Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

— Ephesians 1:2

I saw a meme on Facebook the other day that said, “If Paul saw the church in America today, we would be getting a letter.” The letters, or epistles, that Paul wrote provide an insight into the beliefs and controversies of early Christianity. The Pauline Epistles are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although most scholars believe that Paul only wrote seven of the thirteen epistles attributed to him. Paul wrote to the Christian communities in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, and Thessalonica. Paul also wrote to three of his followers: Timothy in Ephesus, Titus in Crete, and Philemon in Colossae. 

I think Paul would be appalled if he saw Christianity in America today. He would probably be appalled at most Christians in the world who have taken so much of his words in the epistles and twisted them to suit their own desires to condemn others and subjugate them to conform to their version of Christianity. He would be dismayed at the hatefulness that emanates from churches in America. He would be disappointed in how fractured Christianity is in America with its seemingly endless variety of Protestant denominations. The early churches that Paul wrote to were not uniformly following the teachings of Christ. They had adapted to local prejudices and practices in opposition to the universality of love and acceptance that Jesus had preached.

Paul wanted uniformity and universality in the church. He sought to encourage Christians to follow the teachings of Jesus, not of men who found various ways to exclude others. Each of the early churches had their own problems. The best example of this is in the two epistles to Corinth, in which he addresses the various problems with the local church, who were following the desires of men instead of those of Jesus. In the name of Christ, they were actually turning their backs on the teachings of Christ for their own gain, much like Christians in America today.

Paul stressed unity and acceptance by Christians. Specifically, in 1 Corinthians 13, often known as the love chapter, Paul describes the characteristics of true love. He says that love is not selfish or self-centered; it is kind, humble, forgiving, courteous, not easily angered, respectful, trusting, positive and hopeful. Love also gives us spiritual resilience and patience so that it willingly “endures all things” to obey and serve God. Paul points out that envy and competition create division, as was the case in the Corinthian church. Love is the great unifier. If Paul were to see the state of Christianity in America today, instead of being a great unifier, he would see an uncharitable, greedy, power-hungry, hateful, and discriminatory group of people who work more to exclude than to include others.

The importance of Paul’s writings should be invaluable to Christianity. Paul also took the Gospel message to the Gentile (non-Jewish) world, leaving instructions and inspiration that continue to change lives today. Paul wanted Christianity to be open to all people and to advocate for peace and loving relationships with one another. Some of Paul’s letters are controversial because they are taken out of context and are used by many Christians in America to exclude, not include, people from Christianity. For example when Paul discusses the harmful practice of pederasty (in 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy) or pagan orgies (Romans), teachings that are used to condemn LGBTQ+ people when they do not even address LGBTQ+ communities. 

So, yes, I do believe if Paul saw the church in America today, evangelical leaders in America would be getting a letter. Too much of Christianity has strayed from the teachings of Christ and is being used as a bludgeon to oppress the less fortunate and those perceived as different instead of uplifting them. It is used to divide people instead of unite them. Since I moved to New England, the heart of Puritan beliefs that are used to oppress others, I’ve always found it interesting that those same denominations (Puritans, Pilgrims, etc.) that were once used to exclude and punish those who were not conforming to the desires of religious leaders are the most welcoming of modern Christian denominations, and those who were more open and accepting (Baptists) have become the most exclusionary and repressive of the denominations in America.