Reflective Essay
Jordan McCrary
This essay will be over a few of the characteristics of Christian living that is discussed in in our text book. Not only will I be breaking these texts down but I will also show how I incorporate it in my life and why I consider it important to incorporate into my life and possibly even why I believe others should bring it into there lives. The first one I want to cover as I believe its very important in Christian living is prayer and peace.
The first passage I want to go over is In Ephesians 6: 18-24. Paul urges the readers to pray in every occasion (and to pray for him!), he then makes the comparison that he is a chained ambassador (Ephesians 6: 20), this comparison seems to show that Paul is imprisoned and that he can no longer go from place to place freely. It’s a lot like he can no longer go see his friends and know what to pray for for them. Wright makes many mentions here of how else to view it such as such as an eagle with clipped wings and yet its still determined to fly. (N.T. Wright Paul The Prison Epistles pg. 77) So in turn he asks the audience of this letter to pray for him and take up his place for him. He doesn’t mean that he can’t pray anymore, its not that being imprisoned has taken that away from him, its just that he no longer is in the “loop” and knows what he needs to pray for, such as someone who is struggling financially or someone that has fallen ill.
Another thing mentions to the readers that he has sent Tychicus to them. He tells them he is a loyal servant to the Lord. (Ephesians 6: 21) its very similar to the passage in Colossians (Colossians 4: 7-8) where Paul mentions that Tychicus and tells them Tychicus will tell them all about Paul and that he is sending him to encourage them. The timing on these two passages makes it seem that the two don’t take place to far from each other. Wright mentions “it may be a round trip that he makes beginning at Colossae” (N.T. Wright Paul The Prison Epistles pg. 79). It seems that Tychicus is very important to Paul and that he is important to the others as well.
This passage is very interesting to me, I’ve always tried to keep prayer in my dayly schedule, sometimes I pray before bed, other times I try to pray right before a test, because god knows I need the help. I know prayer isn’t a magical thing that makes all your wishes come true just because you’re a Christian. I do believe that if you pray for one thing enough, if its God’s will he will help with you it, but the best thing I believe prayer will do for you (besides bringing you closer to God.) is that it will bring you inner peace that will help you calm down over something you may be worried about. The whole thing about bringing you peace will lead us right into my next breakdown of the passage.
Before I move onto the next part I want to say how much I believe that prayer should be apart of someone’s Christian life. It helps you in many ways even if you feel like you get nothing out of it, you become closer to God. I just really want to hammer down that I believe this could possibly be one of the most important part for a Christian to have and bring into their life (after that little rant on to the next passage).
Finally, in this short passage I chose there is the emphasis of peace at the end of the passage, much of the other letters and this one seem to emphasize peace and how it is important for Christians to keep with them. Peace is obviously a huge thing in the bible. It has many mentions throughout the bible “Go in peace” which is very similar to what paul ends with in this short passage. It seems that this saying is often used as a closing phrase and is meaning for the person to go peacefully and spread peace (at least that’s how I interpret it). As in many of the other letters peace also comes along with Jesus, Faith and Love. He emphasizes that peace should spread across all barriers.
One of the best things in life has to be the feeling of peace, and its what prayer has always brought me, it helps me out in the low times and even if everything is going well it still feels good to pray about something. The peace that I feel after these prayers, I feel that it must be because God is with me in that moment as I pray.
After looking over this passage in all I conclude that this letter from Paul is emphasizing that the readers should pray, and that it will bring them peace if they do so. It seems that Paul although imprisoned he wants the readers to keep reading and stay peaceful in these times. He seems to want his readers to pray with and for him so they to can feel that peace that Paul feels himself even though he is imprisoned. This will conclude this first passage and we will go on to my second passage.
The second passage that I want to go over is Philippians 3: 1-6 as it goes over the temptations of the flesh and how it can sway your decisions and goes over the different temptations.
First off let’s break down what he means by “Watch out for the dogs! Watch out for the ‘bad works’ people! Watch out for the ‘mutilation’ party!” (Philippians 3: 2). As he states this I believe what he means by dogs, bad works, and mutilation is more metaphorical than literal. I believe that dogs mean more along the lines of people that are unclean, as many people back then saw animals as ‘unclean’ or sinful and that these ‘dogs’ would tempt the Christians into an easier life as their sinful ways seemed easier, and even that their sinful ways may seem more fun than the Christians rules and ways (dogs were not domesticated as much back then and were more seen as beasts and wild animals) . It seems to me that Paul is comparing them to dogs as they seem unclean, sinful and even possibly below them.
As he opens this part he seems to be excited that he can still write to them and then proceeds to tell them about “the sins of the flesh” which sounds like a cool horror movie title to me. He tells them of what to watch over and the reason why they should not trust in the flesh as it can and will tempt them.
Another thing he mentions was ‘Bad Works’ and this could mean a couple things that I can think of. Referring back to the dogs portion it may be something that they make or do. Such as a gathering where they bring many prostitutes or wine to drink. As drinking a lot of wine was considered sinful and participating in sexual misconducts was considered sinful. This could mean for the readers to watch out for these events or different ‘works’ that I may not be thinking of right now. While this is what I believe I find that N.T. Wrights interpretation is talking about how some Jews believe that its another word for ‘good works’ as he believes that they could be performing the basic ‘good works’ and believing that that’s enough for them to be accepted into Gods grace (N.T. Wright Paul The Prison Epistles pg. 117).
Finally, the most confusing part of this first passage to me the ‘mutilation party’ at first my mind was reeling thinking of horror scenarios and different thing ‘Mutilation’ could mean but I finally did some research and found out that many people saw circumcision back then as a mutilation and that it was also for lustful men as it made it swollen and bulbous. I believe that Paul is warning them that this is not a mark they must have for approval from God. It seems that he is telling them to ignore these people that are telling them they must circumcise themselves to become right with God.
This passage is very interesting to me and also speaks to me in a way. This passage makes me wonder. who are the dogs in my life, where and who makes the bad works around me, and what is the mutilation party now? I have lots of thoughts on who the dogs are but the list would be a little pointless in this, but the bad works, I’m unsure who/what that would be in my life, it could be things such as negative websites and even possible establishments. I like trying to keep this in my mind as I go throughout my weeks. It helps me think whenever I get into a situation where I get anxious of if its moral or not I can think of this verse and then go by how I feel after that.
Finally, I must say that these verses are always in my mind when I’m praying or when I’m just stressed out and it has helped me out this semester and even made this semester much better. It was a great way to help me get better at reading scripture and even helped me get better at translating them (at least I feel I have).
Thankfully I have gotten to break down these passages with help from N.T. wright and even a little of my own research. It has helped me get a bit closer to God, and I also have a little of a better understanding of these verses. I’m glad to have had this class that has helped me learn more about these verses and learn more about Paul and his letters