I’ve Moved!

For those who may still be loitering around this blog, I just wanted to let you know I’ve moved!

I recently started a Substack, which is a popular weekly newsletter site, that you can subscribe to. If you want to subscribe – which I’d highly encourage you to do – head on over to shawnbrace.substack.com.

I hope to see you over there!

An Explosion of Joy

“We distort matters when we make mission an enterprise of our own in which we can justify ourselves by our works. . . . The Church’s mission began as the radioactive fallout from an explosion of joy. When it is true to its nature, it is so to the end. Mission is an acted out doxology. That is its deepest secret. Its purpose is that God may be glorified.”

-Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, p. 127.

Zion

The Virgin River, Zion National Park – June 14, 2020

The First Day of the Rest of My Life

Get Your Head Out of the Bible

^39-40 “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.

^41-44 “I’m not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God’s love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God?”

-John 5:39-44, The Message

Six Reasons Why I’m Canceling Social Media

I’m out. I’m canceling social media. I’m going back to the future.

This decision has been brewing for a little while, but watching Netflix’s The Social Dilemma last week put me over the top. I just can’t figure out a way to justify remaining on social media – which, for me, consists of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

This is not a decision I take lightly, so here are the reasons why I’m canceling it.

1. I want my imagination back. It’s really startling how much social media has wreaked havoc on my ability to creatively fill my time. When I have a free moment – at a stop light, waiting in a line – I immediately turn to my phone to see what’s happening on Facebook or Twitter.

At night, when I have free time, it’s like I’ve lost my ability to figure out something to do. Either I read a book or I check social media. That’s it. I can’t comprehend what else I might be able to do. Other hobbies or pastimes either don’t come to mind or don’t sound appealing.

Simply put, I want my imagination and creativity back.

2. I want my presence back. It’s really frightening how much social media takes my presence away from the ones I’m with physically. I know this is not unique to me. How often are we in the same room with other people but not really with them – because we’re reading a tweet from someone halfway around the world?

We care more about the people out there than the people right next to us.

I want to be more present with those who are most important to me – my wife, my children, my church family, my neighbors, my city. They deserve it. Trying to be a social media “influencer,” at least for me, is a fool’s errand. Those we have the most influence with, and those we should be most concerned about influencing, are the ones sitting right next to us.

3. I want my joy back. I have to be honest: neither Facebook nor Twitter bring me any joy. And I do mean any. (Instagram does a little, but not enough to justify staying on.) And as Marie Kondo famously says, we should just eliminate things in our life that don’t spark joy (within reason, of course).

I honestly don’t enjoy scrolling mindlessly down my Facebook or Twitter feed, hopelessly looking for that elusive post that I implicitly think will give me some sort of buzz that never comes. But like a bad addiction that never delivers the high I’m looking for, I keep returning to it because I’m enslaved to it.

But no more. Social media brings me absolutely no joy and so I see no reason to stay on it.

4. I want my opinions back. It’s really startling how polarized our world has become, and it feels pretty indisputable that social media has had a large part to play in that. The moment algorithms were introduced to Facebook, the world started down this self-destructing path.

Social media is designed, by its very nature, to entrench us in our beliefs. The system deliberately feeds us stories and posts that affirm what we already think, and literally rewards posts that travel in the extremes. The more controversial and absolutist a post is, the more the algorithm prioritizes that post for others to see. And it’s pretty-well established that bad actors around the world have taken advantage of this system in order to foment unrest and discord among groups of people and nations.

I don’t want to play that game anymore. I don’t want to wonder anymore how many of my opinions have been significantly influenced – or even determined – by unseen forces that have nefarious motives. Or by algorithms that are used in the service of companies whose only motive is to make millions off unsuspecting users.

5. I want my faith back. I remember seeing a meme recently that said something to the effect that “it’s going to be really awkward seeing some of my friends in person after reading their Facebook posts for the last six months during social distancing.”

This one is very much related to the previous point. Quite frankly, I’ve lost a lot of faith in humanity. There’s always the question of whether what people say on social media is who they truly are, as opposed to how they are in person, but either way, many of us seem to have an alter-ego, which may lead to permanent relational damage that can’t be reversed. Which is why I’ve learned the art of unfollowing people. I don’t want my opinion of them to be irredeemably altered.

And I know others have done the same for me. Which makes sense. I often find myself regretting stuff I’ve posted or opinions I’ve offered. But social media, by its nature, almost requires us to be an expert on everything, to have an opinion on everything, and to pursue a zero-sum game where there are only winners and losers.

But I think we’re better than that – though I’m not sure we can ever achieve the better without abandoning these money-making, algorithmic-based platforms which are designed, by their very nature – in pursuit of the almighty dollar – to undermine our belief in each other.

6. I want my identity back. I’ve actually saved the most significant one for last. I legitimately wonder how much of “me” I’ve lost due to my involvement with social media. How much of what I prioritize, care about, and engage in is due these platforms?

A year ago, I decided I wanted to deactivate Facebook. But I hesitated – not because I wanted to stay connected with people or spread my positive message. I hesitated because people wouldn’t be able to see that I was skiing in the Alps a few months later. That’s sick. (I did actually end up deactivating Facebook before my trip, but people on Instagram and Twitter were still the recipients of my bragging).

This is just one example of many that has led me to wonder how much of my identity has been shaped by and is wrapped up with my involvement with social media. How much of my self-perception and my personal security has been influenced by how many likes I get on a Facebook post or how many followers I have on Twitter? How much of my perception of how well I’m doing as a pastor is determined by what I see other pastors posting about their ministries?

A few years ago, I was quite upset and feeling sorry for myself when I saw one of my pastor-friends posting that he had been invited to speak in South Africa. I’m not as popular as him and getting invited to speak at these exotic places, I lamented. And then I realized I had just returned from speaking in Australia.

I have a plenty of insecurities and get down on myself. I legitimately wonder how much of that is due to being on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I wonder how much of what I want to do in life – ski in the Alps, plant churches, possibly do PhD work – is because of all the many hours I spend each week consuming social media.

I want to find my true self – which may only be possible apart from social media.

So these are the major reasons why I’m canceling social media. I may be unique in this regard. Most others may not struggle with any of these issues. And I know social media does have some redeeming qualities.

But based on what I read and see, with higher rates of depression and loneliness, and baffling degrees of polarization in the world, I’m guessing I’m not the only one. So perhaps I can inspire a few others to take the plunge.

I truly think it’s a journey back to the future. And I think social media use is bordering on a public health crisis. And in 20 years we will probably look at Facebook like we look at cigarettes today – quite alarmed that so many people fell for it for so long.

Hong Kong In Color

(Note: After not posting on this blog for over two years, this is sort of a random post. But I wanted to share some of my pictures from my recent trip to Hong Kong via a medium other than Facebook or Instagram – which won’t present the look I would want for my pictures. So I decided to resurrect my blog for one day only.)

I can remember my freshman year in college when I saw it. It was a picture of the Hong Kong skyline and I was totally mesmerized. It was a shot from the famous Victoria Peak, showing skyscraper after skyscraper on the horizon.

Ever since then, I wanted to visit this enchanting city. So when I saw that my flights to a speaking appointment in Perth, Australia, would be going through Hong Kong, I knew I needed to spend a few extra days to explore the city.

On my way back from Perth, I stopped in Hong Kong, landing at 7:00 AM on Monday morning and leaving Wednesday afternoon. What I decided to do was take all the pictures I could in the 40 hours or so I was there. I opted for a little sleep and even less food – taking nearly 1,000 pictures on my Canon DSLR and Phantom drone.

Soon after I arrived, with very little sleep, I hit the streets, making my way by foot toward Man Mo Temple, which is in the Central district of the city, on Hong Kong Island. Here were a few of the sites along the street that I saw (click on the individual pictures to see them bigger).

Man Mo Temple

Man Mo Temple is one of the most popular temples in Hong Kong, serving as a place of worship for Man Tai, the god of literature, and Mo Tai, the martial god. It was built in 1847. Stepping inside, it’s hard not to be suffocated by all the burning incense.

I also ran into American comedian Jim Gaffigan, who was sightseeing along with his family, which is a funny little story. I resisted the urge to grab a selfie with him.

From there I wandered through the Central district of Hong Kong, which serves as the financial center of the city. It was very busy!

One feature that is very interesting is that there are raised escalators/moving walkways that wind throughout the whole city in the streets. Some of them stretch for miles.

Victoria Peak

I eventually made my way to Victoria Peak, opting for the harrowing bus ride up the mountain instead of taking the famous tram, since there was a huge line. The Peak is the main photography attraction in Hong Kong. It presents the iconic image of the city skyline – and was the top of my bucket list. Unfortunately, as often happens, it was not a clear afternoon or night in the city, so the view was not A+. Plus, where I wanted to take my panoramic picture from, there was a handrail that was fairly high and limited my ability to pivot as much as I wanted, but it is what it is!

I arrived quite a bit early to stake out the location from which I wanted to take the picture, which left me with a lot of time to kill. Fortunately, I ended up meeting a couple of other guys who had the same idea and we ended up chatting for our 90-minute wait.

One of them, who was from Germany and is touring Asia for four months, wanted to head to the same place I did after. So we teamed up and headed to the Temple Street Night Market, which is another iconic location in Kowloon, which is on the other side of the harbor.

Temple Street Night Market

Marcus and I took the bus down the Peak, eventually finding the metro – which was extremely crowded, and we found the location from which to shoot the street market, which is one of the most famous in Hong Kong.

We found our way to the sixth floor of a parking garage and set up our tripods. I was able to capture this iconic image.

Unfortunately, our time was cut short because a female parking attendant was wandering around, ticketing cars, and when she saw us, she said seemingly the only English word she knew: “No, no, no.” She waved for us to leave and waited for us to fold up our tripods and walk away.

It was then that Marcus and I parted company and I shot a few other images on street level of the market, which was bustling.

Being about 10:00 PM, I decided to call it a night and made my way back to my hotel across Victoria Harbor, via the famous Star Ferry and the metro. I had almost been up for 48 straight hours, sleeping for maybe an hour on the plane from Perth, and probably walked about 20 miles that day.

I made it back to my room around 11:00 and then uploaded my pictures. After getting to bed around midnight, I was up again by 5:45 AM to shoot some early drone shots around the harbor near my hotel.

I was very happy with the results of this image!

After taking a little nap for a few hours, I decided to get more organized with my second day, mapping out exact locations I wanted to see and making sure I knew which bus and metro routes I needed to take. I decided to go in a big circle, starting on Hong Kong Island, then heading over to the Kowloon side, and eventually making it to Victoria Harbor on the Kowloon side to see the nightly light show at 8:00 PM.

My first stop was the Cheun Yun Steet Market.

Cheun Yun Street Market

What caught my eye about this street market was the tram that drove right through the middle of it, as well as there be a lot of meet markets that lined the side of it. That was quite a site – especially for a vegetarian!

From there, I traveled across the harbor, via the metro, to the Chin Lin Nunnery.

Chin Lin Nunnery

The Chin Lin Nunnery is a Buddhist temple complex which serves as a retreat center for nuns. Originally built in 1934, it was rebuilt in the 1990s. It was quite the place, replete with huge golden Buddha statues, as well as other Buddhist figures.

Unfortunately, though you can take pictures of the grounds, you are not allowed to take pictures of the Buddha statues.

After Chin Lin Nunnery, I went to the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple, which is just one stop away on the metro.

Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple

This temple, which is Taoist, is a very popular temple for worshippers. There were lots of people burning incense there, bowing down, going through different rituals, shaking lots (or something like that). It was a very fascinating place, presenting a fascinating comparative religion experience.

There were people outside the temple selling incense sticks, trying to exploit the worshippers’ need for religious appeasement. One could get a lot of fodder for a sermon from this place!

From there, I made my way by metro to Mong Kok, where I made my way to the Goldfish Market and then the Yuen Po Street Bird and Flower Market.

Goldfish Market and Yuen Po Street Bird and Flower Market

The Goldfish Market is a really fascinating place. It is a whole block of shops that are selling goldfish. Each store just has a ton of plastic bags, filled with goldfish, hanging on the walls. It’s quite the photographic experience!

Similarly, the flower market is also a whole block full of flowers shops – as is the bird market a whole block with bird shops, selling birds and bird cages.

Along the way from the metro station, I came upon this scene of what was apparently a bus depot center. From one of the raised walkways I got a good vantage point.

After grabbing some quick supper (one of only three meals I actually ate in three days!), consisting of pizza, I headed for the waterfront, where I wanted to stake my spot for the nightly light show. I walked around the Avenue of Stars before finding my spot.

Avenue of Stars and Light Show

This is a very popular location from which to see the light show and by dusk a lot of people were lining up.

I was able also to track down another iconic Hong Kong site – the Aqua Luna, which is a Chinese junk that gives tours around Victoria Harbor. Even though I wasn’t able to get the exact image I was hoping for, I was still able to capture this well-known boat.

And then the light show began, which lasts about ten minutes. There were thousands of people who line the harborside to watch it.

I also got a pano of the Hong Kong Island skyline, which turned out okay.

Instead of shooting more night scenes, which I sort of wanted to do, I decided to turn in early for the night since I was very tired. I took the Star Ferry back again and then the metro.

The next day, I woke up a little later, packed up, checked out of my hotel room, and went and visited the Chinese Union (of Seventh-day Adventists) offices in the New Territories. I tried to track down a little walled city that was near the offices, but my efforts were in vain. But I had a good time visiting with Robert Folkenberg, Jr., who serves as the president, and finally enjoyed some authentic Chinese food that he treated me to at a nearby restaurant.

The stories he told me about the work in China were extremely fascinating!

From there I took a bus to the airport. And that was that!

I really enjoyed Hong Kong and loved all the vibrant colors and interesting vignettes. It was a good introduction to Asia for me!

The God Who Sends

The God of the Bible is a sending God – a Missionary God, as some have said, with Jesus as the first Missionary. Missiologists have coined a fancy phrase to describe this idea: missio Dei—the mission of God.

In reading John 17 this morning for worship, this idea hit home with me as I noticed a phrase that Jesus used four times in the chapter. He repeatedly notes how it was His Father who “sent Me” (vv. 18, 21, 23, 25). In fact, it was one of His great missions, for which He prays in John 17 – that the world would know that God sent Him.

The word for “sent” in these verses is the Greek word apostello­—from which the word “apostle” comes. An apostle is “one who is sent.” This is precisely what a missionary is (“missionary” is the Latinized form of the Greek “apostle”): it is someone who is sent out for a specific purpose—in this case, to reveal the heart of God.

John 17 is not an isolated chapter when it comes to this refrain, however. In fact, establishing the reality of Christ’s sentness-of-God is one of John’s major themes. In just 21 chapters, Jesus declares this idea 34 times. For whatever reason, Jesus wants to make it abundantly clear that He was sent by God—both to establish the legitimacy of His mission and, no doubt, to remind people of His mission (and perhaps to reveal the dynamics of His relationship with His Father?).

All this speaks, of course, to God’s soteriological attitude: He’s a God who takes the initiative and sends out on mission, rather than waiting for those who need to be rescued to come to Him. Mission and salvation are initiated by God—which is what we see right in the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 3, when God comes searching for Adam and Eve after they’ve sinned and are enveloped by guilt and shame. He doesn’t wait for them to approach Him.

Thus, the incarnation—of God taking on flesh, moving into the neighborhood, pursuing lost humanity.

But here’s where it gets practical: Jesus not only employs the word apostello repeatedly in John to describe the posture He has toward humanity, He also uses it repeatedly when explaining what our posture is to be toward humanity. Turning to the disciples—who would become the apostles, “the sent ones”—before His ascension, He declares: “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (20:21).

God still sends! Just as Jesus was sent to a hurting and lost world, so we are sent to a hurting and lost world. And just as Jesus didn’t wait for us to come to Him, so we are not to wait for others to come to us. This is what it means to be “missional.” It means we, as a church, take on the same posture that God takes toward us. We are “sent out” to reach others. We live life always “on mission,” as “sent ones.” And in so doing, we give an accurate picture of the gospel.

We don’t put on fancy programs in our buildings and wait for people to walk through our doors. “As the Father sent Jesus, so He sends us”—out to a lost world that doesn’t have enough strength or even desire to come to us, stepping into an unknown and confusing religious world featuring a language they don’t speak. 

To be “sent” means we leave the place of comfort and predictability and step into the land of uncertainty and vulnerability, just as Jesus did, for the sake of revealing the God who sends.

And this becomes the modus operandi of the church. In Alan Hirsch’s words, “The church’s true and authentic organizing principle is the mission of God revealed in Jesus. When the church is in mission [sentness], it is the true church. The church itself is not only a product of that mission but is obligated and destined to extend it by whatever means possible” (The Forgotten Ways, p. 88). Indeed, as Hirsch and others have noted, it is not accurate to say that the church has a mission, it is more accurate to say that the mission has a church—a mission that began in the heart of God, Himself, and was revealed through Jesus Christ.

Note well: the God of the Bible is not a God who plays it safe, who plays things close to the vest, who conserves for the sake of conserving, who keeps, who stays. He’s a God who sends, who becomes vulnerable, who incarnates, who takes risks for the sake of rescue, who spends Himself to the very last ounce—and a God who sends us out to do the same.

The Death of Lazarus and a Simple Particle

Do you, like me, find yourself discouraged at times – wondering where God is when things are rough? Theodicy –  trying to figure out how God can possibly be good when everything seems so bad – has probably been the subject that has occupied more brain cells in the human mind than any other in this world’s history.

But perhaps an encouraging word from the death of Lazarus and John’s use of a seemingly inconsequential Greek particle can buoy your spirits.

Let me explain.

I have been reading through the Gospel of John for my personal worship time and two days ago I came across an interesting grammatical nuance that, at first glance, seems to be a curious shift in the narrative. Lazarus, a man that was very dear to Jesus’ heart, has taken deathly sick and the word is sent from his sisters, Mary and Martha, to Jesus, to come quickly to heal him. The family knows, and believes in, the power of Jesus to perform miracles. So they figure Jesus, quite fond of Lazarus, would make a beeline for Bethany.

Further bolstering such an assumption, the reader of John is let in on the secret of how much Jesus cares for the family. “Now,” John explains, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus” (John 11:5). 

It’s a very simple sentence that is pregnant with significance on its own. But its inclusion primarily provides context for what comes next. John inserts a simple, yet very profound, particle in the next word (two words later in Greek). “So,” he writes. And what follows is where the rub is. The reader quite expects John to continue, “So . . . Jesus traveled as quickly as He could to Bethany, where He healed Lazarus.” After all, Jesus loves Mary and Marth and Lazarus!

Right?

But that’s not what comes after the particle. Instead, John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes, “So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was” (v. 6). And, of course, as the narrative goes on to say, it is during Jesus’ delay that Lazarus passes away.

Such a juxtaposition! Seemingly. John deliberately inserts that Jesus “loved” Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, yet in the next breath he describes how Jesus intentionally chooses to stay put rather than rushing to Lazarus’ to heal him.

What’s going on? 

I think the particle makes all the difference. The word, in Greek, is oun. It can be translated a number of ways and carry a number of different meanings. Without getting into all the technicall nitty-gritty, it can be used in an inferential way, carrying the meaning of “therefore” or “consequently.” It connects the previous thought – namely, that Jesus loved Lazarus and his family – and says, “Consequently, He stayed where He was.” Fully contrasting with this, it can be used in an adversative way, denoting contrast. After explaining Jesus’ love, John thus would be saying, “However, He stayed where He was.” In other words, despite the fact that Jesus loved the family, He decided to stay away. Lastly, it can simply be used in a simple sequence of events, transitioning from one part of the story to the next.

It seems to me that one can legitimately make the case that all three could be an appropriate way to translate it. And they all carry their own theological significance. After all, when things go wrong in my life, I find it very assuring that even though God may not have wanted those things to happen to me, He still loves me. This is the particle in the adversative sense. God loves me, but things do happen that aren’t good – and despite the junk, despite the mess, I can still rest in the assurance that God loves me.

I think this is the case with a lot of bad things. I do not believe, contrary to hard Calvinism, and other deterministic philosophies, that “everything happens for a reason.” I do not believe that God wills for bad things to happen to anyone so He can teach us a lesson. I think He can take the bad and make something good out of it – if we allow Him to – but I would never propose that every bad thing that happens to a person is because God has deliberately wanted it to happen. There is, after all, a devil in this world – and it is his desire to bring suffering and hurt, not God’s.

However, I do also believe there are times when God does allow bad things to happen to us precisely because He is pursuing a higher good. And this story with Lazarus seems to be one of them. John explains to the reader that Jesus loves Mary, Martha, and Lazarus and – check this – precisely because He does love them He allows Lazarus to die. The oun is inferential. “Jesus loved them,” John writes, “Consequently, He let Lazarus die.”

The rest of the story plainly demonstrates this. After finally arriving in Bethany, and receiving a little guilt-trip from Martha, Jesus pulls back the curtain on this. “Did I not say to you,” he asks Martha, after requesting that the stone from Lazarus’s tomb be rolled away, “that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (v. 40). And then, of course, Jesus proceeds to call forth Lazarus from the grave, raising Him from the dead.

So this is the greater good! This is why, precisely because Jesus loved them, He let Lazarus die. He wanted Mary, Martha, and Lazarus to see the glory of God – which is also something He wanted His disciples to see (v. 15). Healing Lazarus of his illness would have been faith-building; raising Him from the dead was faith-cementing. It also grounded them to a greater degree in His love. 

We cannot know, of course, in any particular moment if Jesus wants something “bad” to happen to us or simply allows it to happen. But we do know that He loves us and that, sometimes, in ways that don’t make sense to us at all in our near-sightedness, He always has a munch longer view in mind. Sometimes we are content with far too little. We want to experience healing; God wants to give us resurrection. We want to be spared of temptation; God wants us to experience victory through temptation. Even Jesus, perfect as He was, “learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).

Further, God wants to give us much greater evidence of His love, and a far greater belief in His power – but in our impatience and haste we, like Martha, are tempted to say, “Lord, if only You had acted sooner, then . . . . ”

To us, as to Martha, He says, “I love you . . . and because I do, I want you to be witness to far greater evidence of my love and power.” 

The Lonely Paul

Sometimes you don’t always appreciate the full context of the biblical books when you read them – but I’ve just been given a fuller appreciation for Paul through his letter to the Galatians.

I’m preparing a little teaching series on Barnabas, and I am reading an article on his role in Galatians. In Galatians, you’ll recall, even Barnabas gets sucked in by the Judaizers (see 2:13), essentially leaving Paul – who is young in his ministry – on his own. So think of how lonely Paul felt! He had preached this powerful gospel to the Gentiles, only to have Peter, the other apostles, and Barnabas – the guy who stood up for him after his conversion and partnered with him in his gospel ministry to the Gentiles (see Acts 9:27) – abandon him.

In the light of this, I’m sure Paul must have done a lot of wrestling about the gospel he was preaching and the ministry he’d been called to.

All this was brought to my attention in an article by Richard Bauckham, who has been Professor of New Testament at St. Andrews, Scotland, but is now a researcher at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. Notice what he writes:

Paul’s evasion of reference to Barnabas in Galatians, his sorrow and embarrassment over his partner’s defection, highlight his loneliness in the crisis which called forth this letter. This was the first great crisis of his apostolic career. The very existence of a Gentile mission as Paul understood it was called into question, and with it Paul’s own existence as an apostle of Christ on the basis of the Damascus road experience. We can scarcely be wrong if we suppose that Paul’s response to this crisis involved an intensification of his apostolic consciousness, such as we find expressed in Galatians. His awareness of direct divine commissioning had determined his activity from his conversion onwards, but in the extreme loneliness of the crisis at Antioch he was thrown back on this as never before, deprived both of the partnership of Barnabas and of recognition from the Jerusalem apostles. Characteristically he finds the validation of his Gospel in his personal experience of Christ, of which he says more only in 2 Corinthians, and his confidence in the “marks of Jesus” with which he is branded Christ’s slave (6:17).

Talk about seeing Galatians in three dimensions and highlighting its relevance! And sometimes Paul is viewed as one who was very arrogant and opinionated – but this picture gives me a greater sympathy for him and his situation, as well as admiration for his convictions, even in the face of loneliness and hostility.