Dear Reader,
In an online world where words can reach readers mere seconds after they are published, we can lose sight of the lapse of time there is between when words are written and when they appear in print. By the time you have this magazine in your hands, the RCUS Synod and Tricentennial celebration will be over; but I am writing before they take place. (Indeed, by the time you read these words, it’s possible that someone else will have been chosen to be the editor.)
The Apostle Paul had to deal with a time lapse between when he wrote and when people read. In his case, it was due to letters needing to be sent by messengers and the slow pace of travel on foot or horseback. Although the roads of the Roman Empire were good, getting around took a long time compared to the instant nature of a phone or video call, or very quick travel by plane.
In my case, the gap means I can’t yet write about the event people are probably most interested in (the Tricentennial celebration). In Paul’s case, the stretched-out time meant that he could be worried and second guess what he had said. That’s a little surprising, to be sure. We usually think of Paul as bold, decisive, and firm. He was, and yet he didn’t always feel that way.
Notice how he wrote in 2 Corinthians: For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you. (…) For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. (…) For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed—lest I seem to terrify you by letters. “For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” (2 Cor. 2:4; 7:8; 10:8-10)
The time spent in sending a letter and receiving a response gave Paul time to wonder how it would be received, if he had been too hard on the Corinthians, and what the outcome would be. He had written a hard letter (1 Corinthians contains emotional passages and severe rebukes). The Corinthians had not been behaving well, and there were a lot of problems to tackle. We can understand that Paul experienced heightened worry and sorrow. It shows us a very human and relatable side of the great apostle, that he was restless without news (2 Cor. 2:13, 7:5).
That uncertainty and torment were finally relieved by a good report from Titus about the church in Corinth (2 Cor. 7:6-7). So Paul wrote again to comfort and reassure the Corinthians, as well as to tackle some outstanding business, and to address a problem of false teaching.
Our time gap is not as serious as Paul’s, and cases of church discipline are not handled by the Reformed Herald. But whenever we are anxious to hear how some situation turned out, or troubled by a delay in communication, Paul’s example teaches that God cares for us then too.
Rev. Ruben Zartman
Editor