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)
Read the full article at: https://rcus.org/issue/july-august-2025-reformed-herald/
