The Passages That Make Us Say “Eew”
Excerpt from Titus 2: 7-8,11-15
“Show yourself in all respects a model of good works.”
Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver
Today’s assigned reading from the Bible is from the letter to Titus, sometimes attributed to the Apostle Paul, chapter 2, verses 7-8 and 11-15, which of course sent me immediately to verses 9-10 to see what was left out. Here are those unassigned verses:
Excerpt from Titus 2: 7-8,11-15
“Show yourself in all respects a model of good works.”
Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver
Today’s assigned reading from the Bible is from the letter to Titus, sometimes attributed to the Apostle Paul, chapter 2, verses 7-8 and 11-15, which of course sent me immediately to verses 9-10 to see what was left out. Here are those unassigned verses:
“Tell slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect; they are not to talk back, not to pilfer, but to show complete and perfect fidelity, so that in everything they may be an ornament of God our Savior.”
Eew. No wonder they left out those verses.
Today it would be hard to find a moral issue about which there is greater agreement than that slavery is wrong. But nowhere in the Bible is the practice of slavery condemned. Slavery is not defended as much as it is simply assumed. What are we to make of that?
When Paul said, in another letter, that in Christ there is “no longer slave or free,” it came like a revelatory flash. Only hundreds of years later, however, were the full implications of that understanding seen completely. God’s revelation may occur in a flash, but our understanding of it unfolds over time.
This understanding is deeply embedded in our tradition. John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrims, sent off members of his congregation to the New World with these words in 1620: “The Lord has more truth and light yet to break forth out of his [sic] holy word.” Or, as we like to say in the United Church of Christ today, “God is still speaking.” And, thank God, it is true.
Prayer
God, give me ears to hear what you are saying today, even if it is different from what I thought I heard you say yesterday.
Eew. No wonder they left out those verses.
Today it would be hard to find a moral issue about which there is greater agreement than that slavery is wrong. But nowhere in the Bible is the practice of slavery condemned. Slavery is not defended as much as it is simply assumed. What are we to make of that?
When Paul said, in another letter, that in Christ there is “no longer slave or free,” it came like a revelatory flash. Only hundreds of years later, however, were the full implications of that understanding seen completely. God’s revelation may occur in a flash, but our understanding of it unfolds over time.
This understanding is deeply embedded in our tradition. John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrims, sent off members of his congregation to the New World with these words in 1620: “The Lord has more truth and light yet to break forth out of his [sic] holy word.” Or, as we like to say in the United Church of Christ today, “God is still speaking.” And, thank God, it is true.
Prayer
God, give me ears to hear what you are saying today, even if it is different from what I thought I heard you say yesterday.
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