What can we learn from Paul?

Do you remember the days when we hand wrote letters?  Scarily, some readers might soon say "no"...

When we hand wrote, we took a lot more care.  By today's standards, it was painfully slow.  Knowing it would take time, we often would spend considerable time thinking about what we would want to say.  With no delete key and no copy and paste, every word and phrase had meaning.

Today we have Bibles that we can search at will, using keywords.  A sad effect of this very useful function is that we now easily lose the context of Bible passages.  We also will usually skip the intro and the endings of Paul's pastoral letters and focus on the meat of the sandwich.  But Paul spent time baking that bread and put it there for a purpose.  Let's have a look at the way Paul greets other Christians in some of his letters...

"1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ."


"1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours: 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."


"1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia: 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."


"1 Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers and sisters with me,  To the churches in Galatia:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen"

"1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."


"1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."


"1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father."


"1 Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."


I am sure you are spotting the pattern by now. These letters were hotly anticipated. Travel was limited and some of these people might have only seen Paul once in their lifetime, if they were lucky. Letters were read publicly to an attentive audience. There was only one copy, so no forwarding to friends or saving it in your inbox to read later. Every word was important and Paul weighed it up carefully. He knew his audience well and the cultural context they were in. He adapted his teaching as any good teacher does, to connect with the audience. But consistently, he starts with these powerful words of affirmation.

What, by contrast, do we read in the opening words of so many blogs today (and I too am guilty)? How often do we read harsh, condemning words directed at other believers? How often are comments and replies equally vociferous?

In a day when many use the teachings of Paul against one another, perhaps we could all learn much, much more from this master baker of relationship building and affirmation.