Most Christians envied St. Paul or Apostle Paul because he was picked by Jesus to become an influential messenger of the gospel. Paul, who was first known as Saul of Tarsus became Paul when he saw Jesus Christ resurrected on the Damascus Road, which then he converted to Christianity. Paul was not taught the gospel, nor did he receive the gospel from anyone; he received it from the revelation of Jesus Christ. Paul is the author of 13 books of the 27 books of the New Testament Before Paul was a Christian; he was a persecutor of the Christian church. Before his conversion to Christianity, Paul was a Pharisaic Jew, and he strongly believed in following the tradition of his fathers. “For you have heard of my former life in Judaism how I persecuted the Church of God violently and tried to destroy it; and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the tradition of my fathers.” (Gal. 1:15-16)
Paul’s religion collided with the thought of Jesus being the Son of God, and him being raised from the dead on the third day after his crusification, so this is why Paul thought the persecution of the church was needed. Another reason Paul could not accept Christianity was because it was not clear how Jesus could be the Son of God, and yet have to be crucified on the cross. He thought if Jesus was crucified, then he had a curse placed upon him, and if Jesus was cursed, then how can he be the one true Son of God? Then Paul pondered how could Jesus be raised from the dead if God placed a curse upon him. All of these questions led Paul to persecute the Christian faith and church.
After Paul became a believer of the Christian faith, he started teaching the people he preached to that they were save...
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...unfit to become an apostle, but it shows how God will change anyone, and he will use anyone to glorify Him. Paul learned that he could do all things with Christ who gave him strength, and that was one of the main things he taught. “ I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) Paul came a long way from where he first was, a merciless persecutor of the Christian church, who approved of the stoning of Stephen. Paul was martyred for the faith that he had once persecuted. They prized the letters he wrote to the churches, and he became one of the most recognized apostles of his time
Works Cited
Schmisek, Brian 2011.Paul’s Vision of the Risen Lord, vol 41 number 2 Pgs 76-83
Awwad,Johnny 2011. From Saul to Paul: The Conversion of Paul the Apostle. Theological Review vol 32, pgs 1-14
The Bible. Philipians, Galations, Ephsians, Titus
After his conversion to Christianity, Paul traveled throughout the Roman Empire and preached the Gospel, similar to Jesus’ own ministry across Galilee. Paul’s teachings were more focused on the community and the relationships of its members with each other and with non-Christians, whereas Jesus’ teachings were geared towards the individual and his/her personal relationship to God. Despite this discrepancy in their doctrines, Paul’s teachings remain consistent with those of Jesus. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul’s teachings, such as unity in the community and love for others, echo the teachings of Jesus as depicted in the Gospel of Mark and Matthew. Paul essentially reiterates the teachings of Jesus, and applies them to the lives of the people he preaches to, so that they may understand Jesus’ teachings and embrace Christianity.
Firstly, Ruden gives Paul partial credit for the growing popularity of Christianity because of the equality and compassion that he preached to others. He offered every person a sense of belonging no matter what background they came from, she claims (Ruden 37). Paul was offering a sense of belonging to a community as well as a life full of eternal riches and glory for people to inherit after death. The rising Christian population was inevitable as Paul and others in the Christian faith were offering this inheritable heaven to those who had no claims to any of these things. Paul even offered a better life for the slaves of the communit...
Paul, also known as Saul, was an apostle of God who wrote the book of Ephesians and was sent to set up churches for Him. He changed his name from Saul to Paul because he wanted to start his life over, follow God, and live for Him. He wanted to start over because he was known as a man who persecuted Christians. Saul did not even notice he was doing wrong until he started to reach Damascus and a voice yelled from the Heavens saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul answered back, “Who are you, Lord?” then the Lord answered, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But, rise and enter the city, and you will be told what to do.” For three days Saul was made blind by Jesus and did not eat or drink. Then, Ananias walked into where Saul was staying and restored his sight, something like scales fell off his eyes and he could see. After being in Damascus with the disciples he proclaimed that Jesus is the one true God. Then, he fled to Jerusalem where he joined the disciples with the help of Barnabas, changed his name to Paul and became a missionary to Christ. He set out on three missionary journeys where on his third, he was put under house arrest in Rome for two years where he wrote the book of Ephesians. After his release, he left, went to Spain, and was eventually persecuted and martyred by Nero.
One of the major thinkers from late antiquity is Saint Paul, a convert and leader of the early Christian Church. He was once known as Saul of Tarsus before his religious conversion, but afterwards Paul used his background as a Jew and Roman citizen to evangelize all Roman citizens. He ministered to church communities he formed in Europe and what was then Asia Minor by writing letters to these communities he formed, one of which is called Corinth. Corinth is a Southwestern Greek city located against a gulf, which infers its participation in trade and its immersion in many cultures. Corinth was rebuilt as a Roman colony after the Greeks rebelled years before Saint Paul formed a church there, and its citizens popularly worshiped the goddess of love, Aphrodite, which explains why Saint Paul addresses the topics of love and sexuality in his first letter. Corinth was also a disobedient city in the eyes of Saint Paul, as it had many communal problems that were so culturally engrained. The first letter to the church of Corinth, was written by
Paul the Apostle, was a famous preacher of first century Christianity and was God’s tool used to spread the light of the gospel to the Gentiles. Paul is credited fir having written many books in the New Testament of the Bible. He was born an Israelite to a clan of the tribe of Benjamin, speaking the Aramaic and Hebrew tongues from infancy. He was an enthusiastic student and a stringent devotee of the Torah. He was the man that later had a peculiar meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ while on the road to Damascus. His life and duty were considerably altered and in turn eventually changed the course of the development of Western Civilization and culture.
Virtually all scholars accept the Apostle Paul as the author of Philemon. Paul, who was formally called Saul prior to his work as an Apostle, was born in the city of Tarsus, the Capital of ancient Cilicia. Tarsus was declared a free city by Rome, thus making Paul a Roman citizen. He was Jewish by blood from the tribe of Benjamin. Paul studied under the teaching and influence of the rabbi Gamaliel and became a Pharisee. As a Pharisee, Paul possessed a rigid adherence to the letter of the law and strongly opposed and fought against Christianity. Paul was converted to Christianity by Jesus on a persecution journey to Damascus in AD 33. After his conversion, Paul became a missionary to the Gentile world. He is believed to have written at least thirteen books of the New Testament before his death in AD 67-68.
When Stephen dared to say in public that the days of the Jewish religion and its Temple were finished, Paul and his fellow Pharisees knew that the time had come for action. [Stephen did not say this. He ministered under the program that still involved the Temple and Law. That was no rescinded until Paul’s ministry later. Stephen proclaimed Jesus as the long awaited but rejected Christ of Israel.] No longer was it enough to regard these followers of “the Way”, as they called themselves as amiable cranks. They posed a dangerous threat to the Jewish religious system. Saul of Tarsus first appears in the biblical record as a witness to the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr to the cause of Christ – even ‘consenting’ to his death (Acts 7:58); 9:1. Paul was more than just a coat – minder. He was a crafty man and an influential Pharisee. When he saw the Christians were beginning to move out of Jerusalem to other places, he realized that, far from having solved the problem, the way the Jews were persecuting Stephen and the others was only helping the Christian cause to spread to other parts of the Roman Empire.
Paul was a Jewish man that was born in Tarus but had dual citizenship as a Roman citizen possibly due to his father’s Roman citizenship (Longenecker & Still, 2014). He was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin (Romans 11:1) and a devoted Pharisee that had permission to persecute any Jesus followers he came in contact with. It wasn’t until Paul, also known as Saul, had an encounter with Christ that completely changed his perspective on Jesus followers. Although many call this change a conversion from Judaism to Christianity, Paul describes his encounter as a call (Longenecker & Still, 2014). He did not see himself turning away from his God of Israel but having a call to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles (Longenecker & Still, 2014 & Gal. 1:15). Until years after the resurrection Christianity did not exist, it was simply a branch of Judaism. Jesus was the founder or this sect of Judaism but Paul defines the identitly of Christianity (Dunn, 2011).
“At the heart of the Christophany was the recognition of Jesus’ true identity as Messiah and Lord, the revelation that Gentiles are welcome in God’s one people apart from law, and Paul’s role in bringing about their obedience” (Capes, Reeves, & Richards, 2007, p. 264). Paul believed in monotheism, but came to realize that Jesus was Lord. He revolutionized the way he believed people became one with God. This lead to his understanding that God’s plan included Jews and Gentiles and that entrance into the covenant was through faith in Jesus; the crucified and
Today, there are many kinds of outlooks when it comes to Christianity and its core beliefs. Some of those beliefs lasted throughout history while others fizzled out. Nevertheless, before those beliefs became a core part of the religion, we always began with the historical origin that leads us to where we are today. Looking at the source for Saint Paul, Epistle to The Romans, you start learning one of many historical origins that discuss the start of The New Testament and why Paul became someone ranked as high as Jesus Himself. During 3 BCE – 64/67 CE (the proper timeframe is unknown), Roman Citizen, Saint Paul who is from Tarsus in Asia Minor, became known as “The Second Founder of Christianity” due to his work alongside Jesus.
Jesus and Paul are two crucial characters in the New Testament. They both depict the Gospel on which Christianity is based upon, but there is debate about rather these two versions of the Gospel are complementary. Scholars like George Shaw claim that Paul is “anti-Christian,” and he “produced a fantastic theology” (Shaw 415-416). On the other hand, I believe that even though Jesus and Paul may present the Gospel different at times, they are still advocating the same religion. Through the understanding of the Gospels and Paul’s letters it is clear that Jesus and Paul have the same underlining goals and values.
With Jerusalem destroyed, Paul and others followers of the Jerusalem Church, which was a section of Judaism, began to spread the word of Jesus throughout Rome and the surrounding area to Gentiles. No one had a greater effect on spreading Christianity than Paul did, Paul was actually quite radical as he preached the teachings of Jesus Christ to Gentiles as they too could get God’s salvation. This can also be seen by looking at The New Testament as fourteen of the twenty-seven books in The New Testament have been linked to Paul. With Paul and other apostles spreading the word of Jesus after his death and resurrection the Early Church and Judaism began to clash which then caused the teachings of Jesus to break off. In short the Roman Jewish War gave the teachings of Jesus Christ the ability to take hold in ancient Europe which allowed those teachings to break off and form a new religion,
After reviewing both the teachings of Jesus in the canonical gospels and the Pauline teachings portrayed in Paul’s letters to the many churches he wrote to, I find myself perplexed as to Paul’s intentions in either continuing Jesus’s original teachings or founding a church following newly developed teachings. Jesus’s teachings in all four gospels are looked to in the traditional Christian community as the righteous way of living life; however, some of the teachings that Paul shares can be interpreted to either agree or contradict with those of Jesus, and instead propose of new way of living. A few of these fundamental topics in which demonstrate differences and similarities between Jesus and Paul include the initial intended audience, necessities for salvation, and the idea of the Parousia. Following the discussion of these three topics, a consensus should be achieved regarding Paul’s intentions for Jesus’s words. One of the main differences observed throughout the New Testament between Jesus and Paul is the intended audience.
The Apostle Paul is known as the greatest missionary of the early church. Paul, who once vowed to wipe out belief in Jesus Christ, was later converted to do the work of Christ. He would author almost half of the 27 books in the New Testament. He endured sickness, rejection, and repeated attacks on his life to bring the message of God's grace and forgiveness to Gentiles. Paul was the apostle largely responsible for the solid inception and growth of Christianity. He spoke before Jews, Greeks, and Romans. Paul is known as the apostle to the Gentiles. He defended God's Word before kings and emperors of this world. By the end of his life, much of the Mediterranean world had been reached with the gospel.
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.