27 september 2020

Interesting: why Paul exhorts Timothy to avoid disputes? Especially that the apostle was himself a great polemicist, is evident in all his messages. And he was not doubtless also a supporter of the conformity of ideas planted by the top in the Church. In what is thus the problem? And how can a community exist without disputes and...

Interesting: why Paul exhorts Timothy to avoid disputes? Especially that the apostle was himself a great polemicist, is evident in all his messages. And he was not doubtless also a supporter of the conformity of ideas planted by the top in the Church. In what is thus the problem? And how can a community exist without disputes and discussions on subjects causing division of opinion? The questions are rhetorical. And the Jewish culture of the theological discussion is very well known, that one can imagine himself that Paul who received a Jewish traditional theological formation in a completely traditional school, could call to the ban in the Church of theological disputes and discussions.

But there was something essential in the life of the church that obliged Paul to relate to discussions and disputes with suspicion, especially when it comes to the church meetings. And this essential was the very essence of the Church, which was not at all a religious community, as was for example the Synagogue, as well as Christianity was never a religion similar to the Judaism.

Christianity is not a religion, but the life in the Kingdom. And the church meeting is not a religious event, although central in the life of the Church, but the form of updating of the fullness of the life of the Kingdom within a concrete community of church, taking place here and now. The members of the Church meet in their meetings not to express their religious essence, whether it is emotional or intellectual, but for the meeting with the Resuscitated at the sacred meal, similar to the last in the earthly life of the Savior Passover Seder, which in the church traditions received the name Last Supper.

So how relevant are here the theological disputes, even if during the most ordinary, without the participation of the Messiah, Seder or at the Sabbath meal, they usually try to avoid them? There they try not to discuss to give place to God and hear His voice; here the discussions are relevant even less, because it is about the meeting with the Resuscitated, Who is not less important to hear. And there will be certainly disputes in the Church, it is impossible to revoke or to forbid them, and it is not necessary. But they will be in their time and place. There and when and where they will be relevant.