Still so explosive a religious figure. “Beyond good and evil,” really – Paul’s message, if understood and preached, could gobble up Nietzsche, and relativism, and modern amorality, and the like, rather than running away from it. “No one robs the strong man’s house, without first tying up the strong man.”
He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.[d]
16Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
20Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
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Sometimes I wonder how much of what is thought to be Christ-ian thought originates from Jesus and how much originates from Paul, and also the degree to which these guys would have agreed. This belongs on the “greatest hits album” of both Paul and Jesus.
Though, of course it won’t be on either. People would rather have cursing the fig tree and whipping the money changers on there instead…
I think Paul is terribly underrated. I can’t tell you how many times I hear the “Jesus was great, but Paul destroyed it all” meme at cocktail parties, from people who don’t actually care about Jesus or Paul anyway, and get all their opinions from PBS specials or NPR and manage to sound smart without ever figuring a damn thing out for themselves.
Paul is not my favorite writer, but he’s the one who started figuring out how the parables could be experienced in real life – how we all at some point reach that moment where like the prodigal son we are staring at the pigs in utter misery – and that given some instruction as to what that experience means, we could break through into an entirely different way of thinking about our lives.