Paul, Judaizers, and the Christians of the 20th Century

It has somewhat always been a reason of Paul’s writing a letter to different

churches during his time that he warns the Christians of being sober and alert in the
false teachings and preaching of some false prophets – those Judaizers or some
propagators of faith different from what Paul has of Jesus Christ. Paul has been
reminding the Christians to remain faithful to what they have received from Jesus Christ
through him.
How can this reality of Paul’s reason for writing a letter to the churches of his
time be for us relevant today? How is it that if Paul can still send us the same letters at
this era for us so applicable and effective?
I would like to recount the experience I had with my aunt (residing at the town
next to ours and a strict Born-Again Christian) when I was in my third year in the
Philosophy Department. I was on the rocking chair of my grandmother one afternoon
while reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church book (theological revalida for
Investiture was nearing then). To my surprise, when my aunt came inside, some other
aunts of mine also came. It was very obvious that they would have their bible study and
sharing. I joined them since I was really the first one to be at their venue. Instead of
getting away from them, I stayed and observed how their bible study goes. I have
known that they had been doing such for several times already. They opened their bible
and read the text designated for that day. My aunt started the sharing. It was a bad
start, I supposed, as from what I heard from her, she can be considered as a Judaizer.
She was then trying to disorient my other aunts in their Catholic Christian faith. She kept
on telling things which are all attempts of making the Catholic faith wrong. For example,
she said that my aunts (who were mostly members of Legion of Mary) should stop
praying the rosary because it is somewhat demonic, that it is not in the bible, that it
contradicts the command of Jesus not to pray repeatedly. It is a slap on my face and on
the face of my aunts as we always pray the rosary. I wanted to contain myself, to
remain calm and silent. But I just could not. While holding the CCC, I told her every
good thing I knew of the rosary, its solid biblical foundation, its clear purpose and
content, and the spiritual benefit one could gain from it. I started gently but at the middle
towards the end of my discussion, I got quite emotional as I was trying to show her that
Mary is not her enemy, that Mary is not a nuisance in her spiritual life but a real mother
to her. I became glad that my other aunts were affirming what I was saying and even
adding great insights and reflections. My aunt was just silent; her head was bowed
down and seemed to be crying not because she realized that she was wrong but that
she felt alone – that she could not even more defend herself and her teachings. I
thought we were through then, but she added telling us of other doctrines she tried to
prove wrong. She asked about the purgatory. She asked about the Trinity. I answered
everything. But she did not accept anything. And so the bible study had finished
indefinitely as some tensions were brought up. After such event, my aunt never had her
bible study again in our place.
I can consider myself in that encounter as Paul, my aunt as the Judaizer, and my
other aunts as the Christians in the different churches to whom Paul had served and
sent letters to. I may not have written a letter but the content of Paul’s letter I was able
to speak out. I was able to defend the seeds of the genuine Christian faith. I was able to
remind my aunts that they should hold firm to the faith with which they are born into. I
was able to remind them that they must be careful and selective to whatever they hear
from those who roam teaching strange things. They should be alert to the possible
intrusion of those who would try to distort the belief they received from Jesus Christ and
the apostles. Well, Paul’s ideals are still very much relevant. The early Church and the
20th century Church are no different Churches. What they were experiencing a very long
time ago is the same as what we as a Church is facing now.
“See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy
according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world and not
according to Christ.”1

Submitted by:

Sem. Jayson B. CABRERA

Pauline Epistles

1
2Col 2:8