Corpus-Paul

["Tim Gallant" <tim AT rabbisaul.com>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Hindley" <dhindley AT compuserve.com>
To: "'Corpus-Paul'" <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2005 10:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Sabbatical years and Paul's collections
> On the other hand, if you thought that asking charity of gentiles for the 
> benefit of lazy Jews would be shameful deceit on Paul's
> part, then the scenario I just suggested would likely not impress you as 
> ethical either. But would it have deterred a zealot like
> Paul who *knew* he was right as rain?

I tend to agree with you, David. We can judge neither Paul, the Gentile 
converts, nor the believers in Judea according to our supposedly enlightened 
standards. Moreover, the law's sabbatical year provisions had absolutely 
nothing to do with laziness, and I suspect that Gentiles who had been mostly 
exposed to the synagogue prior to conversion to Christ, and certainly 
exposed to the Hebrew Scriptures after said conversion, had more sense of 
the matter than we might assume.

tim
-------------------------
Tim Gallant
Pastor, Conrad Christian Reformed Church
http://www.timgallant.org