“Paul wrote his letter to the church in Corinth during the winter A.D. 56-57” (“An Introduction To The Book Of Romans | Bible.org”) to the faithful Jews who had established this church. Paul wanted to meet them face-to-face and provided this letter as his introduction until he could travel there. Paul’s message begins by addressing human identity in which everyone is ungodly and unrighteous. He tells us that we all have sinned, rebelled and not followed God’s will. The sinful way of humanity keeps us a part for God, although He has clearly shown His marvelous wonder since creating the world and through his Son Jesus Christ.
In The Letter of Paul to the Galatians, Paul addresses the conflict of Gentile Christians’ unclear relationship towards Judaism by urging both Jewish and Gentile believers to reexamine the Mosaic Law. This letter by the apostle is a defense of his mission of converting the churches of Galatia towards Christianity. During the early Christian movement, there was controversy surrounding the degree to which Gentile Christians should adhere to Jewish law, with Paul moving them to disregard it and follow a different path towards Christianity. Paul describes in his gospel a way in which faith in Jesus Christ frees his followers from traditional laws, and urges the Galatians to heed him instead of his opposition among the Jewish church. Paul effectively persuades his audience to abandon unnecessary laws of Moses to achieve an understanding of the importance of faith in Christ through an appeal to ethos and logos, and through allegories that introduces a reinterpretation of scripture and a new interpretation of God’s role in Christianity.
Paul believes he is preaching the gospel truth of Jesus’ return. He believes he is speaking, from Christ, the guidelines for redemption. But nothing more than beliefs are Paul’s words. Throughout his letters he incessantly contradicts himself and the Old Testament. He disapproves boasting about wisdom and knowledge, while hypocritically boasting about his supposed gospel. He slanders the Jewish faith by condemning the act of circumcision. And lastly, he degrades women by defying them of their individual and bodily feelings. He limits them to the control of man, either a husband or Jesus. Paul’s letters of Jesus are not holy, and they do speak on behalf of the holy. Amen.
When studying the Gospel message of Jesus Christ, many scholars regard the book of Romans as the most important of the apostle Paul’s letters. (Knight & Ray, 2005) This is perhaps because it contains the most in-depth exploration of Christian theology, namely justification through faith in Jesus Christ. (Hinson & Towns, 2013)The letter, especially chapters one through eight, contains a summary of what embodies a Christian worldview. Since Paul wrote to both the Jewish and Gentile believers in Rome, he provided for them, as well as readers today, a biblical perspective that answers questions about the natural world, human identity, human relationships, and culture.
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
“Chapter 2 describes the self-righteousness and sin of the Jewish world,” (Gundry, R. H., 2012, p. 435). The Jews sinfulness that was practice was also common to humanity. The Jews were guilty of self-righteousness and sin, which illustrates in the Jewish world, after condemning the Gentiles for turning from the knowledge of God that were given, 2:1-16. The Jews were under the condemnation of the law. Breaking God's law will be condemned by the law, according to the ways of the Jews, and their circumcision will mean nothing, (2:17 to 3:20). Therefore, Paul is addressing to the Jews who relies on their Jewish ways and the Mosaic law (regarding fleshly circumcision) to save them from the last judgment. The judging that was done by the Jews was
This was such because Paul was previously known to go against the religion and the destruction of its growth. “You have heard no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it” (Galatians: 1: 13). Paul’s opponents believed his previous stand on Christianity would not make him a suitable representative for Christianity. Without a powerful credit for the faith no one would believe what Paul said. This example goes against Paul’s claim that he is a transformed man, no longer attached to the rebellious image people previously claimed him to be. Furthermore, Paul’s image had been shot due his disconnection to the Christian faith. Another example of a counterargument to Paul’s assertion is that the people did not need to follow God because they had the laws to guide them. “Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? … For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law…” (Galatians: 3: 21). The debate here is that the law was put in to place because the people needed a system to guide them. The laws served this by keeping the people from acting on sinful urges. It was believed that if you followed the law then you were righteous. The laws essentially were meant to guide the people towards God. As a result, it is questioned why the people had follow Jesus to God, as Paul stated, if the laws were placed to do just that. The change of traditions appeared as unnecessary to those who were previously associated with the Jewish faith. For this group had relied on the maintenance of tradition to carry Christianity’s
Paul is concerned with the natural world, the people are continuing to sin and go against God. He warns them in his letter that “the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness”. (Romans 1:18) Paul addresses that God knows his people have tur...
St. Paul did not believe that the gospel was limited to the Jews. St. Paul believes that inside an eschatological community, men and women are equal (Gal 3:27). He believes judgements are nullified by baptism. St. Paul believed that Jesus revealed to him, through God, so that he could spread the gospel among the gentiles (Gal 1:16-17). St. Paul write that God’s promise to Abraham had been fulfilled through Jesus Christ, the law was now lifted and was no longer needed. St. Paul then proclaimed that gentiles were to become followers of Christianity, and under no circumstance were they obligated by Mosaic Law. On the other hand, they were required to have faith and worship the one true God (Gal 3:6-13). Due to circumcision not being required any
in Galatians, Paul quotes Genesis 15:1-6. Galatians 3:6-9, “Believed God and it was reckoned to him righteousness”. Genesis 15:1-6, “And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness”. Paul’s argument is that Abraham believed before the covenant was even made and was still considered righteous. The same is for the Gentiles.