I may be “Old Fashioned”, but the letters that Paul wrote to the various churches and to his friends in Christ say a lot to me, and how we should live our lives as Christians. Evidently I am not alone in my feelings, in that those who selected what would be included in the New Testament felt a need for us to hear Paul’s message. It makes me wonder how they accumulated all these letters into one place, as they had been sent to so many churches and individuals throughout that vast region (I really doubt if Paul kept a carbon copy of each). Just maybe God had a hand in making sure we heard what was in these letters. Paul really didn’t “pull any punches”. He wrote what he meant, and he wrote it in a way that it didn’t need a lot of interpretation. He also warned his readers that some may take his message and the message of other scriptures, and turn the words around to change the meaning, as in his 2nd letter to Timothy, 4:3-4, “For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away for listening to the truth and wander away to myths.” To me, the bible is the Word of God, as it should be to all Christians. Who are we to change it?

Bud Gillespie, CLP

Back to top