Welcome to BibleBum where we are exploring the entire Bible in one year to better learn how to follow God’s instructions and discover the purpose for our lives.  The BibleBum blog uses The One Year Chronological Bible, the New Living Translation version.  At the end of each day’s reading, Rob, a cultural history aficionado and seminary graduate, answers questions from Leigh An, the blogger host, about the daily scripture.  To start from the beginning, click on “Index” and select Day 1.

1 Corinthians 16:1-24

Acts 19:21-20:6

Romans 1:1-32

Questions & Observations

O. Paul is such a perfect role model!  He has taken his charge from God seriously, and not faltered.

Q. (1 Corinthians 16:21): Did Paul use a scribe to write his letters?  I just don’t know why he makes it a point to say he is signing his letters in his own handwriting.

A. Yes, Paul used a scribe — he won’t always leave his signature at the end — to write his letters.  It was common practice in the day to have the “genuine” signature of the true author of the letter.  We don’t really know why he did this, but one theory is that his writing hand was injured in his various traumas, and he is “signing” the letter with his non-writing hand, which is why the letters are so big.

Q. (Acts 19:23): What does “the Way” mean here?

A. That is the way that Luke refers to the Gospel, it was the primary way that the early believers referred to the message of Christianity.  Remember that this is the way that Jesus himself referred to Himself in John 14:6, so it is little surprise that the earliest believers took up this way of referring to their message.

O. (Romans 1:8:17): Paul is really great at building awesome, genuine rapport with whomever he visits or writes.

Q. (1:18-32): God is obviously against homosexuality.  He says in v. 26 that homosexuality is not the “natural way to have sex.”  Could we apply this to other subjects, like food, in particular?  Artificial colors and flavors, preservatives and GMOs are not natural.  I would think that God would not be to keen on those either.  You?  I know the Bible says to not worry about what we will eat, but I think It means “clean” and “unclean” food, not food that comes from a lab.

A. Paul is definitely condemning homosexual conduct (remember that being attracted to people of the same sex is NOT a sin, just acting on it!).  This type of conduct would have been commonplace in Rome at this time, and would have involved exploitation of young men by older men (you don’t want to know the details), and public bath houses (only for men) that frequently involved sex.  As to the other “unnatural” things like food or dyes, since those things did not exist at the time, I have a suspicion that Paul did not have such things in mind.  We might think of such regulations as being wise, but Paul is describing sin, and I would stop short of eating artificial foods as being a sinful action.