Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
But the evidence of the varied "commands" in different places would seem to indicate that if it is a matter of "command," then the trends of not only the age, but the particular culture into which a particular thing is written is at least part of how the "command" came to be. With that in mind, it would seem that there is less "command" in it and more of a desire to be within the world/culture without being negatively tainted by it. (in the world, but not of it)
The thought that everything has a "command" that is important and must be followed is undermined and an intent to have righteous people living in their cultures becomes more apparent. The intent was not certain and settled rules, but setting things right within the context in which they were found.
And when you look at some of the examples in the gospels, even things that were thought of as definite rules were effectively ordered to be ignored by Jesus. When he chastised the men who brought the woman caught in adultery to Him, he effectively told them that justice was his, not theirs. Their part was not to judge and punish, but to love.
In fact, he constantly was engaged with the sinners, but judging the religious because they were always tossing their rules around to make the lives of sinners (and saints alike) difficult.
In short (too late) I think that so much of what we raise as "commands" out of Paul's writings cannot be made into such when put up against the very nature of the One that it is supposed to be explaining. The nature of Jesus' teachings and actions would insist that we are busy misreading Paul. That we are turning the commentary into the source and the true source — the gospels — into near irrelevancy. You must start with the gospels and use the epistles to shed light on the gospels. If you can't even find it in the gospels, then if you think you are getting a command on it in the epistles, you are probably misreading them.
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If Paul desired to be within the world culture that the church was in at the time, then why was Paul applying
Jewish customs to
Gentile churches (outside of Israel)?
For example, Paul's instructions for women to be silent in the Gentile church of Corinth comes from the Jewish temple system which limited the role of women.