Twice Freed - Part 2

Picking up from yesterday, here is the rest of my review of Twice Freed:

Again, this is one instance where I feel that we forget that there is a story behind these letters of the New Testament. We read Philemon and just think that Paul sent a letter to some random man who had a slave, correcting him for his wrong. But if you really think about this letter, it becomes obvious that Paul and Philemon were good friends and that they had had some type of interaction prior to the writing of this letter. This is where St. John’s story comes in, especially the scene between Philemon and Paul at Ephesus. Furthermore, Paul states that he is sending Onesimus back to Philemon, a detail that I have always skipped over. I had never noticed that Onesimus was being sent back; I assumed he was already with Philemon. This story has helped me read the letter more carefully, noticing that I too missed a detail in the biblical story.

Now there are many more scenes I could discuss, but I want to hit this last one. Onesimus, in the story, is sent back to Philemon after having spent time with Paul in Rome. This scene appears to parallel the biblical story. Paul writes in Philemon that he is imprisoned, and that Onesimus has joined him in his imprisonment. So it seems entirely possible that the two met and spent some time together in Rome. Furthermore, Paul lists several men at the end of his letter that have been in Rome with them, and all of these people appear as characters in Twice Freed. These final verses of the letter are probably commonly overlooked as well. Once more, St. John’s interpretation has helped me look more closely at the letter itself.

This close attention to detail is the book’s strongest quality, and although I really do appreciate this book, the way that it was written, and the ideas that were presented, there were two aspects of the book that bothered me. First of all, near the beginning of the book, there are some characters who are discussing the freedom that we can all have in Christ. They make the comment that in Christ there is neither slave nor free, Jew nor Greek, etc. This is definitely a truth that is presented in the Bible, and St. John works it well into her story. However, in the listing of “opposites,” St. John also throws in that there is neither “black nor white.” That one little phrase caught me off guard. I think that it was probably an oversight on St. John’s part for including that phrase because so much of her book reads and feels like an ancient culture (the first century). But nevertheless, such a distinction would not have been thought of in the first century. I do not feel like this would have been a big deal in the Roman Empire as it is today. That is not to say that there were not different races in the Roman Empire, for I know there were (the book mentions Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East). But to say that they would have made a distinction between black and white seems to be St. John adding a modern problem to the first century context.

The second problem that I saw in this book deals with what seemed to be a hymn that was sung. While in Ephesus, there is a time when some of the characters seem to quote 2 Timothy 2:11-13. Now I am not sure if this was a common saying prior to the writing of 2 Timothy or not. If it was, then my argument falls apart, and this scene was completely appropriate. However, if this was not a common saying or hymn, then it would appear as if St. John mixed up some of her events. 2 Timothy is Paul’s final letter, written at the end of his life. At this point in St. John’s story, Paul is still in Ephesus, having not been to Rome yet. That being the case, it would be impossible for the people to have knowledge of this saying unless it was already a common saying or hymn of the day.

I want to say that this is a common saying because other than this one instance, I did not notice any other mistakes in the timeline (as far as I know). She seemed to be quite particular in the details she chose to include within her story. Therefore, it is hard for me to imagine that she would miss such an obvious mistake. However, if she did make such a mistake, then this is one of those minor faults that I found in the book, one of the only faults.

So after reading and thinking about this book, I have been encouraged to pay closer attention to what I read in Scripture. So many times we miss the details of the passage, rushing through just to say that we have read it. We fail to read it carefully and thus miss out on what the passage might be teaching us. We have also forgotten that the Bible is filled with true stories. Too many times we forget this fact and it hinders our study as well. Now I am not saying that we should just view Scripture as a story, for that would be going to the other extreme. But we must not forget this fact, and we must find a balance between reading the Scripture for what it means today and what it meant when it was written. The historical background of a passage can sometimes be helpful. This simple children’s story has encouraged me to make sure that I pay close attention to what I read in the future.

Matt