argued that God’s covenant with Abraham was still in effect and that all babies must be circumcised at 8 days.  I find it interesting that the Islamic faith as well as the Jewish has this as a rule.  Of course, they are both Abrahamic religions; descending from Ishmael and Isaac.  Abraham was 99 when he was circumcised; Ishmael 13.

Also of interest to me is that Mary Baker Eddy does not enter into the conversation about circumcision – she doesn’t even mention it in her writings, though she does define Abraham in the Glossary to Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (579:10):

Abraham. Fidelity; faith in the divine Life and in the eternal Principle of being.

This patriarch illustrated the purpose of Love to create trust in good, and showed the life-preserving power of spiritual understanding. 

Mrs Eddy seems to have taken for granted that the New Covenant is now in operation.  I will quote from Jeremiah 31: 31 - 36 about the New Covenant:

 

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:              

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: 

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name:

If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul points out that Abraham was blessed long before he was circumcised, and emphasises that faith was the principle which blessed him.

Wikipedia has this (http://www.ask.com/wiki/Gospel_of_Thomas?qsrc=3044)

According to the Gospel of Thomas saying 53, Jesus says:

"His disciples said to him, 'is circumcision useful or not?' He said to them, 'If it were useful, their father would produce children already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in spirit has become profitable in every respect.'"

 Joyce Voysey

Really living

I wonder who read Paul’s letter to the Romans? How was it delivered? Did it get passed around? Were copies made? Did small groups read it aloud as they met in homes? Did they hold business meetings and read this letter out in the “general correspondence” section of their meetings?

It is wonderful to read about when Paul finally got to Rome, albeit as a prisoner. Acts 28 (from The Message by Eugene Petersen):

“We spent a wonderful three months on Malta….

“And then we came to Rome. Friends in Rome heard we were on the way and came out to meet us. One group got as far as Appian Court; another group met us at Three Taverns – emotion-packed meetings, as you can well imagine. Paul, brimming over with praise, led us in prayers of thanksgiving. When we actually entered Rome, they let Paul live in his own private quarters with a soldier who had been assigned to guard him.

“Three days later, Paul called the Jewish leaders together for a meeting at his house. … They said, ‘Nobody wrote warning us about you…The only thing we know about this Christian sect is that nobody seems to have anything good to say about it.’”

But let’s back-track to around 30 years earlier. Eugene Petersen writes enthusiastically:

“…when this letter arrived in Rome, hardly anyone read it, certainly no one of influence. There was much to read in Rome – imperial decrees, exquisite poetry, finely crafted moral philosophy – and much of it was world-class. And yet in no time, as such things go, this letter left all those other writings in the dust. Paul’s letter to the Romans has had a far larger impact on its readers than the volumes of all those Roman writers put together…

“The letter to the Romans is a piece of exuberant and passionate thinking. This is the glorious life of the mind enlisted in the service of God. Paul takes the well-witnessed and devoutly believed fact of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth and thinks through its implications…”

No wonder verses drawn from its sixteen chapters are so frequently included in Christian Science Bible Lessons!   

Stephen Harris writes in “The New Testament – A Student’s Introduction”:

“Unlike other Pauline letters, Romans is addressed to a congregation the writer has neither founded nor previously visited. In form, the work resembles a theological essay or sermon rather than an ordinary letter, lacking the kind of specific problem-solving advice that characterizes most of Paul’s correspondence.  Some commentators regard Romans as a circular letter…intended to explain Pauline teachings to various Christian groups…”

Harris points out that this letter was a means of opening up communications with Rome in order to gather support for his proposed Spanish mission (15:24) and garner endorsement and understanding of his teachings from prestigious Rome, the capital of the civilized world. 

Harris also explains that “most scholars view Chapter 16, which contains greetings to 26 different persons, as a separate missive.”

The Message has Romans 1: 17 like this - “God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: ‘The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives.’”

Really living sounds like a good choice to me.

Julie Swannell