Analysis Of Paul The Apostle

Throughout the New Testament there are several noteworthy characters who draw a reader 's attention and help share the Good News message. This being said just who are these characters? There is of course the most important one who is known as Jesus, then there are those like Peter and John the Baptist who are often mentioned throughout the Gospels, but by far one of the most prominent characters (aside from Jesus) is Paul the Apostle. But, the question then becomes just why can Paul be placed at such a high standing? In party the reason for this is because he wrote much of the New Testament, but not only this he also lived quite the interesting life. For instance, his life prior to his conversion adds important information to his post conversion …show more content…

If this is done than a reader might not realize that Paul was raised to have an extensive knowledge of the Old Testament, as well as, followed many other Jewish laws and traditions. He was circumcised eight days after he was born, he followed the laws religiously, and often times, "...in his epistles Paul referred to his Jewish heritage," (Polhill, 1999). In fact, before his conversion Paul was actually a Pharisee. Sadly, though he hated the new believers of the times, meaning that his response to them could by no means be considered positive. Paul actually went around from place to place throwing men and women alike into jail, killing those he could, and in general tried to disband the Christian churches. As a whole he hated Christian people and was helping other Jewish leaders get rid of them as best he could. Thankfully, though Christ Himself, so to speak, "seized" Paul and showed him that Jesus was the Messiah, leading to Paul 's …show more content…

However, even when looking to the first letter Paul wrote it is essential that the reader keep in mind that prior to this Paul had already been traveling about and ministering to churches all about, meaning he would have already experienced many things. So, with this thought in mind the first letter he wrote was Galatians. Paul is believed to have been in Antioch when he wrote this letter and the year is believed to have been A.D. 49, which would have been during his first missionary journey. Now, the reason why Paul wrote this letter is because he had learned that the church of Galatia was not only stumbling in their walk, but had outright turned from Paul 's teachings. At the time a group known as the Judaizers were misleading church into believing that Gentiles needed to follow the same laws set out for the Jewish people, claiming that this was the necessary for salvation. Paul was adamant that this was not at all true and reiterated to the church that all they needed to do for salvation is accept Christ as their savior. The main difference between what Paul was saying and what others were trying to convince the church of Galatia is essentially that Jesus was not the only way to salvation, an idea that angered Paul