Shabbat shalom chaverim, grace and peace be unto you all through Yah'shua (Jesus) our Messiah, and welcome, everyone, joining us online for this broadcast from a very wet Sweden at the moment on this our National Day.

Today we're going to begin a study of an entire book of the Bible in detail, all 25 verses of it, namely Paul's letter to Philemon. Now I had originally intended to cover this in one sermon, but I see this will take me at least two weeks, so this will be the first part. I had also planned to give this two or three weeks ago but it had to be postponed for a variety of reasons, not least of which was I wasn't sure what the message exactly was - I only knew then which book I was to preach from.

So let's get straight into it. We'll read from the NKJV initially and then bring in other translations as we go along:

"1 Paul, a prisoner of Messiah Yah'shua (Christ Jesus), and Timothy our brother,

"To Philemon our beloved friend and fellow laborer, 2 to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the assembly (church) in your house: 3 Grace to you and shalom (peace) from Elohim (God) our Father and the Master Yah'shua the Messiah (Lord Jesus Christ).

"4 I thank my Elohim (God), making mention of you always in my prayers, 5 hearing of your ahavah (love) and emunah (faith) which you have toward the Master Yah'shua (Lord Jesus) and toward all the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones), 6 that the sharing of your emunah (faith) may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Messiah Yah'shua (Christ Jesus). 7 For we have great simcha (joy) and consolation in your ahavah (love), because the hearts of the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) have been refreshed by you, brother.

"8 Therefore, though I might be very bold in Messiah (Christ) to command you what is fitting, 9 yet for ahavah's (love's) sake I rather appeal to you -- being such a one as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) -- 10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains, 11 who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me. 12 I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart, 13 whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the besorah (gospel). 14 But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary. 15 For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever, 16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave -- a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Master (Lord).

"17 If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. 18 But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account. 19 I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay -- not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides. 20 Yes, brother, let me have simcha (joy) from you in the Master (Lord); refresh my heart in the Master (Lord). 21 Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. 22 But, meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you.

"23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Messiah Yah'shua (Christ Jesus), greets you, 24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow labourers. 25 The grace of our Master Yah'shua the Messiah (Lord Jesus Christ) be with your spirit. Amen" (Philemon 1-25, NKJV).

I initially subtitled this talk, 'Why Some Things Take So Long' and I did so in anticipation of a question nearly everyone asks after they read this epistle which I am neither going to answer let alone ask just yet because I want to ask other questions first. And we'll start by asking two questions which we'll answer before we're done today:

• 1. Why was Philemon written? and
• 2. What is a private letter about one individual - one of it's kind - doing in the Bible?

The first question has been answered thousands of times by Bible teachers and theologians over the ages so we'll deal with that presently. What I want to do is tackle the less considered question, the second one, first of all. I was a little perplexed at first, and it took me a while to understand what he meant, but N.T.Wright calls Philemon "the showcase behind Paul's theology". That's a pretty big claim to make about a book that most people tend to view as a sort of tiny appendix to the 'bigger' and 'more important' New Testament books like the four Gospels, Acts, and Paul's complex theological pastoral letters like Romans and Galatians. What's special about this book is that it is, as I said, Paul's only personal letter that we know of, written around AD 62, to an individual with his own pen. It wasn't dictated to a scribe. So what's it doing here in the New Testament?

A few weeks ago we found ourselveves in Ephesus looking at the cult of Artemis (Diana), in the city where the apostle John would eventually settle, and how it connects with the evils going on today. We saw how it relates to 5G and NASA's successor program to Apollo. Now if you were to start walking east from Ephesus, in one or two days you would arrive at a place called Colossae in Phrygia, where a congregation had been established by Paul and to which we have a letter written by Paul - Colossians. Philemon was a prominent member of that assembly and a convert of Paul and was known for his deeds of charity (vv.5-7) as well as for his zeal in evangelism (v.). As Apphia, mentioned in this letter (v.2), was a characteristic Phrygian name, she was doubtless Philemon's wife and Archippus may have been their son, though we can't be sure - the latter had a ministry in Laodicea (Col.4:15-17). A runaway slave called Onesimus had sought out his master's friend, Paul, in Rome while the apostle was languishing in prison, was converted, and became a talmid (disciple) of Yah'shua (Jesus) there.

Now Onesimus was in big trouble, for not only was he a run-away slave, a capitol offense in those days (they usually crucified escapee slaves), but he was also a thief - presumably having stolen from his master, Philemon, when he absconded in order to finance his escapade, something that disgruntled slaves often did. The very least he could have expected was a severe beating. He was sullen, lazy, rebellious and resentful. He ran away to Rome thinking that the big city would be a good place to 'disappear' in, no doubt. We don't quite know how he met Paul as the apostle was under house arrest in Rome chained to a Roman soldier, as that part of the story is presently missing. As I said, the usual punishment for an escaped slave was either crucifixion or, if he was lucky, a severe whipping. But in addition to the lashes he would be branded on the forehead with the letters 'FF' signifying in Latin, fugitilis, or 'fugitive'. Though no doubt escaping crucifixion was something to be grateful for, and given the unpleasant effects of a beating would soon pass, having the stigma of being branded would not. He would have to display that brand forever. He could not carry his secret inside. Everyone would know, people would be suspicious of him, look down upon him, and more or less view him as a criminal for life.

In many ways, we too are on the run from those whose authority we're under - our own 'masters', as it were - stealing what belongs to them, whether it's our time, loyalty, energy, attention, or whatever it may be. Paul, who (as we shall see) is symbolically a messiah-figure in this story, offers to pay Onesimus' debt as Christ paid for ours on the cross (vv.18-19). As Onesimus hopes Paul will appeal to Philemon for clemency on his behalf, so we in our turn hope Messiah will do the same for us as our Advocate to Yahweh, our Heavenly Father, because we're all as guilty as Onesimus in one way or another. Philemon is also a believer, and now his runaway slave is a fellow believer, which creates a very interesting situation, as I'm sure Philemon was angry at the double wrong done to him.

The way we respond to this letter will almost certainly be a function of the thinking of the age we live in. Most people these days reading this epistle are blinded to what this letter is all about because all they can see is the social and political angle; spirituality is not what our particular age is occupied with, which is why I am going to address this issue right at the beginning. 'Why doesn't Paul mention emancipation?' is what people mostly ask, and especially sceptics and those hostile to the Besorah (Gospel). Your average unthinking person, unconscious of the bigger picture, usually demands to know the answer to such questions as 'Why weren't the apostles up-in-arms over slavery?' 'Why didn't they organise protests against slavery?' and 'Why did it take the Messianic Community (Church) so long to abolish slavery in Christendom?' 'Why did we have to wait 1,700 or so years for the political activism of Wilberforce to stamp out this vile trade?'

So what's the answer to such questions? Well, this brings us to the subtitle of today's talk: why does social justice take so long to achieve? Consider this: there were probably about 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire at that time (goodness knows what the figure for the whole world would have been, or even how many slaves there still are today). But for Rome, that was two-thirds of the entire population of the Empire. That means that 6 or 7 people out of every 10 were slaves. Imagine that. Hold that in your mind as you consider how you would have tackled such an issue in such a situation, remembering this letter wasn't written in the 21st century. Rome was not a democracy but a totalitarian state and Christians were a tiny minority, and the new religions 'kids on the block'. People are always highly suspicious of new groups, especially any that might challenge the legitimacy of Caesar as the Empire's lord and god. A lot has happened socially and politically in 1,500+ years. So why did Paul or the other apostles apparently do nothing to abolish slavery? Though he writes about it in his letters, he never suggests it should be stopped. How can keeping people as property be in line with the Bible's teaching about the value that Elohim (God) places on our lives?

Do not think for one moment Paul was OK with slavery. Actually, he does severely condemn slavery along with a number of other sins which you'll recognise in his first letter to Timothy:

"We recognise that the Torah (Law) is laid down not for people who are in the right, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinners, the unholy and worldly, for people who kill their father or mother, for murderers, fornicators, practicing homosexuals, slave-traders ('kidnappers' - NKJV, HRV, NASB; 'menstealers' - KJV), liars, purjurers, and those who practice any any other behaviour contrary to healthy teaching, in accordance with the Besorah (Gospel) of the glory of Elohim (God), the Blessed One, that was entrusted to me" (1 Tim.1:9-11, KNT).

Most contemporary translations are agreed that "slave-traders" is the meaning here (NIV, NRSV, NLT). 'Human traffickers' would be the modern word. Please notice that Paul is pointing out that the Torah condemns slave-trading because this is not the same as Israelite indentured service - selling yourself into bondage for a fixed period of time in order to pay off a debt.

So why didn't Paul raise his voice against slavery in the public arena? Because to have demanded the abolition of slavery in Paul's day would have been to court disaster. A rising of the slaves, at that time, would have resulted in a major blood-bath. There would have been chaos in society because to have demanded emancipation back then would have meant a civil war. Paul preferred to be known as a preacher of the Besorah (Gospel) rather than as a champion of social causes, as should we, something too many modern preachers in liberal churches have forgotten. Dying as one freed from the slavery of sin to be heaven-bound was more important to him than dying unsaved as a politically liberated slave and quite possibly hell-bound. A revolt would have resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands - manybe even millions - of innocent lives.

Was slavery unjust? Of course. It was - and still is - an evil fruit of a fallen world. Joseph, when he was unjustly sold into slavery by his jealous brothers (Gen.37) did not incite the other slaves in Pottiphar's household (Gen.39) to revolt. Rather, he sought to be the best slave he could be so that his masters and fellow slaves would know what the love of Elohim (God) was like. And in Pharaoh's prison, he sought to be a model prisoner, and in both circumstances he served as a rôle model for us and brought glory to Elohim (God), as we are called to do too in a world full of injustice. Emancipation is good, it has to happen sometime, because that is the long-term will of Yahweh but there are priorities for mortals with short life-spans. We only get one chance - one short life - to work out our salvation. What Wilberforce did was very good. But there was a time and place for thyat work, as with most political things, and it took a long time for it to happen. No violence or bloodshed was reaquired to achieve it.

What Paul did was something revolutionary but not Marxist - he broke slavery from the inside by changing the relationships and attitudes involved. That is why the so-called 'liberation theology' of the mid to late 20th century, when Christians (mostly Catholics) allied themselves to Marxists (particularly in Latin America) and joined in the the armed struggle against fascist dictatorship, achieved nothing in the long term. Latin America has long been unstable and violent, subjects to frequent oppressions and dictatorships. The relationships between people remained poisoned. I remember all the violence attending the communist Allende and fascist Pinochet régimes in Chile, for example.

I have been studying up more on the Spanish Republic here in Europe and the dreadful Civil War in that country following my acquisition the other day of a 20-volume history and as I think some of you know on that occasion the Spanish Catholic Church did the opposite of what the liberation theologians and priests did, when it allied itself with the fascist leader General Franco, as it also did in fascist Croatia with an even more murderous and vicious totalitarian régime during the Second World War. Over 6,000 Catholic priests were murdered by the Spanish Anarchists during that terrible civil war. Violence begets violence and is never a peace-maker as Christ commanded us to be. As He admonished Peter who tried to deliver Him by violence from the wicked priests of His day on the Mount of Olives:

"Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword" (Matt.26:52, NKJV).

So let's put the world's methods of deliverance to one side and consider Christ's instead. N.T.Wright said that Philemon is the showcase behind Paul's theology. In this tiny two page-long 'book' we are given a practical example of how the Besorah (Gospel) is supposed to work. And it's the very opposite of the world's way of doing things. This letter is all about building personal relationships. So Paul urges Philemon to see Onesimus as a brother in Christ, and no longer as a piece of property as was normative in the culture of the day.

When he writes about Onesimus he describes this runaway slave as "my son" who is "dear to me". Indeed, Paul is at pains to focus on masters and slaves establishing new relationships between each other in Colossians and Ephesians. You see, what Paul knew - and as we ought to know - is that such a Christ-perspective would eventually undermine the very foundations of slavery. And that is why, for example, Christianity and Islam are so radically different. Plus you should also realise that it was the Christian ethos, which was the core of Western civilisation for over a millennium, that led our civilisation - which eventually turned secular as people turned away from Elohim (God) and embraced the atheistic aspects of the Enlightenment - to eventually abolish slave-trading. It was a Protestant nation, Great Britain, that did that finally.

Slavery is such an emotive subject today which is one reason I am treading carefully, especially as in the United States a bloody civil war was fought over it, alienating the South from the North. That political 'solution', backed up by muskets and canons, has still not healed all the wounds, and the current attempt to dismantle the South's heritage is just going to rub salt into those wounds. Southerners are rightly angry. People today are extremely confused over the subject of slavery and in some cases are inventing new and imaginary kinds of 'slavery' or 'oppression' in order to have something to fight for (with the minimum of personal responsibility) in their purposless post-modernist lives. How we often prefer fighting to peace-making because it's so much 'easier' in the short-term but with unexpected and usually unwanted consequences in the long-term.

The word 'slavery' has become broadened to include all sorts of other things too. Does slave-trading still go on in the West? Absolutely. One of the great evils of our day is child-trafficking to satisfy the satanic lusts of pedophiles and child-molesters. But even the more 'conventional' kinds of slave-trading has resumed on a large scale even in our countries. Women (and sometimes men) from pooer countries are sold as sex-slaves in Europe, Israel, and indeed wherever there are people with money to purchase them. Both men and women are sold as slave-labourers. I have met these people and heard their heart-breaking stories.

As the West rejects Yahweh more and more, so we shall see the complete restoration of full-blown slavery albeit under different names. As you know, I have been actively campaigning against child-trafficking here in Scandinavia for years, little knowing it was going on until I encountered numerous cases state-sponsored abductions in the homeschooling community. It's a dark industry now, fuelling the blood-lusts of those who have opted for, or been co-erced into, a sub-human satanic lifestyle. In spite of slave-trading being 'officially' illegal in most countries, corrupted secular authorities either turn a blind eye or are directly involved in it. Such people need to know they are hell-bound. Under the Torah, 'kidnapping' or 'slave-trading' merited the death penalty, as it should. That means that Joseph's brothers were under a death sentence in Yahweh's eyes (some of them even wanted to murder him, didn't they? until restrained by Reuben), so Joseph's forgiveness of them was all the more remarkable. And that is why Joseph of Egypt was a messianic figure, foreshadowing what Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) would do. It's people like him Yahweh wants us to imitate, not the gun-toting revolutionaries of our day or the sword-wielding zealots of 2,000 years ago. We're not called to follow Barabbas' terrorist revolutionaries but Yah'shua (Jesus). Remember?

Paul told Onesimus, now a believer, that he had to go back to his master Philemon, who had become a believer earlier. The whole purpose of the letter was to smooth that reunion, with Paul acting as an intermediary, a father figure, because that's what fathers are supposed to do. Now you will remember how terrible the penalty for being a runaway slave was so it is easy to understand another reason why Paul wote this letter. This helps explain the tone of the letter. Additionally, Paul wants to make absolutely sure that Onesimus does not run away from his past because an important part of repentance involves putting the past right. Repentance involves a sincere attempt at restitution.

That is the 'name of the Christian game'. When we imitate worldly solutions, we diminish and eventually abandon the Christian one. Waving a sword or firing off guns may seem to bring in justice more quickly but it does the very opposite. That's why Yahweh told the navi (prophet) Isaiah to write:

"He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore" (Isa.2:4, NIV).

The hand of Yahweh is everywhere evident in the peculiar situation recorded in this letter. If Philemon had not been a Christian, things would have ended up very differently for Onesimus. He would either have been mercilessly and painfully executed by crucifixion, the cruel Roman method, or he would have been flogged and branded for life. But Yahweh has saved this slave in more ways than one. His grace - His undeserved loving-kindness is everywhere to be seen. There are lots of subtleties in this epistle which hopefully will induce you to smile a little, and perhaps remind you of how Yahweh has gracefully treated you in the past, or is treating you now. You see, Onesimus' name literally means 'useful'. This was a name given to him by his master, Philemon, presumably because he found him useful...at least at the beginning before he started letting lazy, deceitful, rebellious and indolent in his pre-salvation days.

Paul uses a pun here, something the New International Version (NIV), New Living Translation (NLT), English Standard Version (ESV) and New Revised Standard Bible (NRSV) pick up and convery well but which other translations either miss or diminish. Look at verse 11, the New King James Version (NKJV) uses the words "unprofitable" and "profitable" whereas the NIV says:

"Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me" (Philem 11, NIV). <>P

In other words, with tongue-in-cheek, with a mixture of humour and irony, Paul is saying Onesimus was previously 'onesimusless' to Philemon but now he has become 'onesimus' to both Philemon and Paul'! Maybe Philemon would have smiled...just...a bit, reading this? What do you think? I think so.

How is Onesimus now, finally, 'useful'? He is useful both as a slave and as a brother in Christ. And to smooth Onesimus' path, Paul offers to repay Philemon the money Onesimus stole from him. And what does that remind you of as far as what Messiah has done for us on the cross?

Now to you and I sending or receiving a letter might seem common place and nothing special. I mean, we send multiple IM's to each other every day, don't we, and think nothing of it? When I was a boy, getting a letter from home on the other side of the world - before computers and iPhones were around - getting a letter was a major event. But in Paul's day this was a huge event. Why? Because letters were rare in Roman times, especially ones sent over a long distance. The distance between Rome and Asia Minor (now Western Turkey) was considered an enormous distance then even if it isn't now. When I was a boy at boarding school in England, getting a letter was, as I said, a rare thing, but a telephone call was virtually unheard of. In all the years as a boarder I can only remember getting one trunk call, as it was then called, because it was so expensive. Long distance phone calls had to be booked in advance as several exchanges had to be organised, and even then the line quality was terrible, like talking into two tins connected by a taut string. Today you can talk to anyone anywhere virtually free, that's how spoiled you are. For me it was an amazing experience to hear my mother's voice. So it was a special privilege for Onesimus that Philemon received a letter from Paul. There was no Post Office in those days. You had to hire someone to make what was often a hazardous journey because of bandits, storms at sea (oftenh leading to shipwrech), plagues, etc.. And so to save money, when sending this letter to Philemon, Paul would have sent letters with the same messenger to the Colossians and Ephesians too. We're even told who the postman was: Tychicus (Eph.6:21; Col.4:7; 2 Tim.4:12Titus 3:12).

So there is a strong personal angle in all of this. The Christian community is an extended family of sorts. Even though Paul is incarcerated in Rome, he still has time for individuals like Onesimus, just as Christ has time for us, however 'low' we may think our station to be. You can tell from the letter that Paul is really fond of Onesimus although he does lay on his appeal to Philemon a bit thickly - it verges on begging, even a sob story, because he loves this slave so much. It's like he's saying which a shakey, pleading voice: "I'm an old man and a prisoner - do this for me.' This is Paul at his most human, arguably, and it's now he rteminds me most of King David and his heart.

Philemon is a well-to-do man with a sufficiently large house (and at least one slave) that he has turned it into what many would call a 'house church'. We know, as I said, that he had a wife and a son. You can guess what Paul is doing when he says it's going to be hard for him to let Onesimus go because he's come to value him so much as a helper, perhaps running messages between him and members of the Christian community in Rome. Likewise, he says, it's going to be hard for Onesimus to go back because he's a fugitive. And - and this is most important - it's going to be hard for Philemon to accept him and forgive him. 'Nevertheless', Paul says, 'let's do the hard thing', because that's what Messiah requires of us, and we will be richly blessed and rewarded for doing it. Yah'shua (Jesus) never said living the Besorah (Gospel) would be easy - at times it can be very hard because its demands run totally counter to the flesh - but, He insists, it will absolutely be worth it.

I'm sure you're wondering what the final outcome was. Did Paul achieve his objective? I am pretty sure he did. This letter would not have made it to the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament) if he hadn't.

We've looked at the social aspect of slavery and we have looked at the personal - the 'Gospel aspect', if you like. So let's now look at the ethical. What was Paul doing for Onesimus that Yah'shua (Jesus) hadn't already done for him? He was saying to Onesimus: 'Look, Yah'shua (Jesus) paid for you and rescued you and recycles you and sent you back to serve Yahweh. Now you go and do that for others. In other words, our relationships are conditioned by what Christ has already done for us. That's the driving force of a Christian/Messianic. We must metaphorically 'recycle' people and send them back to our Heavenly Father. We must be willing to pay the price for them, as Yah'shua (Jesus) paid the price for us.

Can you better understand now why Paul stayed out of politics, as did all the apostles? ...why he was not a first century Wilberforce? It wasn't his calling. Our behaviour as born-again, saved talmidim (disciples) of the Master Yah'shua the Messiah (Lord Jesus Christ) is to be based on the way that Elohim (God) has treated us. We are to accept as we are accepted. We are to forgive as we are forgiven. We are to show mercy as we have received mercy. And we are to love as we have been loved. If we don't, it means we demonstrate that we have not really understood Yahweh's chesed - His mercy, His grace, His undeserved loving-kindness, His unmerited favour, which is His chief hallmark and the chief hallmark of being a Christian/Messianic.

Paul is demonstrating in this amazing little letter what all the deep theology means in all his other letters. He is showing that his personal salvation in Messiah became the way he chose to live - by persuasion and not by force, or by manipulation, or by bullying, or by unfair pressure, because these things are spiritually ugly. All that Yah'shua (Jesuis) did for him, he now did for others. This was his theology in action, without all the fancy terms that divide Christians so much. Indeed, is this not a beautiful example of what 'working out your salvation' actually means?

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling ('Your task now is to work at bringing about your own salvation' - KNT; 'Keep on toiling in fear and trembling to complete your salvation' - Barclay; 'Put into action Elohim's (God's) saving work in your lives' - NLT) for it is Elohim (God) who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of Elohim (God) without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or laboured in vain" (Phil.2:12-16, NKJV ).

Have I got my message across? 'Are you with me?' as John Bevere and other preachers like to ask to ensure they have been understood. What do I want you to take away from this short study this morning? I think it's this, and believe Paul would agree with me because this is what I deeply sense in reading his letter to Philemon. There is a subtle and delicate interplay between explaining something in genuine ahavah- or agapé-love, with a true vision of the Besorah (Gospel), and someone else making up their mind in the light of it. That's how Christ-like love works, after all, isn't it? That's why the letter was written - to show Philemon the Gospel Way of Reconciliation.

Why is this book in the Bible? To show us the Way of Reconciliation and to help us better understand that that the Besorah (Gospel) and the politics of social change are two entirelty different things. The Besorah (Gospel) is something we can do immediately because repentance need not take a long time - if it does, it is only because we are stubbornly holding out against it.

Positive social change, on the other hand, often does take a very long time because getting a whole community, nation, empire or planet requires a long process of struggle. That's why emancipation has taken such a long time and that's why it is still not properly won. This is as true of national and race relations as it is of slave-trading.

Slave-trading is still going on in the Moslem world as we've seen from the slave-markets of Libya following the Deep State-promoted revolution there. Likewise, race relations in the United States and South Africa, which have taken decades to get right, are going down the drain fast all because of Marxists and other totalitarian-minded people who want social unrest to make revolution and control of the population easier for them.

And this is the point: the kind of revolution Yah'shua (Jesus) calls for, whilst it can happen very quickly on a personal level, can take generations when it comes to larger groups of people because culture is in constant flux. Politicians can force social change by pointing the barrel of a gun at people as the communists are skilled at doing but once they lost power in the Balkans, for instance, all the old racial animosities sprung to life again virtually overnight. I'm thinking now of the Bosnian fratricide. The story of the former Yugoslavia is a perfect illustration, and perhaps Rwanda too.

We'll take this further next week because this really is such a deep letter and more needs to be unfolded. It's Paul at his most personal and I think it's important we understand the practical application of theology which this letter demonstrates. It truly is, as N.T.Wright said, a showcase of Paul's teachings, so I think it is correct to examine this letter thoroughly. So I'd like to invite you to privately read this short letter through during the coming week and come back with your thoughts and feelings, especially in the matter of how we are to treat, and relate to, one another in Christ on a one-to-one basis and as larger communities. Have a blessed week, Yahweh's grace and peace be with you you until next time. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] N.T.Wright & Michael F.Bird, The New Testament in Its World (Zondervan Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 2019), p.366

Acknowledgements