From Background Notes [BN] for July 26th
& 27th written by Pastor Bob Brown:
The air Paul breathed in 1:1-3:20 was
rarified, to be sure. High on the mountain he stood, as he surveyed the vast landscape
of God's plan and purpose for His world. And for good reason.
He wanted to inspire his readers, and
move them with deep feeling about the precious place they had in the heart of
God. Rhetoricians called this feeling pathos, and for three chapters
Paul has put it to good use. Unlike most of his other letters, this one lacks
the "problems to be solved" or the "fights to break up.” After
all, Paul does not know his readers face-to-face, and has relied solely on the medium
of pen and parchment to communicate his own feelings and concerns to the
Asiatic Christians. His concerns have been "big ones,” and his paragraphs
filled with majestic, sweeping, world-shattering images of God's plan to "sum
up everything in Christ,” uniting His creation and filling it with His own
presence. Who would not be moved by all of that? Paul hopes his readers share
his pathos. For he is about to change tone and start writing about the "shoe
leather" required to make all of this grand vision into a reality. Paul
knows that God is "able to do" far beyond human expectations,
including his own. We move from "ideas" and "feelings" to
the real world of conduct, behavior and, of course, ethics. [BN,11]
Join
us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:
* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am
* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am
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