Letter To Philemon

The Apostle Paul’s strategic mission of expanding the church and spreading the Gospel was significant considering the challenges he had to conquer. His life and example was and is applicable to modern cross-cultural leaders and organizations. Philippians 2 is a letter written by Paul to the church of Philippi. It was prepared during his imprisonment in Rome for spreading the Gospel of Christ in an area where people predominately and traditionally believed in Judaism. His writing in this passage highlights Christ as the ultimate example of humility and Paul’s encouragement to his followers to keep the unity, as they are the light of the world.

Paul the apostle is known for his letters in the Bible to the church in Philippi. Paul devotes his faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, to promote Christianity to the people of the Philippians. He is seen throughout the New Testament furthering God’s Word and projecting it in such a way to get fellow Jewish people to convert to Christianity. In the midst of this activity, Paul was travelling in between cities when a mob broke out against him. Israelites were furious with him spreading the Word of Jesus Christ throughout their land. The Israelites began to beat him repeatedly until the word reached the commander of the Roman soldiers. The roman soldiers immediately came to Paul and put him under arrest for a total of seven days before freeing him. Paul was charged with speaking out against the law of the land, promoting Jesus Christ among the Jewish people and disturbing the peace among the city.

Paul, having figuratively died and rose again with Christ, demonstrates a profound change in his outlook. Armed with a transformed mindset, the once vitriolic man who had been possessed by the demonic “Us vs. Them” mentality, goes on to champion unity and equality -- “In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal” (Gal. 3:28; The Message). He then implores fellow Christians to defy conformity, exhorting them to be transformed by gauging their values against the credo that holds ultimate significance -- the will of God, which Micah defines as acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God (Rom 12:2; Micah 6:8).

The letter to the Colossians was written by the apostle Paul. It is likely that Paul wrote the letter of Colossians in the late AD “50’s or 60’s,” while he was imprisoned. This letter was written to a gentile church plant located in Colossae, a city of Rome. Paul planted churches in Ephesus which is 100 miles west from Colossae. However, it is improbable that Paul is the founder of the church of the Colossians since he was imprisoned at the time. For example, Paul said, “Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you,” (Col. 4:10, ESV) indicating his imprisonment as he mentioned his fellow inmate. The book of Colossians is not the only prison epistle that Paul wrote; The book of Ephesians, the book of Philippians and the book of Philemon are all prison epistles. So, perhaps, it was Epaphras who planted the Colossians’ church. This exegetical study will explore the historical context of the Book of Colossians to understand why Paul exhorted and prayed for the Colossians to be filled with God’s divine will. Colossians 1:9-14 is relevant in today’s time because it proves that the power of intercessory prayer edifies the Church to defend the gospel from false teaching.

In this letter Apostle Paul showed how great his love was for the church of Philippi, showing his gratitude for their financial support to further the work of the ministry and to express his concern about their spiritual walk. His only thought was about advancing the cause of Christ and building the Philippians’ faith to continue their mission in spite of the persecution they were facing. Within their church many of the people were at odds and some were trying to hinder the spread of the Gospel. Because of this, Paul encourages the church of Philippi to "stand fast, be of the same mind, rejoice in the Lord always but by prayer let your request be made known and the peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (4:1-7).

Paul’s distinctive contribution to Christianity is his heresy- the doctrine of salvation by faith. A salvation available not just to the descendants of Abraham, but to the pagan, non-Jewish world as well. When he was writing to those in the Roman capital, Paul makes the declaration that proved to be the cornerstone of all his writings Romans 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live

For many years the Apostle Paul and his pastoral leadership has given me great insight as to how live life daily. His missionary journey’s as God’s representative has had great influence on my own theological thought and preservation of my faith. The book of Colossians is filled with stories of redemption, knowledge and the power of prayer. The Apostle’s extraordinary life from darkness to light can only be attributed to the Grace of the Lord.

In conclusion, Paul teachings help us to understand how God views sin and its consequences. His message also reveals God’s righteousness and forgiveness through Christ. Our natural world, our human

The church in Rome, once so prone to lose sight of their high calling in Christ, had developed strength of Christ character. Their words and acts revealed the transforming power of the grace of God. With clearness and power Paul presents the doctrine of justification by Faith in Christ alone. Paul heart’s desire and prayer for his people the Jews were that they might be saved he now sets forth the great principle of the gospel that salvation is only through faith in Christ as Jesus says “if you love me keep my commandments”. Therefore it is not by works that we are saved nor by relations or titles nor anything but only through Christ who is the “Way the Truth and the Life”.

“The apostle Paul could be similarly indirect. Instead of hitting the Athenians head-on with their idolatry, he first engaged them on a point of common interest and moved gradually into the good news of the one true God.”

In order to comprehend and gleam the theological insights of Philemon, or any Biblical scripture, it is imperative that, at least, a basic understanding of the historical and cultural principles be present in the mind of the reader. Without a comprehension of these truths, a false understanding or misrepresentation of the text may occur. This is not to say that nothing can be obtained from the scripture in and of itself. However, many deeper details may remain hidden without further exploration. As is stated in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

In this passage of the second letter to the Corinthians, Paul addresses several concerns. He is addressing the situation of a man who has sinned not only against himself, but against the Corinthian Church as well. He explains why he wrote a letter rather than bringing sorrow upon them. Paul is sensitive to the Lord’s leading, and in love, writes to the church encouraging them to discipline this man in love for the purpose of restoring him. He urges the Corinthians to be obedient and love the man through forgiving and encouraging him. Paul shares with them his trust in the Lord for the outcome of this matter and how burdened he was for restoration to take place. He warns them of the need to not allow Satan a foothold through this

This argument does not, however, decisively remove the possible use of ‘conversion’ for Paul, as Stendahl’s view that conversion must mean abandonment of a previous religious system is certainly not a necessary condition. In addition to this, to remove the language of ‘conversion’ from Paul’s experience is to remove its decisiveness; its absolute alteration of Paul’s thinking and being that can be seen in Gal 1:12-14. In these passages we see Paul speak of the risen Christ, who gave him his teaching and drew him away from his life in the Law, and as a Pharisee, in which he excelled (Gal 1:14) and which had led him to persecute the Church (Gal 1:13). When this Christocentric language is placed against his former understanding, which had caused him to persecute the Church, one cannot simply speak of a ‘call’, but rather must move to language of radical turning, of ‘conversion’. As this shows, while Stendahl’s argument that Paul should not be considered a ‘convert’ is not strong enough to warrant abandonment of the term, his exposition of Paul as ‘called’ should not be ignored, as, from a missional point of view, he certainly was. This leads us to the conception of Paul’s experience as encapsulating both ‘call’ and a ‘conversion’ dynamic, more fully expressing the reports he and others gave of this time.

Paul begins the letter of Romans by introducing himself and stating his mission. Concisely stating the gospel message, Paul encourages the Roman Christians to “bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name” (1:5), or for the glory of Jesus Christ. He goes on to write of his desires and intentions to visit Rome in order to preach the gospel of Christ to the Jews as well as the Gentiles. Paul continues by explaining his excitement for the gospel as well as the need to live the gospel out in our lives. Finishing the first chapter, Paul presents the inexcusable idolatry, sinfulness, and evilness of the ungodly.

9 Instead of being commanding, however, Paul rather make his appeal towards Philemon more loving and soft. He begins his appeal my mentioning who he is; an older man imprisoned due to Christian persecution.