Case Study: Was Paul A Jew Or A Christian

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Was Paul a Jew or a Christian?

Paul, once being a highly religious and zealous persecutor of Christians because he was passionate about keeping the Mosaic laws, encountered Christ while on his way to persecute more Christians. As he encountered Christ, Paul’s life was changed from a highly zealous man to one who emptied himself to become a follower of Jesus and spread the gospel. Thus, making him one of the most important characters in the history of Christianity. Paul was highly educated and he came from a religious background. Scholars would suggest that he came from a wealthy family who could afford to send him to school because of his high proficiency in reading and writing. The only difference between his life as a Jew and his life …show more content…

He eventually writes 13 (assuming they were all written by him) letters, all which are now books in the New Testament. When we talk about the state of Christianity, it started off with a small number of Jews. “The followers of Jesus started out around 30C.E as a small group of Jews in Jerusalem. (Eleven men and a handful of women.)” (Ehrman 2014, 297). During the time of Paul’s ministry, many other Jews started to become converted Christians as well. The spread grew bigger and bigger with more people being converted to Christianity that even gentiles became Christians too. When Paul wrote his letter to the churches, many were about love, hope, peace and keeping the faith, while others were about rebuking ungodly behaviours. The main message in his letters was we should love one another and remain faithful to God. Comparing this to our modern Christianity, this is the same message that is being asked of us. Paul says in his letter that it’s not our works that save us but our faith. As mentioned before, Paul makes it clear in Galatians 2 verse 16 “Yet we know that a person is justified, not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” This means no Jew or converted Jew would have to view the Mosaic law as the only ways to salvation because Jesus came and fulfilled the law and all he is asking of us is to believe, love one another, and share the good news. A Jew, not converted to Christianity would not have been able to hold these

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