Diversity In The New Testament

During the middle of the 1st century Paul who was a Hellenized Jew became a missionary to Gentiles throughout the Roman empire. The Prosecution of a Roman Citizen tells the story of how Paul, who was one of the twelve apostles, was handled by the legal procedures of the empire as a Roman citizen.

He became an advocate for the inclusion of the Gentiles among the true followers of Christianity. Until Paul’s challenge, Jewish Christians believed that non-Jews had to convert to Judaism and follow the law, which included restrictions and circumcision. Gentiles who worship in the synagogue but did not become proselytes were called god-fearers and were only second-class citizens in the synagogue. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcision_controversy_in_early_Christianity)

Paul more than anyone was responsible for the spread of the Jesus movement into the Gentile world. By the end of the first century Christianity had become an important religious force. Paul while respectful of its Jewish origins moved the Christian faith into a position where it was no longer bound by Jewish law and was able to embrace people of any cultural background. After his own conversion, Paul passionately espoused his message from the Palestinian world through Asia Minor and southern Europe to Rome, the heart of the empire. Some of his letters by Paul to fledgling churches throughout the Roman Empire are contained in the New Testament and outline Paul 's theology. He insisted that Gentiles had as much access to the faith as Jews and that freedom from the Law set everyone free. It was this teaching which was essential for the development and success of the early church which would otherwise have remained another Jewish sect.

This first volume contains 39 books, and 929 chapters: almost identical to the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible. Interpretation of the scriptures are more about God ‘The Father’, himself, but lays the foundation for the second volume the New Testament. Originally written in Greek about 45 AD, this volume contains 27 books and 260 chapters. Its scriptures tell the story of the life of Jesus, believed by Christians to be the Messiah, Son of God in human form, and sent by God to fulfill the promises and prophesies of the Old Testament.

Before the gospels and Pauline epistles, early church Christians related to the Old Testament as Scripture and viewed their Christian walk as the fulfillment of the promises made to Israel from the Old Testament, which foretold of the coming age of the Messiah. The first New Testament Christians understood the importance of the Old Testament; it was their “Bible” they preached from. Just as in the early church, Christians today need the Old Testament for preaching and in which to reference and understand Christ’s purpose for why he came.

For some background information on Paul. His original name was Sual in Hebrews announced in the new testaments. He was yoked to a rabbi so he can become a rabbi him self. Paul converted to christianity when he saw the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the road of Damascus. During his life he created three big ministries to travel through the Roman Empire, and he did this because he was planting churches. His goal was to preach to the new Christians the word of God, and to give encouragement. Paul started his mission because the Lord asked of him to do so, and so the Lord provided him with wisdom and strength to for fill his journey.

Paul made a very big impact on his society. "He was active as a missionary in the 40s and 50s

Paul whose name was Saul was an early Christian missionary and theologian, known as the Apostle to the Gentiles was born a Jew in Tarsus, Rome. As a minor, he was trained as a rabbi but earned his living as a tentmaker. A zealous Pharisee, he persecuted the first Christians until a vision of Jesus, experienced while on the road to Damascus, converted him to Christianity. Three years later he met St. Peter and Jesus ' brother James and was henceforth recognized as the 13th Apostle. From his base in Antioch, he traveled widely, preaching to the Gentiles. By asserting that non-Jewish disciples of Christ did not have to observe Jewish law, he helped to establish

Christianity over the course of history has a vast influence on individuals, society and the way believers conduct themselves. It provides morals, practices and ethics that every Christian attempts to live by. Throughout the many denominations in the Christian church, Paul of Tarsus had a significant influence on the faith. His contribution to the development and expression of Christianity is immense and can be seen to stem from his writing and missionary journeys which have implemented his ideas and interpretations onto the development of Christianity. After Jesus, Paul was arguably the most significant figure in Christianity as his teachings form a significant part of the New Testament. Like may other Pharisees of that time in history, Paul sought to suppress the early Christian movement. He accused early Christians of blaspheming against God and breaking Mosaic Law. However, Paul had a life-changing experience when he had a vision of Jesus, and he spent the remainder of his life as a missionary for the early church. Centuries after his ministry, his teachings still influence Christian theology.

The Apostle Paul (formerly Saul) is responsible for the spread of Christianity throughout the areas of Asia Minor and Greece. Through his 3 mission trips to the region Paul created a base of support for the Christian faith and implemented a support strategy for future growth. The time period for his journeys was 45 AD – 58 AD. The story of Paul is interesting from the perspective that the man best known as the author of most of the New Testament started out as a devout Jew and despised the Christian faith. After his conversion he made it his life’s work to spread the Christian message throughout the world. To this end, Paul made several mission trips to the area of Asia Minor and Greece.

To start this off, I don’t know much about the New Testament but I can name a few specifics. For instance, the first four books of the New Testament are all the same story just different perspectives. I know that the book of Revelation is a story of the end of times, written by John. However, Jesus was speaking through John, as he wrote the book. I know that Jesus was born of a virgin, named Mary. Jesus, before his time, had performed his first miracle of turning water into wine. By the age of thirteen, John the Baptist had baptized him. From that moment on, Jesus was now the man he was called to be, our Savior. I know that Jesus traveled through the Middle East, to more place than we know, performing miracles, such as, healing a leper, making

The New Testament is a collection of books which contains the writings concerning the significant events in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. These books appeared after the physical death of Jesus Christ. In this regard, Jesus had left no records concerning him, and all that is written about him depends wholly on what other people have written about him. The first four books of the New Testament are part of the several biographies of Jesus which were written by the end of the first century of the era of Christianity. Then before any of these biographies have been drafted, there were Christian communities which were being instructed through epistles on how to live like Jesus and how to solve their problem like Christians. A good number of these letters were written by a man called Paul. After Paul death, some other new leaders of the Christian movement continued to write letters to the churches to encourage and strengthen them. As Christians grew in number persecution arose, and some letters have been drafted to support them and also to counter the false doctrines. These letters are part of the New Testament. The twenty-seven books of the New Testament were selected from the list of writings in that period (Bruce, 1988)

Saint Paul, originally named Saul, was a crucial part in the development of Christianity. Paul, who was born in Tarsus, Cilicia, grew up Jewish and was trained as a rabbi (Adcock). Paul eventually converted to Christianity, but before he did, the future of the religion was looking very slim. Rome had made it illegal to practice Christianity. Paul was a pious Jew, so his conversion to Christianity surprised many of his followers. They viewed him with much suspicion and treated him with hostility. Paul was dedicated to his new life and made it his mission to spread Christianity throughout the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and eventually to Rome itself. Paul made two separate journeys throughout the Mediterranean. He preached about the message of Jesus to many and sent his letters to the people he had not visited. Paul saw that his new faith had a message for everything and everyone. By converting to Christianity, St. Paul has saved Christianity from extinction, has written crucial letters about his faith, has preached to hundreds of people, has spread Christianity throughout the Roman Empire, has caused

Overall, there seems to be a very high Christology in the New Testament. However, due to the various authors of the books that comprise the anthology, there is an inherent variation of the level of Christology found between the different books. In order to examine the Christology of a religious text, one must first understand the notion of Christology. Christology refers to the level of divinity that Jesus is portrayed to have, and can be understood as a spectrum with an extremely high Christology at one end and an extremely low Christology at the other. The highest possible Christology refers to texts in which Jesus is described at being equal to God, while the lowest possible Christology refers to texts in which Jesus is described as being completely human. These extremes are typically never fully realized in the New Testament; a position on the spectrum between them is usually taken. When analyzing the Christology of the Gospel of Mark, the Book of Revelation, and the Pauline Epistles, it becomes apparent that there is in fact a difference in the Christology of the three. Mark seems to have a lower Christology than the Pauline Epistles, which have a lower Christology than the book of Revelation, which has a very high Christology.

St Paul of Tarsus is a significant figure in Christianity due to his major contributions of writings and letters which form a significant amount of the New Testament. St Paul is considered to be the forefather of Christianity after Jesus. Paul had a major impact on these spread of Christianity through his mission journeys, contributing to the religious traditions and helping expand Jesus’ original teachings. The reason behind Paul being a significant person in Christianity is because he contributed to the development of Christianity.