Peter noted that Paul's letters included a lot of wisdom, but also things that were "hard to understand." What do you see here that someone like Peter might have considered particular wise? What things might he be referring to when he says that there are things "hard to understand?
In Paul's letters to the Corinthians, he deals with the problem of factions within the church which Peter would have thought wise. He doesn't directly address each issue that is dividing people, but tries to unite the people by reminding them EVERYONE is a servant of Jesus, and uses love to bind people.
ReplyDeletePaul also addresses issues of immorality and gives clear cut instructions regarding marriage, lax discipline within the church, and sexual immorality.
There was a couple things I noticed that Peter might have been confused by is how Paul amends some of the strict rules about food that were in Acts. And the second thing that was confusing is how in 1 Corinthians, Paul tells women to cover their heads in worship, and then in 2 Corinthians tells them to have the” veil taken away”.
Peter may have considered Paul’s understanding of how to fix the splitting of the different churches. Paul seemed to have different ideas on how to fix each church and many seemed to work. Paul was very wise anyway, so being able to fix such a major problem was a great thing. True they were not permanent fixes, but they kept the churches together longer. Peter may have seen Paul’s different understandings of how the Gentiles needed to live their lives as hard to understand. Since, Peter dealt with the Jews and was one he may not have understood the lifestyles of the Gentiles as well as Paul did. Paul was a wise and sometimes hard to understand man, Peter was just one of the many who had to deal with him. -Kelly Longden
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