Tuesday, 8 December 2015

Unity and Diversity in Christ: Interpreting Paul in Context: Collected Essays,
Willian S. Campbell, Cascade Books, 2013, page 10

Campbell maintains that the theme of reconciliation is a central focus of Romans. But what does reconciliation mean?

Paul's gospel demands not the removal of difference in Christ, but rather the erasure of the enmity due to difference.

Solving the problem does not involve making everyone the same, but it everyone accept and be reconciled to one another with the differences that we have.

If a man has only one leg, it is clear that reconciliation does not require that he grow another leg to be like his two-legged brothers, otherwise he could never be reconciled. Neither can it require that all his two-legged brethren should have one leg removed to be reconciled to the man with one leg. Instead it requires that the one-legged mand and his two-legged brothers accept that the number of legs will always be a difference betweem them, but be reconciled as people, rather than bodies with one or two legs.