Do As I Say, Not As I Do.

I was reading the book of Philemon this morning. In this book Paul writes a personal letter to Philemon. But even if Paul didn’t know it would become part of the New Testament, he knew that it would be read before the church in Philemon’s home.

As with any writing, it is hard to be sure of the tone or feelings behind the words. However, it seems to me that Paul is being a little manipulative. Read it for yourself and see if you don’t agree with me.

The points Paul makes about Onesimus, a former slave, now being a brother in Christ, and worthy of being treated differently rings true. It reminds me of Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus”. See also Colossians 3:11

I’m just not convinced we should imitate his methodology on it.  

My dear sisters, that brings me to my point. I believe we must always be careful to follow teachings and principals but remember that not every example in the Bible is an example we should follow.

No one believes, for instance, that if some evil men want to do bad things to your male guests, it is okay to push a woman out the door so they can abuse her to death overnight instead. (Judges 19:20-28)

I have heard people use the example of Jesus overturning tables in the temple to justify fits of anger… er, righteous indignation. I’ve known church leaders to use the fact that Revelation 19:15 says Jesus will “rule them with a rod of iron” as justification for being “iron rodded” in how they treat their congregations. That’s not the point.  

Anyone of us can fall into the trap of following something as behavior we should imitate rather than simply a lesson we should learn. We should be careful about following anything that we are not specifically told “this is something you should do”.

We might practice asking ourselves. “is this a follow scripture/story or a learn scripture”?

Luckily, we do have many very specific commands to follow people, behavior, attitudes, etc. Here are some examples:

Follow righteousness. 2 Timothy 2:22

Follow peace. Hebrews 12:14

Follow good. 3 John 1:11

Follow Christ’s example of suffering. 1 Peter 2:21.

And, of course, Jesus, many times, said, “follow me”. And if we focus on following Him, then Revelation 14:4 can be said about us, “These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were the redeemed from among men, being first fruits to God and the Lamb”.

I welcome your comments and questions. You can write me in the comment section or any time at Nancy@DyanmicChristianMinistries.org.