“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” The apostle Paul is the great teacher of Christianity. More than any other individual who came to believe in Jesus, Paul had the capacity, the insight, and the depth of understanding to fully articulate how radical and eternal the event and the experience of Jesus was then and continues to be for us now. 

What is known about Paul, of course, is that he was a leading intellectual in the Jerusalem Temple community. He was an erudite member of the Sanhedrin and knew the Jewish law thoroughly. He knew the history of the Jewish people and their struggle to find success and stability in a world that surrounded them. And that world of the Greco Roman world posed great pressure and threats to the Jews. The ominous presence of the Roman Empire which, if not openly hostile toward them, was suspicious of the Jewish community. They let them have their odd traditions to the degree that they didn’t create any rumblings or rebellion.

At the time we get Paul’s writings in our Christian scripture, that chapter of Roman indulgence was finished. Not long after Jesus’ death and resurrection, Rome had enough and destroyed the Jerusalem state. In his letter to the Romans, which is Paul’s epic expression of the meaning and experience of Jesus of Nazareth, he explains the ideal and inspired summation of the entire event. It was written approximately 20 years after the resurrection and at a time when Paul and other followers, disciples, and apostles were spreading out to form what would become the church. It is an amazing story. And Paul the Apostle’s writings, in particular, created intellectual cohesion for the entire enterprise. 

So here we are a full 2,000 years after this expression of Paul’s theology and conviction. We still turn to this writing for guidance to this very day. It is inspired, reliable and blessed by God. Throughout all of the Book of Romans, it is chapter 12 that offers the best and most succinct guide and instruction for how to live today as followers of Jesus. It acknowledges that we do so in the midst of outer turmoil from society and culture as it was for him in his day. But when we hold fast we will be eternally blessed. As he says “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” It’s this succinct summation that resonates today and reminds me that not only is Paul a great teacher, he is a modern day mental health authority on how to live well. His words and wisdom stand up with every bit as much power now as they did then. God bless the Apostle Paul.