Hatch: the flexibility of Christianity

Monday, July 27, 2009
    Commemoration of Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham, Teacher, 1901

Meditation:
    Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
    —1 Corinthians 9:19-22 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Nor is the fact that a particular form was good in a particular age a proof that it is also good for another age. The history of the organization of Christianity has been in reality the history of successive readjustments of form to altered circumstances. Its power of readjustment has been at once a mark of its divinity and a secret of its strength.
    ... Edwin Hatch (1835-1889), The Organization of the Early Christian Churches [1880], London: Longmans, Green, 1918, p. 218 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant Your church the understanding and power to speak Your word to this generation.

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