Re: Stumbling your brother
Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2017 5:39 pm
Mattrose,
Thanks for that post. I found it very enlightening and helpful.
Dwight
Thanks for that post. I found it very enlightening and helpful.
Dwight
First of all - wow what an amazing blessing to have a forum like this! I think it might be easy to take that for granted, but there are riches in the experience and wisdom in this group and the ability to communicate in this way that previous generations could never have dreamed of.mattrose wrote:
4. I personally think Paul's use of the terms 'strong' and 'weak' in this context are not original to him. We should keep in mind that, though Paul had likely never been to Rome when he wrote this letter, he does seem to be very aware of many of the people in the church and some of their current issues. I think he was made aware of the fact that some (mostly) Gentile Christians were using the 'strong' adjective for themselves and the 'weak' adjective to describe their (mostly) Jewish brothers and sisters. Paul is willing to use their language to enter into that discussion and subvert it away from thinking 'up' or 'down' about each other and toward the theme of other-oriented service to one another.
My reasons for thinking he may be borrowing someone else's adjectives are threefold, but it is still largely speculative.TruthFinder wrote:I wanted to ask Matt how he developed the opinion he holds about the origin of Paul's weak/strong adjectives? It seems plausible to me, but I suspect Matt may have evidence to support his reasoning that I'm not familiar with. It seems to me that it matters whether Paul considers a group to be weak or if he is simply reusing someone else's adjective. If it is Paul's opinion based on his role as an apostle, then i wouldn't want to remain in a condition he considered weak in faith...that is if it is even within the power of that brother to become stronger. If Paul is using insider terms in a way that I might use air quotes, then it would change the meaning significantly.