Within the American Bible, the 57th book is entitled “Philemon,” being the eighteenth book of the New Testament canon1. Paul, the writer of the letter, wrote this scripture as a letter format to his Christian brother, Philemon. Paul was in Rome, Italy, at the time where he was a prisoner of Jesus Christ. By Paul being a prisoner, he assumedly had infinite time to write and deeply contemplate what to include within the letter he created. “Philemon” was written in 60 A.D. The after-death initiation likely caused for Paul to especially note God’s sacrifices to save the people as Paul orchestrated the letter. Paul had been charged with a house arrest in Rome. Due to the leeway of his consequences, he had little restrictions and was actually …show more content…
In the letter Paul writes: He has become in truth Onesimus [Useful], for he who was formerly useless to you is now useful indeed to me. It is he I am sending to you – and that means I am sending my heart!4 It becomes clear in these few lines that Paul expresses confident feelings about Onesimus by openly asking for Philemon to accept Onesimus back despite his past crimes. Although Paul’s writing has it is unclear specifically why he would ask Philemon in a sympathetic, rather delicate, way within the letter. He also clearly states that Onesimus is “useful” to Paul. By Paul openly writing this, I am confident that he meant that knowing Philemon’s decision could assist Paul greatly, especially within Paul’s soul. As modern Christians are repulsed by slavery, it is interesting to see this letter written about just that, because of Onesimus’ background. Paul had to persuade someone Philemon to accept Onesimus back. The major contribution Paul took was converting Onesimus to the Christian religion, knowing that Onesimus would not have a change singularly as a slave. This letter was possibly a moment to attempt to abolish the system of slavery5. Paul urges Philemon to welcome back Onesimus, “if then you regard me as a partner, and welcome him as you would welcome me”6. It is interesting that Paul asked for Philemon, with deep concern, to take Onesimus back as slave, or furthermore, a Brother. When reading the letter, curiosity grasps the reader
Paul begins his letter by saying he is an apostle not from men nor through man, but Jesus
When Onesimus returns back to Philemon, Paul asks that he accepts him back. Onesimus was a slave of Philemon and ran away from him. Some scholars think that he stole something from Philemon but there is no record of that. Slavery was a big problem back then and there was a lot of cruelty between slave masters and slaves. The tensions between the two parties was growing constantly and the master would be extremely irate if the slave would run away and would be brutal if the slave stole something. Paul gives this advice to Philemon because Onesimus came and visited Paul most likely while he was in prison and it was there that Paul converted Onesimus to Christianity. So Paul is actually in essence sending a part of himself to Philemon so he is
Paul’s letter to the Church in Colossae is powerful as well as informative, it not only addresses the specific problem of heresy, but Paul is stating himself to be specifically chosen by God to demonstrate the role of intercessory prayer and suffering as demonstrated in Colossians 1:9-14.
Paul's letters to the church, also known as epistles, are considered some of the most important documents in the New Testament. Paul's writings continue to shape and forge church even today. His letters were written in some of the darkest, most intense moments of Paul's life, but they also celebrate the grace, love, and life changing power of Jesus. Paul's journey in faith is shown in raw, unapologetic honesty, and inspires Christians to maintain a forward momentum, and to run the race Paul speaks so passionately about in Hebrews 12:1. Paul is able to write with both confidence and humility as he writes about the Christian journey.
It is from this statement that one lesson can be drawn which is that Christianity somehow had a devastating influence on slavery.
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.
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.
Is thought that the recipient of the letter were people from a province in central Asia Minor and Paul preached them during his first mission. The authors of the letter to the Galatians was Paul and Jesus Spirit. One of the main purpose of the letter or theme was to address the relationship from the Gentile Christians towards Judaism. The main points of the letter are to be truthful to God and commit to Him, in order to gain the Kingdom of heaven. In verse Gal 1:7 Paul clarifies that there is no other Gospel than the one that Jesus proclaimed. Paul explains that there is people that try to confuse Christians and pervert the gospel of Christ but he is warning us not to fall into that. It repeats over and over to not follow the law of the world but the teachings of Jesus Christ. We all are the church. The ones who believe on God are the church. To be the church in this letter means to believe in Jesus Christ and only worship God because He gave us freedom from sin and He is the only one that can lead us to the Kingdom of God. It also means to live by the fruit of the Spirit which is in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23). It means to die to the sin, to reject the sin of, fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing (Gal 5:19-21), and anything that looks like
Christianity was still quite young at the time Paul wrote to Philemon and was faced with much opposition. The Church existed as local bodies of believers, meeting primarily in homes because there were no church buildings for worship. Persecution of the Church was prevalent and their survival depended heavily on dependence on one another and unity. Many misconceptions and even blatant lies
The narrative essay of the “Life of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave” describes personal accounts Paul experienced as a slave. Cruel and unjust treatment done to him by his masters gave him to a strong desire to learn how to read and write in any possible way by being resourceful and be determined to learn. However, Douglas expressed “I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather a blessing” and “I envied my fellow slaves for their stupidity” (4); wherein he regrets learning and he also illustrated why he considered knowledge as a curse because he learned about freedom did not benefit him at all. In my case, I can also say I regret some things I learned in the past that I know would made me happier if I did not
8 Paul begins his main message here. He makes it known that he has authority in Jesus to give a commanding order to tell Philemon to do what is right without question. The authority comes out from the fact that Jesus had expressed the need for forgiveness of debts, especially through his Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. Given that Paul was elected by Jesus out from his stand with the Pharisees, and as a Christian he had a right to make rebukes, he had firmly rooted authority to tell Philemon what to do.
In the beginning of the book of Ephesians, Paul specifically states that he is the author of the letter to Ephesians, though the authenticity of Paul’s authorship has been questioned. Signing the name of an influential person of the period was common practice from “the third century BC to the first century AD.” Though it would not be the first time that Paul’s name was forged, Ephesians is not a controversial letter, so if the author did not want to include his own name, he could have written the letter anonymously; also, given moral influence of the text, the author would not have lied for no cause. Ephesians is a bit different from the other letters of Paul in that it does not follow the normal structure he has previously used: “salutation, thanksgiving, prayer, body, ethical exhortations, greetings.” Paul also makes many personal references throughout the book of Ephesians including sharing that he is in prison.
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
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.
Paul is the author of the book of Titus. The book of Titus was written around the years 63-65 A.D. The letter was addressed to Titus who was a gentile and a companion of Paul. Paul called Titus his “True son”. Titus along with First and Second Timothy are called Pastoral Epistles. The reason for being categorized that way is because the letters emphasizes the reason for having leaders within the church. (Votaw, Clyde W. pg.130-38) The book 's theme is instructions to Titus on how to run the churches in Crete and to encourage Titus in faith. The first readers of this letter would be Titus, some of the leaders within the Crete churches, Zenas and Apollos who Paul gave the letter to give of Titus. Paul and Titus most likely visited Crete