A letter from Ephesus 63AD
Prudence, a servant of Christ in Ephesus.
To Luke, my dear brother in Christ: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am writing to you, my dear brother with my concerns because I know from Paul’s last letter to Timothy that only you are with him. I want you to know how much I have valued both your ministry and that of our brother Paul in the past but I have to say that when I read Paul’s latest letter I was deeply troubled.
You may remember that I have had a few concerns about Paul in the past because he has failed to deal with the idolatry of his heart. He focuses too much on fighting things outside of himself, stating in a letter to us that our spiritual battle is not against flesh and blood but the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Through my certified training and ‘Spirit-wrought wisdom’ I perceive that he is in denial, spiritually blind to the reality of the battle he needs to address: that of his own heart. After all ‘the Christian life is a battle for hearts’. It has been said: ‘whenever you believe that the evil outside you is greater than the evil inside you, a heartfelt pursuit of Christ will be replaced by a zealous fighting of the ‘evil’ around you.’
I think I have mentioned before that Paul seems to fill his life with things that fill the ‘gospel gap’ in his life. He suffers with ‘biblicism’ – I know he is a biblical and theological expert but he has a reputation of being ‘proud, critical and intolerant of anyone who lacks his fine-grained understanding of the faith’. This may be an unfair criticism but all I can say is that in Corinth there were concerns. I have heard first hand his ‘socialism’, no I don’t mean his politics but the excessive value he puts on relationships. Just think how much he wanted to see the Thessalonians after he left them and look at him now grieving that Demas has deserted him (not a mention that Demas may have deserted Christ!). I think it is clear where the idols in his heart are: he is overly dependent on Timothy and Mark. Then look at his ambition to be the one that takes the gospel to Spain – I am glad the Lord put a stop to that one. He always wants to be the first one, the pioneer, the only preacher in town; I think his ministry has become an idol. He has frequently boasted about his ministry, his hardships, his converts and even at times his own spiritual experiences – it really is no surprise the Corthinians found him difficult (have you read his letters to them?)
Anyway most of this is old news but the final straw came in this last letter. I mean he has shown himself sinful in so many ways but I never thought that he would stoop so low as to start idolising things! Surely his request for his cloak reveals his desire for personal comfort and puts to shame any claim he has made in the past about rejoicing in his suffering. Paul has always maintained he was content but the truth will out as they say. Comfort is his idol. His problem is that he is content with the wrong things and in denial about the state of his heart. Surely Paul knows we must never be content with ourselves! ‘The true Christian experiences a trusting restlessness and joyful discontent’.
I urge you brother Luke, snatch him from the fire, counsel him before it is too late.
Grace be with you.