8/11/03

“Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.”

– Victor Hugo

Thoughts on Paul the Apostle.

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” – Romans 13:8-10

So, if Paul says it is best not to marry, and yet he values love so highly, how can he reconcile his lack of a healthy, intimate relationship?

He is in turmoil because he fears (or even knows) that he is a homosexual and for him to engage in an act of homoerotic love would be utterly sinful. Paul holds the value of the body as a temple and as the people as the Body of Christ so great that he reviles the sexually immoral and other equally evil sinners. He even advises not to eat with them! But did not Christ dine with others just as reprehensible? I don’t understand. It’s almost as if Paul the Apostle and Saul the Pharisee are warring within him. Perhaps this is what he is feeling and means when he says something of the “spiritual war”? The war between the “old self,” the sinner; and the “new self,” the righteous follower of Christ?

“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I thought as a child, I behaved as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I will know in full, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE.” – I Corinthians 13:11-13