Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
--the widow's roll, mentioned by YP. Again, optional, it seems. To me, inserting a widows roll, or some such practice, in the early assembly is not so much a cultural artifact as it is an attempt by the adherents of the faith to follow the Master's teachings. He said, "It is better to give than to receive", and some of the disciples looked for ways to give, and latched on to this as a way to help others. So they weren't being "Jewish" as much as trying to be "good". The cultural element might have been irrelevant.
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aron, if the "elders" of the synagogue were responsible for handling the "widows' roll," I think that might be a significant insight
my point wasn't about the care for others in general - absolutely we should and must - the point was Paul's finely detailed description of the practice of maintaining the list of widows
many take the position that this practice reflects a highly developed state of "church affairs" indicating a late date for the authorship of the epistle and, perhaps, less ability to understand the epistle through a prism of cultural interpretation
in fact, many go a further step and deny Pauline authorship based upon how advanced the practice seems and how culturally-based it appears to be
but my inquiry is whether perhaps it was actually a quite early practice such that it might be understood in that fashion
because, truly, if Paul wore pants, he would don them just as you or I do...