Why should we listen to St. Paul?  Wasn’t he “just a man”?  There are lots of teachers out there, many of whom teach a different, easier, version of the Gospel.  Why treat his opinions as any more valuable than these others?  Our generation is not the first tempted to trade St. Paul’s teachings about the Christ for others.  The Galatians were tempted to do this.  As St. Paul writes to them:

1. “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:6-9)
   

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Clearly St. Paul puts a lot of stock in what he is confessing, but conviction alone should not persuade us; those who “trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” also present their versions of the truth with conviction.  So how do we know that we can trust what St. Paul tells us?  How do we know that he is right, and that what he teaches us is True and useful?

This is a big question, and it doesn’t just have to do with St. Paul.  One of the great challenges of our present age is that we have become so jaded.  Politicians and advertisers are incredibly good at marketing themselves and their products.  So good that we sometimes give in to the hype and invest our money and our hope in what they offer, only to learn that they and their products were oversold; that they could not deliver what we hoped they could.  When this happens enough times, we end up where most of us are now, refusing to believe or invest our hope in anything.  The present presidential campaign has been run so well that many of us have once again opened ourselves up to new promises; but this says more about the deep yearning within us all for something better than it does about the candidates’ ability to actual make a lasting difference.  No matter who wins, we are bound to be disappointed.  We are bound to be disappointed because the government cannot satisfy the deeper yearning within us.  This yearning can only be satisfied through loving communion with one another and God through Jesus Christ.

Which is why the question of St. Paul’s authority is so important: we need to be united to one another in Christ Jesus.  This isn’t just about which political platform will improve our economy, our schools, our security, or even best protect the unborn (although these are obviously important); it is about how to bring ourselves and this world to salvation.  People are teaching different Christ’s; how do we know that St. Paul is right?  How do you know that I am right?  Whom can you trust to tell you the Truth?

On a personal note, it was just this question that ultimately led me here, to the Holy Orthodox Church.  I grew up knowing that the Truth was found in the Holy Scriptures, and that the Holy Spirit would lead the believer to the Truth through earnest study and prayer.  This is a wonderful theory, but what do you do when earnest believers interpret the Scripture differently?  When they come to different conclusions?  Who is right?  Which teacher, which denomination, which interpretation should we follow? 

The dizzying array of choices and their impressive ability to market themselves make it easy to give up.  I suspect that many people have left organized religion altogether because the number of choices made it seem unlikely that any one of them was any more real than the others.  Some don’t give up, but rather, select their version of the truth based on which one fits other opinions that they hold.  So, for example political conservatives might move towards a more fundamentalist theology and political liberals might move towards a more liberal theology.  By the way, you can do this without ever changing churches – I am sure there are even people here who are tempted to modify the Gospel in this manner.  But neither of these options is satisfactory: you need to worship and study in community, and you need to worship and study the Truth.  Your own brand of theology may match all your other lifestyle choices, but unless it actually matches the Truth, it isn’t going to move you any closer to perfection.

Let me give you the short answer to the questions I posed earlier:

You can trust that St. Paul is telling you the Truth because, as he says, he received from Jesus Christ.  You can trust that he really did receive it from Christ because what St. Paul teaches is perfectly consistent with everything else that the Holy Orthodox Church teaches.  You can trust the Orthodox Church because it was founded by Christ Himself.  He taught and empowered the Holy Apostles (to include St. Paul) to continue His ministry.  In turn, they taught and empowered bishops who have done the same down to this very day.  Every bishop is taught and teaches the very same Truth first given to the Apostles.  This Apostolic Succession, preserved in word and sacrament, is the ultimate “proof of authenticity”.  It is what makes Orthodoxy the standard, and variations of Orthodoxy simple shadows and even perversions (no matter how well they are marketed or how much easier it would be if they were true).

Our bishop, His Eminence Antony will be with us next week.  He is part of the Apostolic Succession.  This means two things: first, that he maintains the very same Truth that has been proclaimed from the beginning, and second, that he is part of the chain of bishops going all the way back to the first Apostles.  When we greet him, kiss his hand, and ask for his blessing, we are expressing our appreciation to God that He has revealed Himself to us in such an immediate and approachable a form as His Holy Church; that He has blessed us with bishops through whom He is given to us through the Holy Mysteries.

I was and remain convinced that Orthodoxy is the answer, that it and the Truth it proclaims can be trusted.  And like St. Paul and his conversion, I am immersing myself in it and continue to change my life around it.  I am overjoyed that all of you are doing the same.  May the Lord grant us the strength of our convictions. 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of Holy Spirit.  Amen.