Teach Me Thy Statutes

We discuss the similarities between II Corinthians, Galatians, and the Acts of the Apostles as it relates to Paul and his teaching. Paul’s experience, as described in II Corinthians, put him on parallel to the other apostles who were “eyewitnesses” of Jesus’ public ministry. We concluded by discussing the “thorn in the flesh” of Paul, highlighting the most important aspect of that story, Christ’s response to Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” 

Today we examined the book of Jude. Fr Aaron discussed the similarities between Jude and the epistles of Peter and James. He showed how these epistles served as a corrective to those who misunderstood Paul’s arguments about grace and freedom. Specifically, Jude notes that being free from the Mosaic Law does not mean we are lawless, but rather are freed from that Law to be enslaved to the Law of Christ, which itself brings about true freedom. 

In discussing Jesus' teaching that we will be judged using the same measure with which we judge others, we touched on the importance of understanding Jesus' teachings literally. For in the judgment, Jesus will not ask whether we "believe" certain biblical events happened, but rather if we lived by the lessons they taught. We concluded by discussing how we can properly help others who have a "speck" in their eye, once we have removed the "plank" from our own. 

We began the episode by explaining how children were viewed as an underclass in the 1st century Roman Empire. Jesus, therefore, makes the point that children are humble, as they do not put their trust in themselves, but rely on the help of others, just as we should rely on God and be careful not to put our trust in our own righteousness. We concluded by discussing Jesus’ parable of the shepherd leaving the 99 sheep to seek out the one who was lost. There, we highlighted how Jesus calls upon us to transcend our biological impulses to show forth the image of God in which we were created. 

We discussed how Jesus challenged the “insiders,” those “who believed in Him,” which is consistent with the entire Bible. This approach is different than what we so often hear today from Christians who are instead condemning those outside the Christian community. Fr Aaron stressed that we are only able to impact those outside of the community if we are willing to confront our own deficiencies and get our house in order. We concluded with a discussion of what it means to be a slave to sin and a practical understanding of how we can overcome that slavery. 

We discussed the conversion of St Paul, previously named Saul, as told in Acts 9. We focused on the meaning of Saul's name change to Paul and its implication, which is underscored by the meaning of Ananias's name and function in the story. In short, Saul's conversion to Christianity and his name change to Paul encapsulates Paul's message to the nations, which is an invitation to set aside one's own righteousness to rely upon the righteousness of God found by grace through faith. 

We began by discussing the tragic tendency to “individualize” the Gospel, missing not only the fact that the Scriptures were written to a community, but also neglecting to share God’s forgiveness and mercy to others as part of our own salvation. We then moved on to show how this understanding is connected to Jesus giving His disciples the power to forgive sins, as well as the power to retain them. Finally, we stressed the importance of recognizing Jesus as the Christ in His crucifixion. 

Today we are republishing Episode 109, "Food Does Not Commend Us To God." Right before we begin the Lenten fasting season, the Orthodox Church appoints a reading from St Paul that begins: "Brethren, food does not commend us to God." We discuss why this reading is selected at the beginning of the fasting season and discuss the true nature of biblical fasting. 

Today’s episode centered around the readings appointed just prior to the beginning of Great Lent on the Saturday of Souls and the Sunday of the Last Judgment. Fr Aaron showed how the placement of these texts within the liturgical cycle emphasize the importance of returning to the teachings of Jesus during the season of Lent. Moreover, Fr Aaron underscored this teaching is focused on how we should behave, rather than what we believe. 

We began today by examining the word translated as “lawful” (from the passage “all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful.”). Through this we see St. Paul demonstrating that while all humans have the authority to choose evil, we should instead use that power to submit to the way of Christ, recognizing that we are temples of the Holy Spirit.