The Apostle Paul's Controversy

Among the many New Testament characters recorded in Scripture, the Apostle Paul, by far, is one of the most intriguing. Like the twelve apostles who were companions of Jesus during His earthly ministry, the Apostle Paul was far from perfect but he possessed an extraordinary zeal for God that stood out against the other apostles. Consequently, Jesus likely took notice of Paul’s zeal as well, thus it is no surprise, at least to this author, that Jesus would choose Paul to take the gospel to the Gentiles in faraway lands. Unfortunately, little is known about Paul’s early life. However, and according to Scripture, Paul was likely born around the time of Jesus’ birth (Acts 7:58) in the City of Tarsus, Cecilia, which was a providence of the Roman Empire (McCray, 2003). Tarsus, being a providence of Roman Empire, also made the young Paul a Roman Citizen and Diaspora Jew which Paul would later use to his advantage when facing three separate cases of persecution (Acts 16:37; Acts 22:25-29; Acts 24:27) in the Book of Acts (McCray, 2003).

Compare the teachings of Jesus with those of Paul. Why do you think some people consider Paul the second founder (or even the true founder) of Christianity?

Jesus is the center of Christianity, but without Paul, Christianity would never exist. Paul organized Jesus’s disciples after Jesus’s death. Paul introduced Christianity to Non-Jewish people. He was extremely talented at converting others. The New Testament is largely based off Paul’s teachings. Paul also shaped the way Christianity thinks, he was the man who took a small cult and shaped it so that it would become a world religion; Paul was the most important figure to the growth of Christianity, even more than Jesus of Nazareth.

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

Romans is a declaration, a declaration of dependence. Paul writes this letter concerning the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ to all people. The following exegesis covers Paul’s discourse in 2:12-16 regarding God’s equal judgment of Jews and Gentiles. So as to understand Paul’s challenging rhetoric, a brief gaze into the historical context of Jews in

The Jewish community rejected the lax attitude concerning Mosaic Law. The Galatians, who were brought up in an area of the world dominated by a polytheistic, law-based religion, sought comfort in the more disciplined Jewish approach. “Paul: Appealing or Appalling?” is the surprising title of the first chapter in a book about the differing opinions, written by Christian scholars, Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan. Their account of Paul’s controversial stance on a variety of “major issues” like gender roles and slavery helps to understand the historical significance of Paul’s evangelism. Jews were easier to reach than Gentiles, because of their sacred education, therefore the issue of circumcision was definitely an issue among the first converts to Christianity. The question on everyone’s mind was, “Do you have to be a Jew to be a Christian?” Judeans were taught that salvation would only come to those circumcised according to the custom. Once in Jerusalem, Paul went to the elders to announce God’s grace in the lives of the Gentiles. They rejoiced in his message, but took notice of his advice against Jewish law,

Along with Sanders and Dunn, N.T. Write is also a scholar of the New Testament who holds and supports the views of the New Perspective, albeit with his own additions. Twenty years after the publication of Paul and Palestinian Judaism, Write published his own work on the subject; What Saint Paul Really Said. What sets Write apart from Sanders and Dunn is his assertion that the curse found in Deuteronomy 27-29 was still in effect against Israel in the first century, manifested by the Roman rule of Palestine. It is this exile and curse that the Messiah came to end, in addition to fulfilling the one and only Covenant, in the view of Write (Write, Justification 60, 95). ‘Thus…Pauline theology and justification by faith have less to do with the individual and their problem with sin…than with the plight of the Jewish nation as a whole’ (Williams ‘What Is’).

Paul’s letter to the Roman church has absolutely challenged the Jewish way of thinking that has existed for over 2000 years before the life, death, and resurrection of

People have thought wrongly about the Jewish religion back in Jesus’ time. We all thought Judaism was a legalistic religion. However, this is not the case. This is what started a new way of thinking about justification and Paul. This leads us to the New Perspective on Paul. In this paper, we will discuss where the New Perspective on Paul came from, what it is exactly as well as my personal thoughts on this subject. It all started in 1977 when E.P. Sanders wrote a book about this topic. Others come along and add their ideas to this new idea. Soon it became known to the world as NPP.

Answering God’s call to proclaim Christ, Paul and Barnabas left the church at Antioch in Syria. At first, their method of evangelism was to preach in the town synagogues. But when many of the Jews rejected Christ, the missionaries recognized God’s call of witnessing to the Gentiles.

I agree that Paul had a very diverse beliefs. I think this helped him connect within the community and ​shared the Gospel easily to people like him (converts). I understand that it's hard to accept how he changed his belief quickly from wanting to destroy Christianity to giving his life to preserve it. He didn't tell the readers how it happened so it's very hard to perceive such thing could happen. But I believe that it's possible because Paul showed how much he loved his converts and even considered them his children. I think the reason why Paul didn't include his story was because he didn't want the readers to divert their attention and focus from Jesus. But don't you think that his actions and relationship towards the religion and the converts

The Apostle Paul preached the Gospel of Christ to Palestine, Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome. At first the church wasn’t welcome in Rome. The monotheism of the Christian church conflicted with the polytheism of Rome. The Romans believed that everything was inhabited by divinity. But, as they conquered more people, they began to adapt their beliefs. The Roman emperors persecuted Christians. In 313, Emperor Constantine proclaimed the edict of Milan. This made Christianity a legal religion of Rome. This also gave the Christian clergy legal privileges. Constantine had tried to make the best use of Christianity that had spread throughout the entire region of Rome. Because he thought that Christianity could solidify his empire. By approving Christianity

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.

Paul went on to scold poor Peter and basically accuse him of being a hypocrite! He asks Peter in chapter 2 verse 14 where Paul asks “Cephas”, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles, and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews”. Again, most people will call that a hypocrite, but you know, we never find out what happened at the end of that confrontation, nevertheless one thing we do know is that Paul gave Peter a mighty tongue lashing. The obvious lesson to this is when you are resolving a conflict within your coalition you might want to be very delicate with the situation. I’m sure Paul made a big screen out the encounter when it occurred, but this is an example where a soft but still straightforward approach could have been a better approach.

One of the most controversial people of our day goes by the name of Paul. Paul was an important figure in early Christianity and wrote much of the New Testament. Paul, whose original name was Saul originated from the area known as Tarsus. Paul was an unlikely character to carry the mantle of what was known to his contemporaries as The Way. Paul persecuted and tried to hold down the young church that pushed back against everything he believed.