Today's Scripture Reading (February 7, 2021): 2 Thessalonians 3
Early on in my ministry, on a
Saturday night after a really tough week, I was still working on my message destined
to be preached the following morning. Only on this night, my computer had
decided not to co-operate. For some reason, regardless of the key I pressed on
my computer, a different letter appeared on the screen. My sermon, well, maybe
it could have been described as being written in tongues, but the problem was
that there was no one with me who could interpret it for me.
I related the story the next
morning to the congregation, and one of the older members was visibly disturbed
by my account. I couldn't figure out why until I spoke to him after the
service. Somehow, he thought that my computer was writing my sermon, and he
didn't want to hear what my computer had to say; he wanted to hear from me. And
I needed to explain to him that my computer was basically my typewriter and
assure him that I was writing the sermon and that the ideas I spoke did belong
to me.
We often don't understand how any
of the letters in the New Testament were written. In our imaginations, we often
picture Paul sitting at a desk with a quill in hand, diligently writing his
letters to the churches and to individual Christian leaders in the church. But
that isn't the way that any of the letters were written. Instead, the authors
of the New Testament's letters, and many books of the Tanakh or the Hebrew
Bible, used a secretary or amanuensis, to write the letters. An example from
the Hebrew Bible would be Jeremiah's use of a friend named Baruch as his secretary.
In the case of Paul's letters in
the New Testament, the apostle would tell his secretary what he wanted to say,
and his secretary would write it down. Various secretaries were given more or
less latitude in what they wrote down. Sometimes it was more word for word
transcription of what was being said, but at other times these secretaries were
allowed to phrase the wording as they thought was best, all of which, sometimes,
gave the letters a slightly different flavor.
Luke, the author of the "Gospel
of Luke" and the "Acts of the Apostles," was probably the
amanuensis for some of Paul's later letters. In the case of the letter to the
Thessalonians, the secretary was likely Timothy. But it was always Paul who
wrote the greetings at the end of the letters, in his own hand. It was his
signature and a sign that he was the author of all of the ideas and teachings
contained within. And regardless of how the amanuensis phrased the concepts,
they were all Paul approved.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Acts 19
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