new life in an old society

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Today's passage starts out with one of Paul's infamous "wives be subject to your husbands" sequences. Our temptation when faced with such obvious sexism and unjust support of slavery is to simply throw out everything else Paul has to say. That's where I was with Paul for quite a while. As usual, a little context helps. This type of instruction on various social roles was common in rhetoric of Paul's time; they even have their own category of instruction: household codes. Paul brings household codes from the wider culture into the church; he's certainly not inventing them on his own. Scholars have suggested different reasons why Paul uses these household codes in his writing. My favorite suggestion is that Paul wanted to make sure the church wasn't scaring away new believers by being seen as upsetting the social order.

Paul seems to have thought that the point of Christian faith was transformation of our lives and communities in the church in preparation for the end of time, which was rapidly approaching. Because the end was coming, the church's focus needed to be on witness, proclamation and evangelism. The justice of society as a whole was less of a concern for him at least in part because he didn't think it would be around very long. Paul is blind to the ways Christian faith challenges the injustice of the status quo, a gap many later Christians have addressed, thank God. At the same time, even here Paul challenges every member of the church; he doesn't just support the powerful. So while he doesn't go far enough in questioning whether wives should obey or whether there should be masters and slaves, he does call each member to a new way of life within the structure of society based on God's rule.

I particularly like the last line here advising us to be gracious and interesting when we talk with others, and to make the most of whatever time we have. We are God's ambassadors, so we're called to let God's love shine through our words and actions.
May God bless you wherever your day takes you,
Sam

Colossians 3:18-3:6
18Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly. 20Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is your acceptable duty in the Lord. 21Fathers, do not provoke your children, or they may lose heart. 22Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only while being watched and in order to please them, but wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. 23Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, 24since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ. 25For the wrongdoer will be paid back for whatever wrong has been done, and there is no partiality. Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, for you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

2Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. 3At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison, 4so that I may reveal it clearly, as I should.

5Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. 6Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.