'Keeping aligned' is a concept that captures well the sense that this prophetic word does provide guidance but without any coercive force. Actions flow naturally from it. As we have seen, Paul does not say, if you live by the Spirit these are the things that you ought to do, these are the ways that you ought to behave, but rather, live by the Spirit and these are the ways that you definitely will behave. Life in the Spirit leads to such behaviours as naturally as trees bear fruit. For Paul, being guided, - 'keeping aligned' - by faith, by the spirit, by the cross is to experience a life of freedom, without needing to follow any external direction. Living by the law is, in contrast, a form of enslavement. (From: Paul's Necessary Sin : The Experience of Liberation, page 56)
This book was a present from a friend who, a few years ago, attended a conference led by Timothy Ashworth, at Woodbrooke, the Quaker College in Birmingham, where Ashworth lectures. Ashworth, with other authors such as Crossan , seeks to return to the 6 authentic letters of Paul and re-examine his writings in the light of modern scholarship. This is a technical book but full of exciting insights.
We need to take time to understand what Ashworth is saying. Usually, we think we have two options: license, to which the churches provide an alternative, morality. These are not opposites; license and morality come from the same source. They are both used by imperialists to control people. Our consumer society is an example of the former. The most familiar Christian morality has its origins, according to Crossan, in imperial Rome. Christianity offers an alternative, although you wouldn't know it to hear the claptrap about Christian values.
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