Wright N. T. - PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD

Roughly seventy years after the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, a Roman senator, mindful of his own importance and seniority, wrote to a friend about a third man, a social inferior who had got himself in trouble:

You told me you had been angry with a freedman of yours, and now he’s come to see me! He threw himself at my feet and clung on to me as though I were you. He wept a lot, he asked for a lot, though he kept quiet about a lot too. To sum it up, he made me believe that he was genuinely sorry. I think he is a changed character, because he really does feel that he did wrong.

Yes, I know you are angry; and I know, too, that you have a right to be angry. But mercy earns most praise when anger is fully justified. Once you loved this fellow, and I hope you will love him again; for the moment, it’s enough if you let yourself be placated. You can always be angry again if he deserves it, and you’ll have all the more reason if you’ve been placated now. He’s young, he’s in tears, and you have a kind heart – make all that count. Don’t torture him, and don’t torture yourself either; anger is always torture for a soft heart like yours.

I am afraid it will look as though I’m putting pressure on you, not simply making a request, if I join my prayers to his. But I’m going to do it anyway, and all the more fully and thoroughly because I’ve given him a sharp and severe talking-to, and I’ve warned him clearly that I won’t make such a request again. (This was because he needed a good fright, and I said it to him rather than to you, because it’s just possible that I shall make another request, and receive it too – always supposing it’s an appropriate thing for me to ask and for you to grant.)

N. T. Wright. PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Николас Томас Райт - Апостол Павел и верность Бога

Fortress Press Edition 2013

Истоки христианства и вопрос о Боге - Том 4

4 том грандиозной эпопеи Николаса Томаса Райта по библеистике Нового Завета. Эту книгу Николас Томас Райт Посвятил Ричарду Хейзу.

N. T. Wright. PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - PART I  Paul and His World

Chapter One  Return of the Runaway?

1. A World of Difference

(i) Pliny and Paul