A Walk to Remember

I have truly enjoyed Pauline Epistles over the last semester. There is much more to Pauline studies than I first expected, but the study has opened my eyes to a number of important ideas. First of all, Pauline literature encompasses much more than a text. The occasional letters of Paul respond to specific issues in specific places. We may not be able to completely understand the occasion of a letter, but the study of cultural and religious aspects of the first century world yields important information concerning the context of Pauline letters. Secondly, the field of New Testament literature is not static. The Pauline Corpus has been intact for nearly two millenia, but theories and scholarship continued to change throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century. Scholars such as F.C. Baur develop theories concerning Paul's opponents and controversy within the church. Schools of thought rise and fall with the discovery of new information and the passage of time.

Though scholarship changes over the passage of time, the letters of Paul remain the same. They have persevered as examples of apostolic leadership. While the modern church cannot understand all of the dynamics of the first century church, the Pauline Corpus contains guidance that is still relevant to the modern church. A great professor of mine once said, "begin with the end in mind." Such an admonishment challenges one to begin a course with the intention of finishing strong, and finish without forgetting the original goals or foundation of the course. This weekend, I was thinking about the above statement while I was finishing the reading log. I ran across 2 Timothy 2:14-26, the scripture passage that Dr. Foster addressed in the initial class period. As a young minister of the gospel, I believe that Paul's admonishment is one of the most positive, encouraging, and truthful admonishments that one might receive. If each individual did his best to present one's self to God, a number of the issues that Paul addressed would not exist in the modern church. With this in mind, the most important aspect of Pauline studies is the application of Biblical principles in the context of daily living.

It's been real. It's been fun. It's been really fun,
the other Paul