Why does God use letters - which are, in essence, only half of a conversation - as His revelation? Any modern American would have published a hefty manual with two parts.
Part A: There would be a list of all the different situations that we might face and a matching list of the possible ways that we might respond to each.
Part B: This would be a different list of all the doctrines that we are supposed to believe.
The first of these would be designed for the pragmatic among us, while the second would be for the intellectual. And those who really get it would be flipping back and forth comparing the two.
But God is wiser. My guess is that it isn't enough if the truth is simply transferred from one mind to another. It also needs to be seen. We see the Gospel at work in Paul's life. And we need to see it. It is made that much more real to us as we see him deal with a difficult church. We see the Gospel bear fruit in his life and that shows us, especially pastors like me, what we need to do. And thus, '...always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.' 2 Corinthians 4:10
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