Jul
23
2008
How A Salutation Points Us Toward A New Society
Having just finished a chapter on Christian unity for Unfashionable (see here and here) I was delighted to pick up my June edition of Christianity Today and find a column by Al Hsu on the same subject. In this brief article, Al makes the point that the Apostle Paul’s signature greeting, “Grace and Peace”, was actually a joining of two words which formed a phrase that had never been coined before. Why the innovation on Paul’s part? Al explains:
Paul knew that many of his congregations were torn by factional strife. But he didn’t say, “Grace to you Gentiles, and shalom to you Jews.” Grace is not just for Greeks, and peace is not just for Jews. God’s desire was for the whole community to receive his grace and experience his shalom—not merely the absence of conflict, but the fullness of well being, harmony, wholeness, and life.
So Paul said, “Grace and peace to you.” Paul addressed Gentile and Jewish believers together, as members of one body. He wrote in continuity with their cultural and ethnic backgrounds, yet pointed to a new, countercultural reality. He combined a Greek greeting and a Hebrew greeting to create a distinctively Christian greeting.
Al makes the same point I make in my chapter which is that the church should be the one community breaking down barriers—not erecting them. God intends the church to be demonstrating what surrounding communities could look like where God’s reconciling power is at work.
Read the rest of Al’s article here.