Saturday, June 18, 2005 AD
A threefold safety-rope
NT Wright, in the section on 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 in one of his "Paul for Everyone" volumes, comments on St Paul's exhortation to "stand firm, and hold on tight to the traditions which you were taught":
Paul's approach as described by Wright should also encourage us that it is neither necessary nor right for us drop one or other of those strands in order to make Christianity more palatable to outsiders. They represent the irreducible core of Christian belief and living. (They also represent the flow of the argument in Articles IV, V and VI of the Augsburg Confession, as it happens.)
Drop any of them - and it may be a useful exercise to consider each of these in turn, and to ask ourselves what the effect is on the church where that emphasis is missing, and which of the three we are most tempted to downplay ourselves as individual Christians - and you have something that St Paul, at least, would no longer have recognised as true Christianity.
There are troubled times on the way, and like a small boat crossing a turbulent waterway the little ship of the church is going to be tossed to and fro. When that's happening, they need to know how to stand upright and what to hold on to.The gospel, the sacraments and a life of love for others: anyone wanting to find a good summary of this "threefold cord" of Christian basics could do a lot worse than click here (or here for a PDF copy).
Here Paul is quite clear: the safety-rope consists of "the traditions you were taught", that is, the foundational Christian teachings which he gave them when he was with them, and then by letter.
We know from his various writings what these were. He frequently refers back to them, as for instance in 1 Corinthians chapters 11 (about the eucharist) and 15 (the basic gospel message itself). Often he says, "you will remember" or "you know, don't you", reminding his hearers of teachings they have already received (eg Romans 6:3).
These teachings are about three things in particular: the basic facts of the gospel; the central actions of the worshipping church, such as baptism and the eucharist; and the fundamental principles of Christian behaviour, particularly the mutual support he calls agape, "love".
Hold on tight to these, he says, and you won't go far wrong. This is as true today as it was in the first century.
Paul's approach as described by Wright should also encourage us that it is neither necessary nor right for us drop one or other of those strands in order to make Christianity more palatable to outsiders. They represent the irreducible core of Christian belief and living. (They also represent the flow of the argument in Articles IV, V and VI of the Augsburg Confession, as it happens.)
Drop any of them - and it may be a useful exercise to consider each of these in turn, and to ask ourselves what the effect is on the church where that emphasis is missing, and which of the three we are most tempted to downplay ourselves as individual Christians - and you have something that St Paul, at least, would no longer have recognised as true Christianity.
