Fictitious Elder Snitch

Written Not With Ink But By The Spirit. How not to write on "tablets of stone" but hearts of flesh.

produced by static force llc sometimes things don't change.

Transcript

Title: The Fictitious Elder Snitch

Subtitle: Written Not With Ink But By The Spirit

Description: How not to write on "tablets of stone"

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2076577/episodes/17093681

#GospelAccordingToTheRock

The Fictitious Elder Snitch

by Eric Engelmann

All content © 2025 Static Force, LLC

I'm going to introduce a fictitious character to you -- I call him Fictitious Elder Snitch.

He lives at the time of Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians. He lives somewhere in Achaia outside of Corinth.

I'm not sure if he's really an elder in the church in Achaia, or if the term "Elder" is a mistranslation from some kind of public service he pretends to perform.

By the way, “Snitch” is not his real name. I can’t pronounce his real name, so I made that one up.

I'm also going to look at a section of Scripture that I think applies to this fictitious character. The section of Scripture talks about how the Spirit of God writes on our hearts. I think some people are more prepared to allow the Spirit to write on their hearts than others are. Ficitious Elder Snitch is an example of someone who's not very ready.

WHEN ARE WE?

About 57 AD. 

WHERE ARE WE?

Corinth -- a large city in Achaia in modern Greece. I think it's about a hundred kilometers west of Athens.

WHY ARE WE HERE NOW?

I want to build a contrast between the people I think allow the Holy Spirit to write on their hearts, and others who are more comfortable having their hearts left alone.

AN INTRODUCTION TO FICTITIOUS ELDER SNITCH

I do have biases especially with my own fictional characters. I keep imagining them with 21st century roles.

My translation of language and culture especially suffer from bias.

Fictitious Elder Snitch is one of the people that broke Paul's heart in Achaia. He could be referenced in 2 Corinthians 2 and 3.

On a long walk, Fictitious Elder Snitch is the kind of guy that is nice to you when you're in front of him, but condescending and opinionated when he's in front of you. He's positionally the opposite of a backstabber. His back will stab you instead of his front.

He thinks whoever is in the lead is the one who will talk, and everyone behind should listen.

He's a member of a group that wants to modernize the image of the church in the community. He tells me some people in his group wanted to set up the equivalent of an HR department at church with an office of Acceptable Behaviour Analysis. He made it sound like someone else in the group had the idea, but my guess is that Fictitious Elder Snitch wouldn't repeat an idea if he didn't come up with it himself.

I get the idea that if he could, he'd put some anonymous complaints into the Apostle Paul's personnel file.

I'm not sure he's the kind of person who might do very well on our Social Media platforms because some of his opinions are pretty negative. I don't think Social Media would be the place for him to express what he really thinks.

Fictitious Elder Smith rolls his eyes at things that might make him look bad, like beggars or artisans. 

I never really figured out how Fictitious Elder Snitch makes a living -- maybe it's one of my failings since I'm from a different century than he is. Maybe he's a merchant.

He likes the title he has in his group to try and improve the image of the church within the community.

Fictitious Elder Snitch loves credentials. Everything has to have some kind of recognition or pedigree.

So when the church prays for Paul -- of all people -- he rolls his eyes at the unprofessional utterances that his companions dare to offer to the Most High.

Now that we've had an introduction to the Fictitious Elder Snitch, let's look at what Paul and Timothy had to say.

SCRIPTURE PASSAGE

2 Corinthians 3

Paul is asking the Corinthian church about credentials.

Verse 1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? 2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

Skipping to the last part of 

Verse 6 for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

That's the end of the passage. 

Paul was on a different plane than a lot of people in the region of Achaia. He was concerned about pleasing the Most High with invisible kinds of obedience.

In The Future, 

The Most High will continue to knit the hearts of believers in Jesus together by writing His law on their hearts.

And people like Fictitious Elder Snitch will continue to spend a lot of time telling God how to do certified ministry -- partly by rolling their eyes.

Thank God for His love transferring to us through His eternal Holy Spirit -- if we're willing -- and writing on our hearts.

All content © 2025 Static Force, LLC