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Suffering and Prayerin St Paul

Chaplains

Friday 1 February 13

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SequencePaul’s experience of suffering and taking it into prayerPaul’s theology of Christ’s deathA specific case: 2 Cor 12Can we learn from him today?Conclusion(s)

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1. the churchesAntioch / Barnabas – Acts 15

Thessalonica – 1 Thess 2-3

Galatia – in reality the whole letter!

Corinth especially 1 Cor 1-4; 2 Cor 6-7

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2. PHysical1 Cor 4:11 To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, 12 and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we speak

kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.

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2 Cor 4:8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

2 Cor 6:3 We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger;

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2 Cor 11:23 Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman—I am a better one: with far greater labours, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. 24 Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits,

danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. 28 And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?

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2 Cor 12:10 Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

Rom 8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

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3. StressStress with Peter and those in Jerusalem and being overtaken by the so-called pillars.

Anxiety about the sustainability of communities under stress and the pressure to travel and leave communities in the hands of others

Inability to speak with rhetorical brilliance (“his presence is weak, but his letters are strong”).




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3. Stress2 Cor 1:8 We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

Rom 9:1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh.

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3. stress2 Cor 2:12 When I came to Troas to proclaim the good news of Christ, a door was opened for me in the Lord; 13 but my mind could not rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said farewell to them and went on to Macedonia.

Gal 4:19 My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20 I wish I were present with you now and could change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

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The CrossDeuteronomy 21:23

Conversion - Gal 1

Christ is risen!

New understanding of the cross

Calling as the apostle to the Gentiles

Always on the way

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The CrossWhen someone is convicted of a crime punishable by death and is executed, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse must not remain all night upon the tree; you shall bury him that same day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse.

You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you for possession.

(Deut 21:22–23)

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The crossFor all who rely on doing the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the book of the law.” Now it is clear no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous one will live by faith. But the law is not based on faith, but the one who does the works of

the law will live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.

(Galatians 3:10–14)

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The crossFor you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I was savagely persecuting the church of God and trying to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my nation, and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. But when the one who set me apart from birth and called me by his

grace was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not go to ask advice from any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me, but right away I departed to Arabia, and then returned to Damascus.

(Galatians 1:13–17)

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Corinth

Corinth: 51 ad

Most informed

Among the issues: attachment to “flashy” spiritual gifts

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2 Cor 12:1 It is “necessary” to boast; nothing is to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.

2 I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. 3 And I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows— 4 was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat.

5 On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. 6 But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me, 7 even considering the exceptional character of the revelations.

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1 Corinthians 12




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1 Corinthians 12He speaks in the third person (“I know a man”). The effect is detachment.

It is a mystical experience literally “beyond words”.

Like all deep spiritual experiences, it calls for symbolic expression - in this case Paul uses the image of the heavenly journey.

Nevertheless, Paul is not depending on these “exceptional revelations” for his authority.

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1 Corinthians 122 Cor 12:7b Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated.

8 Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, 9 but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

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1 Corinthians 12Thorn in the flesh?

The important thing is how he deals with it.

Prayer

In relationship with Christ

A word from the Lord

“When I am weak, then I am strong”

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Paul - exampleWe have seen his experience of hardship and suffering.Can we see here a spirituality?

How did he “give” communities an experience of what he was proclaiming?What did he mean by “crucified with Christ”?

How did he “convert” his negative experiences so that they became “available” for the mission?

This helps us understand his repeated invitation to imitate him.

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Paul - example1 Cor 4:16 I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me.

1 Cor 11:1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Gal 4:12 Friends, I beg you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are.

Phil 3:17 Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.

1 Thess 1:6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit.

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Conclusion

Paul’s experience of suffering and taking it into prayer

Paul’s theology of Christ’s death

A specific case: 2 Cor 12

Can we learn from him today?

Conclusion(s)

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