The Workings Of Christ

The first letter to the Christian community was sent from Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, though Paul was the main author. Paul was writing to them to clear up their misunderstandings about the return of Christ, also considers it as instructions in holy living. Paul wrote about his longing to visit the church in Thessalonica but

Though Jesus was sinless and undeserving of death, he offered himself as a sacrifice in atonement for all sin (Invitation to World Religions, pg.418). Paul was always emphatic in maintaining that salvation cannot be earned by “works”, whether humans’ effort to obey the commandments in the Torah or excellent work in general. Instead, he taught that the salvation made possible by Christ’s sacrifice is a gift, the ultimate expression of God’s love and grace. Salvation is given to those who respond to God’s grace in faith, the conviction that God has acted through Jesus Christ to amend for human sin. Although Paul was very clear in teaching that salvation depends on God’s grace and the individual’s turning to God in faith, he did not dismiss the importance of works (Invitation to World Religions, pg.419). For Paul, faith does more than bringing salvation; it unites the believers with Christ in a “newness of life”. He believed that the spirit lives in believers and brings them into union with God. As a divine presence within, the spirit encourages the growth of spiritual virtues, the greatest which is love and makes all Christians one in the church often called “the body of Christ”.

Wacaster’s book, which is (as the title suggests) centered on Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, is very obviously intended to the common-level, “average” audience. Wacaster does not delve into complex conversations of textual variants, manuscript discrepancies, and disputations of authorship, nor does he use vocabulary or phraseology that is above the understanding of most individuals. Rather, Wacaster is simple, straightforward, and effective in communicating his points on the wonderful book of Galatians. With many commentaries that are written at a graduate and scholarly level, a more basic approach is much appreciated and needed.

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”.

Although it seems that Acts 15 and Galatians 2 record the same event, that is not the case. In the book of Acts, specifically Acts 15, Peter is in Jerusalem at the Jerusalem council. In Galatians 2, Paul speaks about his second journey to Jerusalem. The events that occurred in Galatians also relates to the events in Acts. The main question while analyzing both chapters is: Does it record the same event? There has been speculation that it is the same event told in both chapters, but it is evident that in Acts and Galatians, it tells the stories of different events. Both of these chapters detail similar happenings, but it is not the same event.

In McKnight’s article Jesus Vs. Paul McKnight asks the question of how the kingdom of God and justification by righteousness can be integrated together. The beginning of the article first tells the reader of how the author was more intuitive to Paul and his writings. He grew up with Paul’s theologies and they were his way of living. Justification by faith was McKnight’s way of life until his seminary class that talked about the synoptic gospels.

The South Galatian theory holds the strongest with the stance that it was one of the churches Paul began on his initial missionary journey. While there is no scripture to back up that the North had churches truly established according to Acts, the South had churches planted. One of the major reasons South Galatian is supported is because of the fact that it is on the journey Paul had to take to get to his home, Tarsus. The reason this theory is important is because of the cultural differences we see presented, as the Northern Galatians would tend towards heavy roman actions. Also the fact that they are under such extreme Jewish influences shows that they are very unlikely to live in the North vs. the South, because Jews were more prevalent in the Southern region. There are 2 very contrasting ideas as to when the epistle was written. One theory states that it was written in the early stages of Paul’s ministry and the other states it was probably one of the last letters that Paul ever wrote . There is no indicator at all as to when this book was written, but most scholars believe that it was written around 49 A.D., considering that during the letter Paul mentions the council.” Fortunately, the primary thrust of Paul’s argument is clear enough and does not revolve around our ability to identify the setting with precision2 .”

This book was written by Paul the Apostle around 61AD, to the church in Philippi that he started around 49 – 51 AD during his second missionary journey, this is his first church in Europe (Acts Chapter 16). Paul reached the town through the harbor of Neapolis accompanied by Timothy, Silas and Luke (if the “we” in Acts 16:10 -17 included Luke). The first convert was Lydia however when writing this letter Paul does not include the happenings in Philippi when he was planting the church i.e. his imprisonment and the jailers conversion, his exit from the town and even the girl who had the spirit of divination. The Apostle Paul’s attachment to this church was great as seen in the words and terms used in this literary work. Two times, they had supported him financially before the writing of this letter and after they heard of his imprisonment, they sent Ephaproditus with another support and this prompted

Paul had written this letter to explain his love and appreciation for the believers in Philippi. You can find out more information about the backround of this story in the closing section of Acts and again in chapter 16, it tells about Paul when he visited Philippi and the founding of the church to which he wrote this letter. Paul did a great deal of preaching which interested the people. All of the word spreading around led some to agree and disagree with his beliefs, when his preachings reached the rulers of the city Paul was thrown in jail. Although soon enough he got out due to an earthquake that hit the jail and freed all prisoners.

So it is clear that Pauls mission is spoken directly from this over piling up of texts Pauls strategy is to bring the gospel to all the nations, all the people for the glory of God. Not just Gods original chosen people the Jews. Pauls strategy is to start of where Jesus Christ left off, to bring the news of the saviour to the Jews first and thusly to the Gentiles second – fulfilling the Old Testament Prophecies.

“Yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law”.(Galatians 2:16) In Galatians 3:6-7, Paul uses Abraham as his example of faith. “Just as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. (Galatians 3:6-7)

Our source of knowledge of the apostolic work of Paul comes first from the Book of Acts. The epistles written by Paul serve to further our knowledge of his mission. These letters were written to churches that he had founded or churches that were known to him. Luke’s account of Paul introduces us to the basic facts about this important biblical figure. A more complete understanding of Paul’s journeys can be gleaned from his letters. These epistles were written almost at the time they occurred and they comprise some of the earliest works contained in the New Testament.

“The case for Christ” is a recently released film that is playing in our local theaters. I chose to my comparison on this movie as I hadn't heard of it prior to this assigment. Therefore, my I would have an open mind when reading the reviews. I began my research by searching for the movie title on the Opposing view points website. I read an article titled “The case for (and problem with) Christian movies.” Written by Paul Lickteig. Continuing my research, I googled the movie title and read the first review that came up which was written by Adam R Holz. There were some similarities in the articles but they both had very different tones and objectives.

During the time the letter was written, most believe that Paul was in a prison in Rome. He wrote three letters at around the same time. One letter was to the Colossians; one letter was to Philemon, whose slave, Onesimus, had recently run away; the final letter was to the church that Paul had started in Ephesus. The messenger that carried the letters to the church of Colossae most likely passed through the sea port and great city at Ephesus. Working in Ephesus for at least two years, Paul expanded the reach of the Gospel to the entire

An angel appeared before a woman named Mary and stated to her that she would give birth to a son. She would name her son Jesus. Mary being a virgin gave birth to a child, conceived by God through his Spirit. Jesus being conceived in a supernatural manner became man and God in one creation. God became incarnate in this child who became known by the name of Jesus (Mathew 1:18-25) . Jesus was a Palestinian Jew, born in a town south of Jerusalem, raised in Nazareth in a small village in Galilee. Jesus was not any ordinary child. Jesus was the son of the living God. Not only was He the son of Mary, He was foremost the Son of God. He was incarnated sent to us for the redemption of all mankind. So how do we handle the incarnation of God?