The Spirit and The Flesh--Seeing Paul with New Eyes

In this early morning, I have been listening to one of the lectures for seminary, for my Spiritual Formation class. I had to write down some of the thoughts of my professor, Dr. Emily Peck-McClain, who got my attention by declaring her love for Paul and calling Paul a gift to us with a liberative message that is not often proclaimed.  She gave me a way of thinking about Paul that I have never heard before.

Many people have trouble with Paul for all sorts of reasons.  It's easy to see him as a prudish kill joy, with his seeming rejection of all the pleasures rooted in the body.  But what if we're interpreting those letters that he wrote in a wrong way?  What if he's not talking about us as individual creatures of flesh, but something bigger?

Dr. Peck-McClain brought us Galatians 5 to consider.  Paul talks about the Flesh.  Many people interpret this passage as talking about our own individual flesh, our bodily desires, particularly the ones that can get us into trouble.  

Dr. Peck-McClain points out that Paul is talking about the Flesh, and her discussion made me think of Paul talking about the Powers.  It's a power outside of us much like sin.  She says that he's not talking about flesh, but about the Flesh, which is opposed to the Spirit--she emphasized the article "the."  The Flesh is a power outside of us, a power that is opposed to the Spirit.  He connects the Flesh, Sin, and Death in a kind of triad.

But we can live by the Spirit.  And what would that look like?  Paul gives us the fruits of the Spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  She reminds us that Paul is writing to communities, not to individuals.  The fruit of the Spirit is born and comes to fruition in community.

The good news is that we don't have to produce all of these fruits all by ourselves.  When the whole community is together, these are the fruits that we see.  We are intended to have all of these fruits together communally.  And then we are equipped to carry on the redemptive work of Christ in the world.

I also thought of us as individual fruit trees, making a beautiful orchard together.  It's that time of year when I'm yearning for apple orchards and pumpkin patches.  What a delight to encounter Paul in this way, to be reminded of this text that has been so important, and to see it in a different way.