Writings of the Apostle Paul populate the canon of the New Testament. The rawness and earnestness found within spring from the pages igniting a wonder in the reader of who Paul the Apostle was. Paul went to great lengths to spread the name of Jesus and one cheers anxiously from the sideline waiting to see if he ever gets the upper hand. Attacked, insulted, beaten, discredited, and victimized are just a few adjectives that could describe daily life for Paul. He becomes a model of devotion and fervor to continue the cause. Today, the same occurs in a less physical form. An abundance of scholarship of Paul exists at the tip of any pupil’s hand. However, seemly, many authors do Paul a disservice by misinterpreting his teachings or marketing a …show more content…
Yet, it will suffice to say this simply does not get to the root of interpretation according to Wright and he discredits both. he goes a step further by saying that at the center of Paul’s writings is Jesus (Wright, 11-25). It is that simple. Analysis of Paul’s ‘Jewish’ state of mind prior to his conversion is important to note before one reaches Wright’s conclusion. Paul, Saul of Tarsus at this point, “was not interested in a timeless system of salvation, whether of works-righteousness or anything else. He wanted God to redeem Israel” (pp. 32). He, like other Jews, desired to see their God, Yahweh, finally fulfilling his promise of raising all Jews to the new Israel, or new world. He was ‘zealous’ for God, but as one can see, he was zealous in the wrong manner. Following the story in Acts, Saul is drastically converted on the road to Damascus. Paul claims to have seen Jesus in this drastic divine occurrence. This is of utmost importance. Once Saul saw the resurrected Jesus it was not that he lost his Jewish heritage, but there is now a cognitive understanding that “God had done for Jesus of Nazareth, in the middle of time, what Saul had thought he was going to do for Israel at the end of time” (pp. 36). Thus, there is a realization that Jesus was the intercessor for God’s promise, the one who took on the curse of Israel. The resurrection proves that the claims by Jesus’ followers were indeed right. Now it is
With the ability to assimilate to various aspects of the universal Roman society, the apostle is able to relate to and address many different types of people. This aspect of his life makes Paul able to apply the collective ‘we’ when instructing believers of opposing backgrounds. Likewise, after his conversion
Judaizers wanted to preach works but Paul wrote that we must preach Christ alone. 7. Paul was not a passive individual as he describes himself in verse 14 he was “exceedingly zealous”. He appears to be talking to an audience who knew him in the past as a strong Jew who upheld the traditions of his people. He also stated in verse 14 that he “profited in the Jews’ religion” 8. so he was possibly politically powerful and personally benefiting from his status in the community while upholding the Jewish traditions of his fathers. He wants to make it clear to his audience that what he is preaching to them now is not of man but is by divine revelation from God by his grace. To demonstrate his point, Paul recounts his conversion, in which he switched from being a persecutor of the church to being a preacher of its gospel. He wants to advise that his conversion occurred through a direct act of God, who “was pleased to reveal his Son to me, 9. so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles”. The revelation of who Jesus really was came directly from God and for a clear purpose so that Paul could take the message to the Gentiles. Paul insisted that the Spirit is the same Spirit through whom God spoke and acted in the history of Israel, the difference is that through Jesus the Spirit is now poured out on all God’s people, Jew and Gentile alike. 10. The fact that Paul criticized some aspects of his native Judaism 11. and that he announced a gospel to the
Paul begins his letter by saying he is an apostle not from men nor through man, but Jesus
Paul’s purpose in writing this book is to teach against the false teaching’s being taught there.
From what we know about Paul, he was not one of the biggest fans of Christianity before his conversion. Though, as our text recognizes, there isn’t much knowledge of Paul’s life before becoming a follower of Jesus, and much of it is sourced from the Acts. We do know that while Paul was a Jew his name was Saul. Scholars theorize that he was a Jewish missionary. We know that he was raised to be Jewish, and he was a Pharisee. Our textbook elaborates that Saul was, in fact, a very dedicated Jew. He wrote in one of his letters “I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors” (Gal 1:14). Scholar Johnny Awwad goes as far as to suggest that Paul was an apocalyptic
Without Paul, all of Jesus’s followers would have remained Jewish. Jesus’s disciples thought that the afterlife was going to happen very soon, so they awaited and kept on being Jewish. Paul knew Jesus’s main disciples. After Jesus’s death, Paul went out and talked with these disciples and formed a plan to spread Jesus’s teachings. Paul convinced them to start converting others, Paul was the one who organized the early converters and told them what to do. When Jesus’s disciples started to try and convert Jewish people, they remained unsuccessful and low on resources. Paul gave them the resources they needed, as he was doing very well at converting. These resources helped the other heads of the religion to start converting. They listened to Paul, and because of Paul they started to be successful at gaining more followers. Paul decided to convert Gentiles, the non-Jewish people. Paul expanded the religion from being a small branch off of Judaism,
The book of Acts brings out Paul as one of the most phenomenal apostles in the times post the death of Jesus. The documentation of Paul’s gospel begins with a mission by the leaders of the Antioch church who were instructed by the Holy Spirit to separate Barnabas and Saul from the Mission they were being sent on. During that period Saul was involved in the persecution and killing of believers of Christ and the instruction was a difficult trivia to the Christians due to the History associated with Saul. The conversion of Saul from a persecutor of Christians to an apostle spreading the Gospel is also a manifestation of the Holy Spirit (Keener & Craig,
Human identity and where we came from has been shared in Genesis (1:26) when God states “lets create them, man and woman in our own image” Paul reiterates the identity of humans and our relationships to each other, when he shares that humans are the descendants of Adam and Eve. He speaks on how sin passed down from generation to generation and that God turned humans over to themselves and their wickedness (Romans 1:26).
Paul wrote letters to churches and went on long, dangerous journeys in order to share the Word. Humbly serving the Lord, no matter what the cost, he became a disciple who made disciples. His personal, deep relationship with Timothy reveals the kind of atmosphere and level of commitment required in discipleship. The discipleship model Paul follows allows for a personally invested relationship between any amount of gathered people whether it be an entire church congregation, a small group, or
When considering the strengths and weaknesses of the book, the strengths dramatically outweigh the shortcomings. Allen succeeded in showing the reader that there is no excuse to discount the ministry of Paul as irrelevant in today’s missionary setting. He powerfully implemented scripture throughout the book with precision. Every verse, story, and biblical example of Paul’s practices and teachings that Allen used were necessary and served to back up his claims with ultimate truth. Also, the open addressing of his opponent’s arguments served to strengthen Allen’s thesis in a way that a simple stating of facts would be incapable of
Paul became an advocate for the inclusion of the Gentiles among the ‘true’ followers of Christianity. Until this moment in history, Jewish Christians believed that non-Jews had to convert to Judaism and follow the law like them, which included many dietary restrictions and circumcision. Gentiles who worship in the synagogue but did not convert were only
Apostle Paul was not always a preacher of Christianity, Paul’s parents were Jewish as well as Roman citizens. Paul was to be a Rabbi though his future plans changed, on Paul’s journey of scorning Jesus, he had a vision in which Jesus asked why Paul scorns him, then commissions Paul to preach his message to the Gentiles who received mercy through Jewish unbelief. Around A.D. 56-58; Apostle Paul wrote the Romans, verses 8:26-30 states, “26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
It seems strange that so little is known biographically about one of the most important figures in Christian history, but this only serves to add to the mystery and grandeur surrounding the Apostle Paul of Tarsus. Much, however, is known of the time after his conversion to Christ and what he did to contribute to Christianity in this period, and it is this that leaves a greater legacy than the simple facts of his life. The contributions that he made towards the cause of Christ and the spreading and formation of Christianity are what he is perennially remembered for.
St Paul made an impact upon Christianity as an Apostle, a theologian and as a letter-writer. Out of the 27 books contained in the bible, Paul wrote a total of 13. Paul’s writings made a significant
An examination of the Pauline epistles should begin with an examination of the author. Saul of Tarsus was a Jewish official a Pharisee. Saul was a persecutor of Christians and an eyewitness to the stoning of Steven. “And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.” (Acts 7.58 King James Version) He had a vision on the road to Damascus and was blinded. God sent Ananias to heal Saul of his affliction. God also sent Paul a vision of Ananias to let him know that he would be healed. Paul did not learn the Gospel from other men. He received his knowledge directly from Jesus.