Reading Paul’s Letters to A Troubled Church: A Reflection

A fatherly apostle wrote at least 3 letters to the Christians in Corinth, a bustling seaport, a free and open society, and perhaps another Sodom.  Nearly 2000 years passed, yet the letters are still applicable to churches today. Below is my reflection on this journey of studying I and II Corinthians. 

1. Feminism

One of the reasons that I selected this module was that I wanted to find out how should a woman Christian respond to feminism. According to conventional wisdom, women had/have been an oppressed class throughout much of history. Men believed that “Frailty, thy name is woman.” In Paul’s time, “the Romans never hated women quite as much as the Greeks did,” but women’s social status was not much improved. For example, “Roman citizens had three names…Women, however, had only the clan name and the family name. They had no individual names.”

It was Jesus who broke down the walls between genders. Throughout His ministry,  Jesus vigorously promoted the dignity and equality of women. He affirmed, honoured and encouraged them in their faith, and he even talked about them to men as positive examples of faith. And the women did show their faith by standing firmly beneath the Cross when the man disciples fled away. What Jesus did was a revolution and absolutely controversial for His time. Hence, I agree with some feminist scholars who suggest that the group of people who insisted on following Jesus alone could be the woman prophets of 1 Corinthians 11: 2-16 – women of low status.  For such women, to be in Christ meant to shed a life of shame and to claim a sense of dignity and authority they had never known before. Because Jesus alone had saved them from degradation, they refused to identify with any current leaders, including Paul, though Paul claimed, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3: 28)

Well, to have dignity and equality, a woman does not need to override the other gender to prove her authority and power, vice versa. Does gender equality contradicts submission? Submission, suggested by Paul, means I voluntarily limit what I might do naturally in this relationship in order to benefit you. If I have more power, instead of doing what I might do naturally and use that power to make my life easier, out of reverence for Christ I'll use my power instead to serve you. I'll give up even my life in order to benefit you. Submission also means that if I have less power, instead of doing what I might do naturally and fight you every step of the way, I'm going to show you respect and honour. Why must feminism? What is so scary about submission?

2. Death

Some Corinthian Christians doubted on resurrection. That led to intensive class discussion on the topic of “death.” Someone mentioned “martyrdom.” That reminded me how David Livingstone died in Africa, how William Carey died in India, how Susan Bird died in China, how Mary Slessor died in Nigeria… and the death of Kenjo Goto, the Japanese journalist laid down his life for a friend captured by ISIS，exactly as Jesus says in John 15: 13. I have started to think how I will die a Christian death when my curtain is down.

The Irish Homily (or Cambrai Homily) expounds on Matthiew 16:24 with an explanation of three modes of Martyrdom designated by the colours- red, green and white:

Red Martyrdom – those who die for the sake of faith;

White Martyrdom – those who leave behind everything, e.g. possessions, titles and relationships, for the sake of God’s Kingdom.

Green Martyrdom – those who leave behind comforts and pleasures of ordinary society to live hermits’ lives on mountaintops or lonely islands.

“The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.” (Tertullian) I may not deserve a red martyrdom for God, but I can choose to live a life as a white martyr, living every day to its fullest for Him.    

                            

3. Giving

Fee’s book is an academic eye-opener for me, while Arnold Yeung’s book never fails to stir me up. In his book To Be His Servant: A Study on II Corinthians, Yeung speaks highly of St. Francis of Assisi whose embrace of Christ-like poverty was radical notion at the time. The saint abandoned a life of luxury for a life purely devoted to Jesus. He carried no wallet when he travelled, always gave all he had to the needy, and he even kissed the faces of the lepers. To give money is not the highest level of Christian giving, but to give one’s heart is the highest level. This really challenges my faith, especially after I heard what Brother Casey said about the 3 steps of reading the Bible – exegesis, application and response. How should respond to such a challenge?  How far can I go?

4. Fun

Learning is fun, especially in a community. I am a people-centric person, so I like to mingle with people. Working together on the group project, I see God’s amazing creation – He has made His children so different, gifted in various ways; different, but same, as we are all His children. The fun part is each one’s sense of humour. I guess our God must be a very humorous God, right? Through laughter by laughter, inadvertently, we inspired one another. That is the beauty of cooperative learning. 

Reference:

Cunningham, Loren and David Hamilton. Why Not Women? Singapore: YWAM Training Centre, 2006.