Final Examination

Letters of St. Paul Professor Stephen D. Fahrig, STL

Paul M. Nguyen Congregationis Oblatorum Mariae Virginis May 16, 2013

Nguyen 2 Question One: Bulletin Insert on Pauls letter to the Galatians Galatians, often called Pauls angry letter, is the fourth letter attributed to Paul in the bible. The apostle Paul of Tarsus wrote his letter to the churches of Galatia (Gal. 1:2) in the mid-50s A.D. Galatia was a province of the Roman empire located within the modern borders of Turkey, placing Pauls hometown of Tarsus roughly halfway between center of Galatia and Jerusalem. The letter is addressed by Paul to the churches because he had established several worshipping communities in the homes of wealthy Christians throughout this region, and he intended this letter to be passed around and eventually read by everyone. In Galatians, Paul makes several comments about his own life that help illumine who he was. Paul was a Jew in the sect of the Pharisees, meaning that he took the Jewish codes of law very seriously and even violently persecuted those who acted against it, including Christians. Paul also claims Roman citizenship, meaning that he was probably connected to an influential family in the Roman system, which had taken over many territories reaching through the Middle East and Northern Africa. He mentions various trips to Jerusalem, his emotional reactions to news he heard here and there, and tells the story of his conversion from persecuting Christians to preaching the Christian Gospel. Unlike other letters, which scholars of the bible doubt that Paul actually wrote, virtually all biblical scholars agree that Paul of Tarsus actually wrote this letter. Pauls primary purpose in writing this letter to the churches in Galatia was to set them straight. Things were getting out of hand, and Paul needed to step in (with the authority he received from his fellow apostles and especially from Jesus) to correct those errors and encourage good Christian living. The first part of the letter argues for Paul himself, reminding the Galatian churches that Paul really is an apostle, sent by Jesus to bring the Gospel to the world. Almost in the same breath, Paul rebukes the Galatian churches for falling away from what

Nguyen 3 he had taught them, especially because this was caused by a handful of individuals who were teaching false things, without the authority of the apostles to back them up. After this, Paul starts from the top, reminding the Christians in Galatia of the entire history of salvation. He starts with Abraham, with whom God made the first covenant and promised him blessings and prosperity for all his descendents as a reward for his faithfulness to God. Then Paul discusses how the law revealed to Moses was an attempt to help the people remain faithful to God, until Jesus came to fulfill the law and introduce the new order: the forgiveness of sins, the life of grace, and the possibility of the resurrection into eternal life. Finally, Paul exhorts the Galatian Christians to live by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16), giving up the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19). He also encourages them to correct one another and bear one anothers burdens (Gal. 6:2). In the letter, Paul mentions the faith of Christ. Because he wrote in Greek, and because of the difficulty of translating Greek into English, there are two possible interpretations of this phrase. One is to understand that Paul is talking about the faith that Christians have in Christ: they believe He is God and Savior. The other interpretation is that it is the faithfulness that Christ has in doing the will of God the Father. This confusion about which interpretation is correct can actually be resolved by reading the entire verses that contain these phrases. The first interpretation is found to best fit Gal. 2:20, where Paul says that, having given his life totally to Christ, it is Pauls faith in Him that sustains him. The second interpretation better fits Gal. 2:16 in which Paul teaches that it is Christs faithfulness to the Father and to Himself that justifies Christians, not their diligence in fulfilling all the meticulous articles of the Jewish law. The other important thing to notice about this letter is how Paul argues in Chapter 4 to prove the freedom that the Galatian Christians have: he uses the Abraham story. Paul starts by showing that Christians are Gods adopted children, and he begs them to not forsake the gifts

Nguyen 4 they have received by this adoption. He then shows that, in the story of Abraham, the slave girl Hagar bore a son whom they named Ishmael. Then Abraham met God and was promised that his aging wife Sarah would finally bear a son; they named him Isaac, and Paul points out that he was the offspring of the free woman. At this point, Paul begins constructing an analogy. He says that Hagar represents the covenant that God made with His people through Moses on their return from Egypt, and that this covenant bore children for slavery, held captive by that law. Then he says that Sarah represents the Jerusalem above, in which her children are children of the promise, just as her son Isaac was born of the promise of God. Paul reminds the Galatians that the children of slavery oppressed the children of the promise back then, and that they still do in his own time. This complex way of making his point shows Pauls Jewish culture and that he knew very well how to communicate the truth of the faith to this church. Paul then tells the Galatians directly that they are children of the free woman and heirs of that promise of salvation. Because he lived in the first century of Christianity, Pauls writings are useful to us today. In his own time, Paul argued to bridge the gap between what came before Jesus and what Jesus brought to the world. Today, we can learn from reading the Old Testament and Pauls writings how to make the Gospel come alive for people living now. Where Protestant churches profess that faith alone will earn them salvation, Paul shows that true faith inspires works of charity. Where so many people now (as then) try to predict the end of the world or despair at the many forces that seek to scatter the Christian flock, Paul taught the early Christians to simply ignore the present evil age (Gal. 1:4) and to serve one another through love (Gal. 5:13). Todays Church can heed all of this advice with great benefit. And so we are thankful to the Church for preserving and venerating this sacred writing, for it helps us see clearly the path to eternal happiness with God, despite our earthly trials.

Nguyen 5 Question Two: Homily on Second Corinthians for Ash Wednesday It is wonderful that all of you could be here today to celebrate this important day in the Church year. Did you come to feel good? God wants you happy, and God is here, so maybe youll get what you came for! At the beginning of the Mass, there is a prayer called the Introit that we usually replace with a hymn. The Church chooses this prayer to match the celebration of the day. Here is todays introit: You are merciful to all, O Lord, and despise nothing that you have made. You overlook peoples sins, to bring them to repentance, and you spare them, for you are the Lord our God. Isnt that nice? It is from the book of Wisdom. Today, addressing God, we proclaim His mercy and goodness; we praise Him because He brings out the best in us and invites us to share in His happiness. Today, Ash Wednesday, the Church does not actually require us to attend Mass, although this is a good thing to do. The Church does call on us, however, to fast and abstain from eating meat. We also do this on Good Friday. Why? We fast because it is a sacrifice, it is giving up something good to show how much God matters to us. We take upon ourselves this selfdiscipline of something as ordinary and natural to us as eating to help kick-start further selfdiscipline in things we do that are bad for us, especially things that offend God. The second reading today, from the second letter to the Corinthians, speaks to you and to me, in this moment, telling us that we are ambassadors of Christ. You are an ambassador of Christ. How do you feel? Does that make you proud? Do you agree or disagree? The point is, whether that resonates with you or not, He is calling you to represent Him to the world. But in order to do this, St. Paul reminds us that we must be reconciled to God. This means that we recognize how He wants us to live, then we see how our actual lives fall short of His call, and we resolve to better live up to His call and begin working at it.

Nguyen 6 In this letter, St. Paul addresses a broken community. Things just were not running smoothly for the church in Corinth. They were humiliating each other over trifles and withholding forgiveness even from a repentant member of their community who was sad and sorry for what he did. Paul writes to remind them of Gods promise of the resurrection and His invitations to turn to the Lord, welcome the Holy Spirit, and work together despite the challenges that confront them, knowing that it is Jesus Christ who works through them. St. Paul wants them to know that the glory in the life to come will be so much greater for the little sufferings they endure now. And so it is for us. In a few minutes, we will distribute the blessed ashes. These are a sign of repentance, of turning our lives away from the things that distract us from God and get in the way of returning His love for us. This is what the six-week season of Lent is about: conversion. The words used while the ashes are placed on your foreheads are either Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return or Repent and believe in the Gospel. The second is clear: we need to believe in the Gospel, which tells us over and over to change our lives to be more loving, more forgiving, and to keep God first in our lives. The first has a more somber message: were all going to die. And before we die, we should do something good with our lives. We do not know when death will come for us, so the time is now. And that is what St. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church: behold, now is the day of salvation. The whole Bible is the Word of God. In some places, it specifically describes an event in which God spoke to someone or inspired a prophet to speak for Him. But because the bible is the word of God and God is alive, it is a living document. The words in the bible can meet us where we are in our own lives. They can inspire each one of you in different ways, depending on what you are going through right now. And today, the invitation is this: like the Corinthian church, let

Nguyen 7 us live in the Spirit, jumping many hurdles and fighting through the many obstacles that rise up in our path. Let us, each one, remember that God calls us to a mission of love and forgiveness that starts with us hearing and responding to that message ourselves. And let us remember that the reward for working this mission is sharing in the eternal glory of heaven with Him. As in the introit for todays Mass, the Collect that we prayed at the beginning of the Mass is also very relevant. As we begin this Lent, let us close with this prayer that reaffirms our need for repentance and how Gods grace works through us for our good and the good of the whole world: Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of selfrestraint. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Nguyen 8 Question Three: Letter to the Parish for Easter March 30, 2013 To my parishioners, Happy Easter! As we celebrate the great solemnity of the Resurrection of the Son of God, Our Lord Jesus Christ, I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on the final words of the Creed that we profess every Sunday of the year. Every Sunday of the year is actually a reminder and reliving of the Easter celebration, just as every Mass recalls the Last Supper that we just celebrated on Holy Thursday. Of course, the story does not end with Jesus resurrection. By dying on the cross and rising from the dead, He conquered death and actually made it possible for us all to gain eternal life. Stretching far back into human history, man has nearly always sought the ultimate longevity, to live forever. In ancient Egypt and the Americas, they tried human sacrifice and bizarre rituals to all sorts of deities. The Egyptians tried embalming the body so it would be intact for reanimation in the afterlife. They buried royalty with others who killed themselves in their tombs in order to accompany them in the afterlife with all their treasure. In ancient China, one emperor even tried drinking exotic materials like liquid mercury. In far Eastern traditions, the spirits of living beings were thought to live on in subsequent generations, and in a different kind of animal depending on the moral quality of life they lived; we are probably familiar with the term karma or the common phrase what goes around comes around that illustrate this idea. But in the Christian tradition, especially as preserved in the Catholic Church, we have quite a different view, and it is expressed most clearly in the creed that we pray every Sunday and on solemnities throughout the year: I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the

Nguyen 9 life of the world to come. Amen. We say this so often that we can forget what it really means. In this letter, I invite you to journey with me through the letters of the New Testament to explore what theologians call an authentic Christian eschatology. This means the deep truth that we, who believe in Christ, believe about the end of our lives and the end of the world. We will begin with the phrase from the creed the resurrection of the dead. In St. Pauls first letter to the Corinthians, he sets out just what this means, beginning with Jesus resurrection. Paul reminds the Corinthian church (and us today) that it has been handed down to them in faith from eyewitnesses that Jesus really died and really rose from the dead (1 Cor. 15:34). And there must be a consistency between believing in the resurrection of those who meanwhile have died believing in His resurrection and His resurrection itself. If not, Paul says, then your faith is vain (1 Cor. 15:17). But how will the dead be raised? Will they sit up in their graves and walk through walls like Jesus did? Perhaps. In his letter to the Romans, Paul tells us that the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also (Rom. 8:11), showing that we will not be separated spirits in heaven, but will indeed have bodies! In First Corinthians again, St. Paul discusses what kind of body we will receive at the resurrection. He concludes that we should receive no other body than our own; we are human and should receive human bodies at the resurrection, though our heavenly bodies will bear the brightness of the heavenly as was not the case with our earthly bodies (cf. 1 Cor. 15:3644). So they will be the same, but better! In his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul states much more concisely that [Christ] will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body (Phil. 3:21). So we can expect what the Gospels recount about Jesus after the resurrection: He spoke, cooked, ate, walked through walls and locked doors, and appeared and disappeared when and where He willed.

Nguyen 10 The final phrase of the creed is the life of the world to come. So now that we know we will have a resurrected, glorified body, what will life be like? Picking up where we left off in the middle of his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul tells us that we have our citizenship in heaven (Phil. 3:20). Being a Roman citizen himself, Paul understood what this phrase meant. It meant that all Christians are entitled to the benefits of the territory and community of heaven, provided they are contributing members to that community. At this point, it is fairly clear that the community of heaven would be the others who died in the faith and would be resurrected together. But what about the territory? In St. Pauls second letter to the Corinthians, he describes heaven as a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven, one which will survive even if our earthly tent is destroyed (2 Cor. 5:1). Does this mean that at our death we will be whisked away to this heavenly planet apart from Earth, which will pass away? Maybe, but maybe not. St. Paul also speaks about creation creaking and groaning to give birth to this new life in the spirit (cf. 2 Cor. 5:2, 4; Rom. 8:22, 26). In his letter to the Romans, Paul says that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption (Rom. 8:21), that is, creation would not be destroyed but liberated. Finally, we return to the beginning: I look forward. Throughout his letters, St. Paul makes numerous references to the hope of the resurrection for those who believe. In his letter to the Galatians, in which he is particularly disappointed about how they have allowed themselves to be misled, Paul exhorts them to look out for one another and to remember that the one who sows for the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit; this is both a warning and an invitation (Gal. 6:8). In his letter to the Colossians, he has a similar message: seek what is above then you too will appear with him in glory (Col. 3:1, 4). Paul also exhorts these communities to have a strong hope for those who have already died: he says that the dead in Christ will rise

Nguyen 11 first and then the rest of us will be caught up together with them, going out to meet the Lord and to welcome Him into the glorified and liberated creation in which we have citizenship through Him. As we look forward, however, St. Paul reminds us that Jesus went ahead of us. His trailblazing of the path to heaven is heralded as the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor. 15:20). Looking back at this guarantee of the resurrection, we look forward to our own while we live life in the Spirit, [putting] to death the parts that are earthly (Col. 3:5). So now we know what the resurrection is, what the life of the world to come will be like, and we have an understanding of the hope in this resurrection. But when will it be? The scriptures do not give us a definitive timeline, except to say that it will come upon us as a thief in the night, by surprise. St. Paul also warns the Thessalonians that there will be those sent into the world who will feign knowledge of the end of the world. He exhorts Christians there and everywhere to remain steadfast in the faith and to ignore any such prophecies (cf. 2 Thess. 2:1 17). It is sufficient to know that the life of the world to come is awesome and glorious, and that we only have this lifetime to throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light (Rom. 13:12). With the Virgin Mary, rejoice and be glad, for the Lord has truly risen! He goes to prepare a place for us and to welcome us into our heavenly homeland. Hope in the Lord, praise him, and profess that you truly look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, for it is a resplendent life, indeed!