6 September, Saturday — St Paul is a real person

Saturday of Week 22 in Ordinary Time

Col 1:21-23
Lk 6:1-5

…now he has reconciled you, by his death and in that mortal body. Now you are able to appear before him holy, pure and blameless…

Today’s first reading is from St Paul’s epistle (letter) to the church in Colossae. This chapter in the New Testament is not so well known, but it is important.

The date of this epistle is generally accepted to be around 62AD. Paul wrote it in Rome during his first imprisonment. He wrote this epistle after hearing that the church in Colossae was under attack by false teachers who degraded the divinity of Christ as only man. Early prominent theologians like Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius all have referenced this epistle in their church teachings.   

Paul’s main message here is the supremacy of Jesus Christ over all creation. The spiritual renewal of a human person is through baptism with the person of Christ, who died and rose again to save mankind. By taking on human flesh, Jesus Christ became the visible image of the invisible God. Yet, he was fully divine and, in this nature, he is the head of the Christian church. By his death on the cross, he reconciled all things to him. In short, Christ is both the Creator and Redeemer of all mankind. This is non-negotiable.

In reading this epistle in its entirety (for the first time), and doing more research on it, I find that it is a really insightful chapter about key doctrines of faith. I am glad I never had any doubt that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is divine and we have the hope of eternal life with him. It is great that Colossians confirmed it elegantly.

A corollary benefit of doing this research is to learn more about the person of St Paul and his writings. Thirteen epistles in the New Testament are attributed to him. Prominent bible scholars, including well known Atheist scholars have confirmed that seven epistles are authentic (i.e. written by St Paul). However, the book of Colossians is one of the five books that are in dispute.

To me, that is not so important. What is really important is that St Paul is proven, beyond all reasonable doubt, to be a real person. He was a servant of God. He was to proclaim the gospel to every creature under heaven (Colossians 1:23). He met St Peter and the other apostles. He wrote extensively about his dealings with them. This proved that the apostles were real persons too – they who walked with Jesus Christ for three years. Their testimonies about Christ are, therefore, real.

My Catholic faith is real. For that, I thank St Paul and his writings. 

(Today’s OXYGEN by Andrew Sia)

Prayer: Jesus, let your grace be sufficient for me. Help me to remain faithful to the Catholic church.

Thanksgiving: Thanks be to Jesus, who brings eternal hope to all sinners.