So, I read some of Steve Fowl's stuff per AKMA's post. It was helpful. What is interesting is Fowl's idea of interpretation being "word-care." So, if Jesus is the living Word through which the world was spoken into being, then what we say matters more than what we know. But in the middle of the Ephesians passage is this bit about stealing. How does it fit in? Well, economics! Of course! Duh.
Wah!?
No, Jesus. You are by no means economical. Even the picnic on the hill resulted in twelve baskets full of left-overs. It wasn't six bottles of well-water that you turned into wine, but SIX THIRTY-GALLON stone jars full. Once again, sheer extravagance!- Phil StreeterThis is the nature of the church. The moralization that Paul expresses to the believers in Ephasus have more to do with the overarching genrosity of God than it has to do with right behavior for its own sake. Paul is trying to give examples of how that generosity might look in our day-to-day living.
Regarding the stealing, Fowl also reminds us of some of Calvin and Luther's ideas. It is not your basic pursesnatcher who needs rehabilitation. Calvin and Luther use the wider context of the letter to say that the church has to be aware of how it treats itself...its business dealings, the way it understands money and the economy in general. It must always assume God's generosity. Thus stealing of any kind, misdealing, cutthroat practices have no place in the church not just because they may be unkind but because they deny Christ. They are fearful actions. They express a fear of scarcity...when the very promise of the Kingdom is God's own generosity. It may not look like a mansion on Maui, but we may find ourselves cared for in the most extravagant ways...loved in unimaginable ways.
The trick to this for me is remembering that those of us who populate the Body (the world per John's prologue) are both recipients and agents of this same generosity.
Posted by tripp at August 12, 2006 05:27 PM