Introduction
The disciples of Jesus Christ were faithful to record the words and actions of the Lord. Through His actions and character, Jesus Christ influenced history. Jesus Christ was crucified, died, and resurrected, which changed world history as we know it. He told his disciples He would die and on the third day he would be resurrected. Jesus died to pay the sin debt of the world. The Lord led a sinless life, but was the one who took on the sins of the world. There is no other person who has had as much of an impact in history as Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul, who once rejected Jesus Christ, later became one of the greatest men of God. In the history of the Christian church, he was the most significant missionary. He was faithful to the Lord and preached Jesus Christ and His crucifixion. Paul was a devoted missionary and he taught the gospel wherever he visited. This character study will focus on the life of Paul as a missionary and how he changed the course of world history.
Lesson One: The Background of Paul
I would like to welcome everyone to the Men’s Huddle Bible study. Over the next few weeks, we will study the life of the apostle Paul with the emphasis on missions. In a few months, our church is going to dedicate an entire month on the focus of missions. These lessons will help to prepare for missions month. The Scriptures will primarily be read from the book of Acts because its focus is on missions. The apostle Paul went on three missionary journeys and we will take a look at each one and expound the Scriptures. This week’s focus is on the life of the apostle Paul up to his conversion. The title of my lesson is simply, “The background of Paul.” The lessons to come will focus on each of Paul’s missionary j...
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...pected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time.” Gamaliel was a Pharisee and Paul, who learned under him, was a Pharisee as well. The Pharisees were a group of people who rigorously adhered to the Old Testament law according to their own interpretation. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection while the Sadducees did not.
In the account of Acts chapter 5, the Apostles were put in prison for spreading the gospel message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified along with healing the sick. Gamaliel told the council who had the Apostles on trial to let them alone. If God meant for this to happen, then no one could stop them. This, of course, was not the sentiment Paul had. This is where he differed with Gamaliel. Next week, we will take a look at why Paul persecuted the church and how he came to know the Lord.
“And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure”- 2 Corinthians 12:7, (KJV). To help get a better understanding of how other translations translate the beginning of this verse, which they say, “To keep me from becoming conceited.” We as Christian’s, human beings living on God’s earth, indeed love attention, accolades’, and praise. In the above-mentioned scripture we have here, Paul has received a special gift in which he can receive revelations from God. In his revelation, Paul receives a thorn in the flesh. There are many speculations on what the thorn was; we will elaborate on that a little later in the paper. The focus as of yet, will be on humbling down of Paul and how this passage of scripture starts out. I think we often miss this point. The point being, we concentrate on the thorn and oh, how we speculate what it was. If you look at the start of the verse “least, I should be exalted or conceited above measure,” clearly displays Paul, in humble adoration. In his writings, he would often make it evidently clear that it was nothing he was doing or could do, but it was always about Christ. What a lesson for Christians today if we could “set our minds that there will be thorns along the way” (Gleanings from the Corinthian Letters), nevertheless it is about Christ. Christ himself was not conceited or prideful and his pattern should be emulated. However, the rhetoric Paul here follows is the pattern of Christ in complete acknowledgement of giving oneself completely.
B. Paul was a Pharisee (a Jewish teacher of the strictest order). He was a persecutor of the Christian faith and openly killed people who professed to know Jesus Christ as their personal savior. C. Paul's real name was Saul of Tarsus. a) God struck him off his horse on the road to Damascus. b) The Lord asks him, "Saul of Tarsus, why does thou curse me?"
People have been struggling with the writings of the Apostle Paul from the time he first walked on this earth and began proclaiming the gospel all over the eastern part of the world. However, over the past 50 years, the debate has intensified as leading scholars have come to different interpretations of Paul’s literature. This has led to a reexamination of Paul’s writings and the articulation of a strong defense of one’s beliefs about the historical Paul. This paper is being written in order to articulate some of the newer positions pertaining to Pauline Research and to provide some possible implications from their outcomes. The new perspectives on Paul can be rather confusing for the general layperson, so it is the goal of this paper to clarify and explain these new positions in contrast to the prevalent and classically held orthodox view that contains many doctrines that the church has stood upon for years.
The article shares some advantages and disadvantages that the earlier missionaries had to cope with during the early stages of Christianity in the Southern Pacific and other parts of the World. With the assistance of the Holy Spirit and the power of the gospel, the missionaries became very successful. I will take you in a journey through three societies and their contribution. From there we can see and observe how these three societies linked into each other. I will be focusing on the pioneer society, the evangelical society, and the ecumenical society.
Combining the evidence of Acts and Galatians, what was the heart of the Judaizers’ argument against Paul?
Philippians is one of Paul’s four prison epistles, whereas like Ephesians, Paul wrote to the Philippians from a Roman prison. He begins his letter in Philippians 1:12-14, “Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the good news. For everyone here, including the soldiers in the palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, many of the Christians here have gained confidence and become bolder in telling others about Christ.” Paul continued to express the seriousness of his circumstances in Philippians 1:19-26, where he speculates about the fate of his future, whether he would live or be executed. While imprisoned in Rome, Paul received a visitor name Epaphroditis. Epaphroditis was a member of the church in Philippi, who was sent to Rome to deliver a financial gift from the church to Paul and to learn of his circumstances and upcoming trial in prison. There are
The Pharisees were one of the four major political parties that came into to being after the Hasmoneans claimed the position of High Priest, around 150 BCE. They were the largest party and had great influence over the Ioudaioi on issues of religion; they accepted the Tanakh and oral Torah as necessities to be followed (H 301). In addition to being a Pharisee...
This is a journal article critique of Robert D. Culver’s “Apostles and the Apostolate in the New Testament” published in the April to June 1977 issue of Bibliotheca Sacra, a Dallas Theological Seminary publication for over 165 years which concentrates in the studies in theology, Bible exposition, and ministry. The author of this article Robert Culver was a professor of Theology who taught a combined 25 years at Wheaton College and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He was an author, preacher, pastor and teacher right up until his death at 98 years old. His most noted publication was the massive 1200-page Systematic Theology: Biblical & Historical in 2005. The examination of Apostles in the New Testament is covered under
Jesus began his ministry in Judea, near the Jordan River. He then travels, preaches, and preforms miracles before completing his ministry with the Last Supper in Jerusalem. Jesus was then crucified and then he later rose from the grave and ascended into heaven. Jesus spread his philosophy through the Middle East and left an ever-lasting impact on the world. Jesus’s last documented conversations in the Bible was with Paul, while he was traveling on the road to Damascus and then he instructed Ananias of Damascus to heal Paul when he arrived in Damascus. He then he reveled to John a revelation. The second biggest philosopher to spread the philosophy of Christianity was Saul of Tarsus, better known as Paul the Apostle. Fourteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament have been attributed to Paul the Apostle. This paper will examine Paul entire life and how his teachings changed the world. Paul the Apostle is one of the most well known philosophers and contributors to
In the early first century, Saint Paul traveled around the Middle East and surrounding areas to spread Christianity. Although he helped people while he was alive, his legacy and influence still live on today. Many churches are named after Paul, his letters are read in services all around the world, and his own story is responsible for many conversions in people today. Even though he is now known for the great things he did in his life, he did not always aid the Christian cause. Surprisingly, he started out persecuting Christians. He began by killing Christians, but ended up dying for Jesus. He changed his whole way of life just for Christ, which influences people to turn to God. His leadership and
Luke traveled extensively with Paul’s group. He could have stayed in one place and taught Jesus’ mission there, but instead he helped spread Christianity to other places. He helped Catholicism be catholic, or universal. Additionally, Luke strived for historical accuracy. His written works have been archeologically verified. These reasons help establish Luke as a person that I want to become.
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.
St. John Paul also greatly changed the world’s view of the Catholic church. He further explained through many of his papal encyclicals, books, and teachings the true meaning behind the Catholic faith. Realigning the view that much of society held. His message was also one of universal love and acceptance. Not only did he proclaim such profound messages, he lived them, and spread them himself. St. John Paul is the most traveled Pope within history; a
The story regarding the early life of Paul is found in two sources which are the Bible in the book of Acts and
The beginnings of my life are an interesting jumble, and they highlight the cosmopolitan world that was the Roman Empire. I was born in an Asian city now located on the southern coast of Turkey called Tarsus in about the year 10. My parents were Jewish, presumably strict Pharisees. They were also Roman citizens.