Monday, August 15 - Romans 15:14 - 21

The oldest manuscripts we have differ in endings, some excluding part or all of chapter 15 and 16 before the closing doxology. Does anything about the tone, style, or content of this bit differ from the rest of the letter you’ve read so far? I think so.

I read a tone of clericalism, claiming the authority of an office of ministry, rather than God’s faithfulness in Christ. There’s a defensive tone, piling up proofs of successful signs and wonders and church growth. There’s a denial of other’s gifts to him.

Whether it’s Paul’s original text, his own or others’ editorial ‘improvements’, or adjustment to match later writings of the ‘early church fathers’, it is still in the received text, the canon, the bible we share with a wider people over a longer time.

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