I purchased N. T. Wright’s New Testament set (18 volumes) recently. I am planning to finish reading them in January and February. (I just finished the volume on The Prison Letters.) It is a good habit to read the Bible along with useful commentaries. Each volume of this series is short and concise. N. T. Wright, a first-rated theologian and exegete, is always able to provide some pointers for readers to understand the text in the first century and apply it in the twenty-first century.
From time to time, we need to set different short-term goals to encounter the Word of God. For example, we can continuously read one particular book in the Bible in a month, like Exodus. We can read all Pauline epistles repeatedly in six months. Or we use a book like An Introduction to the Old Testament to read the entire Old Testament. I used to read five psalms per day. I finished reading the Book of Psalms in a month. I stopped doing it after a few months. (I think I got bored.) In spite of the fact that the Bible is the Word of God, it’s true that we get bored in reading the Bible here and there. That’s why we need creativity as well as new challenge to encounter the Word of God. A new challenge imposed on myself is to read the New Testament along with N. T. Wright’s commentaries.
In commenting on Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica (1 Thess. 2:1-8), N. T. Wright notes:
In his dealings with the Thessalonians themselves, as a result, Paul could afford to be gentle, caring and loving. He wasn’t secretly out to gain anything from them; he simply and genuinely wanted the love of God to embrace them, and as he worked among them he found that his own love was drawn out to them as well. Those who have had the privilege of being ministered to by people with this motivation know how wonderful it is when pastors share with them not only the gospel but their own very selves. Those of us who have had good Christian friends, at school, college, work or in social life, will know the same thing.
And, in case anyone supposes…that Paul is praising himself too much, we should reflect that he could hardly have written all this—and the scribe taking Paul’s dictation could hardly have copied it down—if it wasn’t true. The Thessalonians would recognize this self-portrait when they heard the letter. The question for all Christian ministers is: if we were to describe ourselves like this, would anyone recognize who we were talking about?[1]
A self-portrait of a Christian minister ought to be recognized by a particular group of people in a local church. Pastoral ministry is like “a nursing mother taking care of her own children” (1 Thess. 2:7). This imagery vividly depicts Paul’s pastoral attitude and endurance. And the congregation in Thessalonica should recognize this “motherly” image in Paul and his ministry. No Christian minister ought to be fully defined by a congregation. We are mature enough to see that some churches turn ministers into mere workers. However, one’s pastoral depiction cannot bypass the congregation’s recognition either. Christian ministers are servants of the church for Jesus’ sake (2 Cor. 4:5). Not only are Christian ministers servants of Jesus Christ, but also the body of Christ—the church.
[1] N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), p. 96.
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