Day 85, 2 Corinthians 9-13, Galatians, Ephesians

Lots of ground to cover today. Well, not really lots of ground since all Paul does is repeat the same crap over and over again, but three books! I always feel really productive when I can put three tags on my entries.

2 Corinthians changes rather abruptly in tone after chapter 9, leading some scholars to suggest that chapters 10 through 13 weren't part of the original letter. Paul goes from being friendly and happy to reproachful, defending his apostleship and bragging about how GREAT he is: "I must go on boasting," he writes, "...though there is nothing to be gained by it" (2 Corinthians 12:1). He compares himself favorably to other disciples, saying, "Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one" (2 Corinthians 11:22-23). Well, okay Paul. We'll take your word for it.

Paul's letter to the Galatians, which was presumably written around the same time as his letter to the Romans, addresses the question of Jewish law and whether or not Christians should follow it. For the most part, Paul doesn't think so.

Although I made this letter substantially more entertaining by reading it out loud to myself in a funny voice, it's not all that interesting. Paul opens it by reminding us of his thrilling personal history -- first a persecutor of the church, then the church's greatest pal -- remarking that, "If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10). In other words, "HATERS GONNA HATE!"

In chapter 2 he discusses circumcision, a rite that he regards as unnecessary. He mentions an encounter with Peter in Jerusalem -- Peter has been charged with converting Jews, while Paul occupies himself with Gentiles -- and comments on the hypocrisy of the Jewish Christians, whose "conduct [is] not in step with the truth of the gospel." Paul says to Peter, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" (Galatians 2:14).

His big, overarching point is that Jesus frees people from the restraints of Jewish law: "Before faith came, we were held captive under the law... but now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith" (Galatians 3:23-25). Hey, I'm down with this. It's like Judaism for Dummies! I didn't want to learn 613 commandments anyway!

The third and final book from today's reading, the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians, was actually probably not written by Paul. Most scholars attribute it to one of his own "disciples" and date it to around 100 CE. Thematically, it deals with the unity of Jews and Gentiles through Christ: "Through [Jesus] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father," the author writes (Ephesians 2:18). We get more warnings about drinking too much and being too weird in the bedroom, more enlightened views on women ("Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:22)), and a few lines about how children should obey their parents and slaves should obey their masters.

Obedience! Do it! It's a freakin' virtue! And remember,