Letters of Christ
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother…”
In the first words of 2 Corinthians, Paul presents himself as an apostle of Jesus and makes reference to Timothy, who likely wrote the letter under Paul’s dictation.[1] As Paul’s amanuensis, Timothy provides an image of Paul’s role as apostle of Christ (and instruction for us as fellow members of the body).
Paul chose Timothy as his scribe because he knew that Timothy was capable of fulfilling the role. If Timothy did not understand Greek, Paul would have chosen someone who did; if Timothy did not know how to write, Paul would have chosen someone who did – but he chose Timothy.
Having accepted his task, Timothy would have listened attentively to Paul’s words and written them down exactly as he heard them.
In the same way, Christ would not have chosen Paul to serve as an apostle unless He knew that Paul was capable of fulfilling the role. Having accepted his task, Paul listened attentively to the Spirit of Christ and faithfully represented the Word that he received – not merely with letters on a page, but with his whole life.
We are meant to do the same. Paul tells the Corinthians, “You are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God…”
Our task is clear. We are neither Alpha nor Omega, the Beginning nor the End, but a medium through which God makes Himself known. We fulfill our role by listening attentively and faithfully representing the revelation of God which is entrusted to us.
By doing this, we emulate not only Timothy and Paul, but Jesus Himself, who said, “I do nothing except what I see the Father doing,” and, “If you have seen me, then you have seen the Father.”
[1] 1 Corinthians 16:21 suggests that Paul dictated the majority of that letter to an amanuensis, presumably Sosthenes whom is mentioned in its introduction as Timothy is mentioned in the introduction of 2 Corinthians.