‘For the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness’ says the apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Rome – chapter one verse 18.
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In previous episodes of Chalke Talk, in line with the release of his latest book, the Lost Message of Paul, Steve has argued the greek word ‘pistes’ means faithfulness, which is not necessarily the same as faith in an immovable doctrinal position.
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“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
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This week is the release of Steve’s latest book the Lost Message of Paul! As such, he asks the question in this week’s episode of Chalke Talk that the book is centered around: has the church misunderstood Paul, badly?
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Last week, Steve argued that “saved by faith alone” is possibly a “doctrine of straw.” This week, he continues to argue, in line with the message of his upcoming book “The Lost Message of Paul,” that this doctrine of straw is responsible for so much of Protestant Theology. And thus, how we’ve misunderstood Paul.
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“Most informed Christians know that Luther had a problem with the New Testament book written by James. He called it an ‘epistle of straw’ and campaigned to have it removed from the Bible.” And it’s exactly why, a glossed over but important fact, that brings Steve to this week’s episode of Chalke Talk.
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Does part of our misunderstanding around Paul comes from the fact that his letters are so often used to bolster preachers’ pulpits?
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“Jesus is Lord” is often viewed as a resounding imperial call, when actually it’s root is about living life radically. This week Steve takes looks back at the Roman Empire; an empire under which Jews, like Paul, were subjugated.
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“The culture we inhabit is just like the air that we breathe." And this week, Steve argues that trying to understand the Apostle Paul without understanding his culture will fail to give us the full picture.
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What do these two seemingly unrelated famous men share in common? As Steve puts it, “To attempt to understand the development of the Church worldwide without any reference to the work of the Apostle Paul is a bit like trying to trace the development of pop music without mentioning Elvis, or the Beatles, the Stones, Dylan, Michael Jackson, and U2 all put together.”
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Following on from last week’s episode, Steve continues to look at the many ways Paul’s writing has been used to justify some of the church’s worst mistakes. From racism to homophobia, it’s hard to believe there is anything redeemable about Paul’s texts. As Steve puts is, “…it is no surprise that for too many he is the author of structural social exclusion.”
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This week, Steve begins a new conversation – a serious conversation that he invites us all to participate in; a conversation about the apostle Paul.
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Paul is often referred to as “the great excluder” and is used by many to defend a legalistic view of Christianity. But what happens, Steve asks this week, if it’s not that the rules don’t matter, but the principle behind them matters more?
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During Paul’s time, people were consumed with false idols and an unimaginable amount of Gods. It’s easy to write these individuals off as prehistoric, but Steve argues the same issue plagues humanity today. “The only difference is that we’re far more direct now; power, money, sex, leisure, self-interest, health and beauty – but the values and characters of our gods have remained stubbornly the same.”
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Understanding right from wrong is not about following rules; it’s about understanding how your personal story fits in with a bigger one.
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In this week’s Chalke Talk, Steve describes how the Ten Commandments have been misunderstood throughout history. Rather than a set of instructions sent by God to spoil our fun, they are instead a fantastic way of understanding God’s love for his creation. Steve challenges us to understand how we interpret our ethics as a series of principles to live by rather than seeing any commandment or part of scripture as a narrow set of rules to follow.
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This week Steve reflects on his experience working with vulnerable people with Oasis and how important hope, the truth we believe about our selves, is to bright future.
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Steve suggests, “To really pray is to allow the contents of your prayer to possess you; to allow it to become YOUR vision, your passion, your longing, your commitment.”
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Following last week’s Chalke Talk, Steve asks what does a person who places their ‘faith’ rather than their ‘belief’ in Christ actually look like?
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This week Steve picks apart a modern misconception about the church. And it’s one that both church-goers and those who don’t fall for time after time: that faith is something exclusive to the faithful.
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