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Day 1 of 5: Introduction to Paul

“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NRSV)

The Apostle Paul gets a bad rap in progressive Christian circles. He is often dubbed as anti-Queer, a mansplainer, a misogynist, a person who never condemned slavery, and a person who promoted and upheld sexual purity culture and standards.

I personally feel like Paul is generally misunderstood and greatly taken out of context. The one resounding fact about Paul that I wish to underscore is that he was a flawed person. He made mistakes, but more importantly, he understood that and admitted to it. There is perhaps no one more self-condemning or self-aware of these mistakes in the New Testament text than Paul. Sure, this guy could have used a good therapist, but the reality is that in the midst of making clear missteps, Paul was also a revolutionary when it comes to love and grace. Not to be mistaken for Jesus, Paul quickly reminds his audiences of just how little he knows, how much he has to rely on Christ, and how shockingly terrible his past is. He is vulnerable, he is passionate, and he is well aware of grace and humility.

Surprisingly, within the entire biblical corpus, Paul’s writings are honestly barely a blip on the radar. They do not even take up the majority of the New Testament text. That prestige goes to Paul’s colleague, Luke.

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What’s more surprising is that certain canonized texts thought to have been written by Paul are not written by him at all. These are called PseudoPauline texts: 1 & 2 Timothy, 2 Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians, and Titus are not authentic Pauline epistles and have a different author. In biblical academia, the authenticity of these letters being from Paul are disputed because of a range of things like style, vocabulary, historical context, and clashing theological takes.

This is critical information when it comes to deciphering Paul’s theological concepts and claims within his writings. We can no longer use the information within the pseudo-Pauline writings and consider them authentic Pauline theology. This is excellent news when it comes to Paul’s views on women, sex, gender, and household codes. In fact, if every canonized epistle thought to have been written by Paul actually were, this would make Paul’s theology very confused, inconsistent and contradictory.

For the record, the texts considered true and authentic Pauline letters by academic scholars are 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Philippians, and Philemon. It’s time to ditch the toxic theology present in the non-authentic letters and time to stop attributing them to Paul. It’s time to truly get into the heart and crux of Paul’s actual theological claims about sexuality.

Beloved, as we move through this exegetical study, I know some of you may feel some trauma or concern. For that reason, I have not included any of the text from Romans 1 to this devotional, but I invite you to read this and be refreshed and empowered to explore the text when you are ready to.

Erin Green

Day 1 of 5: Introduction to Paul

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