kingdom and society

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Here we see Paul trying to fit Christian faith with the prevailing social order. The thing to remember when reading passages like this is that Paul and most leaders of the early church believed that Christ's return and the end of history would come in their lifetime or very soon afterwards. With that viewpoint they had no interest in changing the social order to be more like God's kingdom because God's kingdom was soon going to replace the existing social order anyway. Their priority was reaching as many people as possible with the gospel in the short time that was left. With that goal in mind Paul felt that the less Christianity was seen as opposed to social values, the more likely people would be to hear the message. If Christian slaves were disobedient it would be easy for people to write off Christianity as simply revolutionary talk.

Our framework is different. While we still should live in expectation of God's kingdom, since we don't know when it will come, we also live with the knowledge that it could still be many years until the kingdom is fulfilled. With this knowledge transforming the society of which we are a part so that it is more just and more godly becomes a reasonable, if challenging, goal. So let us strive to make our lives and our areas of influence a better reflection of God's love.

God bless,
Sam

1 Timothy 6:1-5
Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be blasphemed. 2Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful to them on the ground that they are members of the church; rather they must serve them all the more, since those who benefit by their service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these duties.

3Whoever teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that is in accordance with godliness, 4is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words. From these come envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, 5and wrangling among those who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.