Wednesday 30 March 2016

Psalm: Psalm 147

Background

A central teaching of Paul's letters is the idea that Christbecame like us so that we might become like him and that we are now'in Christ'. Therefore because Christ has lived our life and diedour death, we have died with Christ and now live his eternallife.

The authorship of this letter to the church in Colossae isdisputed. The writer claims to be Paul and there are some typicalPauline features both of style and of theology. However, in somerespects the writer develops Pauline ideas further than Paul everdoes in his undisputed letters and has different ethical standards.These discrepancies have led some to suggest that the writer was asecond- or third-generation Pauline Christian writing in Paul'sname to lend authority to his letter.

Certainly, although this passage is consistent with mainstreamPauline theology, it is embedded in a longer portion of the letterdealing with the ethical consequences of Baptism (Colossians 2:20 - 3:17), which is notnecessarily originally Pauline. It is not clear whether Paulbelieves that Christians live the resurrection life now or in theeschatological future (Romans6). This writer sets forth what may be either an authenticPauline development, or a reflection of the community's baptismalpractice: that in Baptism we die with Christ as we go down underthe water and are raised to new life with him. He goes on to arguethat if we live new lives we should be behaving in new wayssuitable to those who are 'in Christ'.

Regardless of authorship, this passage conveys a deep spiritualtruth; that our deepest identity is found in the God who is love.Love that overcomes death. Fr Richard Rohr writes: "Your true selfis who you are, and always have been in God; and at its core, it islove itself. Love is both who you are and who you are stillbecoming, like a sunflower seed that becomes its own sunflower.Most of human history has referred to the True Self as your 'soul'or 'your participation in the eternal life of God'."

To Ponder

• What does Baptism mean to you?

• What sort of prayer or spiritual practice do you need to engagein to get in touch with your true life that is hidden in Christwith God?