Paul: His Life and His Teachings Then and Now
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No.6 Paul: His Life and Teachings – Then and Now (Part 1)
No.7 Paul: His Life and Teachings – Then and Now (Part 2)
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All of us here have a past. Our past lives are what we would call the “then” life. After being born again, we have a “now” life. The distinction between the “then” life and the “now” life is what we are having problems with. We are confusing our “then” life with our “now” life. Paul clarifies this to us in his epistles. Yet, it is surprising that most Christians don’t know the difference. They think that they are still supposed to cater to their “then” life. While some, don’t even know that there is a “now” life. Knowledge of this truth will determine how we live our lives. God also recognizes that we have a “then” life and a “now” state. The thing is, He expects us to fully live in the blessings, the power and the authority of our “now” lives. If we can just see our lives in faith according to how God sees us now, the way we lead our lives will be better and better. As we face the New Year 2018, it will be good for us to talk about life then and life now. We will do this by going through several passages that talk about this subject. Let us begin by comparing how God looks at us and how we look at ourselves.
In his first letter to Timothy, Paul presents himself as an example how God sees us differently from how we see ourselves. He wrote that God strengthened him because He considered him faithful, and puts him into service. This is despite how Paul views himself as a former blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent aggressor of the followers of Christ. It is through this contrasting perspective that Paul better appreciates the mercy of God – how Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom he is foremost of all. For such reason, him being the foremost recipient of God’s mercy, the demonstration of the perfect patience of Jesus Christ in His life would be an encouraging example for those who believe in Him (1 Tim.1:12-16). So, the good news about God’s mercy and saving grace through Jesus Christ as exemplified in the life of Paul is the same good news for all who believed. The word “example” is ὑποτύπωσις hupotuposis, which can be rendered as an outline or a sketch, meaning a pattern. Hence, the way God sees Paul is how He sees all of us.
God endued Paul with strength. To be strengthened is ἐνδυναμόω (endunamoo) the root word of which is where the word dynamite was derived. Paul was not just endued with power, he was endued with strength. We need to be reminded of this truth especially when we confess wrongly that we are too weak to do anything or to overcome sin in our life. God clothes us with strength. In King James Version, it is translated as “enabled.” To be strengthened therefore means to be enabled. Like Paul, God considered us faithful. This referring to an ambassador, an envoy or a commander that was given a task because after being under deliberation for consideration, he was deemed faithful. God looks at us right now and considers us faithful. Now, when deliberations like such are done, they look into our past. The past that they see now is the past of the faithful ones who were before us. This is so because we have the same DNA. We are now identified with the company of the faithful. By the way, this is the same positive comment that Jesus will give to those who will enter His rest – “well done, good and faithful servant.”
The result of the above is that we are approved for service. As He puts us into service, He demonstrates His perfect patience. Now, some who are put into service does not necessarily live up to expectation. In this case, God exercise patience. The best way to illustrate it is by looking at “approved” players in the professional league. Have you ever noticed how “patient” the league and the fans are towards them? This is so because they have demonstrated and are therefore considered “good.” Paul was overwhelmed with the above “now” realities, so he kept himself grounded and humbled by comparing it with how he was. Realizing this truth could be a temptation to highly look at ourselves from now on. So Paul decided to look at himself the way God looks at him while fully realizing who he was. The love of God is unconditional and unmoved by our past. In the passage, this is introduced by “even though” or “in spite of.” Despite being a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent aggressor that is acting ignorantly in unbelief, Paul was shown mercy – the grace of God was more abundant than his past life.
We can apply this principle in the way we look at ourselves and our children. As we begin to look at ourselves and others in the way God sees us, we begin to expect great things from ourselves and from each other. Further, whenever we see ourselves not living up to such expectations. We need to realize that it is not because God lacked strength or provision. Rather, it is because we just decided that we will not believe. This tells us that whenever we see someone having such low expectation be it from himself or herself or from other people. It is because they are blinded and could not see how God wonderfully see those whom He loved. Praise be to God!