September 14: Ad Hominem

Isaiah 15:1-18:7

Galatians 1:1-24

Psalm 58:1-11

Proverbs 23:12

Ad hominem.  I had to look up what it meant to be sure - it means to oppose an argument by either appealing to emotion or prejudice, or by attacking the character of the argument's proponent.  You see this a lot these days, but it isn't new.  

Today's reading from Galatians tells in part of the need Paul feels to defend himself against those whose preaching was inconsistent with the Gospel and who, to sway others, attacked Paul's history as a persecutor of the early church.  

As Christians, we get that a lot. The world seems to think that, in order to be a "worthy" Christian, we have to be blameless.  And then they call us intolerant, they call us bigots, they call us hypocrites because we have sinned.

They miss the point - well, two points, really.  The first, that our imperfections are not an impediment to our faith; in fact, our recognition of our fallen nature is critical to our faith.  Which is why Paul didn't deny his past - he declared it: "for you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church and tried to destroy it."

The second point they miss - in focusing on the messenger, they miss the message.  In this case, that salvation comes not by works, not by the Judaic practices some were insisting were still necessary, but by faith.

If it was good enough for Paul, it is good enough for us.  When we speak of our faith, we should expect accusations about our past that may be painfully true.  When this happens, let's remember that (1) Paul's sin was pretty serious; (2) God chose to use him nonetheless.  Let us remember that it is the message that is important - not the messenger. And let us not allow ourselves to be discouraged by the ad hominem attacks.  If God could use a man as sinful as Paul, He can certainly use us.