Fr. George Parsenios (HCHC ’96)

St. Paul’s letters were not written to us: when we read them, we are reading someone else’s mail. But these letters sit at the heart of sacred Scripture, because St. Paul never gave his readers a simple solution to solve a single problem. Rather, he used each individual problem as an example of how to solve every problem. To paraphrase a common expression, he didn’t feed his readers for a single day by simply giving them a fish. He fed them for the rest of their lives by teaching them how to fish. Consequently, he has taught us how to fish as well. In today’s epistle reading, we see St. Paul laying the groundwork to correct errors about the Resurrection that had crept into the Corinthian Church. He addressed this issue in the rest of chapter 15. It is not entirely clear what the Corinthians thought about the Resurrection, but whatever they thought was wrong. In response to their error, St. Paul shows us how to resolve not only this problem, but every problem that Christians might face. First, he grounds his teaching in the tradition of the Church when he says, “I delivered to you what I also received.” Paul did not invent the Gospel, and he is not changing the Gospel. He received the Gospel from those who were before him—and indeed, from Christ Himself (Gal. 1:11-12)—and he passes it on without alteration. Second, he grounded his teaching about the Resurrection in the Bible, saying that Jesus died and rose “according to the Scriptures.” The teaching of the Church is grounded in Scripture and Tradition. Following the example of the great Apostle Paul, in responding to question we encounter—from something mundane or murky that puzzles us, to an elaborate heresy that menaces us—we must ground our theological work in Scripture and Tradition.

Fr. George Parsenios is Professor of New Testament at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. www.hchc.edu