[aron]

The title should more correctly be ''The Overlooked Writings of Paul" or "The Ignored Writings of Paul" but I like dramatic turns of phrase, nyuk-nyuk.

I'll argue that sections of Paul, chapters even, get a short shrift in the Lord's Recovery because they show a view of "God's economy" very different from that of WL. I start with the climax of Paul's Chapter 2 of Galatians: the meeting in Jerusalem, where the right hand of fellowship was proffered - Paul to the gentiles, Peter to the Jews. "Only, they urged that I remember the poor, which very thing I was eager to do." How much ink did that get in WL's output? I don't remember any commentary.

Then Paul declares that he returned to Jerusalem after his mission to the gentiles with "alms for my nation" (Acts 24:17) and suddenly there's a conceptual book-end for large swaths of Paul's epistles, most of it passed over by WL. Typical is Romans 15:25-27 "Now, however, I'm on my way to Jerusalem to serve the saints there. For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual blessings, they are obligated to minister to them with material blessings."

When one pokes around in Paul's writings, one finds it's not only a common but a ubiquitous theme. 1 Cor 16:1-3 "Now about the collection for the saints, you're to do as I directed the churches of Galatia: On the first day of every week, each of you should set aside a portion of his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will be needed. Then, on my arrival, I'll send letters with those you recommend to carry your gift to Jerusalem."

2 Corinthians 8 and 9 have the probably the most well-developed conceptual working-out by Paul of this mission. 2 Cor 8:1-4 says "Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the churches of Macedonia. In the terrible ordeal they suffered, their abundant joy and deep poverty overflowed into rich generosity. For I testify that they gave according to their ability and even beyond it. Of their own accord, they earnestly pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints."

And it extends into chapter 9: "Now about the service to the saints, there's no need for me to write to you. For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting to the Macedonians that since last year you in Achaia were prepared to give. And your zeal has stirred most of them to do likewise..."(vv 1,2) And it's held together with a lengthy explanation in chapter 8 of those who have means being kind to those without, summarized with the adage, "He who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no lack." (v.15)

Now in this focus, much of Acts, likewise downplayed, jumps back to the fore. The chapters in the beginning where disciples shared, where widows got the 'daily dispensing' (6:1) etc. Now, Jesus' exhortation in the gospels to "feed my sheep" gets new light (Unless John, Peter, Luke, Paul didn't know to take this 'spiritually', until it got 'recovered' by WL [ha-ha])

Suddenly we remember the unbelieving gentile Cornelius being told by the angel that "your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial offering before God". And likewise Paul's word to the gentiles in Romans 15:27 makes sense. Yes, there's no male or female, no slave nor free, no Greek nor Jew, but Christ is all in all... yet our voluntarily offered aid and submission to one another (female subject to male, slave to free, gentile assemblies offering to the poor of Jerusalem) is the out-worked love that Jesus taught us. It's the power of the resurrection, in our faith, seen in our acts. Remember, it's the "Acts" of the apostles that were seen, not just words that were heard.

As the travelling Samaritan gave of his excess so that the wounded man by the roadside had no lack, so also it was with the churches of the gentiles remembering the poor in Jerusalem. Consider Agabus' prophecy of the famine, and the aid which followed (Acts 11:28-30) - there was no social services back then, but there was continual expression of real love among the churches and Paul regarded his mission as central to that. Else, why highlight his collection for the Jerusalem poor so prominently in Galatians 2?

Perhaps this is what Paul was teaching in every church: not to heed myths and genealogies but to have a heart for helping one another. All those sections in his writings on the generosity of the churches point to that scene in Galatians of the meeting of the apostles, their encouragement and his eager assent... it's not mysterious at all, unless one deliberately ignores it... but if so, then one has these remainders, these 'odd' sections of scripture that don't fit, to be passed over with little comment or even dismissed.

But if you see Paul's word in 2 Cor 8:15 as his summation of "God's economy, which is in faith", then it comes together nicely. Then, we don't need to pan the epistle of James, for example - quite the contrary - James was rather in "the central lane of the divine economy". The whole of the NT coheres, without "fallen", "low", and "natural" bits to be excised.