XXV

PAUL'S SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TEACHINGS

Paul's Interest in Social Questions. Paul was by nature a mystic. Throughout his entire career as a Christian he firmly believed in the second coming of Jesus. At first glance most of his epistles give the impression that he was more interested in the teachings about Jesus than in what the Master actually taught. Paul's own social teachings are so wrapped up with his theology that many modern readers fail to find them; and yet Paul, the mystic, the visionary, the theologian, was supremely interested in social questions. This interest was primarily due to the fact that there was an intensely practical side to his nature. His power as an apostle was largely the result of this marvellous combination of the mystic and practical man of affairs. Like the greatest of the Hebrew prophets, his head was in the clouds and he caught clear glimpses of the face of the Eternal; but his feet stood squarely on earth and he ever sympathetically walked the path of life in closest touch with his toiling, suffering fellow men. From his earliest years Paul had also been a constant student of the Jewish law and the prophets, which were saturated with social idealism. While Paul, the Christian, rejected the ceremonial demands of that ancient law, he never ceased to emphasise its ethical and social teachings. Moreover, his work as a missionary and pastor constantly brought him into most intimate touch with the varied social problems of the Christian communities. His zeal to develop their highest efficiency ever kept his social interest at white heat.

It is also evident that it was the social element in Jesus' teachings that made the profoundest impression upon Paul.

PAUL'S INTEREST IN SOCIAL QUESTIONS 291 Through conversations with Peter and other disciples who had been closely associated with Jesus, Paul had ample opportunity to become intimately acquainted with those teachings which bulked so large in Jesus' message to his race. Paul rarely quoted literally. He preferred, even in his use of the Old Testament, to reproduce the fundamental thought in his own language rather than in that of the original writer. And yet in the case of the majority of Paul's social teachings it is possible to trace back to the gospel records the underlying principles which inspired this great apostle to the Gentiles. In a few cases it seems clear that Paul, the oldest of the New Testament writers, has also preserved certain of the priceless social teachings of Jesus which failed to find a place in the gospel records. Paul's social philosophy and teachings therefore possess for us a unique interest. It is not so much Paul the theologian as Paul the social teacher and organiser that is commanding the attention and enthusiastic admiration of the present generation. This, after all, is the real Paul. In his formal epistles Paul the former Pharisee always felt obliged to justify his new theological positions. His long apologies reveal the proselyte; but after these theological preambles he rarely fails to introduce a rich body of social teachings. This is the heart of each epistle. Here Paul lays bare his own heart all aflame with social passion.

Marriage and Divorce. Paul's teachings regarding marriage and divorce are incidental and deal with the peculiar conditions existing in the Corinthian church. They are in fact direct answers to certain questions propounded to him by members of that church. His answers are clearly influenced by two important factors: the first was the immoral atmosphere of that ancient commercial city into which had poured the vices of both the East and the West. If anywhere in the entire Roman world conditions were unfavourable for happy married life it was in corrupt Corinth. The second and still more important factor was Paul's belief that great social and political transformations were imminent. He plainly states this belief in I Corinthians 728c, 29a, 31b, 32a:

Those who marry will have physical discomfort, and I would spare you that. I mean, brothers, the time has been shortened, for this present world order is passing away. I want you to be free from all anxiety.

These factors undoubtedly largely explain the ascetic note in Paul's teaching. They suggest the chief reasons why he gave the following advice regarding mature unmarried women and widows (I Cor. 78, 9a):

I would say this: It is an excellent thing if, like me, they remain as they are; but if they cannot restrain themselves, let them marry.

And at the same time he plainly declared (I Cor. 728a):

If you are actually married there is no sin in that; and if a maiden marries there is no sin in that.

In I Corinthians 732-35 Paul states the third reason why he did not advise mature men and women, like himself, to assume matrimonial obligations:

I wish you to be free from anxiety. The unmarried man is anxious about the Lord's affairs, how he may please the Lord, but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how he may please his wife; thus he is torn with anxieties. The young unmarried woman and maiden also is anxious about the Lord's affairs that she may be consecrated body and spirit. But once married, she is anxious about worldly affairs, how she may please her husband. I am saying this in your own interest, not that I want to put a restraint upon your freedom, but only for the sake of decorum and undivided devotion to the Lord.

Paul makes it perfectly clear that his teachings regarding marriage were based simply on his own convictions and the peculiar needs and condition of the Corinthian Christians. To cite this advice as an authority in support of asceticism is as unjust to Paul as it is to the fundamental principles of interpre

MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

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tation. On the subject of divorce, however, he spoke unhesitatingly and on the avowed authority of the Master whom he served (I Cor. 710-16):

For married people, my instructions are-yet not mine but the Lord's-a wife is not to separate from her husband, or if she has separated, let her remain single or be reconciled to her husband. Also a husband must not put away his wife. To other people I say-I, not the Lord-if any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she consents to live with him, let him not put her away. And if any woman has a husband who is not a believer and he consents to live with her, let her not put her husband away. For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and a woman who is not a believer is consecrated through union with the Christian brother; otherwise your children would be unholy instead of being holy, as they now are. If, however, the unbeliever is determined to separate, let him do so. In such cases the Christian brother or sister is not bound as a slave. God has called you to a life of peace. O wife, how do you know that you may not save your husband? O husband, how do you know that you may not save your wife?

As has already been noted (p. 244), this passage is a strong confirmation of the originality of the Marcan version of Jesus' teaching regarding divorce, which gives no countenance to divorce with the aim of remarrying. It also implies that Jesus, like Paul, advised separation, when the action of either the husband or wife made married life together impossible. At the same time Paul declares his faith in the power of Christian love to break down all barriers and to transform the most impossible characters. It is the same principle which the prophet Hosea set forth not only by word but also in his own tragic domestic life. It is this love and zeal to help the other, who needs this help in proportion as he or she has departed from the path of rectitude, that destroys the hatred and resentment in the mind of the one wronged and often conquers when law and public opinion are powerless. Paul also emphasises the fact that divorce involves not only the interest of husband and wife but also that of their children, and that its

products are offsprings maimed morally and spiritually. The supreme principle which Paul applied to this vexed question is that of the highest peace or well-being for all concerned. If separation is necessary to conserve this well-being, he advises it; but never divorce and remarriage.

The Mutual Responsibilities of Husbands and Wives. Paul, though himself unmarried, has more to say about the duties of husbands and wives than any other biblical writer. The reason for this is because, like Jesus, he was keenly alive to the fundamental importance of the family. Moreover, as the devoted adviser of the communities under his fostering care, he was constantly impressed with the fact that the welfare of the individual and of society is indissolubly bound up with that of the home. He is to-day popularly regarded as the crabbed foe of woman's rights. As a matter of fact Paul, next to Jesus, did more to give woman her rightful position in the marriage relation than any other leader in human thought. In defining the duties and rights of husbands and wives in the intimate marriage relation, he placed them both on an absolute equality (I Cor. 73-5).

Moreover, it is Paul who alone has preserved and reiterated Jesus' injunction that husbands, in their intimate marriage relation, be governed not by their passions but by tender consideration for the feelings and welfare of their wives. Paul's command in Colossians 318,

Wives, be subject to your husbands, for this is your Christian duty,

is often quoted; but it is incomplete if torn from its context. In the same breath he lays a still weightier responsibility upon the masculine shoulders:

Husbands, love your wives; do not be harsh to them.

In the parallel passage in Ephesians 521-27 he commands both husbands and wives to "be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ." Their relationship he likens to that between